yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Nexus 4 General] maigre:
I've been on this plan for about a week now with the Nexus 4 and am still feeling my way through. I love the idea and the potential, but am not sure, yet, if it's going to work for me.

Ideally, I'd use Vonage, Viber or Skype to dial out along with any of those three to talk with my wife and others who have accounts. I'd take some incoming calls via T-Mobile, refuse others and call back with VOIP. But so far, using those services has been a huge disappointment, especially from home. I don't know why this is, because my wifi bandwidth here is solid (Comcast at 20-25 mbps), as is my T-Mobile HSPA+ (14-15 mbps). Viber has been a near complete failure with at least one party usually failing to hear the other, even on Viber to Viber calls. It's possible that I have yet to have a single successful call lasting more than a minute. Small sample size, but still. Vonage has been better, but shaky at home, even with Vonage to Vonage calls. Dial out calls with Vonage have been a consistent bust. I can hear the recipient, but they rarely hear much of me. I keep getting "poor network reception" messages. Again, I can't imagine why. In some other locales, it's been better, even excellent. I've used Skype a lot over the years, but not yet with this phone, other than for one dial out call, which went fine. This is a heavily populated area, Silicon Valley, perhaps ironically.

I'm willing to incur some minutes charges, even up to 100-200 a month extra once in awhile. It's still cheaper than the $60 or $70 a month prepaid.

That said, I'd prefer to make this work for as close to $30 a month as I can. My wife may end up getting the same plan, so if we can both make it work, we can save a lot of cash. I have a GV account, but haven't yet used it as a way around using T-Mobile minutes. I'll probably try something soon, one of the many approaches mentioned in this and other threads. The Asterisk server on AWS has seems appealing, but I don't know that I want to go to all the trouble. Plus, I'm concerned that if I can't even get a decent connection at home with Vonage or Viber, that all the work could be futile and I don't want to spend that much time for something I'm not pretty sure I can make work.

I'm open to any recommendations (I'm aware of the approaches mentioned in this and a few other threads) in terms of a semi-geeky approach instead of full out, i.e., something that works pretty well with reliable connections and good audio quality. I see what those options are, but maybe it's just trial and error to see what's going to work on my connections and locales. I'm a software pro, so I can handle any of this stuff, but I'm not looking to acquire the expertise required to do what some of you are.

More than anything, though, I'm just telling my story, because I think there are probably a lot of readers here in a similar boat, looking to make the best of this plan without devoting so much time to it that the time spent negates the savings gotten. Which is not to say I don't respect and admire the efforts to do all that. :) I'm grateful for all that's been shared here. I've learned a lot.
[Nexus 4 General] sashusmom:
Good luck with making it work for you. And I agree- the challenge is stretching your minutes in exchange for the 5 gb data for your $30.

Never heard of heytel! Have to look into that one.

I have my GV as my main number. I forward it to home when I am home, or have the multi ring on to ring cell and home so I can answer on my home phone and not use tmo minutes. It helps to try only to use them for outgoing calls.

I found I don't use much data, so I am trying ptel or platinumtel, an mvno of tmo. Their data is 10 cents/mb, minutes are 5 cents, texts are 2cents. I still have 6 weeks of tmo to go. So I am using both to see how ptel runs. It also supports conditional call forwarding for GVoicemail. But it costs to forward to GV- an extra nickel or so per call, depending on the length of message left.
[Nexus 4 General] GavinMazey:
10 cents a MB would work out to about $100 per GB. Be careful with that data.
[Nexus 4 General] smanthrav:
Re: T-Mobile $30 Prepaid Plan Users

Been using sipdroid for a lot couple of days now and I think I'll stick to it for a while. Audio quality isn't great but its definitely on the higher side of average. Other methods seem a bit complicated now but that might change after a while.
[Nexus 4 General] sashusmom:
That is true, but if you only have $20 or so on your account, it can't run away. They won't bill. Just use what you have on hand. But I installed Droidwall to restrict just about everything on 3g just in case. Data for me would be for emergency use only when out and about. I'm always around wifi.

