yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[General Topics] br0adband:
You don't have a lot of people, basically. Here, with 330-340 million people and a lot of cell phones, businesses love profits so they are effectively free to screw everyone as much as possible to eek out every last possible cent of profit as far and wide as they can.

Greed, plain and simple.
[General Topics] gloppe:
I don't really see a difference in device prices. In Europe you pay the same as you pay in NA, only in Euros. Which of course is a **** move, but it's consistent across all products, be it games, computers or what have you. Stuff is just more expensive there in general.

As for the size argument. I don't really see how that would make a difference? Why would the European providers not be greedy? Internet is so much cheaper in Europe too. Just doesn't make sense to me.
[General Topics] STi_Fanatic:
In Europe you pay 200 euro for a brand new device?

Keep in mind the service is likely tied to the infrastructure costs too. European countries are TINY compared to the US. Less footprint to roll out = less money to maintain the infrastructure = cheaper service.
[General Topics] gloppe:
Sure you do.

Sure those plans are more expensive too then and not like the 10 Euros I mentioned. But there ARE plans that are dirt cheap like the 10 Euro one. That simply doesn't exist in NA.

Well but this is what I don't understand, sure there is more infrastructure involved, but the companies are therefore bigger and have a million times more customers. It's all scaled up, it's not just the land size. So there is also much more revenue involved. So that can't be an excuse.
[General Topics] h20wakebum:
I currently have Sprint SERO plan and bought the nexus 5 and signed up for the $30 T-Mobile pre-paid plan.

It only took me 3 days to decide I was going to cancel my Sprint plan AND sign up for the $70 T-Mobile Unlimited Plan.

I get a 15% discount so it brings my bill down to $59 + tax (basically $70 all in).

I did this because of 2 reasons:

1) no forwarding on pre paid

2) no way in hell 100 minutes would be enough... I use around 700 a month so it made more sense to sign up for the $70.

The rep. told me I could always drop down to the $60 2.5gb LTE plan if i found i was not using that much data (which in reality i probably will do as i'm on WIFI most of the day).

I did side by side speed tests/call test and T-Mobile bested sprint in every instance.

Known locations to drop sprint calls... no problem for Tmobile...

Anywho... thought I'd share my results with you all.

Santa Monica CA is my home base.

I'm really happy to actually have FAST LTE speeds and i'm happy to pay for them.

On a side note... I did not purchase the $8 per month insurance with tmobile... I just don't think it's necessary... Any thoughts on buying the insurance on a phone you pay up front for?

Thanks,

RR
[General Topics] crucialcolin:
Just FYI the T-mobile stores wont activate the $30 plan. I was at one recently and quite a few people came in looking for the plan with the Nexus 5. Its online only or walmart if you're local walmart still offers it.
[General Topics] dazz87:
Yeah straight talk is good if u don't run into any issues. Goodluck with their customer service they are horrible
[General Topics] ceecee10:
Skype?

Spare phone, groove IP and talkatone is not working well for me. I am thinking about getting a skype number. Anybody using skype number out there what is your experience?
[General Topics] wideasleep1:
I've been using Skype for about 6 months and it works just fine the best call quality of them all.
[General Topics] cas8180:
I have found their online chat support to be very fast and effective.
[General Topics] kayone73:
Don't speak to a human customer rep to activate the $30 prepaid plan either, i was told by them they are unable to activate it for you. Do it on the T-Mobile website.

Also Im told the $30 Walmart plan is not the same as the $30 plan on the website

Sent from my Nexus 5
[General Topics] Ash359:
I was really confused about the Wal-Mart deal. I went there first and they didn't have SIM cards, would have had to buy one if their cheap phones and taken the SIM from it.

They weren't too sure what I was talking about.

I just did the whole thing online and over the phone. They were very helpful to me however that was a long time ago when they first offered it. Surprised it's still an option.

One thing to note though, the T-Mobile Wi-Fi calling app still uses your 100 minutes.

I learned that the hard way.

