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Gimbal_Machine
May 11, 2005
Bite me euler angles.
I have a feature phone from circa 2002 with AT&T and a phone number there I'd like to keep. I just received my Nexus 4 (I am a full time android developer) and I am considering trying to go with the t-mobile data+text+100m plan for $30.

I've read quite a bit about Google Voice and, since I take the majority of my calls at my desk anyway, I was wondering if anyone would either layout a plan or link me to a transition from 1 number at at&t to moving that number to google voice and linking it up to my new tmobile account with the option to go to my desktop.

Everything I'm finding seems dated and when I try to setup google voice on the Nexus 4 without any plan (just wifi) it seems to complain about needing a phone number. Sorry if this is redundant but this thread (and op) are huge.

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nickutz
Feb 3, 2004

Put blue and red chicken in mouth plz
Glad I jumped through the hoops to get my Straight Talk auto-refill cancelled and re-enrolled yesterday. Today was my service end date and I've been charged $46.34 for the next 30 days when its normally $49.07 so the savings were pretty much immediate.

Mr.Radar
Nov 5, 2005

You guys aren't going to believe this, but that guy is our games teacher.

Gimbal_Machine posted:

I have a feature phone from circa 2002 with AT&T and a phone number there I'd like to keep. I just received my Nexus 4 (I am a full time android developer) and I am considering trying to go with the t-mobile data+text+100m plan for $30.

I've read quite a bit about Google Voice and, since I take the majority of my calls at my desk anyway, I was wondering if anyone would either layout a plan or link me to a transition from 1 number at at&t to moving that number to google voice and linking it up to my new tmobile account with the option to go to my desktop.

Everything I'm finding seems dated and when I try to setup google voice on the Nexus 4 without any plan (just wifi) it seems to complain about needing a phone number. Sorry if this is redundant but this thread (and op) are huge.

Setting up Google Voice is pretty straightforward. Setup an account with Google Voice online (through your computer) and let Google assign a number for it. Add your desk phone and T-Mobile number (assigned by T-Mobile when you activate your account) to it as forwarding numbers.

To use your phone to make calls through Google Voice without using your voice minutes you'll need to use a 3rd party app like GooVe IP or Talkatone. To make calls through your computer use the Google Talk plugin with Gmail (which automatically uses your Google Voice account). When you're ready to leave AT&T all you need to do is port your AT&T number to your Google Voice account (voice.google.com -> Settings -> Change/Port) which will also cancel your AT&T service.

ThermoPhysical
Dec 26, 2007



My T-Mobile microSIMs came today, thanks to whoever mentioned them!

I haven't tried them out but I'll probably see if they work on Sunday. Need to run errands tomorrow and I'd rather not have weird T-Mob service issues. :v:

TraderStav
May 19, 2006

It feels like I was standing my entire life and I just sat down

ThermoPhysical posted:

My T-Mobile microSIMs came today, thanks to whoever mentioned them!

I haven't tried them out but I'll probably see if they work on Sunday. Need to run errands tomorrow and I'd rather not have weird T-Mob service issues. :v:

It was me, and you're quite welcome.

I got mine yesterday as well, tested out my new Nano-sim cutter and tossed it into my iPhone 5 to see if the cutter did it's job correctly. It was a great success and now I have 3 T-mobile sims with no use, only because they were free. (1 extra from the last free SIM promotion)

johnny sack
Jan 30, 2004

One day, this team will play to their expectations...

Just not this year..

Quick question because I haven't seen the answer on TMobiles webpage:

The $50 plan with 100mb @ 4G speeds, what happens after 100mb? Does it drop to 3G? Does it drop to something worse than 3G?

Mr.Radar
Nov 5, 2005

You guys aren't going to believe this, but that guy is our games teacher.

johnny sack posted:

Quick question because I haven't seen the answer on TMobiles webpage:

The $50 plan with 100mb @ 4G speeds, what happens after 100mb? Does it drop to 3G? Does it drop to something worse than 3G?

T-Mobile's "4G" (HSPA) is what others call 3G* so after you reach your limit you drop to 2G EDGE speeds. There was a rumor they were going up the limit on that plan to 500 megs last month, but it looks like it didn't happen.