I was one of the ones who resented having to pay $30/mo more just to have a smartphone on att cause if I used 200 mbs a month, that was alot. I would have preferred to block my data and keep the $30 a month :p Essentially what I will be doing now. My husband and 2 grown kids pay $230 on att with 2 smartphones and a dumbphone. I will be paying $10/month ? 200 min/400text or a combo of the two. I keep saying if I can do it, so can they. Once they get out of contract!!!!!:p

The beauty is if it doesn't work out cheaper, I can go anywhere :victory:
[Nexus 4 General] bisache:
Thanks for the info, this help a lot.
[Nexus 4 General] farmerbb:
Not necessarily - I ported my number over to $30 T-Mobile prepaid directly from T-Mobile postpaid (as part of a family plan) online, and didn't run into any issues whatsoever. In fact, my prepaid service was up and running fully within five minutes. No need to port out and port back in.
[Nexus 4 General] bozzykid:
If you get a new SIM going from post-paid to pre-paid is a simple process. All you need is a new sim activation kit. You can get a T-mobile rep to do it without a new SIM, but it is difficult unless you get the right rep.
[Nexus 4 General] SWOLEGASM:
After 5gb you'll get slower speeds, it won't just shut off.. But it will be very slow.
[Nexus 4 General] keijikage:
I have read plenty of stories with people having issues over the last year for both those methods(using old sim/buying and activating a new sim), specifically for the $30/mo 100 min/5gb plan due to the requirement of "New Activation Only".

It's possible they have relaxed their policies, but ultimately I'm not the one who's going to be on the phone with customer service. I think it is worth considering as T-mobile's customer service isn't exactly known to be stellar, and you are trying to give them less money!
[Nexus 4 General] clockcycle:
I just hit mine earlier today, tomorrow is renew date. I got a txt telling me and that I would get edge speeds. Im getting 56-92k/116k
[Nexus 4 General] bozzykid:
You can hit the menu button and select the option to view Group Participants. All replies to a group MMS are sent as a MMS to all users in the group. Obviously you have to be using the stock messaging app for all of this.
[Nexus 4 General] dopeismarcus:
I currently have VM and im going to switch to TMOBILE and get the Nexus 4 next month. I'd like to thank everyone who contributed in this thread.
[Nexus 4 General] hp420:
I went to 4 different walmart stores last night looking for a tmobile monthly 4g sim kit. every single one only had their god-awful family mobile sim kits.....one guy even went as far as to say "but that is tmobile" *facepalm*

I'm telling everyone here this, because it looks like walmart is no longer selling anything but their own sh!tty service from now on. They claim they stopped selling them for "security concerns." If you need a sim for monthly 4g, just call tmobile or go on their website. Unfortunately, this means we no longer have the option of getting a phone activated in a quick fashion anymore unless you're willing to pay $50 for the same sim kit from a tmobile store :rolleyes: this is completely disgraceful!!! I can't tell you how aggravated I was last night that I had my nexus 4 in my hands but I couldn't even use it because of walmart's half brain-dead employees!! Maybe if the employees would stop stealing all the damn sim cards this wouldn't be an issue!!

Words can't even describe the level of rage I felt last night all because of walmart!! Someone needs to do something about their worthless employees, already!
[Nexus 4 General] MrCapcom:
I'm going close to my 100 minutes but I hope I can stick it out. Does anyone know off hand how much another 100 minutes will be? I kinda want to switch to the 70 dollar plan for minutes not totally sure im sold on it just yet. I tried the VoIP solutions and they arent really working for me. I might try the one solution thats basically really hard to do or rather time consuming. Have you guys really noticed a difference going that route?
[Nexus 4 General] bozzykid:
After 100 mins, it is .10/minute. So if you add $10 to your account, you will get 100 more minutes.
[Nexus 4 General] hp420:
don't get more minutes from tmobile. just port your number to google voice and use skype. once your number is ported you can use it with any other app you choose and, it's yours for life. Just add that number to your skype account and it will ring through your nexus 4 without using your tmobile minutes, as long as you have a data/wifi signal.

Up-front, it will cost you $20 to port your number, and depending on when you do it, you may have to pay $30 up-front because you may need to get a new sim card and activate new service.

