Which is the best pre-paid service for the Nexus?

saintforlife

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Use case: 2 people, 2 smartphones, need about 700 mins per month, about 200 text messages per person and 3-4GB of shared data per month. We currently pay ~$150 per month for a similar plan on AT&T.

My wife and I both just got out of AT&T contracts, and want to ditch our post paid plans.

Do any of the prepaid services offer 4G or LTE data? How does AT&T's prepaid compare to their post paid plans in terms of cost and coverage?
 

Andrew Martonik

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Use case: 2 people, 2 smartphones, need about 700 mins per month, about 200 text messages per person and 3-4GB of shared data per month. We currently pay ~$150 per month for a similar plan on AT&T.

My wife and I both just got out of AT&T contracts, and want to ditch our post paid plans.

There are really only 2 current leaders in prepaid service today.

The first is Straight Talk's $45 Unlimited plan, which offers unlimited calls, unlimited texts, and "unlimited" data on either AT&T or T-Mobile's towers (choose at time of purchase). I put "unlimited" in quotes because depending on your market, they will cut you off or throttle you for using too much data. Their ToS is written very broadly so that they have the right to throttle at any point, but it really just depends on how many other Straight Talk users are around you. Conventional wisdom is that you get about 2-3GB of data per month. People don't like the idea of not knowing the data cap, but for $45 a month, its tough to complain. Great price.

The second is T-Mobile's Monthly 4G plans, 3 of which are useful for smartphones. 1) $30 for 100 minutes, unlimited texts and "unlimited" (throttles at 5GB) data. 2) $60 unlimited minutes, unlimited texts and "unlimited" (2GB) data. 3) $70 unlimited minutes, unlimited texts and "unlimited" (5GB) data. T-Mobile is a good choice if you want a bit higher speed and need guaranteed 5GB of data per month (either $30 or $70 plans). The crux of T-Mobile is that the service area is smaller than Straight Talk's and your phone choices are smaller because not many phones supper 1700/2100mhz HSPA+ (the GNex does!).

Do any of the prepaid services offer 4G or LTE data?

None of the prepaid services offer 4G LTE. They do offer HSPA+, which is quite serviceable in the 5-10mbps range, but no LTE.

How does AT&T's prepaid compare to their post paid plans in terms of cost and coverage?

If you're going prepaid, you won't be going for AT&T's official prepaid service (which is way overpriced), like I note above you're best off with another provider that just buys service off of AT&T or T-Mobile.

In general, prepaid has no (or very limited) roaming. In the case of Straight Talk, your service map is about 99% the same as AT&T's official coverage map. If you live in a well populated area you'll have no issues at all.
 

saintforlife

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Does anybody know if Straight Talk will get LTE anytime soon? Also if I use the Straight Talk data plan on the Nexus for tethering my iPad or laptop, will Straight Talk know about this since there will be no carrier based firmware on the phone to track data usage? If they somehow find out, will they prevent me from doing so in the future?
 
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Andrew Martonik

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Does anybody know if Straight Talk will get LTE anytime soon? Also if I use the Straight Talk data plan on the Nexus for tethering my iPad or laptop, will Straight Talk know about this since there will be no carrier based firmware on the phone to track data usage? If they somehow find out, will they prevent me from doing so in the future?

I don't see any prepaid carrier offering LTE in the next 2-3 years. So don't worry about that lol

As far as tethering, there's really no way for them to tell. They have no software or firmware on your phone to detect it, and I highly doubt they care enough to do any deep packet inspection on your traffic. Just keep the data usage down and you'll be fine.

Some have reported that leaving the "proxy" line of the APN blank let's them use more data because Straight Talk can't follow it as closely. YMMV as always. Would take that with a huge grain of salt.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Android Central Forums
 

Airwolf79

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I just moved one of my lines from sprint to Pageplus. They use Verizon's network. I went with their largest plan, which provides unlimited talk and text with 2gbs of data, 3g only, for $55 a month. For me coming from sprint, their 3g speeds are plenty fast enough, and so far I'm very happy with their service. Also, u can use any Verizon phone on their network, so I just bought a used Dinc2 off eBay. There is no activation fees if u port ur # to them, and all the fees and taxes are included in the price.
 

jpr

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Does anybody know if Straight Talk will get LTE anytime soon? Also if I use the Straight Talk data plan on the Nexus for tethering my iPad or laptop, will Straight Talk know about this since there will be no carrier based firmware on the phone to track data usage? If they somehow find out, will they prevent me from doing so in the future?

