[mvsmith]

So I have recently moved to Florida and finally..freaking finally have t-mobile now. Used to have sprint but while I was in NY my GSII (Well really..dumbed down sprint version epic touch 4g) and I realized that verizon basically owns certain parts of new york especially near buffalo and rochester and the smaller areas. Living in FL now I got a cheap Alcatel One Touch Fierce for $150 at walmart. I have to say for a cheap little no contract phone this phone is a beast. 2 GB of Ram, Quad Core, Jellybean, Almost stock android, SD card support, and nice design that looks very nexus like. It only has 4GB of storage space but surprisingly...like samsung it supports write to sd card out of the box. I was scared at first that I'd be screwed by the lack of apps I can install but every game or app I've installed has saved to my 32 GB SD card. It only supports 32 GB though.

Also the only down side is the camera is really bad unless using something like JB+ Camera can't install the nexus camera with photosphere and the screen is really weak and looks kind of cheap. Other than that I absolutely love this phone and it will hold me over until Galaxy Note 3 or Nexus 5.

As for the coverage so far. Today was my first day to test it out in Clewiston going to Ft. Myers. Around where I am it's 4G almost full bars until I'm at my place then it's 2G or nothing. But everywhere I went today and basically everywhere in Ft. Myers I had full 4G. I had 13 MBPS at one point. Never ever got that on my sprint phone. Even when I was in target I noticed that it was only 2G or no bars I just used the wi-fi calling to make a call. I did check and it seems that as long as I make calls on wi-fi it doesn't use up my 100 minutes from the walmart plan. I have ported my number from verizon but now that t-mobile supports google voice I should be able to link it with groove ip+ (bought paid version) and might be able to even bypass that $100 minutes. But if not it's not a big deal.

I'm trying to convince my friends to get t-mobile too because verizon has no coverage over in Clewiston, FL. I'll eventually move over to a better smart phone and the $70 unlimited plan. Unfortunately I can't tether with the walmart plan. I thought about rooting the phone but since it supports app to sd card in the system there might not really be a point. Although I think it's pretty easy to do it even with this off contract phone. But using a phone like this really makes me wonder why some phones out there samsung, lg, and etc. really cost so much. If this phone had just a better screen and camera I can't see it needing to be over $250.

But I've been wanting to switch to t-mobile for some time and now I finally did it so I'm happy. Porting the number and customer service made it very easy. Might even spring for the GSM Nexus 7 since t-mobiles tablet plans seem much better than AT&T's even though it's not unlimited. Even though it's the first day I'm extremely happy with my Alcatel phone and I even got a case for it..even though there isn't really a selection. But most of all I'm finally happy to be on t-mobile and finally able to surf the web, email, stream music, and do everything I love to do on the fly. I've gone way too long without that and having to use my PS Vita with a clear spot and skype for calls was a bit tricky sometimes.

If anyone is nervous about the walmart plan, t-mobiles service, and coverage at least for Florida it seems to be incredible. Even though the ***** at walmart lied and told me I couldn't use the walmart sim with the phone I bought the sim anyways and she also told me I couldn't get a refund on the service. First thing I did was open the book and it says clearly 14 day refund if you aren't happy. Another bonus and spite to sprint t-mobile's account app is way better then the sprint one. Couldn't even make a payment through sprint's one. Sorry if this was a little long but just really happy to finally have a phone+t-mobile+decent android smart phone and almost unlimited data.

Although for what it's worth 2G data (which you get dropped to if you use more than 5 GB on walmart plan) actually works and still loads pages even android central. Just doesn't do youtube or streaming well.

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[gtt1]

I bought the plan while at our condo in Naples. Found coverage was usually hspa on my Nexus 4 all up and down I75.
I was able to tether my laptop and tablet okay.
Plan on setting up Google voice when we come down for the winter.
To me its the best deal in sw Florida.

[mvsmith]

Are you using the Walmart plan. Also did you root or use foxfi without root.

You are correct T-Mobile has almost all of Florida covered. I notice metal buildings interfere but since most places have Wi-Fi it's not a big problem. Could just be this phone too.

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