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So in the past, pre-paid would nickel and dime you on minutes - my prepaid was in the Tracfone era with a Startac. Later on I had Virgin Mobile (  ) and ATT Blue, both of which would charge you for texts, or mega charge you for data for lovely WAP sites. Today's prepaid almost looks like a value in comparison, as long as the "data" you want to consume is within your bucket.I know the OP mentions being a second rate customer on the towers, or for data/proxy access. Again, in the past that was a thing. I was a Nextel subscriber, and I'd get priority access over Boost customers, though that didn't mean poo poo because of the congestion anyways. I assume with Prepaid they can also turn around and tell you to piss off, and increase your monthly bill. What's really the negative, for a single line subscriber, other than device subsidy? On Sprint I've bought my last few devices outright so I can bail if it pisses me off some day, so I'm not even using that. I'm tempted to get off of Sprint just to get better devices, but don't want to lose SERO and put myself into a hole I can't get back out of. Assume I have the money for a traditional contracted phone - what's the negative of prepaid?
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Apr 2, 2015 01:18
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Partycat posted:So in the past, pre-paid would nickel and dime you on minutes - my prepaid was in the Tracfone era with a Startac. Later on I had Virgin Mobile ( Customer service tends to be even worse than regular carriers, and like 95% of prepaid carriers don't carry the roaming agreements as part of the contract. Also most throttle your data speed, but unless you're tethering your phone to a laptop or something who gives a poo poo because you'll never notice.
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Apr 2, 2015 01:21
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Edit: got a referral, thanks!
Zyme fucked around with this message at 03:33 on Apr 4, 2015 |
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Apr 4, 2015 02:59
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I want to get one of these really cheap plans, but I have a few questions. I just returned from living in Thailand, where I bought an unlocked Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini last year that I'd like to use on one of these phone plans. Also, I'm going to be spending most of my time on Martha's Vineyard this summer, doing some seasonal work. I've checked a couple of the services, like Ting and T-Mobile, and the whole thing is a little confusing. I've gathered that I can't use this phone on Ting. Does anyone know which plan would work best in a moderately remote area like Martha's Vineyard? Well, it's not very remote but I can imagine there could be coverage issues. Also, is it really this difficult trying to find a service that can use an unlocked Samsung? Also, I was poking around the T-Mobile website for that nerd plan but I can't find out how to select it. I'm just looking for a really cheap plan, just to have a phone for the next few months. Sorry for the helpless seeming post - it's just all a little overwhelming. And so much more confusing than it is anywhere else in the world.
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Apr 7, 2015 02:44
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Shnicker posted:I want to get one of these really cheap plans, but I have a few questions. I just returned from living in Thailand, where I bought an unlocked Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini last year that I'd like to use on one of these phone plans. Also, I'm going to be spending most of my time on Martha's Vineyard this summer, doing some seasonal work. I've checked a couple of the services, like Ting and T-Mobile, and the whole thing is a little confusing. I've gathered that I can't use this phone on Ting. ATT usually has better coverage in rural areas, so that means Cricket might be your best bet. Check the coverage map on cricket to see if it covers the area you'll be in.
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Apr 7, 2015 03:03
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ebay "H2O sim first month free" and "Simple mobile first month free" and try them yourself.
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Apr 7, 2015 04:01
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My wife was going through some old stuff and found an unused go phone SIM. Is there any use for this anymore?
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Apr 12, 2015 15:54
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What is the general consensus on the best prepaid provider for data speeds? I've been using Virgin Mobile for a while because it's hard to beat 35 bucks a month, but my tolerance for the data speeds and connection is growing thin. It works fine late at night, but mid day in populated areas, I sometimes can't get anything to load. I live in Orlando too and that means lots of heavily concentrated crowds over large areas.
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Apr 14, 2015 20:34
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sweetmercifulcrap posted:What is the general consensus on the best prepaid provider for data speeds? I've been using Virgin Mobile for a while because it's hard to beat 35 bucks a month, but my tolerance for the data speeds and connection is growing thin. It works fine late at night, but mid day in populated areas, I sometimes can't get anything to load. I live in Orlando too and that means lots of heavily concentrated crowds over large areas. I can't speak for other carriers, but I've had no problems with Cricket's data speeds. Can always stream music/youtube when I want to. Haven't really walked around hitting the speedtest button when I'm at work or in the car or anything like that though.
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Apr 14, 2015 20:54
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sweetmercifulcrap posted:What is the general consensus on the best prepaid provider for data speeds? I've been using Virgin Mobile for a while because it's hard to beat 35 bucks a month, but my tolerance for the data speeds and connection is growing thin. It works fine late at night, but mid day in populated areas, I sometimes can't get anything to load. I live in Orlando too and that means lots of heavily concentrated crowds over large areas. If you're on Virgin Mobile you probably need a new phone to move to any other carrier.
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Apr 14, 2015 22:02
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T-Mobile nerd plan or their "Simple Choice Prepaid" plans are probably the best in most areas. T-Mobile's network is often the least overloaded in most places and they don't have any kind of throttling or proxying on those plans. I've gotten over 50 Mbps with ~60 ms ping in speed tests on the nerd plan in Minneapolis and my phone doesn't even support all of their LTE bands.
