yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Zorachus:
Sprint has unlimited, because it will take a full month to even get a full big 2gb worth of downloads at those speeds. LOL
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] BrianDigital:
That's what I'm going to try, my etf should be low, but they changed their policies not sure if I'm on the old rates if i am ,my etf will be my monthly bill
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] codesplice:
Wow, I didn't realize Sprint was that bad. I won't complain next time I get throttled at 60kb/s!
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] bagelicious:
I just found this article on Sprint's website while researching their ETF policy. If your contract began prior to 9/9/11 then its going to be a lot cheaper.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] BinkXDA:
Haha! Very laughable! Got to love that UNLIMITED data!

Seriously though, thanks for letting me know I did the right thing by not going with Sprint—I recommend you do the same, now.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] hoodred:
Becarefull with the Walmart $30 prepaid

ie.. If you are out of coverage area you wont get roaming at all.

Not sure if this is related

I tested same phone GNEX with Tmo postpaid and walmart $30 prepaid

The data speed of postpaid is faster than the prepaid
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Cabal_:
It works fine, but I'm looking to move to another AT&T MVNO now. Straight Talk has started cutting people off for as little as 1.25 GB data used:

http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php/1762663-ST-cut-my-data-off-but

Since getting cut off involves losing your long-held phone number, there's no way I'm going to chance it, even though I only use 300-500 MB a month.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] BrianDigital:
That maybe a apn issue between cards people here getting 10mbs down, i got as high as six but live in philly so its probably congestion
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] jbeez:
I'm near Philly too, get close to 10mbps on st tmo mvno
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] jbeez:
I'm wondering if the way ST meters your bw is by counting data through the apn proxy port, and if they don't count it without that. Considering different people are getting conflicting reports of getting cut off.

And to not be worried about your number, i suggest porting it to google voice that way they can't touch it.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Cabal_:
Right, unfortunately that will make it no longer a mobile number, which won't work for my wife's plan (unlimited M2M, limited anytime). ;)

And no MMS.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
True for

all prepaid plans

. None of them have roaming agreements.

This shouldn't be the case. I get the exact same speeds on Prepaid as I did on Postpaid T-Mobile. May be an APN or SIM card issue.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] BrianDigital:
That's the good part having a Penta band phone. I ordered a straight talk sun card for att and say if on vacation and find TMobile lacking boom quick stop at seven eleven i got some service
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Archpope:
This is also a good way to try out service to make sure it will work. I tried to do the T-mobile 30/mo plan, but unfortunately, I could not get any signal at all both where I live and work. If I can't get a signal in places where I spend at least 16 hours in a day, the service is useless. But, I didn't have to bail out of my AT&T deal, nor did I have to actually sign up with T-mo to find out how rubbish their service is.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Cabal_:
OP: Looks like H20 updated their plans and doubled data to 500MB/2GB. HSPA+ applies to the first 500 MB of either, judging by the fine print. (Not that any of that will fix their broken customer service.)
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] hoodred:
Correct me if Im wrong

Isn't straight talk only operates on 850Mhz and 1900 Mhz

Their website advertised as compatible with both Tmobile and ATT

http://www.straighttalksim.com/

"BRING AN AT&T OR T-MOBILE COMPATIBLE GSM PHONE, OR AN UNLOCKED GSM PHONE. Make sure it operates on our compatible frequencies (850 and 1900 MHz)"

Tmo 3G and HSPA+ operates on 1700 and 2100

Tmo 2G operates on 850

Is that mean on Tmo you only get 2G speed

Do you get 3G and HSPA+ on ATT

If they dont capped your data and you get HSPA+ for $45 unlimited is a good deal.

APN setting for straight talk (Looks ATT to me)

NAME	straight talk

APN	att.mvno

PROXY	proxy.mvno.tracfone.com

PORT	80

MMSC	http://mmsc.cingular.com

MMS PROXY	66.209.11.33

MMS PORT	80
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
Straight Talk offers either AT&T

or

T-Mobile service. You choose at the time of buying which one you'd prefer. You're stuck with the one you order though, unless you wanna order a different SIM for the other one. I'd personally choose AT&T (bigger footprint of service, remember no roaming) unless they had really bad service in my area.

