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Rastor
Jun 2, 2001

Mister Fister posted:

Ahhhhhhhh ok, drat that sucks, so i guess those 1000 minutes from the refill cards don't last a full year?
Well it's not 1000 minutes, it's $100, which can convert to minutes at a rate of $0.10/minute. Amounts deposited from $100 refill cards don't expire until one full year, but, if you're on a smartphone plan, you're having at least $30 for the plan deducted every 30 days, so obviously the $100 will run out before a year is up.

If it would make you happy, I guess you could add $30 to your prepaid balance with a credit/debit card every 30 days, and also add a $100 refill, and imagine that the $100 refill is 1000 minutes which are lasting for a year?


DEO3 posted:

1) At first glance a Galaxy Nexus with the $30 100-minute T-mobile plan seems like the best bang for your buck right now, especially if you're using Google Voice (though I don't really 'get' how this works exactly) instead of your minutes, is that right? Unfortunately for me T-Mobile's data map says there's only 3G available in my area, which according to the OP means Google Voice is a no-no for me, and unless that plan had unlimited mobile to mobile my wife and I would blow through those 100 minutes talking to each other during our evening commutes in like three days.
Definitely I would recommend a fast connection for the Google Voice "trick". If your voice minutes are primarily used with your wife and you don't mind awkward walkie-talkie style communication, I hear some good things about the blip.me app, but you would both need to have a smartphone for that.

quote:

2) Having never owned a smartphone before I really don't have any idea of how much data I'll be using, so the other cheapskate option - Straight Talk, might also not be a very good fit for me. I spend a lot of my day driving, and can see myself using navigation, streaming music, and listening to podcasts on a daily basis, surely that'd blow through the 1-2GB cap each month?
Navigation, email, etc. use negligible data. For podcasts you can probably find a wifi spot to download them before you hit the road. Streaming is what really sucks up data, if you are just nonstop on Pandora, Spotify, Hulu, Netflix, etc., that's where you might go over a line.

quote:

3) That'd leave the discount carriers, it doesn't sound like Virgin has any sexy phones at the moment (though the rumored One V seems decent?), I've heard MetroPCS is terrible in my area, I don't know anything about Boost, and then after that plans get too expensive for me to consider.

Does that about sum things up as they are right now? Any thoughts on which direction I should go? I still feel awfully lost.
As an extremely happy owner of a Galaxy Nexus, I'd feel sad turning anyone away from getting one, it really is that great.

As I mentioned up-page SIMple mobile has a plan which is less than Straight Talk for unlimited on T-Mobile at $40/month, but they throttle speeds on that plan to less than 500kbps. If there really is no 4G coverage in your area, that may not be that much of a throttle, but it's a shame to put any kind of bandwidth throttle on a super modern smartphone.

I think in your case, my best advice is to get the Straight Talk plan on T-Mobile. I'm sure if your data usage turns out to be heavy they will give you a chance to reign it in before cutting you off. It's the super-ultra-heavy tetherers etc. that they really don't want, normal smartphone usage in all likelyhood will not get you in any hot water, especially if you're not on AT&T's expensive network, and double especially if you can switch to Wifi at home/work.


Straker posted:

My phone is pretty much like a little computer to me, I could probably scrape by with 100 voice minutes/month. I want a really good phone and could wait another month or so if needed... am I missing anything (either upcoming phones or something much better available with a contract) or is the Galaxy Nexus + T-Mobile $30/month pretty much the best thing for me? I have decent credit, I could go back to a contract but don't really see any compelling reason to.
That's what I figured when I got my Galaxy Nexus and switched to the T-Mobile $30 plan, and I'm very pleased with my decision.

quote:

I think the prepaid = poor paradigm is really loving stupid. Let me think, $400 up front for a decent phone, or $100-200 in exchange for being gouged an extra $50/month for two years? Why are rich people renting their phones instead of just paying for them? :allears:
Definitely I think more and more people will start doing the same math. If this direct sale of an unlocked phone takes off it might really shake up the mobile game in the USA.