Sent from my Jedi Master Note II
[General Topics] lordroy:
I use GrooveIP ... no minutes used.
[General Topics] jerflash:
the best app to use is the vonage app. If you get a call from someone juet call them back and it will look like its coming from your number...and its free in the usa. Call quality even on LTE or HSPA+ is amazing. I had to set my APN Protocol to ip4v to get it to work on mobile but i did that to get by the hotspot issue anyway.

Seriously this is the best plan around if you are in a major city
[General Topics] travblue:
Solavei has 4G now
[General Topics] AlexNC75:
As soon as the Nexus 5 is released, I too plan on switching from my grandfathered unlimited Verizon plan to this Tmobile $30 plan. I was a little hesitant until Google just announced that true VOIP is about to come to Hangouts. This essentially gets rid of my fear of going over my voice minutes. When at home I will just need to make sure I am connected to my Wifi so the minutes don't count against my Tmobile allotment. This is truly a great deal if you have decent Tmobile coverage in your city.

I have question for all of y'all that are currently on the $30 plan. The Tmobile site states:

Will I have to wait until I get my Nexux 5 in my hands to get this plan set up? Or can I go ahead an purchase the plan and be ready for when the phone actually arrives? I would love to go ahead an purchase it now without activation if possible. If so, would it be better to do this through the Tmobile website or at Walmart?
[General Topics] Shinyhead:
I am also to planning to do this change as well. From what I have found out, you can only activate the $30 prepaid plan online with the phone in hand, so I bought a couple prepaid sim cards when they were only $0.99 each. I usually try to avoid going to the stores to talk to sales people since they are not always aware of everything that is happening. I recommend to purchase the prepaid sim card and activate online. when you get the phone.
[General Topics] skinien:
You can buy a sim card from T-Mobile's website now and activate it as soon as you get your phone.
[General Topics] RhinoShock:
I have a question for those who have done this already. Is there a way to get incoming and outgoing VOIP calls through the main phone app? Or if I do this will I have to go use grooveIP/Hangouts (when the VOIP update comes) when i'm connected to wifi and use the normal phone app when I'm out and about.
[General Topics] 2.0t03speed:
i'm about to switch over to this plan my self. t-mobile still has the sim's for 99cents you just have to use the code octsim when you checkout. i ordered the sim and a refill card from walmarts website (they send you the pin via email) so now all i have to do is buy the nexus 5 when it gets released then it's good to go. Quick question about google voice can you route your main carriers number through google voice? so when i'm at home on wifi i can still receive my calls through my main account number but they will be over voip instead of using my minuets. i don't think it works like that but i just wanted to check before i have to port my number to google voice.
[General Topics] newtooroot:
sim or micro sim?

Are we SURE we need a micro sim card? Never used a sim card . Want to order one in advance for .99 with the tmobile special.

I saw nano, micro and sim.

tuvm
[General Topics] Ajfink:
Definitely a micro-SIM.

Sent from my Nexus 4
[General Topics] PassingThruLife:
I'm surprised no one in this thread mentioned the Vonage app. It let's you use your real phone number to make outgoing calls and the quality over wifi and 3g is great,I assume it would be even better on 4g LTE.

Could make all outgoing calls on Vonage and save the 100 mins for important incoming calls.
[General Topics] nickotine18:
Thanks for the tip! I just bought myself a micro sim and now I am wondering what to do after I buy the N5 and have to switch sim? How do I go about transferring data from my old sim to this new micro sim that I just bought?
[General Topics] kimtyson:
Not sure what exactly you want to transfer. I use Google and transfer using sync. This takes care of my Contacts and Calendar. There are apps that will backup\restore stuff like texts. What else did you want to transfer?
[General Topics] raichur0xx0rz:
Just go to the website to manage everything. I feel like that's simpler than dealing with Walmart.