It's a small hassle to set up and get going, but in the long-term, this is the best bang for your buck. It's a one-time $20 fee to port the number, then $30 a month for the tmobile service, and $3 a month for unlimited calling with skype. This will upgrade your plan to unlimited calling, unlimited text, 5gb hspa+ data, unlimited 2g data. $33 a month.....you literally CAN NOT beat that!! (without sacrificing some major voice quality)
[Nexus 4 General] MrCapcom:
So Skype really works that good? I don't mind just using my google voice number I have actually given that one to everyone. So how do i setup Skype to do unlimited calls to make and receive?
[Nexus 4 General] whahn1983:
Skype is working good for me. I pay an extra $7 a month for unlimited US calling ($2.99/mo) and an incoming DID number ($12.05 every 3 months) to forward my Google voice calls to. So $37/mo all in, still cheaper than something like straight talk and works the best out of everything I tried.
[Nexus 4 General] bicycle_kick:
So I just ordered a Nexus4 and its on hold until march. I just did out the math and don't see any savings for almost 2 years because of my ETF from sprint is 350$ I just got the evo 4g lte in June. I don't see many people selling or buying these phones. I want to get this plan to save money but with the ETF is really kills it. Any ideas?
[Nexus 4 General] sooner82:
I got out of my verizon contract by finding someone on cellswapper to assume my contract. I had a grandfathered unlimited plan so once I posted it, I had someone contact me within a day to take over my contract. It was a pretty easy process through verizon. There's about a $20 fee to post, but worth it if you can avoid a huge ETF fee.
[Nexus 4 General] bicycle_kick:
all i see is that i can swap into another contract?
[Nexus 4 General] raiderep:
Anyone in here been playing with Vonage? It works really well for me but I can't seem to get it to show me calling from my Google voice number. I'm off to Google it but thought I'd ask here too.

Sent from my Nexus 4
[Nexus 4 General] smanthrav:
Try sipdroid....been using it with no problems whatsoever for the last week. I'm not sure if it would work while driving though.

---------- Post added at 09:53 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:51 AM ----------

I added my Google voice number to Vonage but callers complained that my voice kept breaking so I stopped using it. You have to add your Google voice number when you register.
[Nexus 4 General] maigre:
I'm also in NorCal and am getting mixed results with Vonage, though I don't think the problems are Vonage specific. It's all dependent on the strength of the connection. If a pretty slow connection is supposed to be sufficient, I'm finding that it's not. That's probably an argument for the Asterisk server approach. My wife's old AT&T 3G connection can be really slow, so when it is, even our Vonage to Vonage calls don't work. They're not kidding when they flash those "poor network connection" messages in a red typeface. But if the connection is strong, my Vonage to Vonage or Vonage to phone number connections both work very well most of the time and with excellent sound quality. But I've had too many bad calls to be comfortable.

On top of it, for some reason, my T-Mobile mobile data speeds in a few locations here today were abysmal. This is in a populated Silicon Valley area. (This region, local industry aside, is not exactly a hotbed of blazing internet speeds, regardless of the provider.) One test produced, I kid you not, 30 kbps download speeds. Slow speeds went on for a couple of hours in different locales in town here, then returned to the typical 14+ mbps that I've been getting so far.

Hopefully, the slow hours were an aberration. I don't mind using enough call minutes to exceed the 100 minute limit, even to go over by 100 or 150 a month sometimes. But I have to find a way to feel comfortable that my VOIP calls are going to work well enough that this plan and phone work out. I love the device and "pure" Android experience, but am unconvinced by T-Mobile. But it's too soon to draw conclusions.

My Vonage calls do show my voice number, at least the one that I used when I created the account. Check your Settings > Setup screen to see what your country and phone number are. If things aren't right, I'd suggest deactivating the account and starting over again.
[Nexus 4 General] bboylito:
I need help

Hi I need help. I've been able to setup sipdroid to make and receive all calls from my Google voice number using pbxes. So I guess I'm supposed to give everyone my google voice number as my main #? I'm fine with that. But what about texts? Especially MMS.

