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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?
There are really only 2 current leaders in prepaid service today.Quote:
Originally Posted by saintforlife [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
The first is [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...], 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 [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...], 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!).
None of the prepaid services offer 4G LTE. They do offer HSPA+, which is quite serviceable in the 5-10mbps range, but no LTE.Quote:
Do any of the prepaid services offer 4G or LTE data?
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.Quote:
How does AT&T's prepaid compare to their post paid plans in terms of cost and coverage?
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.
Check out simple mobile
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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 lolQuote:
Originally Posted by saintforlife [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
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.
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@martonikaj
Thanks for the detailed replies :cheers:
No problem. Chime back in if you have any more questions.Quote:
Originally Posted by saintforlife [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
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.
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by saintforlife [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
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!
For?Quote:
Originally Posted by The Hustleman [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
They all have good deals too, but are on average about $15/month more than Straight Talk. The regular rate is about ~$60 for unlimited talk / unlimited text / 2GB data.Quote:
Try h2o wireless, jolt mobile, red pocket mobile and you can find a great deal.
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.
been on straight talk for almost a year. If you can stay under 2gb, it is the best plan. great coverage for the money.
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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 upQuote:
Originally Posted by kc8flb [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
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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.
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How are u liking the coverage and data speeds so far compared to Sprint? Have u done any speed tests?Quote:
Originally Posted by xlnja [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
Quote:
Originally Posted by xlnja [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by Airwolf79 [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
I agree. This is about what I'm seeing too, about the same as Sprint WiMax.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mobimop [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
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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.
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!
My wife has a galaxy Nexus with straight Talk. Had no problems and hspa+ speeds. Only had it for a month but so far so good.
I have a nexus s 4G on sprint and would like to just have 3G speeds.
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Have you considered moving your numbers to Google voice?
That way you can jump providers and not worry about them taking your phone number.
I had the $45 plan on ST for a couple of months using the SIM swap option with an android phone before they introduced the BYOP and never had any problems, I have to admit my data on the at&t HSPA newtwork topped at about 5mps up & 1.5 down. Not much of a talker so I recently switched over to the tmobile $30 5GB plan, my main reason for switching was #1 I didn't want to have to worry about my number being deactivated for excessive data usage which ST has not stated their official data cut-off mark & I've heard all kinds of stories from ST users. With tmo, the HSPA+ speeds are significantly faster( avg 9-15mps up & 3mps down) whenever you are within the tmo HSPA coverage which is typically within large cities but when I travel outside of these large cities you will be on EDGE & GPRS which is super slow & almost unusable for data.
So if I understand this correctly, if I'm not worried about minutes I should go with T-Mobile so I can tether as well?
Unlimited access vs. unlimited/unthrottled speeds.Quote:
Originally Posted by PraetorianGuard [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
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