I would actually recommend just getting a Nano-SIM and then getting an adapter set on Amazon. That way you can just use the same SIM card regardless of which phone you're using. Then again, if you plan to hold onto the Nexus 5 for a while, then it may not really matter for you.
[General Topics] 954wrecker:
http://www.droidnews.info/2013/10/2...ting-to-offer-free-tethering-on-prepaid-plans
[General Topics] nickotine18:
ruirmer chloride

I mean, how do I transfer my number from the old sim to the new sim? Do I just goto Tmobile and pay a fee?
[General Topics] Ajfink:
Can't you just use the Contacts app to do an import to your phone, insert your new SIM, and then export them to the SIM? Or just store contacts with Google (unless you dislike that idea)?
[General Topics] nickotine18:
I think you guys are misunderstanding what I'm trying to say. I am asking how to get the service from the old sim to the new sim. Not how to transfer contacts over, because I already know how to do that.
[General Topics] wideasleep1:
You simply activate the new SIM and port your number over in the activation process.
[General Topics] nickotine18:
Thank you!
[General Topics] sibaroochi:
LG Nexus 5 with Solavei - Free Sim Card

Alex,

You may also want to consider Solavei, as it uses the same HSPA+ network as Tmobile and is unlimited voice and data. I've been using it with my Nexus 4 since that phone came out last year.. been pretty happy with the speeds here in Miami. I found a way to get a Nexus 5 sim card for free before the phone comes out: http://bit.ly/18I50hM

Hope that helps
[General Topics] Shinyhead:
N5 uses micro Sim not nano Sim.
[General Topics] kimtyson:
Sorry. Misunderstood. You got your answer but contact T-mobile to transfer the number to the new SIM.

Pretty sure you are spamming for Solavei, which is $50 per month. Why would we spend $20 more. You did see the title of this thread, right?
[General Topics] jerflash:
it does for sure? last time i checked it did not. besides its more expensive...granted it does have unlimited voice

Edit: Actually **** that they raised all there prices! $49 only gets you 2 GB of highspeed now...used to get you 4gb! You have to pay $69 for 4gb now
[General Topics] RayLancer:
Here's what I get in Sacramento after the APN fix. Much more stable and consistent speed.
[General Topics] letakomahieu:
There is no option for you to choose to the walmart $30 plan in Tmobile website.

There only way you can do is buy a activation card and the sim card compatible with your phone then call the Tmobile Representative and they will tell you able or unable.

In my case is Im currently T-Mobile customer's. And I bought a activation card and the simcard from walmart. Then I called the T-Mobile representative and asked if Im able to switch to $30 Walmart plan. And he said Im eligible to switched. Btw Im on prepaid plan switched to walmart 30$ without taken money from activation card, they took my money directly from my account.

So my opinion is, if you are currently tmobile customer or not, just go ahead an ask before buying the activation card!

Now I still got the 30$ activation card, and dont know what to do with it.

I will donation to any (hard helper xda developers) if he or she is wanted !

First inbox me will get the code :D I will make sure to check if it is a fake developer!
[General Topics] br0adband:
It's not a Walmart plan, it's a T-Mobile plan and you can get it one of two ways:

- IN a Walmart store

- ON T-Mobile.com

That's it. Yes there are some people having luck with calling in to T-Mobile and getting someone knowledgeable to help set it up - not every rep will know about it because it's so well hidden for whatever reason, but as more and more find out about it things do become easier.

But it's not a "Walmart plan" per se. The way sign up and activate this has been explained numerous times in this thread so far, at least 9 times I've noted and I even explained it twice myself.
[General Topics] kayone73:
That is very not true, you can activate the $30 plan on the T-Mobile website, that's how i signed it up and it only took 30 min

Sent from my Nexus 5
[General Topics] plee3:
This is correct. I also activated a new SIM using the T-Mobile website for my Nexus 5 on the $30 plan. Everything went smoothly and was up and running with no problems.

Thanks... plee3
[General Topics] sorindobrin:
Here's my take on the $30 plan, and my set up. I have been using it for 2 years with my Gnex. I live in Fort Lauderdale area, South Florida. I used to get (HSPA) around 6MB speed and 120-150 latency...now on Nexus 5 LTE,I get 12MB and 40 latency.