*Though most people experience better real-world speeds on T-Mobile "4G" than on other 3G networks, especially compared to CDMA 3G networks.

cage-free egghead
Mar 8, 2004

johnny sack posted:

Quick question because I haven't seen the answer on TMobiles webpage:

The $50 plan with 100mb @ 4G speeds, what happens after 100mb? Does it drop to 3G? Does it drop to something worse than 3G?

Check out their value plans. Pretty sure they have one around $60 for 500 minutes, unlimited messages, and unlimited 4G data.

Naffer
Oct 26, 2004

Not a good chemist

Mr.Radar posted:

T-Mobile's "4G" (HSPA) is what others call 3G* so after you reach your limit you drop to 2G EDGE speeds. There was a rumor they were going up the limit on that plan to 500 megs last month, but it looks like it didn't happen.

*Though most people experience better real-world speeds on T-Mobile "4G" than on other 3G networks, especially compared to CDMA 3G networks.

There's something up though because when I log into MyTmobile on the line I have with a $50 rate plan and click "change plan" it shows this message:

tmobile posted:

Current rate plan: $50 UL Talk Text Web (100 MB at 4G) - $50/month

Special promotions
Renew your $50.00 plan this month and receive a FREE extra 400MB of data at up to 4G speeds this month. See terms
Who knows if it'll be just for one month or long term though.

1st AD
Dec 3, 2004

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: sometimes passing just isn't an option.
If I'm planning on porting my Sprint number to Google Voice and then getting my soon-to-arrive Nexus 4 on T-Mo's prepaid service, what's the best plan of action to ensuring continuity of service?

I'm thinking

-Get prepaid sim into the N4, add the new phone number to Google Voice
-Port the Sprint number into Google Voice (and canceling the service)

Will I still receive the calls to the Sprint number while the number is being ported, or will there be a disruption?

goku chewbacca
Dec 14, 2002

1st AD posted:

If I'm planning on porting my Sprint number to Google Voice and then getting my soon-to-arrive Nexus 4 on T-Mo's prepaid service, what's the best plan of action to ensuring continuity of service?

I'm thinking

-Get prepaid sim into the N4, add the new phone number to Google Voice
-Port the Sprint number into Google Voice (and canceling the service)

Will I still receive the calls to the Sprint number while the number is being ported, or will there be a disruption?
As far as I could tell, I continued to have Sprint service right up until I got an email from Google saying the pot was complete.

johnny sack
Jan 30, 2004

One day, this team will play to their expectations...

Just not this year..

1st AD posted:

If I'm planning on porting my Sprint number to Google Voice and then getting my soon-to-arrive Nexus 4 on T-Mo's prepaid service, what's the best plan of action to ensuring continuity of service?

I'm thinking

-Get prepaid sim into the N4, add the new phone number to Google Voice
-Port the Sprint number into Google Voice (and canceling the service)

Will I still receive the calls to the Sprint number while the number is being ported, or will there be a disruption?

So is there a way to use the $30 Tmobile plan with 100 minutes + unlimited text/data to 5GB with google voice to handle all the calls, over the data/wifi? If so I'd totally do that. I likewise am on Sprint now and have a Nexus 4. Just waiting for 1 month so I don't pay an ETF to quit Sprint.

blargle
Apr 3, 2007
Groove IP will do that on an android phone.

johnny sack
Jan 30, 2004

One day, this team will play to their expectations...

Just not this year..

blargle posted:

Groove IP will do that on an android phone.

Is the 5gb of 4G speeds enough to handle ~500-750 minutes worth of calls in a month? Some/most of which would be on wifi anyway. I don't even use that much data, but I would be if it was handling my calls.



edit: additionally, is it just going to be something that's a huge hassle and not worth the $15 a month savings?

johnny sack fucked around with this message at 21:29 on Feb 10, 2013

blargle
Apr 3, 2007
Groove IP uses 1.2 MB/minute, which is well over 4,000 minutes of talk time with 5 GB.

johnny sack
Jan 30, 2004

One day, this team will play to their expectations...

Just not this year..

blargle posted:

Groove IP uses 1.2 MB/minute, which is well over 4,000 minutes of talk time with 5 GB.