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Apr 15, 2015 04:53
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Mr.Radar posted:T-Mobile nerd plan or their "Simple Choice Prepaid" plans are probably the best in most areas. T-Mobile's network is often the least overloaded in most places and they don't have any kind of throttling or proxying on those plans. I've gotten over 50 Mbps with ~60 ms ping in speed tests on the nerd plan in Minneapolis and my phone doesn't even support all of their LTE bands. Some of this is true; just make sure you don't have to travel a lot or else you'll find T-Mobile's coverage isn't quite as upto snuff as Verizon's/ATT is.
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Apr 15, 2015 15:26
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chocolateTHUNDER posted:Some of this is true; just make sure you don't have to travel a lot or else you'll find T-Mobile's coverage isn't quite as upto snuff as Verizon's/ATT is. sweetmercifulcrap is on Virgin Mobile right now which uses the Sprint network. There aren't many places where Sprint has service that T-Mobile doesn't, though of course he should probably try it out himself before fully switching.
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Apr 15, 2015 16:00
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SB35 posted:If you're on Virgin Mobile you probably need a new phone to move to any other carrier. I'm using an iPhone, so I would just need to change the SIM card, provided they use CDMA, correct?
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Apr 15, 2015 17:15
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http://www.droid-life.com/2015/04/15/deal-verizon-moto-g-is-just-25-at-best-buy-for-4-hours/ http://www.bestbuy.com/site/verizon-wireless-prepaid-motorola-moto-g-no-contract-cell-phone-black/3041063.p?id=1219086346405&skuId=3041063  Verizon's Prepaid Moto G is now $25 at BestBuy.com today until 3pm Central!
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Apr 15, 2015 18:43
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ThermoPhysical posted:http://www.droid-life.com/2015/04/15/deal-verizon-moto-g-is-just-25-at-best-buy-for-4-hours/ Doesn't look like I can do anything with it beside Page Plus. Picked up a couple to flip anyway.
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Apr 15, 2015 19:08
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ThermoPhysical posted:http://www.droid-life.com/2015/04/15/deal-verizon-moto-g-is-just-25-at-best-buy-for-4-hours/ Awesome found my new camping kindle/camera/music/movie player. Hell I might even take it on a float trip.
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Apr 15, 2015 19:09
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whatever7 posted:Doesn't look like I can do anything with it beside Page Plus. Picked up a couple to flip anyway. Also, no LTE.
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Apr 15, 2015 20:11
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Rastor posted:Can't do anything with it besides Verizon Prepaid. Verizon doesn't allow Verizon Prepaid phones to be used on other prepaid brands which use the Verizon network. To extrapolate from this; Verizon LTE phones are unlocked out of the box, so if their version of the Moto G had LTE, you could bet you'd be able to get at least HSPA+ on GSM networks, but alas it's a 3G only phone so no sim card slot to speak off. Which is strange because I thought I remember something about Verizon shutting down all of their CDMA towers by 2016.
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Apr 15, 2015 20:24
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sweetmercifulcrap posted:I'm using an iPhone, so I would just need to change the SIM card, provided they use CDMA, correct? Which iPhone? You might be able to unlock it. Virgin Mobile iPhone 5C, 5S, 6, 6+ can be unlocked for use on other GSM carriers (AT&T or T-Mo).
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Apr 15, 2015 20:49
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Lblitzer posted:To extrapolate from this; Verizon LTE phones are unlocked out of the box, so if their version of the Moto G had LTE, you could bet you'd be able to get at least HSPA+ on GSM networks, but alas it's a 3G only phone so no sim card slot to speak off. Are you sure? I know Verizon post paid phones are GSM unlocked. I don't know about prepaid ones. Also, first version of Moto G have no LTE, no SD card slot.
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Apr 15, 2015 20:57
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Lblitzer posted:To extrapolate from this; Verizon LTE phones are unlocked out of the box, so if their version of the Moto G had LTE, you could bet you'd be able to get at least HSPA+ on GSM networks, but alas it's a 3G only phone so no sim card slot to speak off. You're probably mixing up two cellular changes happening soon. AT&T will be shutting down their 2G EDGE network in 2017 (to use the bandwidth for 3G HSPA and 4G LTE) and Verizon will be dropping CDMA/EVDO support from new phones next year (since they feel their LTE network has reached coverage parity with the CDMA network). Verizon will continue providing CDMA/EVDO service through 2021. Also, in case you're wondering, neither Sprint nor T-Mobile have announced plans to discontinue their 2G or 3G services though over time you should expect them to reallocate bandwidth away from 2G/3G and towards LTE (since it's way more efficient).
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Apr 15, 2015 23:12
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Mr.Radar posted:You're probably mixing up two cellular changes happening soon. AT&T will be shutting down their 2G EDGE network in 2017 (to use the bandwidth for 3G HSPA and 4G LTE) and Verizon will be dropping CDMA/EVDO support from new phones next year (since they feel their LTE network has reached coverage parity with the CDMA network). Verizon will continue providing CDMA/EVDO service through 2021. Also, in case you're wondering, neither Sprint nor T-Mobile have announced plans to discontinue their 2G or 3G services though over time you should expect them to reallocate bandwidth away from 2G/3G and towards LTE (since it's way more efficient). They both have so much bandwidth for the size of their customer base that I'm not sure it really necessary for either of them.
