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LastInLine posted:No one puts anything that needs to be used that high in the frequency range because the tighter the wavelength, the less the wave can penetrate solid objects. That's why Verizon and AT&T paid through the nose for 700MHz and why the 600MHz band is so huge for T-Mobile. T-Mo's first 3G spectrum was on AWS, 710 to 1755MHz for uplink, and from 2110 to 2155MHz for downlink, and was vastly inferior to ATT/VZ because of those high-end spectrum bands. T-Mobile's other band is 1900MHz which is the PCS band. They almost have total coverage in 600MHz and what's not will almost certainly be transitioned to Sprint's 800MHz band which also covers everything else. Sprint also has substantial PCS holdings so it's also a viable option, though it makes sense to use that band to supplement T-Mo's PCS band while the 600MHz buildout is in motion then they can dump CDMA off 800MHz and use that for additional coverage on 5G. I'm gonna disagree with you there. Yes, the 600-700 MHz spectrum is vitally important for coverage and building penetration and those are the two factors consumers care about most. But, the 2.5-2.6 GHz stuff is useful for covering outdoor locations like parks and stadiums and for coming out on top in speed tests. And if you can spread load across frequencies that's also valuable.
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Jun 22, 2017 17:54
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Rastor posted:I'm gonna disagree with you there. Yes, the 600-700 MHz spectrum is vitally important for coverage and building penetration and those are the two factors consumers care about most. But, the 2.5-2.6 GHz stuff is useful for covering outdoor locations like parks and stadiums and for coming out on top in speed tests. And if you can spread load across frequencies that's also valuable. But how many upper band frequencies does this company need? Obviously in the short term, they'll be maintaining a hodgepodge of devices with CDMA and GSM and HSPA and LTE and now whatever 5G is going to be, but there's no sensible long term strategy in keeping six networks running concurrently (unless you're Sprint  ).They're going to consolidate on 600 and 800 and use AWS or maybe PCS as a faillback. I'm not sure if combined a Sprint/T-Mo entity controls a wide enough swath of PCS to be worthwhile (AT&T has 2G deployed on PCS) but AWS would be more readily refarmed so I'm guessing they'll go that route since they'd have to keep Sprint's legacy PCS going for a bit. T-Mobile also has some C-Block 700 that they've generally used to trade for Verizon AWS in some markets that they'll probably also unload (now that there's little benefit to Verizon to hold it since they only bought it to lock out T-Mobile in the first place). 2.5GHz just doesn't matter that much when every other spectrum they own is better and better deployed. They're going to unload some spectrum no matter what they do simply to recoup costs and a complete band is worth more to a potential buyer than their incomplete AWS/PCS networks. No one's going to deploy a cell network on that band anyway just because it's useless without a lower band to actually grab a signal so it's appealing to other industries outside of wireless carriers. As for the speed tests, it's not faster because of the frequency, it's faster because it's more recently deployed and therefore newer. It's the same reason T-Mobile's 3G HSPA+ was so much faster than AT&T's HSPA, the equipment was a generation newer on the towers, of course it's twice as fast. Verizon and AT&T's 5G networks will be faster than T-Mobile's too, since it will also benefit from newer equipment at a cost of lagging behind T-Mobile by a year or two.
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Jun 22, 2017 18:17
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I don't disagree with the importance of 600Mhz for broad coverage. Plus I think you are discounting the fact that upper band frequencies have more capacity by default. Wide coverage is worthless if you can't support very many simultaneous users.
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Jun 22, 2017 18:51
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LastInLine posted:As for the speed tests, it's not faster because of the frequency, it's faster because it's more recently deployed and therefore newer. It's the same reason T-Mobile's 3G HSPA+ was so much faster than AT&T's HSPA, the equipment was a generation newer on the towers, of course it's twice as fast. Verizon and AT&T's 5G networks will be faster than T-Mobile's too, since it will also benefit from newer equipment at a cost of lagging behind T-Mobile by a year or two. http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=630759 There's much more bandwidth available at those frequencies, which means better scores on speed tests (all other things being equal).