You get full HSPA+ on either AT&T or T-Mobile depending on the one you choose.

They

do

cap your data. Most reports are that if you consistently use 100mb in a day or 2gb total in a month, they will "ask" (like a mob boss asks you to do something) you to cut down your data usage. If you choose not to do so, they'll cut off your service.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] adelmundo:
Wow that's really bad. My work phone (Epic 4G) is on Sprint and I get really good 3G speeds, between 1.5 to 2 Mbps where I'm at in the SF Bay Area (7 to 8 Mbps on 4G). It is good enough to stream YouTube HQ video with no stutter. In fact I connect my Galaxy Note (on Straight Talk AT&T) to the Epic 4G's wifi tether when I don't want to use data on Straight Talk to stream video or music since it's not allowed per ST's T&C's. The reason why I use the tethering to watch videos on my GNote because it looks better watching on a 5.3" screen vs 4" screen (when you go 5.3", everything else looks small) LOL.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] jbeez:
I knew about the no mms, kind of annoying. I never even thought of it not being a mobile number. It does get txt messages, that should count?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] reuthermonkey:
Folks, T-Mobile's cap is 64kbps (64 kilobits per second). The speed tests above hover around 64KBps (64 kiloBYTES per second).

There's a significant difference between the two,

64KBps = 512kbps.

While that's still slow for 3g, it's nowhere close to as slow as T-Mobile's data cap. Even the slowest test at 9.5kB/s is still faster than T-Mobile's cap at 64kbps.

For those of you who don't know wtf I'm talking about, read up on network speed measurement:

http://techallica.com/kilo-bytes-per-second-vs-kilo-bits-per-second-kbps-vs-kbps/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilobit_per_second#Suffix:_b_vs_B
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] codesplice:
Good catch. I made my post regarding T-Mobile's throttle based on the reading of the magical Network Monitor Mini while I was throttled, which pegged at precisely 60 kb/s (kilobits-per-second). I should have paid closer attention to the posted Sprint speed tests as I do know the difference - I swear I do!

I'll blame my newly-LASIK-ed eyes, as they are still quite sensitive to the light from my monitor. Yeah, that's what did it ;)
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] tropmonky:
Forgive me if this has been answered before, I read a ton of pages....

So the Straight Talk plans mean you won't be able to roam (or any of these pre-paid plans for that matter) meaning people with normal ATT plans will have coverage in some areas when a Straight Talk user won't...

Is this correct?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] codesplice:
Yup. You nailed it.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] rubiconjp:
I think StraightTalk on AT&T will voice roam, so coverage should be similar to postpaid AT&T customers. For data, there's no roaming, so data coverage is similar to prepaid GO Phone AT&T customers.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
Yes, that's the big caveat with prepaid.

Not sure on this one. I'd want some confirmation. quite possible considering Straight Talk offers both AT&T and T-Mobile service, but idk.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
Also wanted to ask here: is anyone is using Simple Mobile? Just wanted to know how that's working out and where exactly they're throttling people.

Seems like most people here are on $45 Straight Talk or $30 T-Mobile though.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] bobsbbq:
Well I have tried Straight talk for one week now. So far I like the reception and the data is marginal but probably I can live with it. At home I can get between 1.5-2 Mbps down. Today in the big city of New Orleans where they have some of the fastest speeds with full signal I was only able to get 3-3.5 Mbps down and 1 up. I hear other people talking about faster speeds but I'm not sure if they are on Straight talk or AT&T as they use different APN.

I'm going to try my T-Mobile SIM out next week and see how it goes. But I really want to stick with Straight talk. Maybe time to look at Simple Mobile as well.

What kind of speed are you getting on Straight talk?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] tinfox:
WOW.

I've been with Sprint for 15 years. I'm getting 36K down and up (avg). It may be time to abandon ship. I've been paying the extra $10 a month for the last year on 3 phones for the "4g Experience" (or whatever bull**** they're calling it this week) Where I live, we never got 4g and now the 3g is almost utterly useless. I've been very tempted to get the new EVO 4g LTE but I've just about had it with the terrible speeds.