I have set up auto payment and have them take an extra $10 per month, in case I run out of minutes for incoming calls ,I have family oversees and they call me, I don't want to get cut off in the middle of a phone call. This extra $10 , are roll over money , which means that if I only use extra 30 minutes they take 3 dollars, but next month they will only withdraw $33. I call this money "just in case money" ...I don't talk too much.

As for making calls I use an app called Voxofon, initially was just an app for calling internationally very cheap and high quality ,using a local access number , the last year they added VOIP , making calls over Wi-Fi and data plan. While being on Gnex and HSPA the call quality was not very good, due to high latency (getting echo, tiny voice ) , once I got the Nexus 5 the quality is very good, it sounds better than making calls straight through T-Mobile. When I'm on Wi-Fi at home, the calls quality is incredible...I call my mom in Romania and it sounds incredible. They charge 1.3 cents/minute to place a call in U.S.A....instead of the 10c that T-Mobile charges. So with $5 you get another 450 minutes.

I wanted to let people know about Voxofon, because I think it works very well with this specific plan , and it's a very easy set up...some people might get discouraged by the complexity of setting up, Google voice+ Groove ip, or any other VOIP set up. The app is very well integrated with the phone contacts list . You fire up the app, choose your contact and call away...it's that simple. I think they have free trial, so you can try it out see if it works good enough for you.

The only disadvantage is that your phone number it's not gonna show up, so the person that you call it's not gonna know who is calling.

This is my set up and it works great for me, for $35 I get 5GB and 500 minutes ...contracts, Verizon, expensive plans...No thank you

Sent from my Nexus 5 using my $30 plan :P.

Edit: now it's gonna look like I wrote this post for profit, I didn't...just remembered they have some referral program, if you create the voxofon account by clicking on my referral link , they'll give me some extra minutes. Of course you don't have to, you can just go on their website and do it . But if I helped you it's a way to say thank you. Referral link http://www.voxofon.com/r/3433445
[General Topics] letakomahieu:
Well you guys lucky to found that on T-Mobile site, all I see is $30 plan with 30mb of date and 1000min talk and some of txt !

Thanks for let us know :thumbup:
[General Topics] tsunami643:
Got my Nexus 5 yesterday and set up GVoice calling today. For anyone who's having difficulties, I followed this guide:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2035720

And I now have incoming and outgoing all going through the native Dialer over data. Only amendment I have to make on that guide is to leave the Proxy field blank when setting up CSipSimple. The whole PBX thing seemed intimidating at first, but this was incredibly simple to set up after I trialed and errored with SipDroid and pbxes.org and whatnot. Now I don't have to deal with any forwarders or voip apps, it's all native.
[General Topics] adrman:
Just make sure to note the warnings in that thread from post 2 forward. T-Mobile monthly prepaid plans do not have conditional call forwarding.
[General Topics] cas8180:
Magic jack is another option for making free calls and highly discounted internationally calls. I call Canada all the time from the states and it free and unlimited just download the app. One of my friends is homeless and he goes to Starbucks and uses text plus and magic jack and basically gets free service.
[General Topics] hoktrillian:
The density of population does make the difference

It is because the density of population. Therefore, east Asian countries have higher Internet speed with lower price while Canada has even higher price and lower speed than United States. For example, Hong Kong has low flat rate fixed line telephone service for everyone including business and residential service for more than half century. As a result, in old days, business have their fixed line telephone placed near the entrance for anyone to use for free.

---------- Post added at 03:54 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:36 AM ----------

Are you still able to make free outgoing calls to any telephone number in the United States? It appears that Vonage Mobile® app has stopped allowing free calls to any PSTN except those belong to Vonage home phone customers for a while as you can see from their web page.