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Apr 16, 2015 18:20
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Thanks Athenry
Tigren fucked around with this message at 01:39 on Apr 17, 2015 |
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Apr 17, 2015 00:46
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Tigren posted:Can anyone help me out with a Cricket referral? Thanks. Email is username@gmail if you need it. Sent.
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Apr 17, 2015 01:11
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I bought an iPhone 5S off Swappa, and for some reason Cricket is telling me that it is compatible with "up to 3G data speeds." I confirmed that it's actually a 5S. Should I be concerned, or is this just Cricket being weird?
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Apr 18, 2015 21:47
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Loucks posted:I bought an iPhone 5S off Swappa, and for some reason Cricket is telling me that it is compatible with "up to 3G data speeds." I confirmed that it's actually a 5S. Should I be concerned, or is this just Cricket being weird? Cricket's auto checker thing is just wrong and they are covering their rear end for phones they don't sell. As long as you have AT&T bands on your phone (pretty sure you do), You'll get LTE, nothing to worry about.
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Apr 18, 2015 22:10
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Thanks. Didn't want to blow thirty five bucks on 3G service. Still, it would be better than what I've been getting with Sprint.
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Apr 18, 2015 22:23
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Loucks posted:Thanks. Didn't want to blow thirty five bucks on 3G service. Still, it would be better than what I've been getting with Sprint. Yeah, even if you were "stuck" on 3G it's sorta a moot point imo. I have a second gen Moto G that "only" gets 3G (not 4G LTE capable) and streaming youtube/music is not a problem at all.
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Apr 18, 2015 22:26
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chocolateTHUNDER posted:Yeah, even if you were "stuck" on 3G it's sorta a moot point imo. I have a second gen Moto G that "only" gets 3G (not 4G LTE capable) and streaming youtube/music is not a problem at all. GSM 3g and CDMA 3g are completely different animals. One of them is, much like the Tigon, totally stupid and stinks like poo (it's the CDMA version).
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Apr 19, 2015 01:42
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AlexDeGruven posted:GSM 3g and CDMA 3g are completely different animals. One of them is, much like the Tigon, totally stupid and stinks like poo (it's the CDMA version). I know that, since he/she is thinking about switching to Cricket I thought it was pretty clear that I was talking about Cricket's 3G.
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Apr 19, 2015 01:44
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True, but since I'm coming from Sprint it's a useful point to make.
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Apr 19, 2015 02:38
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Loucks posted:True, but since I'm coming from Sprint it's a useful point to make. Sprint's 3G is worse than the throttled speeds on cricket after you hit the cap. I had a N4 on Cricket (Aio at the time) while my girlfriend had a Sprint GNex, and my HSPA+ was keeping pace with her LTE.
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Apr 19, 2015 08:45
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FAUXTON posted:Sprint's 3G is worse than the throttled speeds on cricket after you hit the cap. I had a N4 on Cricket (Aio at the time) while my girlfriend had a Sprint GNex, and my HSPA+ was keeping pace with her LTE. Sprint's 3g is laughable at best. And yeah, crappy GSM 3G is generally better than even "good" CDMA 3G. Even Verizon is worthless if I'm not on LTE.
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Apr 20, 2015 00:58
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Looks like the Smart, Pro, and Advanced Plans on Cricket are now able to do SMS/MMS and calls to Canada for free now.
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Apr 21, 2015 00:16
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ThermoPhysical posted:Looks like the Smart, Pro, and Advanced Plans on Cricket are now able to do SMS/MMS and calls to Canada for free now. Where do you see this?
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Apr 21, 2015 03:08
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SB35 posted:Where do you see this? Just saw a post on it on PrepaidPhoneNews, but also you can find it on your account information on the site and in the app when you check what all is detailed in your plan which is where I first found it. http://www.prepaidphonenews.com/2015/04/cricket-adds-unlimited-canadian-calling.html
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Apr 21, 2015 04:40
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Couple questions: Now that hangouts and google voice play nicely for calls, I'm tempted to switch back to the nerd plan and save 30 bucks a month. Two questions though: 1.) Does the nerd plan get T-Mobile's "Music Freedom" perks? Or is that only postpaid? 2.) How reliable is hangouts for calls? Anyone having issues using hangouts+GV and getting dropped/missed calls or texts?
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Apr 21, 2015 05:01
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IuniusBrutus posted:Couple questions: 1. Yes it gets music freedom. 2. In my experience as long as you have at least 3G coverage when you're trying to place a call you'll be fine; good luck getting calls to connect otherwise. This is one reason I moved off the nerd plan.
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Apr 21, 2015 05:31
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IuniusBrutus posted:
Occasionally when people call me, we can't hear each other. I don't think it's happened when I make the call, though.
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Apr 21, 2015 11:58
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