Outside the U.S.

[Burleson90]

I live in Washington state and reading these forums and complaints has me asking:
Outside of the U.S.
1. How big is LTE in your country? (I think here in the U.S. this phone gets dogged for lack of LTE but in other countries LTE isn't near as established as it is here)
2. How many GSM carriers there that can support this phone offer unlimited data? This has to do with the cloud and lack of an SD slot.

I feel that the fact that Google as well as this phone may be world wide is overlooked. This is a great phone but here in the U.S. some features (or lack there of) are scrutinized because it isn't up to par as some other phones. Meaning that google built this phone to satisfy a global market more so than a specific one. Just cause the U.S. is big doesn't mean it is the entire world.

Feel free to rip this apart if you want or agree. I want this to be a great discussion. Maybe it will kill some time and Nov. 13th will get here faster

 

[Fairclough]

Firstly I live in Australia. Its between the Indian/Pacific ocean, also between Asia/Antarctica. Just had to state that as an American Sports channel/website claimed we were Austria at the olympics then denied the fact they got the countries mixed up, in saying that were not in Europe. Size is about 7,617,930 km2 (6thlargest) or 2,941,299 sq mi with only 22million residence. SO saying that were not overly large, thus we have a large area and its a bit harder to building infrastructure fairly over it - the middle is one big desert though.

In saying that to say we don't that much people to cover a large space to develope networks across the whole nation (like in deserts) evenly it is pretty decent but pricey.
LTE I know should be available in most cities. I am in the 4th Largest city here and we have it so I presume the rest of the other cities. LTE is being promoted a bit, but no other really over talks about it. My mate showed it off on his iphone but no one cares too much as LTE is currently on 2 networks (Telstra - the more expensive one and better coverage and Optus). At the moment I view there is no need for it particularly as its on a plan, I myself is a former Telstra plan member since i was 8 years old (bit young i know but i needed one for sport etc) till recently i converted to optus prepaid due to the price.

For carriers - there are 4 main ones and a lot of little ones i know no one really uses (people will argue boost is one also but here Optus basically owns it)
Optus Prepaid this wording confuses me because they call it $2 days but then its really $1 a day in their pricing ...

Recharge your $2 Days offer from just $10
The bigger your recharge, the longer it lasts. So work out what suits you and recharge as you go. And its easy to remember how long your recharge will last - for example $10 last for 10 days, $100 last a massive 100 days.

For a $2 daily usage fee you will receive:
Unlimited national voice calls to Australian mobiles and fixed lines, and 13/1800 numbers*
Unlimited standard national SMS/MMS to Australian mobiles*
Unlimited mobile Internet browsing on your mobile handset within Australia

Thats the only one I can find and its prepaid so no LTE. The plan ones basically max out on 3GB as you can see our mobile network for data is pretty. I use wifi all the time. I see no need for myself to go LTE anytime soon as the coverage i find is only just starting to begin. Sorry it isn't that helpful, cloud doesnt seam the best at the moment for our country but i love the idea of it particularly as my hard drive broke and i have been now streaming music.

 

[AussieAndroid]

Hey I'm from Perth WA as well

4G is really in its infancy here. The couple people I know who have it complain about battery life (iphone 5 user) and the other never gets 4G signal anyway.

When you take into account that our broadband Internet speeds lie between 3-12Mbs (taken from what I've seen from hundreds of local users), getting faster mobile data on their phone is almost a non issue as most people will end up comparing their mobile data speed back to their home Internet connection, which is slow by international standards.

I personally get 12Mbs at home and about 3-4Mbs on my Galaxy Nexus on Vodafone, so if the Nexus 4 gets me anything faster with H+ I'll be extremely happy. That said, the pricepoint has already sold me so I'll be refreshing the Play Store website every 5seconds come the 13th.

IMO though, where the Nexus lineup will fail here is if none of the carriers pick it up and if the local electronic stores don't sell it. People here aren't techy enough to know about stuff that you can only buy online. They are also stupid, so even though 4G would be fail for most users here, the salesman that says "iphone 5 is faster than a Nexus 4" will ultimately get the Apple sale.

The Nexus 7 has been doing relatively well here. When I say that, I don't necessarily mean sales figures, I'm talking about word of mouth and getting the Nexus name out there. The main reason people know about it at least is due to the fact some brick and mortar stores actually stock it and advertise it. The price point then gets people interested enough to check it out.