Rastor fucked around with this message at 00:05 on Apr 26, 2012

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DEO3
Oct 25, 2005

Rastor posted:

As an extremely happy owner of a Galaxy Nexus, I'd feel sad turning anyone away from getting one, it really is that great.

As I mentioned up-page SIMple mobile has a plan which is less than Straight Talk for unlimited on T-Mobile at $40/month, but they throttle speeds on that plan to less than 500kbps. If there really is no 4G coverage in your area, that may not be that much of a throttle, but it's a shame to put any kind of bandwidth throttle on a super modern smartphone.

I think in your case, my best advice is to get the Straight Talk plan on T-Mobile. I'm sure if your data usage turns out to be heavy they will give you a chance to reign it in before cutting you off. It's the super-ultra-heavy tetherers etc. that they really don't want, normal smartphone usage in all likelyhood will not get you in any hot water, especially if you're not on AT&T's expensive network, and double especially if you can switch to Wifi at home/work.

First of all, Rastor you're awesome. You've got an awesome OP, you're awesome at replying to people, awesome awesome awesome.

What you recommended makes a lot of sense to me, at least until T-mobile gets some 4G towers in my area and I can get in on some Google Voice action. Is there any reason I shouldn't use the Galaxy Nexus with Straight Talk on AT&T though if they offer better coverage in my area (4G vs 3G according to their websites)?

I love that since I won't be on a contract I can just try different carriers and plans until I one that clicks, and if someone comes up with a better deal or improves their infrastructure I can just move over to them. This is really how it should be for everyone, hopefully in a couple of years contracts will be a thing of the past, or at the very least you'll be able to get most phones unlocked.

Rastor
Jun 2, 2001

DEO3 posted:

Is there any reason I shouldn't use the Galaxy Nexus with Straight Talk on AT&T though if they offer better coverage in my area (4G vs 3G according to their websites)?
If AT&T has HSPA+ coverage in your area by all means go for it. Again, if you're not streaming all day and all of the night you'll probably be just fine.

DEO3 posted:

This is really how it should be for everyone, hopefully in a couple of years contracts will be a thing of the past, or at the very least you'll be able to get most phones unlocked.
Here's hoping.

The Shep
Jan 10, 2007


If found, please return this poster to GIP. His mothers are very worried and miss him very much.

DEO3 posted:

1) At first glance a Galaxy Nexus with the $30 100-minute T-mobile plan seems like the best bang for your buck right now, especially if you're using Google Voice (though I don't really 'get' how this works exactly) instead of your minutes, is that right? Unfortunately for me T-Mobile's data map says there's only 3G available in my area, which according to the OP means Google Voice is a no-no for me

If the 3G is decent, Groove IP works alright. I've used it without problems on a 3g connection that ranges from 700-900kbps, though it's not ideal.

quote:

I spend a lot of my day driving, and can see myself using navigation, streaming music, and listening to podcasts on a daily basis, surely that'd blow through the 1-2GB cap each month?

You can get an app like "Beyond Pod" that downloads your podcasts overnight at your home wifi or hotel location, then you have your podcasts with you when you go without having to stream them.

SeaborneClink
Aug 27, 2010

MAWP... MAWP!

Crow_Robot posted:

e: It's also somewhat important to note that while you can port your postpaid number to a prepaid plan, you typically can't port your prepaid number to a postpaid plan.
This is blatantly untrue, and simply FUD.

You need the phone number you want to port, and any pin or pass code on the account, could be alpha-numeric, or could be just numbers. You should know it, because you created one when you initially set up your account. You will also need your account number. Postpaid account numbers are normally 9 digits, prepaid is usually your phone number.

Your current provider, as of 2010 has one business day to respond to the request and release the number, except in rare circumstances, which you would know about because if those situations applied to you.

If you'd like to read before making nonsense up.

MAJOR STRYkER
Jan 2, 2008

FIFTY THOUSAND PEOPLE USED TO LIVE HERE...

