Straight Talk / Verizon / Moto X mess

AltaMarina

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I'm desperate for some advice on my situation.
I'm currently a Straight Talk customer in midcoast Maine (Rockland area). The area has spotty GSM coverage, especially in the town I live in, and in the town I work in. I know a handful of people with GSM phones on Straight Talk and the voice is usable but the data is abysmal. So my choices are limited to CDMA phones that (I'm assuming) run on the Verizon network. My current phone is a Samsung Galaxy S950C that turns off (and back on again) at will. Not wanting to get stuck in a situation where I need my phone and it's decided that powering on is no longer one of it's functions, I bought a new, up to date phone. Not knowing that ST won't activate 4G LTE capable phones, I bought the Moto X, Verizon, off contract (on Motomaker of course, so I can't get a refund). Here are my questions:

Are there any prepaid or inexpensive carriers that I could activate the Moto X on? I don't expect LTE, and we don't really get it in this area anyway.
Is there a way to get the Moto X working on a prepaid carrier that's possible for a tech novice?
Failing options 1 and 2, is there another phone that is up to date, with current Android, that I could activate on Straight Talks Verizon towers?
Any advice on how to best recoup my lost money if I can't use the Moto X (which is looking pretty apparent)?
I've also heard something about the Verizon Moto X having a GSM radio as well as CDMA? Is there any truth to this?

What's really frustrating is that about 3 hours after I'd ordered the phone I actually contacted Motorola to cancel the order and was told that it couldn't be cancelled because the order had been "exported to the factory". (The order was placed at about 8pm and I attempted to cancel at about 11pm.) I was also then reassured by a friend that I COULD, in fact, activate a 4G LTE phone with Straight Talk because he'd done it with his... All in all I'm feeling pretty confused and I deeply appreciate any and all advice about my situation.
 

Rukbat

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At present, ST can't activate VM phones with LTE. (It's a VM thing, not ST thing.) That may change.

You can try Page Plus (in the process of being sold to ST's parent company, if it hasn't been already), but their contract is also limited (I don't know to what), so it's probably also 3G-only.

You can probably get most of your money back by selling the phone on Swappa. then buy something on 3G, or see how Sprint coverage is. (There are 4 carriers, it's not just GSM vs. CDMA, it's AT&T, Sprint, TMobile, and Verizon. If you tried TMobile and the coverage was no good, try AT&T or Sprint if you want the latest phones. If you want to stick with ST, it's AT&T or TMobile. Verizon's out as far as latest phones, and Sprint only accepts the ones that ST sells for their network, which are the cheapie bottom-of-the-line phones.)
 

DayThyme

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I bought the Moto X, Verizon, off contract (on Motomaker of course, so I can't get a refund).
That's not true. You can get a FULL refund for 14 days from the ship date for a motomaker phone, 30 days if you are in California. You also can sell a mint condition Verizon 16GB moto X for about $330 on swappa.
 
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DayThyme

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I've also heard something about the Verizon Moto X having a GSM radio as well as CDMA? Is there any truth to this?
yes, it is true. A verizon Moto X will work with a Tmobile or ATT SIM card to make calls/text. I don't know if it works with ATT or TMobile 4G LTE but sounds like that is not an issue for you. It won't work on Sprint, though.
 
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DayThyme

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What's really frustrating is that about 3 hours after I'd ordered the phone I actually contacted Motorola to cancel the order and was told that it couldn't be cancelled because the order had been "exported to the factory". (The order was placed at about 8pm and I attempted to cancel at about 11pm.)
You have 14 days from the ship date to get an RMA and ship the phone back to Motorola for a FULL refund. 30 days if you are in California.

The Moto G is a 3G only phone, btw.
 

JRDroid

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You only have 1 hour from the time of order to cancel a Moto Maker order, but you can return it within 14 days for a full refund.

After looking at coverage maps, only T-Mobile and Verizon offer coverage in the Rockland area. T-Mobile only has 2G, which explains the terrible GSM data speeds, and Verizon has LTE. Now, you can activate AT&T and T-Mobile LTE phones on ST, but since neither of those carriers have LTE in your neck of the woods, that won't do you a whole lot of good. Now, unfortunately for you, Verizon is the least pre-paid friendly carrier in the US. However, Page Plus does have some decent plans at decent prices. They are $10-$20 more than Straight Talk (depending on if you want 2.5 GB or 5 GB of data since PP doesn't do unlimited data), but that is still a lot more affordable than Verizon its self.
 

DayThyme

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You only have 1 hour from the time of order to cancel a Moto Maker order, but you can return it within 14 days for a full refund.
Not only that, if you do call to cancel more than 1 hour after you order but before it ships, they will send you a pre-paid return label to return the phone so that you don't have to pay return shipping.
 

JRDroid

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Not only that, if you do call to cancel more than 1 hour after you order but before it ships, they will send you a pre-paid return label to return the phone so that you don't have to pay return shipping.

When I RMA'd mine, they paid return shipping. Though, mine was for a manufacturer defect (dust between the LCD and the glass), not just because I had changed my mind.
 

DayThyme

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When I RMA'd mine, they paid return shipping. Though, mine was for a manufacturer defect (dust between the LCD and the glass), not just because I had changed my mind.
but even if you just changed your mind, if you call to cancel before it is shipped and they can't cancel it, they will send you a prepaid return label because they are not able to cancel the order for you. You just have to peel the old label off and put the new label on.
 

AltaMarina

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I feel so much better just knowing they'll accept my return! You guys are lifesavers.
I've had T-Mobile in the past and they gave me the runaround, and eventually they dropped me. I've never heard of PagePlus, but I'll check them out. Worst case scenario, I return the Moto X and buy a Moto G from Verizon. I can't tell you how relieved I am. Thanks so much!
 

debracfe

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I am wanting to buy a new phone to use with Straight Talk on Verizon network. Did you buy the Moto G and does it work with said network?
I not, any other recommendations?
Debra
 

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