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Jun 22, 2017 20:10
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Question for you guys about phones that are specific to a prepaid carrier. To give backstory: I am trying to test a cross platform mobile app I made on iOS and since i'm on windows I can't use an iOS simulator. I bought a cheap boost mobile iphone 5s from best buy link. When I started it up for the first time, it says that I need to insert a sim card. I did some googling, and apparently not all boost mobile phones come with sim cards. Apparently you can contact them and they will send you one, but I was hoping to do my testing sooner rather than later. The best buy I went to was kind of far away, so I can't just go back there. I was wondering if I can only put in a boost mobile sim card in this thing. In random stores within walking distance, there are sim cards for other brands with their prepaid cards, and I was hoping I could just pick some other companies sim card and prepaid card and use that. I am not using this iphone on a regular basis, and the phone wont turn on unless I have a sim card in it. I just need something to let me install my app on it so I can test it. I do not care about which service I get, and will buy the cheapest sim card/ prepaidminute option available because I wont be using this to actually make calls. I'd greatly appreciate If anyone can help clear this up for me. UtahIsNotAState fucked around with this message at 01:24 on Jun 24, 2017 |
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Jun 24, 2017 01:21
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Sprint says my Verizon iPhone SE not eligible for promotion. loving morons can't get anything right.
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Jun 24, 2017 10:03
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whatever7 posted:Sprint says my Verizon iPhone SE not eligible for promotion. loving morons can't get anything right. If not, it may just be not in the system.The SlickDeals peeps are saying that to fix this you have to call them and ask them to open a "ClickIT ticket" to add it to the system, apparently this is a quite common problem.
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Jun 24, 2017 12:39
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Rastor posted:Was it ever used on a Sprint MVNO? That would mean it's in their system and flagged as MVNO only. It was used on a dead Sprint MVNO Ringplue half year ago. Can't Sprint tell they killed Ringplus themselves and should release all MEID? That's some bullshit. It's ok, it's barely cheaper than Mintsim's promotion anyway. I don't know what I can do with the unlimited data with a tiny phone like iPhone SE. Besides steaming poo poo live nonstop I can't think off anything else I can do with it.
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Jun 24, 2017 15:24
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whatever7 posted:It was used on a dead Sprint MVNO Ringplue half year ago. Can't Sprint tell they killed Ringplus themselves and should release all MEID? That's some bullshit. Maybe use the 10GB / month of hotspot? There's a Ting customer support guy goes by the name of ReallyUnlimited or something like that on SlickDeals / Reddit who was clearing people's old RingPlus status but I'm sure his Reddit DM box is overloaded with requests by now.
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Jun 24, 2017 15:51
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Besides the most recent April posts, has anyone else tried out Mint Sim lately? I'm thinking about ordering one of 3 month kits to test drive before taking the 1 year plunge on both our phones.
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Jul 11, 2017 22:39
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I just renewed Mint for a year, I like it a lot.
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Jul 11, 2017 22:44
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Bad life decision: not finishing the Republic Wireless > Tmobile > Cricket dance and staying on Tmobile for a year. Good life decision (probably): finally switching to Cricket.
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Jul 11, 2017 23:14
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Kraps posted:Bad life decision: not finishing the Republic Wireless > Tmobile > Cricket dance and staying on Tmobile for a year. Good life decision (probably): finally switching to Cricket. Hillariously ATT covers my work but not the inside of my house so for all calls I now have to go outside (Cricket). Home was fine with TMO but didn't cover work, at home I have WIFI for everything except voice calls.
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Jul 12, 2017 04:11
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Stick100 posted:Depends on the towers near your work and home. If home and work covered well by TMO then Mint, if ATT covers both then Cricket, if not then VZ. ATT supports WiFi calling depending on the phone you have.
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Jul 12, 2017 04:21
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nimper posted:ATT supports WiFi calling depending on the phone you have. Does it offer it on the mvno tho?
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Jul 12, 2017 04:24
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nimper posted:ATT supports WiFi calling depending on the phone you have. Not on Cricket last I checked (coming soon...). Did on TMO prepaid which was nice but reliable data at work is far more important than the 30 minutes I spend on my front porch a month.