Maybe the HTC EVO One. Is it GSM?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
Lol no. That is a Sprint device (CDMA). You'd have to buy a One X (to use on AT&T) or One S (to use on T-Mobile.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] jimmyz:
I have gotten so tired of sprint that I finally got the gnex and have a tmobile sim in right now- no kidding speeds are 10x faster. I've had a great run with sprint but they have really fallen behind with their service.Sure they have unlimited data but its like having unlimited dial up service. Wimax is great when you can get it but it has lousy building penetration and sucks the battery. Also who wants to be toggling radios all the time?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
I agree with the sentiment. But I should say that those issues aren't inherent with the WiMax technology. The issue is that it is being run on 2.5ghz spectrum. LTE on Sprint will have the same issues at 2.5ghz. Building penetration will suck no matter the technology at that high of spectrum, really.

And as far as toggling radios go, that's just another issue of implementation rather than the technology. Its just the fact that no one would build integrated radios for them, and it has to be 2 separate ones. Same thing is true for current LTE users on Verizon (soon to be on Sprint).

So yes it sucks. But don't blame WiMax (great standard), blame Sprint's implementation.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] BrianDigital:
I thought they were doing lte on the nextel freq i think it's 750 or 800 it should be good then but i wished they would just over haul their backend like tmobile did which improved 3g speeds . If they still do business with clear and their spectrum i believe it will be used for tower to tower communication s

Dont get me wrong high speed mobile data like verizons lte is nice, but it's a little overkill for most instances
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Cabal_:
There are mixed reports of Straight Talk roaming for both voice and data (Edge). Your Mileage Will Definitely Vary.

http://www.howardforums.com/showthr...ports-roaming-(at-least-in-northern-Michigan)
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] iCaptivate:
I'm going to sell my iPhone 4S and buy a GNex. Then I go to the store and get the T Mobile Monthly 4G plan, the $60 one. The only question I have is the activation method and paying it monthly.

How do I go about doing those things? How do I activate and how do I pay it monthly since a bill won't be arriving?

Sorry if I'm being annoying, I just need to know. I've been on contract since I first got a phone so I don't what pre-paid is like.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] DOHCtor:
Pay it online at my.tmobile.com. You can even manage your account there and setup autopay so you don't have to worry about it.

By the way, If you're gonna get the $60 monthly4g plan, just go get it in store and have it setup there. The sim card is free, you just have to pay $60 up front (no tax). Then you can go home and setup your account at the tmobile site.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] 1cewolf:
Glad to see you're leaving Crapple behind! :D

They'll handle activation in the store. You can buy discounted refill PINs from Callingmart.com. Check their Facebook page; they usually run coupon specials at the start of each month.

You can redeem refill PINs by calling T-Mobile's customer support line: 877-778-2106. An automated voice will walk you through the process.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] xur17:
You can also redeem refill PINS on their website.

I also recommend using Callingmart. They normally have coupons for 5% some time during each month. In addition to the 5% off, you also don't have to pay tax, which same you even more. I pay ~$28.50 each month for my plan, which would cost a little over $30 without callingmart. It's not a lot, but it's worth the extra few minutes of effort to me.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Zorachus:
The pre-paid T-Mobile plan at $60 per month for full unlimited has me very interested, I use a lot of minutes every month for sales.

****ing Verizon is almost twice that price right now :mad: Plus with this T-Mobile plan, I could then buy any new GSM international phone I like, and just use this same plan over and over, and not be handcuffed into a contract. As opposed to always waiting on Verizon to release a good phone, but then still be stuck on their high plan.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] hoodred:
T-Mobile only support 1700 and 2100 band for their 3G and HSPA+

So you will need to get a phone that support both of those band.

Most international phone are quad band which support AT&T 3G and HSPA+

So far there are only several phones with penta band (At&T and T-Mobile)

Galaxy Nexus

Huawei Ascend D/P1/P1s

Meizu MX

Nokia lumia 710
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
They're deploying on 2.5ghz for the foreseeable future, as they're holding onto their Nextel push-to-talk spectrum for a while longer, unfortunately.

Sprint couldn't do what T-Mobile did with 3G because Sprint is a CDMA carrier. EVDO maxes out theoretically at about ~3mbps, in perfect conditions. No amount of backhaul can make it faster. Their only option was to step up to a new technology (Verizon saw this too, which is why they were the first to push LTE). Sprint just chose first and went w/ WiMax and it didn't work out (aforementioned reasons).