Being totally new to this idea, is it really straightforward and easy to setup, while keeping my current phone number? I've never done anything with Google Voice before. Is GV completely free in this regard?

blargle
Apr 3, 2007
Sign up for google voice and get a random phone nuber, install google voice app and groove ip app, test it out with friends. If you like it, pay the $20 to port your real number into GV.

The Merkinman
Apr 22, 2007

I sell only quality merkins. What is a merkin you ask? Why, it's a wig for your genitals!
Is there anyway to improve GrooVe IP's connection? My calls keep getting dropped within a minute. I got a call dropped just now and I'm sitting literally less than 3 feet from the wifi router!

hotsauce
Jan 14, 2007

The Merkinman posted:

Is there anyway to improve GrooVe IP's connection? My calls keep getting dropped within a minute. I got a call dropped just now and I'm sitting literally less than 3 feet from the wifi router!

The only solution I've found was to use the Vonage app. Or perhaps Talkatone if you need incoming calls. Or if you are very savvy, SipDroid + PBXs.org.

I just grew tired of the echos, etc with GrooveIP (even after deep tinkering with settings). It just never reliably worked well. Vonage works, 99% of the time wifi or HSPA+. Just can't be called, but that's a minor inconvenience (just call them immediately back).

MC Hawking
Apr 27, 2004

by VideoGames
Fun Shoe

johnny sack posted:

So is there a way to use the $30 Tmobile plan with 100 minutes + unlimited text/data to 5GB with google voice to handle all the calls, over the data/wifi?

I've tried to make a few local calls via Google Voice and many of them won't connect for some reason. I don't really know ~why~ this is but I suspect it's some preemptive anti-robocalling tactic.

I can't say if this is a uniform issue for all people though, but if anyone has any technical details about this problem I'd love to know!

The Ass Stooge
Nov 9, 2012

a hunger uncurbed
by nature's calling
I'm on Virgin Mobile, and I'm thinking of using my tax return to replace my creaky old Optimus V with something slightly newer. It looks like the Evo V and One V are the only half-decent phones they offer in my price range; can anyone who's used either of these phones offer some impressions?

blargle
Apr 3, 2007
I have an Evo 3D (Evo V) on Sprint and the phone is a tremendous piece of poo poo. Do not pay $140 or whatever they want for it. Also it's a two year old model at this point.

Duckman2008
Jan 6, 2010

TFW you see Flyers goaltending.
Grimey Drawer

The rear end Stooge posted:

I'm on Virgin Mobile, and I'm thinking of using my tax return to replace my creaky old Optimus V with something slightly newer. It looks like the Evo V and One V are the only half-decent phones they offer in my price range; can anyone who's used either of these phones offer some impressions?

The One V isn't great but its the best phone on VM last I checked. Def do not get the Evo V.

MC Hawking
Apr 27, 2004

by VideoGames
Fun Shoe
My coworker has the One V and it's a nice little phone. Definitely not the most overpowered beast out there but the construction is very solid and it has a fantastic screen. It runs a stripped down version of Sense 4, so you don't have a tremendous amount of slowdown due to HTC's Slather which is nice.

That being said, I don't actually own the device and my coworkers needs are very basic, but he seems pretty happy with it. I'm super impressed with the build quality, personally. Then again I have a soft spot for HTC's hardware design.

The Ass Stooge
Nov 9, 2012

a hunger uncurbed
by nature's calling
One V it is then, I suppose. Thanks everyone.

diehlr
Apr 17, 2003
Remember not to use restricted post tags next time.
I've been reading about this whole pre-paid thing obsessively over the past few days and am running into information overload. I'll explain my current situation and hopefully somebody can talk me off the ledge and make an informed recommendation. I live in the Louisville, KY area. My girlfriend is on AT&T using an iPhone 3GS. She is a TALKER (2000-3000 minutes per month). She texts a fair amount. Fairly light data. She currently has the unlimited talk / text / 300 meg data plan and is paying between $110-130 a month.

She really needs unlimited talking and data caps almost certainly aren't an issue. She just wants things to work. She would prefer fewer dropped calls to higher data speeds, although preferably good enough to navigate Facebook at a decent clip. From my experience with AT&T and my current experience with Verizon, the Louisville area is very similar on those two carriers in call quality / dropped calls, maybe a slight advantage to AT&T. I don't know about T-mobile (any Louisville goons out there?).