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Jul 12, 2017 04:27
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Stick100 posted:Depends on the towers near your work and home. If home and work covered well by TMO then Mint, if ATT covers both then Cricket, if not then VZ. Tmobile didn't have signal at work or in upstate NY, Cricket does, I'm happy.
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Jul 12, 2017 17:05
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This is an insanely stupid question. I've been on a T-Mobile legacy pay-as-you-go plan forever. I am finally taking the plunge into Actual Phone Land with a Moto G5+ and have a bring-your-own Cricket SIM card here. The $35-after-autopay plan will do nicely for that, and I believe that I can port my old phone number over to Cricket as part of the process. That leaves me with an old Galaxy Nexus with a T-Mobile SIM card in it and $30-ish on my T-Mobile account. If I take it to T-Mobile, can they do anything with it that'd restart it with a different phone number as an oh-poo poo glovebox phone, or is it just toast?
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Jul 13, 2017 02:03
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You would need a new SIM to get a new number, they should be able to keep the balance on the account but maybe not
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Jul 13, 2017 02:08
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You lost your balance when you port out the number, and acct closed instantly for most prepaid plans. You can save the balance by going google voice but its a different lifestyle, just saying.
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Jul 13, 2017 02:18
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All right, then. If I transfer the number to the new phone, can I still use the old phone's apps and such over wifi (which is 95% of what I use it for anyway) or does it instantly go stone dead? Or is there a cleaner way to turn it into a Ghetto Android iPod Touch?
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Jul 13, 2017 02:33
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If it's connected to wifi apps and such will still work without a sim, yes. Even if it isn't they will work, assuming they don't need internet connectivity
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Jul 13, 2017 02:44
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Stick100 posted:Not on Cricket last I checked (coming soon...). Did on TMO prepaid which was nice but reliable data at work is far more important than the 30 minutes I spend on my front porch a month. Ya that's a deal breaker. I wonder why they lag on rolling it to cricket?
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Jul 17, 2017 04:50
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Is there a consensus best decent/cheap prepaid option for visitors to the US? Last time I used Cricket but there was a sizable activation fee that I'd like to avoid. I'm living in Europe but am American and still have American credit cards (and an American Google Voice number) in case that matters, will be visiting for just over three weeks. edit: I have an international Pixel so I guess I should stick with something that uses AT&T's or T-Mobile's networks?
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Jul 17, 2017 14:28
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Cicero posted:Is there a consensus best decent/cheap prepaid option for visitors to the US? Last time I used Cricket but there was a sizable activation fee that I'd like to avoid. https://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-international-tourist-plan
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Jul 17, 2017 14:56
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How many days are you staying?
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Jul 17, 2017 17:18
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I saw this but on the prepaid data wiki site it said you can't add to the plan or something so then if I ran out of data wouldn't I be stuck?quote:For $30, T-Mobile offers a new International Tourist Plan. This plan is aimed towards short term visitors to the US and only lasts for 3 weeks, is not renewable or expandable. It includes 1,000 domestic minutes, unlimited domestic and global texting to 140 countries, and 2 GB of 4G/LTE data along with a free SIM card. Beyond the given volume speed will be throttled to 2G speed (about 150 kbps). You can't add extra packages. Visitors to the United States wishing to activate this plan can just walk into any T-Mobile store and ask for it. whatever7 posted:How many days are you staying?
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Jul 18, 2017 11:48
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If you can buy the cricket sim kit online and have it shipped to the place you are visiting, they waive the 25 dollar activation fee (it's in store only)
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Jul 18, 2017 15:09
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Cicero posted:I saw this but on the prepaid data wiki site it said you can't add to the plan or something so then if I ran out of data wouldn't I be stuck? Ah yeah, that's unfortunate. Sorry!
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Jul 18, 2017 15:16
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Cicero posted:I saw this but on the prepaid data wiki site it said you can't add to the plan or something so then if I ran out of data wouldn't I be stuck? Get a prepaid sim from a GSM carrier. The problem with things like Cricket and TMobile prepaid is that you have to go to Best Buy or Walmart to get them, which means you can not use it the first day. I know some country you can buy US sim ahead of time. When I was in China, their version of ebay (taobao) was selling Black Wireless sim locally. If you plan to buy the sim after you arrive in the US, go to google map and search for indirect (mom and pop) wireless stores near you hotel.
