7 ms·
I just ordered one, but I'm currently on Verizon. What does everyone think is the best way to go in terms of non-contract carriers for the N5? Heard some good
by jwoah12 13y ago
I just ordered one, but I'm currently on Verizon. What does everyone think is the best way to go in terms of non-contract carriers for the N5? Heard some good things about Straight Talk, but also read that their customer service is horrible.
- robflynn 13y agoI had straight talk for a bit. If I used more than 2GB of data in a month they would threaten to cancel my service. I'm not sure how much you use but that's something to be wary of. Otherwise, my service was fine. They didn't do LTE at the time so I was stuck with 3G.
- rgraham 13y agoThere is widespread LTE on Straight Talk on both T-Mobile and AT&T in my area (Austin).
- pa5tabear 13y agoDid they threaten you about not using online media streaming?
- robflynn 13y agoThey just said that I shouldn't do it much. They were fairly polite about it. I seem to recall there being a line in their user agreement that mentions prohibition of audio and video streaming, though I suppose it's not really enforced unless you exceed the limit consistently.
- McGlockenshire 13y agoT-Mobile has non-contract plans. http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans Scroll alllll the way down to the bottom, look for the $30/month plans. They include 5 GB of data per month at 4G speeds, after that you're throttled. I've never come anywhere near to hitting that limit, so I don't know what the throttle is. You can order a SIM card online, or pick one up in a store. http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/phone-sim-card http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/phone-sim-card Once the SIM is in your hand, then you can go into one of their stores or online to get one of the $30/month options.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- sidi 13y agoI am currently on this plan (on a Nexus 4), and it works quite well for me. There's also a 100 minutes talk time limit on the plan, with 10C per minute for extra talk time.
- jwoah12 13y agoHmm looking at my recent statements, I'm always between like 150 and 375 minutes, so even with the 10c per minute extra, I'd never be looking at more than $60/month at worst. I'm assuming nights and weekends still don't count as minutes on this plan?
- McGlockenshire 13y agoNever assume. Always read the contract language carefully.
- jwoah12 13y agoSorry, I used confusing language there. It was meant as a question for people who have the plan. There are scant details about the plan on the website.
- elq 13y agoThere are no free nights and weekends with this plan.
- jlees 13y agoEverything counts, but you can be strategic about usage - dialing via Google Voice from a laptop keeps me well under 100.
- s1kx 13y agoDo you know if T-Mobile has improved in the Phoenix area? The website shows 'excellent' coverage around here, but all I read online is horror stories of not having any signal in buildings etc. Apparently they wanted to work on that in the last 6-10 months, but I haven't heard anything about it since.
- apawloski 13y agoI'm in a major city (so coverage is good on most networks), but T-Mobile has a $30/mo, pay-as-you-go plan for unlimited text/data and 100 minutes of talk (which isn't a problem if you use something like Google Voice).
- anologwintermut 13y agoWhats the preferred way to get google voice working on android ?
- mpd 13y agoYou can install it from Play. It's straightforward. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.googlevoice https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.and...
- bentcorner 13y agoT-mobile has a $30 prepaid plan that looks pretty good (100 minutes talk, unlimited text and "unlimited" [throttled after 5gb] data). http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans, click "Which plan is right for you?"
- Fundlab 13y ago100 minutes of talk is pretty meagre I would rather opt for MetroPCS starting from $40 a month with unlimited talk, data and text. http://www.metropcs.com/metro/detail/MetroPCS_SIM_Card/610214633514?int_camp=byod-kit-hp-a1-spot http://www.metropcs.com/metro/detail/MetroPCS_SIM_Card/61021...
- bvk 13y agoThe "unlimited" data on that plan is only 500MB of HSPA speeds. The 30-dollar T-mobile plan only starts throttling after 5 GB of data.
- jff 13y agoOnce you go over 100 minutes, it simply starts charging from whatever balance you have on your account. You'll get a recorded message warning you, then I think it's $0.10/minute thereafter. I usually stay under 100 minutes or go just up to the edge. If I'm at home and expect to be on hold or talk for a long time, I'll just use Google Voice from my computer, which is better than holding a phone anyway.