---------- Post added at 11:46 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:44 AM ----------

Yes ver true, although we'd at least expect the Nexus phones to be pentaband. More and more devices are as well.

There's always AT&T MVNO's too.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Zorachus:
Thanks, so I might be better off with Straight Talk ? But I am just worried if I go into a roaming area with no coverage ? Or they bone me on data streaming YouTube ? But my Verizon use is always below 2gb every month, typically like 1 - 1.5gb / month
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
You don't get roaming on any prepaid carrier, not just Straight Talk. They don't let you roam and get roaming charges, you just don't have service.

As far as Straight Talk data caps go, if you're under 2gb you have nothing to worry about. And if it doesn't work you can always try someone else.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] BrianDigital:
they def are moving lte to the nextel bands

heres one source

http://gigaom.com/broadband/sprint-replacing-nextel-network-relic-with-lte-in-2014/
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] mototireguy:
Bingo!

I'm also using the monthly $49 + taxes Tmo unlimited talk/text with 200mb/month of data. I'm very satisfied with the Tmo service and data speeds. Average data speeds (depending on local network saturation) range from 2Mbps down with sometimes 9Mbps down.

I rarely exceed the 200mb data limit (I'm usually on Wifi) and when I have exceeded the 200mb limit Tmo charges very small/cheap overuse rates. No bend over charges.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
Of course they are (as I said). But not right now. They're so far away.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
What plan is this? T-Mobile doesn't charge overages, they throttle.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
Heard a few talk about callingmart.com in this thread, how have you found the service? Couldn't hurt to save ~9%-10% on my refills. Is it just an instant e-mail delivery with a code for a refill?

I'm also confused on which T-Mobile card to select for my T-Mobile Monthly4G $30 100 / UL / 5GB plan. Will this suffice? http://www.callingmart.com/products/wireless/ProductDetail.aspx?ID=265&name=T-Mobile-Monthly-Plan . And I'm assuming it just puts the $$ on the account (as if you added from your credit card or bank account), and doesn't effect your refill date?

It also says on that page that you need to call in to redeem, can't I just redeem the PIN from my.t-mobile.com? (see pic).

View attachment 1037889

TIA.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] okayokayokay:
Speed Concerns

My new T-Mobile 5gb/100 minutes plan is active, but I'm not seeing great speeds with SpeedTest. My old AT&T "unlimited" iPhone plan (SIM in the SGN) gives me

6.86 Mbps down

1.09 Mbps up

but with the new T-Mobile SIM I get

.87 Mbps down

.75 Mbps up

I'm beginning to wonder if this is such a good idea after all. I would be saving $50 a month - so it may be worth it. I have yet to test other locations. The Network Signal Info app says:

Net. Type HSDPA (7.2Mbit/s)

Strength:-67dBm (ASU:25)

I have "4 bars" and an "H" in the icon. Any ideas why T-Mobile is so slow for me?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] bobsbbq:
Check your APN settings I think there has been some posted here. Also after you activated did you make a call first? Power cycle etc? I had this at first and now I'm getting around 3-5 Mbps in my area.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] jbeez:
My speeds were slow for like the first day,i think your acct info has to propagate through their system perhaps. Maybe they do a daily import of allowed sims or idk, just speculation
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] okayokayokay:
Thanks bobsbbq and jbeez.

I got a second text confirming my plan and suddenly my speeds are much better

2.6-3.8Mbps down and .65-1Mbps up.

I think I was throttled for the first day before their network recognized my plan.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] urinsane:
I'm on the $30 plan too, and used Callingmart for my refill last month.

It appears that all of the T-Mobile refills work regardless of the plan you are on (as they should!). I bought the $40 one here: http://www.callingmart.com/products...To-Go-Prepaid-Wireless-Airtime-Minutes-Refill

Which has a different description than the one you posted, but it worked fine.