I'm hoping google will push the Nexus branding more over here. People need to pushed on the idea of Nexus as a brand because at the moment, they have no idea. They hear Nexus and just think it's some phone Samsung make (often confusing it with the Galaxy S3). The fact the Nexus 4 is made by LG is further going to confuse people.

 

[mlndshh]

2. How many GSM carriers there that can support this phone offer unlimited data? This has to do with the cloud and lack of an SD slot.

in india you can get 2gb of data for like55-60 rupees i.e 1 dollar very cheap

 

[gone down south]

The real question isn't LTE versus HSPA+, it's GSM versus CDMA. Google didn't cut out all LTE access, they cut out the American CDMA carriers. LTE was a casualty of that battle.
And I believe that only the US and a few Asian countries use CDMA widely.

 

[jenskristian]

I'm from Norway. The two major carriers (Telenor and Netcom) are rolling out LTE and cover most of the cities. This coverage can only be used for mobile broadband as no phones (only one Samsung tablet) has launched with LTE support. I believe this is due to the fact that Voice over LTE hasn't been implemented yet.

There are plenty of carriers that are offering "unlimited data" over GSM.

 

[cinek]

in the UK we have 1 carrier offering it at crazy prices, at first I thought no LTE = deal breaker but when I saw the 4G prices... I couldn't care less about 4G now. Probably at least 8 months until other carriers come in with 4G so no rush for me

 

[Fairclough]

Hey I'm from Perth WA as well

Perth buddies. I found here you get a lot of people being conned easily, but i know quiet a few too upset with there Iphones and now willing to even give Windows 8 a run. The lg bit will confuse many but i guess they will just view it as a hybrid like prada does. God we have expensive internet here.

 

[Syrential]

Here in Germany the prices for LTE are ridiculous. Only T-Mobile and Vodafone have a LTE network right now, for T-Mobile it costs 10? extra for 500MB (no joke) of data. For Vodafone I'm not really sure, but I believe the prices go up to 45? if you want 50Mbps LTE with 10GB of data.
But I don't really care about LTE anyways since I get decent 3G speeds.

 

[Shadowriver]

In Poland only one big carrier offers LTE which is Plus GSM and with range... it has lot of towns but in big cities soemtiems they not even fully covered:

Mapa zasi

And i don't think it's unlimited. Don't be fooled with CDMA on map, it's only for home internet services (which i didn't even know they use CDMA)

 

[theriel]

I have quite recently lived in the US, UK and Poland... so, my little observations as regards US vs. Europe:
-> nobody really cares about 4G in Europe. It is seen as something new, interesting, but hardly any deal-breaker for non-geeks. General population either hasn't heard of it, or accepts it as just a new standard which is slowly being implemented. People focus on phones which they like and plans which they want (e.g. because of good rates) - the question of 4G is rarely a serious consideration.
-> the biggest "4G awareness" I have noticed was in the UK, because of the joint venture of two big carriers who created (for the time being) a monopoly in rolling out the first 4G network. Lots of advertising, lots of hype - once the prices were released, as @cinek mentioned - people are less interested. Keep in mind - in the UK it is common to have 500MB or 1GB monthly plans, in which case there is no need for 4G. Yes, you can also have unlimited data plans - the prices vary (but are generally affordable).
-> one significant difference - if you compare central London to Manhattan, I am of (totally subjective, based on 2y living in NYC) opinion that in London you can find more free wireless hotspots around - in many cafes etc. Thus the need for big data plan is much lower.
-> the only carrier in the UK which has 4G (as mentioned above) does NOT offer unlimited data (at all).

Bottom line:
-> Nobody will really cry for the lack of LTE in Nexus 4. If they do, it's more likely because of "it's the new standard, I should have it" or "iPhone has it, so should I" or "my phone will get obsolete soon unless I buy it with 4G" rather than "I actually need 4G". In reality, I doubt 4G will be fully accessible and usable within the next 12-18 months.
-> Unlimited data is supported by some carriers (In the UK - not 4G) but it is not a go-to option for most of the population. And Nexus 4 is supposed to be targeted at masses, not a few people who really have to carry lots of GBs every day.

Thus - I believe you are making a very good point. From European point of view, I do not think that the general population will consider these elements as deal-breakers. Remember - whether we like it or not - iPhone has become the main point of reference for many people. Some people might raise the presence of LTE in iPhone as a significant advantage over Nexus - though I doubt they would actually appreciate or even use this feature in the foreseeable future.

That's my $0.02 .