Rastor posted:

If this direct sale of an unlocked phone takes off it might really shake up the mobile game in the USA.

God I loving hope so. Cell phone companies and telecom companies have been ripping people off for way too long. 4kb sound file ringtones for 2.50$ anyone?

1karus
Jan 29, 2006

The Fun Machine
Took a Shit and Died
Lately, I've been reading about more and more people getting charged on various carriers for making calls using google voice, so I'm starting to get hesitant on switching from VM to T-Mobile.

Rastor
Jun 2, 2001

Do you have any links to what you've been reading?

A lot of people do not realize that calls via Google Voice are still calls, unless you are using a special app such as GrooVe IP.

Stick100
Mar 18, 2003

Rastor posted:

That's what I figured when I got my Galaxy Nexus and switched to the T-Mobile $30 plan, and I'm very pleased with my decision.
Definitely I think more and more people will start doing the same math. If this direct sale of an unlocked phone takes off it might really shake up the mobile game in the USA.

Also a happy GSM Galaxy Nexus T-Mobile user and would strongly recommend it for anyone that uses few minutes. Overcoming prepaid = poor will take quite awhile. Also people are very hesitant to spend more than $200 on cell phones so I think postpaid is here for at least a couple more years. Prepaid has no marketing, because no one has a monetary reason to support it. It's kind of like google sites vs all those "website for $10 a month" products. Google sites might be a great product but no one is marketing it.

I'm just happy that T-Mobile didn't get bought up and is supportive of premium prepaid.

Stick100 fucked around with this message at 18:04 on Apr 26, 2012

berzerker
Aug 18, 2004
"If I could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all."

Rastor posted:

Do you have any links to what you've been reading?

A lot of people do not realize that calls via Google Voice are still calls, unless you are using a special app such as GrooVe IP.

Right, on contract plans it's common for received calls not to count against your minutes, so people get used to that and think of Google Voice calls as free (they always count as received calls because of the way GV works). However, prepaid plans count incoming and outgoing minutes the same.

With GrooveIP/Talkatone, though, you're bypassing that entirely and calling entirely through data. I know that doesn't take minutes because while I'm out of the country I'm using my phone without any sim card at all exclusively over wifi via Talkatone, and haven't had any problems with that (aside from finding wifi, obviously).

Mister Fister
May 17, 2008

D&D: HASBARA SQUAD
KILL-GORE


I love the smell of dead Palestinians in the morning.
You know, one time we had Gaza bombed for 26 days
(and counting!)

berzerker posted:

Right, on contract plans it's common for received calls not to count against your minutes, so people get used to that and think of Google Voice calls as free (they always count as received calls because of the way GV works). However, prepaid plans count incoming and outgoing minutes the same.

With GrooveIP/Talkatone, though, you're bypassing that entirely and calling entirely through data. I know that doesn't take minutes because while I'm out of the country I'm using my phone without any sim card at all exclusively over wifi via Talkatone, and haven't had any problems with that (aside from finding wifi, obviously).

Really? I swear when i had AT&T it would count incoming calls against my minutes, unless it was nights/weekends.

Never heard of such a thing on other carriers

Mister Fister fucked around with this message at 21:51 on Apr 26, 2012

Rastor
Jun 2, 2001

I think free incoming is much more common in Europe. In the USA we do have a lot of free nights/weekends/mobile-to-mobile type deals on contract plans, which again, do not apply on prepaid service.

On prepaid, a minute is a minute, whether incoming or outgoing, at any time of day, any day of the year.


Here's some interesting news:
Republic Wireless (Sprint towers, Unlimited, only $19/month but uses Wifi by default for calling and you agree to stay on Wifi as much of the time as possible) seems to be expanding to three more phones:

Entry Level: $199 gets a phone from an "unknown" manufacturer with a 3.5-inch touchscreen, 600MHz CPU, 0.5GB of storage and a 5-megapixel camera.
Mid-range: $299 will buy a handset from a "well known" manufacturer, 3.7-inch touchscreen, 1GHz CPU, 1GB storage, 5-megapixel camera and a VGA front-facing-camera.
Top Line: $499 gets you a 4.3-inch touchscreen phone with a 1.2Ghz dual-core CPU, 8GB storage and a 7-megapixel camera.