I haven't been able to find any guides that show how to have one cohesive number for all calls, sms, and mms. Is it even possible? Right now I have to tell people to call em at my google voice number, but text me at my tmobile number. I have the $30 unlimited data and text plan with Tmobile so i'd much rather use the tmobile network for sms/mms. Can someone lead me in the right direction please?
[Nexus 4 General] raiderep:
Thanks for both responses. I tried twice to set it up with the text confirmation and no dice. Maybe I need to try it with the voice confirmation method? Either way the connection I got with my T-Mobile number was way better than groovip and doesn't require using Google talk which was an issue for me. I just want a way to cut down on minutes as I haven't stayed under 100 yet in four months. I'm thinking vonage will be fine with having friends text me to call them when they need to talk. I think we are still in the early stages of WiFi/data calling and it should get smoother as more people start using it. Being on the cutting edge is fun but a little painful too :eek:

Sent from my Nexus 4
[Nexus 4 General] errorcod3:
I feel like this thread is going in circles. All your questions have been answered multiple times...
[Nexus 4 General] smanthrav:
Yes I ended up doing it through voice confirmation too.
[Nexus 4 General] hp420:
sign up for skype, and during registration use your google voice number instead of the one your carrier gave you.
[Nexus 4 General] Censura_Umbra:
In Google voice settings, on your computer. Click phones. Click SMS forwarding.

As for MMS, just have them email you or send it to your other number
[Nexus 4 General] KossKnowsKarate:
Can you guys post some speed test screenshots please?
[Nexus 4 General] CSX321:
This is fairly typical for me in my small Southern Illinois town, although I've seen as high as twice this speed.
[Nexus 4 General] clockcycle:
T-Mobile dropped their discounts to all resellers nationwide

Was just looking for a refill and noticed there aren't many. Checked callingmart for a coupon and got this:

https://www.facebook.com/callingmart/posts/10151283604081662

Dear Beloved Customers,

This is to inform you that T-Mobile dropped their discounts to all resellers nationwide as of February 1st, and unfortunately, it is down to a level that won't allow us to provide discounts on it anymore. (We have been losing on it for the past 5 days during the last promotion that ended yesterday, as we didn't want to fail our customers and cancel the promo before the announced end date).

We are actually trying our best to keep it at face value price and to not apply any extra surcharges (considering the payment processing charges and other fees we have, we might be losing on it, even when we sell it at retail value). For now you can still get callingmart points on every purchase, and it's still tax-free, of course!

We apologize for any inconvenience this might have caused you, but it's really out of our hands. We are currently providing it for our customers' convenience but not for profit anymore.

callingmart Team
[Nexus 4 General] hp420:
Of course they can't give discounts. They knew I was coming soon, and there's no way the universe would ever let me come out ahead.....EVER :rolleyes: lol
[Nexus 4 General] keijikage:
To be fair...its like 2.50 you save....30 a months is still a good deal..
[Nexus 4 General] baiju2012:
What is the code to get 5% discount?

Sent from my Nexus 4
[Nexus 4 General] keijikage:
T-mobile cut the discounts they were running through retailers - as far as I know, there are no more discounts anymore.
[Nexus 4 General] smanthrav:
Can someone tell me what settings they're using in sipdroid? I wiped data on it coz it was draining battery like crazy and now I'm not able to set it up again. Thanks!
[Nexus 4 General] R3DMUSTARD:
I'm thinking of switching over from Sprint, but want to make sure that I can keep my current phone number. Does this plan allow for you to port your number from another company or do you need to get a new number for it to work?
[Nexus 4 General] vickpick:
yeah, I ported my number from sprint. took about 7 hours for the transfer to be complete
[Nexus 4 General] hp420:
you can also port it to google voice if you'd like...then you never have to port it again ;)
[Nexus 4 General] Censura_Umbra:
Plus VoIP solutions that work well with Google voice
[Nexus 4 General] falcon26:
Does this plan have unlimited mobile to mobile on any network?
[Nexus 4 General] Mr Ian B:
No, you get 100 minutes to any phone period. No free nights or weekends. I use Skype when on wifi to avoid using minutes and their audio quality is excellent. It is $2.99 per month unlimited in the USA.

Around the third week I run out of minutes and just add $10 refill card to hold me till next cycle. Overall cost to me is $42.99 per month.

Ian B
[Nexus 4 General] GavinMazey:
Just got this plan yesterday and I am doing what ian suggested above and it's perfect. One question though with your tmo minutes is each call considered 1min even if it's like 10sec. I make multiple under 30 sec calls daily.
[Nexus 4 General] Censura_Umbra:
Yes
[Nexus 4 General] erupe:
Nobody here is talking about the vonage app anymore. 3000 free minutes to US or Canada using your real number. How can you beat that?
[Nexus 4 General] thebryceee:
For $42.99, you might as well go on straight talk and spend $3 more for unlimited minutes.