If you're going to tether, keep a close eye on your usage. They WILL cancel your account, often without notice, if you go above an imaginary and moveable line of use that they will not disclose. Recently, that line has been reported by users with cancelled accounts to be around 100MB a day (even one time) or 2GB a month. There are various factors involved, such as your location, other users data usage, whether or not they are running low on numbers with your area code (they can also take your number before you have the option to port as stated in their terms and reported by several users who have had it happen to them), and whether they think you are streaming anything (against their terms also). So, I would not recommend tethering on Straight Talk for any significant periods of time or for anything that involved any significant data usage, even one time.
 

The Hustleman

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Straight talk should be sued.

Try h2o wireless, jolt mobile, red pocket mobile and you can find a great deal.

sent from my Samsung Galaxy S WII on T-Mobile! goodbye Sprint!
 

Airwolf79

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No personal experience, but I was going to go with Straight Talk until I read one bad review after another. All prepaid providers that I researched had some bad reviews, but they just seemed to have a lot more than anyone else. But again, I can't speak from experience.
 

kc8flb

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been on straight talk for almost a year. If you can stay under 2gb, it is the best plan. great coverage for the money.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Android Central Forums
 

ryanr509

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been on straight talk for almost a year. If you can stay under 2gb, it is the best plan. great coverage for the money.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Android Central Forums

I just got onto straight talk with my nexus seems great. I have a co worker who I believe has a zte merit smartphone through straight talk. While at work he streams Pandora maybe 3-4hrs a day 4 days a week on average and hasn't received any kind of notice about the data. I'm sure that many hours of streaming has to add up

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Android Central Forums
 

xlnja

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Before I got the Galaxy Nexus GSM, I was on the Sprint unlimited plan with hotspot for about $139/month. I am now on the T-Mobile prepaid 5GB plan with hotspot for $85, which is about equivalent to my old Sprint plan because I never exceeded 5GB of data a month. It's worked out great so far.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Android Central Forums
 

Airwolf79

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Before I got the Galaxy Nexus GSM, I was on the Sprint unlimited plan with hotspot for about $139/month. I am now on the T-Mobile prepaid 5GB plan with hotspot for $85, which is about equivalent to my old Sprint plan because I never exceeded 5GB of data a month. It's worked out great so far.
How are u liking the coverage and data speeds so far compared to Sprint? Have u done any speed tests?
 

Mobimop

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Before I got the Galaxy Nexus GSM, I was on the Sprint unlimited plan with hotspot for about $139/month. I am now on the T-Mobile prepaid 5GB plan with hotspot for $85, which is about equivalent to my old Sprint plan because I never exceeded 5GB of data a month. It's worked out great so far.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Android Central Forums

How are u liking the coverage and data speeds so far compared to Sprint? Have u done any speed tests?

I'm on prepaid T-Mobile also and I love it, data speeds are all around 2000-4000kbps down and 620-1151 up so far. Coverage has been great, I've been to NYC, Chicago and Phoenix so far and never noticed any dead spots.
 

xlnja

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I'm on prepaid T-Mobile also and I love it, data speeds are all around 2000-4000kbps down and 620-1151 up so far. Coverage has been great, I've been to NYC, Chicago and Phoenix so far and never noticed any dead spots.

I agree. This is about what I'm seeing too, about the same as Sprint WiMax.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Android Central Forums
 

PraetorianGuard

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Sorry but how can you call 2 or 5 gig data caps for unlimited. Its either unlimited and with a fair use clause, or its limited and you get a certain amount before you are charged extra or capped.
 

sumyunguy

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My wife and I have been using Simple Mobile for 2 years now...ever since we first got our Nexus Ones. We love it. It truly is Simple! I pay a flat $60 a month for "Unlimited" Talk/Text/4g Web (HSPA+), no extra fees or taxes.

I recently switched over to the Galaxy Nexus from the Play Store, and it was super simple. Just take out the SIM card and turn on the phone (You need to setup the APN settings for MMS, but that is easy).

They use the Tmobile Towers, so whatever Tmobile coverage is in your area is what you would get. I just did a speed test here in my house and I am getting 3.5Mbps Down/2Mbps Up. Plenty of speed.

As warned in a previous post, they do monitor traffic for tethering. As long as you stay in the Data range you mentioned in your original post you should be fine. If you go over a certain amount I am sure it triggers a red flag and then you are knocked down to "3g" speed for the remainder of that month and then go back to 4G when you pay for the next month!

No Contract, No Fees! Awesome!