---------- Post added at 04:21 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:54 AM ----------

Have you tried Voxox app? It uses VoIP so it is on Wi-Fi or data plan only, not voice minutes. Every month you get $1 credit for free and only 1¢ per minute for calling DIDs in Canada, Philippines and United States. Free to call toll-free DIDs in Canada and United States. Call to Romania costs 2.6¢ per minute for fixed line or 8¢ per minute for mobile phone. Moreover, they give DID in southern California and from iNum for free and outgoing CID works.
[General Topics] tsunami643:
Yeah, I was actually satisfied once I got outgoing and incoming to work on my Google Voice number. Thankfully I've been migrating most people over to my Google Voice number, so I don't really care about forwarding my actual number. This was just the only guide I found that used Simonics and CSip, which I preferred over SipDroid and pbxes.org.
[General Topics] adrman:
Yeah, I use csipsimple with flowroute and voip.ms. it's definitely the best sip client for Android.

---------- Post added at 11:54 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:52 AM ----------

I meant to ask in the previous post. I've read quite a few negative things on Simonics, but it's working well for you?
[General Topics] xerokai3n:
I have this plan and managed to convert 3 other people as well. Verizon lost 4 customers including myself, all due to pricing. Couldn't be happier, saving money & a nexus!? Xmas came early for me. And away I go to play with my shiny PS4, xmas is here indeed!
[General Topics] Ash359:
You know you can use that $30 card to pay your monthly bill

Sent from my Jedi Master Note II
[General Topics] nooktablet:
For some reason with this plan at my home and school when I change mobile data network mode to 3G I get 4 bar reception signal and when on LTE get 2 bar at home and 1 bar or no service at all at school.

I was planning on switching to AT&T next month but this "trick" may make me reconsider

And HSPA+ is fast enough for me. it's faster than my school Wi-Fi network anyway
[General Topics] BinkXDA:
Just curious—why flowroute and voip.ms—why not just use one?
[General Topics] adrman:
Short answer, I like to experiment. Long answer, I had voip.ms already on my home voip line and added another did for my gnex. I started having call quality issues with voip.ms and my gnex, so a couple of months ago, I gave flowroute a go. The really wasn't much improvement, so off to Skype I went. Skype had the best quality on the gnex, but crap integration with google contacts. When I got my N5, I decided to revisit my previous options and discovered that on the N5 they worked much better. Actually, flowroute worked the best, since it only supports pcmu. For some reason voip.ms would always connect with GSM, even though they're supposed to support pcmu as well. If I tried to force pcmu by only having that option in csipsimple, I couldn't get a connection. So at this point, I've let my Skype did expire, but just haven't got around to dealing with voip.ms yet. If I could get equal sound quality, I'd prefer to just keep voip.ms, since it has many more features available. Flowroute is pretty bare bones and designed for a pbx. Hope that answers your question. ?
[General Topics] dazz87:
Just signed up with Tmobile 30 bucks plan over the phone. Wow, I am getting LTE with 4 bars speed in my house. I had AT&T GoPhone and was getting 0-1 bars at home....And guess what Im paying 30 bucks vs 60 bucks (at&t) Makes no sense......:cool:
[General Topics] hubbs1982:
I just ordered my free activation kit, about to order the phone.

I am currently on Sprint and I cannot decide whether to port my sprint number to GVoice or to TMobile. The way I see it, GVoice basically doesn't work for texts, so if I port my number to them then I would want to use my new TMobile number for texting. Otherwise, if I port my number to TMobile and get a free number from Google, then I am going to have to answer calls on my TMobile minutes (or send to voicemail) and then call back using my random Google Voice number. Is this correct? Or is there a more elegant solution to get more than my 100 minutes?

Thanks
[General Topics] dazz87:
Remember that Google voice will charge you 20 bucks i think 20 or 30 to port over. Where Tmobile is free.
[General Topics] paperWastage:
calling through GVoice on your mobile phone still uses your minutes, unless you go through SIP/XMPP, but i think gvoice is retiring XMPP support (dunno, haven't done voip)
[General Topics] hubbs1982:
Thanks for the replies. I realize google charges for the port, but I figured it was money well spent if I got free minutes. I should have said that I planned on using Talkatone with GV whilst it is still available and then hopefully Hangouts will have an option.
[General Topics] letakomahieu:
So this is a limited time anh once you are made change you can't never go back !