How it worked for me:

Placed order and paid. After no more than 5 minutes, someone from Florida (I believe) called me to verify all my info. Their site says they should only need to do this for the first order. The person calling was fast and efficient, and took less than a minute to get everything they needed. They let you know you will be getting the verification from T-Mobile shortly, and they were correct. Within about 10 minutes (could have been less) I received the text message letting me know $40 had been added. It also reflected in my T-mobile.com account. I do not believe they will send you a pin code to add it to your account yourself; I am sure they don't want you reselling codes.

At the end of the month, my balance went from $40 to $10, and I'm good for another month. The only way it could have been easier is if I used the auto-fill option through T-Mobile. Taking taxes into account and the 2% discount from callingmart, I am saving about $1 per refill right now though, and I've heard callingmart puts up additional discount codes from time to time as well. They also have some kind of rewards/points program but I don't see any info on how that works. Just noticed that you can apparently setup and autorefill through Callingmart as well.

TL;DR: I recommend Callingmart.com
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
Wow thanks for the granular info. I love long form answers :)

So you just give them your T-Mobile phone # and they refilled it for you based on that? I'm assuming you just link that # to your CallingMart account so your future purchases work the same way.

Looks like I'll be using them. The prices at least save me 9% (sales tax in my area). Looks like there's regular coupons for ~3% off every refill also. Right now they have a "Mother's Day" 5% off coupon till May 15th. Might buy a $60 reload for 2 months. Can't hurt.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] urinsane:
Yeah, I do like to hear myself type. ;P

And yes, they get the mobile number you want to refill during checkout, and confirm it over the phone.

I just got an email from them on the mothers day special and will likely be placing an order shortly!

Edit: just put a $60 on. I got the text from T-Mobile while the PayPal request was still being submitted! Fast and easy and came out to $57 all said and done!
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
Baller. Thanks again. I'm gonna do the same. Just re-upped on the 30th but I'll reload before the 15th. Money just sits in my account so doesn't matter when I reload.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] urinsane:
Yeah I'm pretty happy with it.

BTW, I see you are at WWU. Both my parents went there but I ended up at WSU. Born and raised in Tacoma... until I packed my **** and moved to an island, lol.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] thetrailofdead:
callingmart with the coupon discounts are awesome.

does anyone know if there is a way to forward a GV call to my phones actual number only if I dont have data? i.e. when i cant receive it via google chat. thanks in advance.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
Nice! Not a fan of WSU tho :p

I'm originally from the Fircrest area.

Well you can have it forward normally with Google Voice's settings. Just go into voice.google.com settings and have it forward to the phone #.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] feedmylittletroll:
OMG how is this not stickied yet? A lot of good information know matter what phone you have!!!
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] thetrailofdead:
It looks like talkatone can dynamically switch this, but it requires the premium version. Can groove IP call my cell number if I dont have data?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] codesplice:
I tested that out for a bit... it doesn't seem to be terribly reliable. Needs a data connection to poll their server and let it know to make the switch. Then again, I never found Talkatone itself to be terribly reliable. Its compression makes it great for a slow wifi network (like I have at work), but it will just randomly decide not go connect.

Nope, that also relies on the google chat data connection.

The best solution I've found so far:

- GrooveIP/Talkatone set to make/receive calls on wifi only.

- a Tasker profile configured with the Google Voice Settings plugin to toggle which phones get forwarded Google Voice calls depending on my wifi connectivity status

This seems a bit more robust/reliable than Talkatone's built-in dynamic-forwarding as it will patiently wait for a data connection to be established (you know, a few seconds after I leave wifi) rather than just instantly giving up.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] xur17:
I currently just have all of my calls forwarded to both my cell phone, and my google chat account, and use tasker to disable the cell phone connection whrn I am connected to wifi. Since I get texts via data too, I have no need for the cell phone network when on wifi. This also had the bonus of making my battery last longer on wifi.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] codesplice:
That's even simpler. By "disable the cell phone connection" does that mean enabling Airplane mode?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] codesplice:
Well after fighting with Tasker all day, I finally discovered a good solution for automatically enabling airplane mode when wifi is connected WITHOUT killing the wifi connection.

You need to be on the latest Tasker beta from http://tasker.dinglisch.net/beta.html, which allows you to select which interfaces are affected by airplane mode.

I set up a new profile with "Wifi Connected" as the context and the following task:

Then I just added an "Airplane Mode Off" exit task for when I disconnect from wifi. Works great!