I'm leaning toward AT&T Straight Talk, but the horror stories of their customer service and number porting issues are starting to turn me away.

Regardless of carrier option, she would very likely be moving from an iPhone 3GS to a Nexus 4 unless somebody recommends a carrier that would work (better?) on a different phone.

Mr Newsman
Nov 8, 2006
Did somebody say news?
Straight talk is fine. It's not fine if you want to stream videos and lots of high quality songs.

Sometimes they will throttle you, but if you don't really need data that much (outside of 1-2 gigs a month) then it's going to be much, much cheaper.

I stream pandora on my way to work (low quality) and rack up just under two gigs a month usually and have only had an issue once. I didn't bother with phone support, but rather started emailing the facebook people and got it all figured out.

diehlr
Apr 17, 2003
Remember not to use restricted post tags next time.
What is this I hear about carriers prioritizing their own traffic over pre-paid? Is there any truth there? If so, is there any measurable difference in call quality as a result?

SB35
Jul 6, 2007
Move along folks, nothing to see here.

diehlr posted:

...She is a TALKER (2000-3000 minutes per month). She texts a fair amount. Fairly light data. She currently has the unlimited talk / text / 300 meg data plan and is paying between $110-130 a month.
:words:

She'd do quite well with an AT&T SIM on Straight Talk. The data is plenty and unlimited talk/text for $45/month is a steal compared to her bill now. Of course, she'd be stuck on her 3GS unless she shelled out for a new phone out of pocket. But the savings would easily equal out to a new iPhone 5 in about 1 year.

Colonel Jerkoff
Jun 3, 2000
Forum Veteran
The AT&T Straight Talk seems to be dead now - you can't order AT&T SIMS on their site anymore, only Tmobile. My friend tried to order it from Walmart.com but the page error'ed out too. Is there another choice for AT&T network on prepaid GSM, or are we stuck with Tmobile for all providers now?

ThermoPhysical
Dec 26, 2007



Colonel Jerkoff posted:

The AT&T Straight Talk seems to be dead now - you can't order AT&T SIMS on their site anymore, only Tmobile. My friend tried to order it from Walmart.com but the page error'ed out too. Is there another choice for AT&T network on prepaid GSM, or are we stuck with Tmobile for all providers now?

http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/02/02/psa-straight-talk-and-net10-sold-out-of-att-sim-cards-online-dont-panic/

AP claims that they just ran out of stock due to the Nexus 4. AT&T is still available for Straight Talk, they just need more SIMs.

BoyBlunder
Sep 17, 2008
If I move to Straight Talk T-Mobile, will I be able to use their (T-Mobile's) HSPA+ towers?

I'm currently on the 100 min $30 plan, using Talkatone/GrooveIP, but I guess I just can't get the loving settings correct because everyone says I sound like poo poo.

False Toaster
Dec 29, 2006

Stupidity, its both physically and mentally painful.

BoyBlunder posted:

If I move to Straight Talk T-Mobile, will I be able to use their (T-Mobile's) HSPA+ towers?

I'm currently on the 100 min $30 plan, using Talkatone/GrooveIP, but I guess I just can't get the loving settings correct because everyone says I sound like poo poo.

As long as your phone supports the T-Mobile HSPA+ bands then you'll be fine using it on Straight Talk for T-Mobile.

coolskillrex remix
Jan 1, 2007

gorsh
Ugh, gently caress.

I think i hosed up.

I got a nexus 4 in december, i ported my AT&T number to tmobile prepaid $30 unlimited web plan in december too. Two days ago i made a google voice account and ported my number to that.

Thats where i hosed up, because now i have no tmobile.com account as of this morning (and of course my phone says "emergency calls only"), and i guess my $30 this month just went to waste because now my tmobile number is a google voice number?? gently caress!!

I did not think this through, i guess i was supposed to create a NEW google voice number and then just forward my calls to that... god damnit.

Is there anyway to undo the porting? Did i just pay a $20 porting fee for no reason as well???