Encor3
Jun 29, 2005

Konnichiwa Bitches
I received a beta invite for Republic Wireless today and will give their 30 day risk free trial a try. I have wifi at home and work so that covers me for at least 75% of my phone data needs.

Also, here are some guesses I saw for what those phones are:

Rastor posted:

Entry Level: $199 gets a phone from an "unknown" manufacturer with a 3.5-inch touchscreen, 600MHz CPU, 0.5GB of storage and a 5-megapixel camera.
ZTE Libra or the iNQ Cloud Touch
Mid-range: $299 will buy a handset from a "well known" manufacturer, 3.7-inch touchscreen, 1GHz CPU, 1GB storage, 5-megapixel camera and a VGA front-facing-camera.
Galaxy U, HTC One V or Huawei Vision.
Top Line: $499 gets you a 4.3-inch touchscreen phone with a 1.2Ghz dual-core CPU, 8GB storage and a 7-megapixel camera.
Galaxy S II

Assuming the guesses are accurate, I've got my eye on the HTC One V. I think it's the performance / price sweet spot. Definitely interested in seeing what the announced phones are.

Encor3 fucked around with this message at 21:07 on Apr 27, 2012

ShaneB
Oct 22, 2002


Trip report: GrooVeIP works surprisingly drat well over 4G via T-mobile here in Chicago, and amazingly over WiFi. Just my 2 cents.

Naffer
Oct 26, 2004

Not a good chemist

ShaneB posted:

Trip report: GrooVeIP works surprisingly drat well over 4G via T-mobile here in Chicago, and amazingly over WiFi. Just my 2 cents.

Do either skype or grooveIP support automatic handoff between wifi and 3g? That would be an awesome feature.

ShaneB
Oct 22, 2002


Naffer posted:

Do either skype or grooveIP support automatic handoff between wifi and 3g? That would be an awesome feature.

I can test that in a minute, I'm leaving work and will see if the call drops. :)

Radbot
Aug 12, 2009
Probation
Can't post for 4 years!

Encor3 posted:

I received a beta invite for Republic Wireless today and will give their 30 day risk free trial a try. I have wifi at home and work so that covers me for at least 75% of my phone data needs.

Also, here are some guesses I saw for what those phones are:


Assuming the guesses are accurate, I've got my eye on the HTC One V. I think it's the performance / price sweet spot. Definitely interested in seeing what the announced phones are.

I still don't get this whole Republic Wireless thing. Why would you pay $500 for an SII that's locked to a carrier (one that requires you to be on WiFi most of the time, which costs them virtually nothing) when you could pay $400 for an unlocked Galaxy Nexus on the $30/mo T-Mobile plan that *also allows you to do VoIP over WiFi for free*?

Encor3
Jun 29, 2005

Konnichiwa Bitches

Radbot posted:

I still don't get this whole Republic Wireless thing. Why would you pay $500 for an SII that's locked to a carrier (one that requires you to be on WiFi most of the time, which costs them virtually nothing) when you could pay $400 for an unlocked Galaxy Nexus on the $30/mo T-Mobile plan that *also allows you to do VoIP over WiFi for free*?

I'm interested because $20 < $30, and as I mentioned earlier, I wouldn't swing for the $500 phone option.

Rastor
Jun 2, 2001

In other words, I can answer the question "Why Republic Wireless?" by quoting myself:

Rastor posted:

my experience with this thread and the previous one is that goons are bargain hunters,

Mister Fister
May 17, 2008

D&D: HASBARA SQUAD
KILL-GORE


I love the smell of dead Palestinians in the morning.
You know, one time we had Gaza bombed for 26 days
(and counting!)
Stupid question, but which cell towers does republic wireless use again?

Encor3
Jun 29, 2005

Konnichiwa Bitches

Mister Fister posted:

Stupid question, but which cell towers does republic wireless use again?