- tarice 13y agoI look at it this way: Plan #1: $30 for 100 minutes, with $0.10 a minute afterwards. Plan #2: $40 for unlimited minutes with MetroPCS. So, if I manage to talk less than 100min + ($50 - $40)/$0.10 = 200 minutes per month, then I end up spending less than I would on the MetroPCS plan.
- Fundlab 13y agoI talk well over 300 minutes a month but I get your point
- benmorris 13y agoI ordered mine today as well (also a current verizon customer). No T-Mobile coverage here, but AT&T has some reasonably new Go Phone plans. I'm doing the $60/m unlimited talk/text w/2gigs 3g/4g data and options to buy more (you won't get mysteriously throttled). You'll also get access to ATT support rather than deal with something like Straight Talk. I would love to use Straight Talk but I can't risk my phone/sim being messed up for any long periods dealing with poor support. Even with the AT&T plan I'll save about $15/m (compared to Verizon) which will nearly cover my phone purchase over 2 years.
- rgraham 13y agoI've had Straight Talk for a year. I setup auto-pay, got my SIM cards, and have never needed support. My data usage is always under 2GB and I'm aware of using WiFi where possible. It's been a dream. I've also never had a good customer experience with AT&T, Verizon, etc.
- ufmace 13y agoI've been on Straight Talk since I got a Galaxy Nexus over a year ago. Their customer service isn't great, but I never really have to deal with them. Just drop in the SIM, set up auto-pay, and blacklist their spammy reminder texts, and it's fine. I think their data cap is around 2GB, but I've never come near that. What are you guys who are breaking 5GB caps doing with your phones anyways? The plan is unlimited voice, which is nice, since TMobile's 100min voice can be a little limiting sometimes.
- presty 13y agoI'm on Straight Talk and got flagged by their system. Went 1 day without data access, a few days with limited connection (very slow) and a few weeks later they disabled my hotspotting ability. I was using my phone as a wifi hotspot since I don't have internet at home.
- ericd 13y agoThat would be what their flagging is set up to catch...
- laughfactory 13y agoYep. They're very explicit in their literature about not using your device running on Straight Talk as a hotspot (tethering). It's clear enough that you don't even have to read the fine print to know it is the case. I think they print it in large letters somewhere but I can't remember.
- evandena 13y agoAio looks pretty good. I'm not sure how long they'll last, given that ATT is trying to merge them with Cricket, if their buyout goes through.
- tea-flow 13y agoAio Wireless is owned by AT&T
- saiko-chriskun 13y agothat's what he said...
- raginbajin 13y agoStraight Talk is the way I would go. They have Unlimited Data, Text, and Voice all for 45 bucks.. If my wife didn't upgrade her iPhone a couple of months ago, we'd be switching to that. Save us a ton of money a month.
- laughfactory 13y agoI'm on Straight Talk and love it. But I've never had to deal with support. It's really easy to set up, the price is awesome (less than $50 for pseudo-unlimited everything including taxes), and it just works. And that's on the auto-renew plan. I'm not sure if I'll ever need support (can't see why at this point), but I do know that Tracphone has in the past provided poor customer service (when I used to use a cheap pre-paid phone through them). I do believe they put more into providing better customer service to their Straight Talk customers though. Anyway, I definitely recommend it. Far cheaper than AT&T and Verizon pre-paid/non-contract options and, for my usage patterns, every bit as good. Keep in mind that my data usage is predominantly for Google Maps about town (in the Greater San Diego area), internet browsing, and occasionally streaming Pandora. I can't speak to how it would work to do much streaming video over Straight Talk. But for my needs, I'm very happy. I get what I want at a price (finally!) that I'm willing to pay. Versus how we used to pay AT&T something like $140/month (for two phones) for very few minutes (the smallest anytime minutes plan we could get), unlimited texting, and a couple hundred megabytes of data (as I recall).
- pkulak 13y agoI'd do GoPhone if you need more coverage than T-Mobile will give you. $60 for 2 gigs isn't bad. And you're on the same APN as post-paid AT&T, so you get full access to LTE, etc.