Sent from my Nexus 4
[Nexus 4 General] acegolfer:
Nobody talks about Vonage Mobile (VM) because it has a big flaw (you can't receive calls). If you have been following XDA, you should know that there are many better solutions that can easily beat VM.
[Nexus 4 General] Mr Ian B:
Also checking your vm counts towards the 100 mins.

Ian B

---------- Post added at 06:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:12 PM ----------

Tried it for a month and was laggy, hard to hear other party. Switched to Skype and as clear as if the person was sitting next to you. Def worth the $2.99 per month for USA calls.

Ian B
[Nexus 4 General] raiderep:
I use it and its fine for saving minutes here and there. If I'm out of minutes my friends can text me to call them back and most understand about saving minutes and money so they don't mind.

Sent from my Nexus 4
[Nexus 4 General] legoman666:
Does anyone else's data not work when in Edge areas? I live in Cincinnati. If I drive north on I71 to Columbus, as soon as I lose 3g at King's Island, I get no data when I'm on 2g until I catch 3g again in Columbus. Same deal going west to Indianapolis on I74, southwest to Louisville on I71, and south to Lexington on I75.

If it says "E", it doesn't work. No connection to Google, no data. Texts and voice work fine. If it says "G", it works, but obviously is slow. The phone doesn't say it's roaming. I've been to areas where it says roaming.

Am I the only one?
[Nexus 4 General] chancy319:
Definitely. $30 + $3 is a pretty good deal.
[Nexus 4 General] clockcycle:
walmart recharge card

I was hanging out at the prepaid section, when I notice this card hidden between others. It's a recharge card for $0.01 that can be reused. Humm I thought this is new. Wonder if they charge tax on a recharge. I asked the cashier in the area, she said no tax. I finished my shopping went to pay and refill.. Cashier was wrong, it charged sale tax on the recharge amount..

---------- Post added at 10:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:13 PM ----------

Straight Talk services get throttled at random data use, or just cut off without warning. I was on it before switching to this prepaid plan.
[Nexus 4 General] vickpick:
No, just install the visual voicemail app. that uses the internet
[Nexus 4 General] thebryceee:
Which sim?

Sent from my Nexus 4
[Nexus 4 General] tpboi:
was anyone able to upgrade to this plan from a tmobile on-the-go prepaid account? or is it possible to transfer the balance to the new account, i just refilled my current account with $100 ...
[Nexus 4 General] thebryceee:
It's for new accounts only.

Sent from my Nexus 4
[Nexus 4 General] revamper:
Can I use my t mobile number for outgoing calls on the Skype $3 unlimited?
[Nexus 4 General] thebryceee:
Yeah. You have to change it in settings on the desktop version of the Skype website.

Sent from my Nexus 4
[Nexus 4 General] sashusmom:
You need to get a new activation kit online for 99 cents or free if you hit it right, and call the prepaid line and tell them what you want to do and ask if it is possible to open a new account on monthly 4g 100 min, unl text and data- BE very Specific about this plan- and you want to transfer your current number and balance. You need a new refill card for $30 too, so have a refill pin ready to go. I don't think you can use your old balance for this. If they say no, can't be done, hang up and call again till you get someone who knows how to do it. I took 2 calls. Again, be very specific with the plan you have now- PAYG, and tell them you have a new activation kit. That's important- cause you need a new account established, and they should be able to move the number and balance over.

I did it and it was done within an hour or two. Took till the next morning to show up online, but on my phone tmobile app, it was correct immediately with the correct balance. You will know cause you will have a new start and end date that has already been activated, and your old balance.
[Nexus 4 General] imobileface:
What is the code to get 5% discount?
[Nexus 4 General] gagdude:
They no longer offer 5% discounts for T-Mobile cards
[Nexus 4 General] lscotte:
I gave my wife my sgs2 when I got my n4, and set her up with the $30 plan no problem. Ordered the sim online for $0.99, and activated it online. Forget Walmart, just order it for a buck online!