I think i might try to un-port the number. Since i have unlimited web/text and only 100 minutes i was just going to use google voice solely to forward calls and receive calls, therefore bypassing the 100 minutes. I actually still wanted text on the phone because of the whole MMS/SMS deal.

coolskillrex remix fucked around with this message at 15:31 on Feb 13, 2013

ThermoPhysical
Dec 26, 2007



coolskillrex remix posted:

Ugh, gently caress.

I think i hosed up.

I got a nexus 4 in december, i ported my AT&T number to tmobile prepaid $30 unlimited web plan in december too. Two days ago i made a google voice account and ported my number to that.

Thats where i hosed up, because now i have no tmobile.com account as of this morning (and of course my phone says "emergency calls only"), and i guess my $30 this month just went to waste because now my number is a google voice number?? gently caress!!

I did not think this through, i guess i was supposed to create a NEW google voice number and then just forward my calls to that... god damnit.

Is there anyway to undo the porting? Did i just pay a $20 porting fee for no reason as well???

Wait so you ported from AT&T to T-Mobile then from T-Mobile to Google Voice? If so, you just cancelled your T-Mobile account.

You can pay Google $3 to port the number from Google Voice to T-Mobile again, but you will have to create a new T-Mobile account.

coolskillrex remix
Jan 1, 2007

gorsh

ThermoPhysical posted:

Wait so you ported from AT&T to T-Mobile then from T-Mobile to Google Voice? If so, you just cancelled your T-Mobile account.

You can pay Google $3 to port the number from Google Voice to T-Mobile again, but you will have to create a new T-Mobile account.

Yep, like an idiot... I ran out of 100 minutes and rushed to create a google voice account without really understanding what i was doing. God i hope tmobile can refund me some money because this is turning into a $50 mistake.

Long Francesco
Jun 3, 2005
Porting a number automatically cancels your account on pretty much every carrier I've heard of. You're going to need to get a new sim and make a new account to get the $30 plan back since it's for new activations only, with a new number and then connect that with Google voice.

I guess the good news is in the meantime you can use voip with Google voice.

Also when you run out of minutes on tmobile prepaid they're 10 cents each, so don't panic when you run out just add a few bucks.

Long Francesco fucked around with this message at 15:36 on Feb 13, 2013

ThermoPhysical
Dec 26, 2007



coolskillrex remix posted:

Yep, like an idiot... I ran out of 100 minutes and rushed to create a google voice account without really understanding what i was doing. God i hope tmobile can refund me some money because this is turning into a $50 mistake.

Looks like you don't have to pay $3 after all.

http://support.google.com/voice/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1316844

Since you ported from a mobile carrier, the fee is waived.

coolskillrex remix
Jan 1, 2007

gorsh
Before i go through with all of this can someone please explain which would be the better option. Porting my number back to tmobile and then getting a NEW google voice number, or should i leave my current number (that everyone uses to contact me) on google voice, and then get a new tmobile number?

I have tmobile unlimited text/web, all i wanted to use google voice for was talkatone to bypass the 100 minutes on my prepaid plan. I think i should port my number back to tmobile because then i can just get texts straight to my phone, and i would only configure voice to forward calls to google talk, allowing me to use talkatone.

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ThermoPhysical
Dec 26, 2007



coolskillrex remix posted:

Before i go through with all of this can someone please explain which would be the better option. Porting my number back to tmobile and then getting a NEW google voice number, or should i leave my current number (that everyone uses to contact me) on google voice, and then get a new tmobile number?

I have tmobile unlimited text/web, all i wanted to use google voice for was talkatone to bypass the 100 minutes on my prepaid plan. I think i should port my number back to tmobile because then i can just get texts straight to my phone, and i would only configure voice to forward calls to google talk, allowing me to use talkatone.

Get a new T-Mobile number and just direct Google Voice to that so that when people contact you, it'll ring your T-Mobile phone for calls and use Google Voice for texting.

e: Or you could just port it back to T-Mobile but that sounds like a bit more hassle. However, with a GV number, you can just call people through G-Mail if you're at home/work, at least. It doesn't use any minutes at all and your phone isn't even involved. When I was on Sprint, I did that and pretty much used no minutes out of unlimited.

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