Sprint towers

Mister Fister
May 17, 2008

D&D: HASBARA SQUAD
KILL-GORE


I love the smell of dead Palestinians in the morning.
You know, one time we had Gaza bombed for 26 days
(and counting!)

Encor3 posted:

Sprint towers

Ah ok... guess it was wishful thinking that it'd be verizon.

Anyone know if the phones can be modded with existing mods like cyanogen? Or would that basically break the cell tower/wifi switching capability?

Rastor
Jun 2, 2001

Some phones have a lot of support in the modding community, some none at all. Nexus phones, for example, are designed to have community support and they do. I believe some of the Virgin Mobile USA phones have some mod support. You'd have to check out the popular modding sites like XDA to see how much discussion / custom roms seem to be happening for the specific phone you're interested in.

Kilometers Davis
Jul 9, 2007

They begin again

Finally ditched my broken wonky Optimus V for t-mobile and a new Exhibit II 4G. This is a good phone! I'm really liking t-mobile too. They're much more, uh, quality focused than VM.

Straker
Nov 10, 2005
Nexus and my T-Mobile SIM card should be here in a couple days :dance: only downside is the lack of an SD slot, I already have a 32GB card and it's not like 16GB is such an obscenely huge amount of storage that more is redundant... I could see that if the phone had 64GB or something.

There's no way I can hand off my OV and $25 VM plan if I'm porting my number out, is there?

ShaneB posted:

Trip report: GrooVeIP works surprisingly drat well over 4G via T-mobile here in Chicago, and amazingly over WiFi. Just my 2 cents.
I was a bit apprehensive about switching from VM to TMo because I currently get perfect, perfect reception (which is important because I'm still tethering for internet most of the time), that's good to hear, I'm in Uptown myself. I checked their coverage map before buying anything and saw pretty much all of metro Chicago is thoroughly soaked in 4G, but still.

Zero VGS
Aug 16, 2002
ASK ME ABOUT HOW HUMAN LIVES THAT MADE VIDEO GAME CONTROLLERS ARE WORTH MORE
Lipstick Apathy

Straker posted:

There's no way I can hand off my OV and $25 VM plan if I'm porting my number out, is there?

Absolutely not, no. You can't even stay grandfathered and ask for a new number if you port out; everything is instantly canceled.

DEO3
Oct 25, 2005
Sorry for the dumb question, but how do I actually go about changing my carrier from Verizon to something like Straight Talk while keeping my phone number?

Do I go to a Verizon store and tell them to cancel my service first? Or when I sign up with Straight Talk will they ask if I have a current service and they'll handle the cancelling of it and port my phone number over? Since I still have like four months on my Verizon contract I'll have to pay an early Termination Fee of like $100, will that just get billed to me in the mail or will I have to pay it up front before doing any of this?

Basically I'm a big baby who's had the same carrier for like a decade and every time my contract has been up I'd just go in, renew it, and get a new cheap-o feature phone, usually for free, so I have no idea what's involved in buying an unlocked phone and porting my phone number to it while switching to another carrier, especially one like Straight Talk where you're kinda DIYing it.

savesthedayrocks
Mar 18, 2004
I don't know why you don't want to wait the 4 months, but no don't cancel with Verizon. That will lose your number. You sign up for Straittalk like you said and they handle the porting of the number.

If you do decide to cancel early, yes they will send you a bill.

Zero VGS
Aug 16, 2002
ASK ME ABOUT HOW HUMAN LIVES THAT MADE VIDEO GAME CONTROLLERS ARE WORTH MORE
Lipstick Apathy
That's not how it works; you just cancel Verizon early by telling Straight Talk to port the number in. You'll get the number moved and once it is done Verizon will consider you canceled. The fee will probably pay for itself with the savings. There's a federal law that makes it illegal for a company to try to keep or disable your number when you want it ported, even if you owe money.

computer parts
Nov 18, 2010

PLEASE CLAP
For the T-Mobile plan - it says the first X amount of data is at 4G speeds. What do they throttle it to after you hit that cap?