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Jul 18, 2017 16:33
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Blue Train posted:If you can buy the cricket sim kit online and have it shipped to the place you are visiting, they waive the 25 dollar activation fee (it's in store only) Thanks everyone!
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Jul 20, 2017 10:14
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Cicero posted:Oh cool, sounds like I'll use that, then. Best Buy has 20% off refills when you buy a $0.99 sim, with free shipping. Sounds like that might be perfect for you. https://slickdeals.net/share/iphone_app/fp/304304
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Jul 20, 2017 12:08
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whatever7 posted:It was used on a dead Sprint MVNO Ringplue half year ago. Can't Sprint tell they killed Ringplus themselves and should release all MEID? That's some bullshit. This just means the MEID is in their prepaid database instead of their post-paid database. Same issue anyone who used Project Fi has, including me. I'm working on getting them to get my poo poo in the proper database so I can get in on this.
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Jul 22, 2017 09:51
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I've been using simple mobile for about a week now. They are a tmo mvno, and currently offering an unlimited everything plan for 45$/mo until September 8. They are speed limited to 20 down/up, and the free music streaming tmo offers doesn't apply to their service. Video streaming is limited to DVD quality (presumably 480). Assuming you are covered by tmo (check; just a couple of years ago I could only get 3g and now am covered by lte) it's an extremely good deal imo E: they are owned by telemovil so assume customer service is bad, I did activation and setup through their website with no issues tho. Mobile hotspot works but is not allowed by their tos. That being said, I have used it anyway and they haven't done anything
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Aug 28, 2017 17:00
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xfinitymobile has the LG x-charge for a buck right now. Check it out if you were at all interested in their service, it's BYOD in all but name. *prepares to be yelled at*
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Aug 30, 2017 06:46
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I got the Red Pocket $60 for 1 year 100min/100txt/500MB plan from ebay. That works out to 5 bux a month. I believe you can pick all 4 carriers. The kit comes all sim cards for Vzn/ATT/TMo and you pick one to activate. I believe for TMo and Sprint sims you can still get 2G speed after 500MB is used up but I haven't tested it. It took me 2 emails to Red Pocket to get the plan sorted out. So far this is probably the best "keep a phalet in your car as the dedicated google map screen" plan. I would like to pay less but I haven't found it yet. Also I have been looking for bezel less giant as phalet on gearbest, haven't found anything I like under $100 yet.
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Sep 11, 2017 12:07
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I got one of the flashed Mifis off ebay with unlimited Verizon 3G for $5 a month. 3G is slower than I remembered but it still has worked great for me so far. I leave it in the car for places that Sprint shits the bed.
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Sep 11, 2017 14:22
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Sprint service in my area has deteriorated to the point where I see "unable to activate cellular data network" errors at least once a day on my iPhone. T-Mobile has the best coverage in my small town, but I know they're mediocre in the surrounding region. I want a plan that'll keep me primarily on T-Mo, but allow my phone to roam onto another network (say, AT&T) if there's no T-Mo signal. Do the T-Mobile plans already do this? Does Straight Talk? Does anyone? I really like how my Sprint phone can roam onto Verizon when necessary.
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Oct 1, 2017 11:13
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Well, T-Mobile postpaid will roam onto AT&T, and I think they are working on a deal with US Cellular too. But then that's not prepaid. Google Fi will automatically switch between T-Mobile and Sprint.
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Oct 1, 2017 13:04
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Rastor posted:Well, T-Mobile postpaid will roam onto AT&T, and I think they are working on a deal with US Cellular too. But then that's not prepaid. Even T-Mobile postpaid data roaming on AT&T is very limited, IIRC only 200 MB per billing cycle with a hard cutoff if you go over. Also, Fi added US Cellular in addition to T-Mobile and Sprint.
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Oct 2, 2017 03:20
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