Zero VGS
Aug 16, 2002
ASK ME ABOUT HOW HUMAN LIVES THAT MADE VIDEO GAME CONTROLLERS ARE WORTH MORE
Lipstick Apathy
They throttle you to EDGE speeds after the cap. If you Google around though, apparently there's a lot of trickery you can use to still bypass the throttle.

I wouldn't worry about it though, I've got the $30 5GB plan, and I listen to like 4 hours of streaming radio a day and have still never broken 4gb.

Naffer
Oct 26, 2004

Not a good chemist

Zero VGS posted:

They throttle you to EDGE speeds after the cap. If you Google around though, apparently there's a lot of trickery you can use to still bypass the throttle.

I wouldn't worry about it though, I've got the $30 5GB plan, and I listen to like 4 hours of streaming radio a day and have still never broken 4gb.
I recall that it is substantially slower than full edge speeds. This document (http://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-2741) seems to suggest that it is about 50 kilobit/s, and from googling around it seems like many users get between 50 and 60kbit/s.

computer parts
Nov 18, 2010

PLEASE CLAP

Zero VGS posted:

They throttle you to EDGE speeds after the cap. If you Google around though, apparently there's a lot of trickery you can use to still bypass the throttle.

I wouldn't worry about it though, I've got the $30 5GB plan, and I listen to like 4 hours of streaming radio a day and have still never broken 4gb.

yeah, I'm on a 2 gig plan on another provider, I was just balancing whether to go for the 100 minute talk/excess data plan or the $50 unlimited talk/small data plan. I think I can live with 100 minutes though.

Gourd of Taste
Sep 11, 2006

by Ralp

Naffer posted:

I recall that it is substantially slower than full edge speeds. This document (http://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-2741) seems to suggest that it is about 50 kilobit/s, and from googling around it seems like many users get between 50 and 60kbit/s.

I broke it on the last day last month and my download capped at like 20kb/s. I only broke it because I tried to, though, to see what would happen. Usually I stream and tether and end up about 3.5gb.

The Shep
Jan 10, 2007


If found, please return this poster to GIP. His mothers are very worried and miss him very much.

Naffer posted:

Do either skype or grooveIP support automatic handoff between wifi and 3g? That would be an awesome feature.

ShaneB, any update on this? I'm curious if this works at all.

ShaneB
Oct 22, 2002


Cmdr. Shepard posted:

ShaneB, any update on this? I'm curious if this works at all.

Oh no that sucked bad. It doesn't handoff well between networks.

Propaganda Hour
Aug 25, 2008



after editing wikipedia as a joke for 16 years, i ve convinced myself that homer simpson's japanese name translates to the "The beer goblin"
Kind of a long shot, but does anyone have any experience using StraightTalk in Alaska? The map on their website for android phones is too small to decipher. I should just able to use at&t's signal up here, right?

Rastor
Jun 2, 2001

I haven't tried it, but it's an entry in their FAQ:

quote:

Will my Straight Talk phone work in Puerto Rico, Hawaii and Alaska?
Depending on the phone model, your phone will work in Puerto Rico, Hawaii and Alaska. Please click here and enter the zip code where you will be using your Straight Talk phone the most, to check for coverage.

Propaganda Hour
Aug 25, 2008



after editing wikipedia as a joke for 16 years, i ve convinced myself that homer simpson's japanese name translates to the "The beer goblin"

Rastor posted:

I haven't tried it, but it's an entry in their FAQ:

Yeah, it tells me that it works in Anchorage (where I am) and Fairbanks, so that's good, but when I move on to the next page it only tries to sell me non-android phones. I just want to get an HTC One X and not pay out the rear end for service :qq:

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Rastor
Jun 2, 2001

That's because their Android phones (the ones they sell themselves) are on Sprint.

My advice, check the prepaid coverage on AT&T and T-Mobile's websites. Then get a Straight Talk SIM for the one with better coverage (I assume AT&T).

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