Leaving CDMA - Straight Talk or Simple Mobile?

[Woosh]

What are the effects on Google Voice integration if I port my number over from Sprint to either ST or T-Mobile prepaid? I use it for Voicemail and Text Messaging.

First you should end the integration. You should be able to still use it for text messaging and voicemail, but you will need to use the Google Voice app to send a text.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

 

[hatchetdawg]

What are the effects on Google Voice integration if I port my number over from Sprint to either ST or T-Mobile prepaid? I use it for Voicemail and Text Messaging.

This is an iffy question. If you currently have your google voice and sprint number integrated (a Sprint only feature) and you then port it to T-Mobile pre-paid then there is no support for conditional call forwarding, so you would loose the ability to use GV voicemail and you'd lose the ability to SMS from that number.

Your best bet would be to port the number fully from sprint to Google Voice, then contact T-Mobile support and have them disable the T-Mobile voicemail and only provide your Google Voice number.

If you're on the $30 100 minute plan you might do well to use GrooveIP to use only data for calls.

 

[hatchetdawg]

How is the roaming on Solavei? Does it transfer easily to AT&T in rural areas or outside T-Mobile service areas?

I'll be able to better answer this for your tomorrow after my road trip.

 

[natehoy]

So if it says "No Signal", I won't actually get a signal?

Straight Talk is partnered with AT&T, so if you choose the AT&T option you'll get signal everywhere AT&T actually owns a tower. However, AT&T also has sharing partnerships with other non-AT&T networks and that partnership is not extended to Straight Talk.

Adding to the confusion, of course, is that ST is also partnered with T-Mobile. I thought I understood that any Straight Talk plan would automatically roam freely between T-Mo and AT&T and get the "best" signal from either, and that was the basis for their signal maps. However, several other people have mentioned that you actually have to choose between T-Mobile and AT&T coverage, and that might make things messier. I can't relate any personal experience, but I have to imagine if StraightTalk advertises coverage somewhere it would be available on whatever plan you bought.

But the nice thing about all of these carriers is you can always pick up a Nexus 4 and jack in their SIM, and if it stinks you're our $40-50 for the SIM and a month of service, and you move on to the next carrier.

EDIT: I've emailed Straight Talk about this to get the "straight poop" - my current assumption is that I'd be able to "roam free" between T-Mo and AT&T towers when buying a Straight Talk plan, but I will post the results of my inquiry here when I receive it.

 

[Wicket]

But the nice thing about all of these carriers is you can always pick up a Nexus 4 and jack in their SIM, and if it stinks you're our $40-50 for the SIM and a month of service, and you move on to the next carrier.

my thoughts on this exactly! After looking over these coverage maps I personally think going T-Mobile is my best bet, $100 a month for my wife and I to have 1000 min (shared), unlimited text and unlimited data is going to save me a little over $600 a year and I am contract free so when the next Nexus comes out a year later and I want to upgrade, I upgrade!

 

[Ryuuie]

Straight Talk is partnered with AT&T, so if you choose the AT&T option you'll get signal everywhere AT&T actually owns a tower. However, AT&T also has sharing partnerships with other non-AT&T networks and that partnership is not extended to Straight Talk.

Adding to the confusion, of course, is that ST is also partnered with T-Mobile. I thought I understood that any Straight Talk plan would automatically roam freely between T-Mo and AT&T and get the "best" signal from either, and that was the basis for their signal maps. However, several other people have mentioned that you actually have to choose between T-Mobile and AT&T coverage, and that might make things messier. I can't relate any personal experience, but I have to imagine if StraightTalk advertises coverage somewhere it would be available on whatever plan you bought.

But the nice thing about all of these carriers is you can always pick up a Nexus 4 and jack in their SIM, and if it stinks you're our $40-50 for the SIM and a month of service, and you move on to the next carrier.

The problem with that is, in the US, AT&T and T-Mobile are literally the only GSM carriers. If AT&T and/or T-Mobile sucks on one, it will suck for all of them. Moving around from carrier to carrier only really works outside of the US.

I honestly don't know if I should stick with Sprint and ignore the Nexus 4 or just take my chances and see if I get decent service.

 

[nickacs]

my thoughts on this exactly! After looking over these coverage maps I personally think going T-Mobile is my best bet, $100 a month for my wife and I to have 1000 min (shared), unlimited text and unlimited data is going to save me a little over $600 a year and I am contract free so when the next Nexus comes out a year later and I want to upgrade, I upgrade!

I went on TMO's site today and just picked 'Bring your phone' link and then it asked which SIM card sizes did I want to get. Picked one and then it automatically loaded their $79.99 shared calling plan, unlimited text and $20 x 2 (both phones) at unlimited data. So that comes to $120. How did you get your 2 smartphones at $100? Just curious
Thanks!

OOPS EDIT: I picked the 'see other Value plans' and saw I think where your getting your $100 price from. I saw "Package 5" as the Micro-SIM and $100 plan with 1000 mins/unlimited txt/unlimited data. I didn't see a "package" that you can pick one phone line as a regular SIM and the other as a Micro (for N4). Hmmm..

 

[Woosh]

So if it says "No Signal", I won't actually get a signal?

Going by Straight Talk's maps, I should have coverage everywhere. However, I don't think that's true as AT&T has no presence in Eastern Iowa (around Vinton) and in Flagstaff, AZ which are two places I go to.

Also, I checked out OpenSignal - Crowd-sourced Cellular Coverage Maps for the world. which also says I should get signal. OpenSignal shows that AT&T has more towers and more coverage in Omaha than Sprint does and that Sprint has the worst coverage in the city, AT&T has 2nd best. This information doesn't take into account that AT&T added 4G towers here as well (which ST obviously can't pull from) so, unless AT&T removed some towers, then it should be better.

There are so many sites saying I should and shouldn't get signal, I'm starting to think it'd be best to just try the service anyway just to check.

It's a bit complicated and their maps are semi confusing. But it does seem like T-Mo will roam on AT&T and tbh I'd be somewhat surprised if you don't have AT&T coverage, even if its bad coverage you should have it because they are fairly decent.

Map below shows the diff coverage, Idk why it says GSM but, A = ATT, V = Verizon, T = T-Mo, S = Sprint coverage.

The problem with that is, in the US, AT&T and T-Mobile are literally the only GSM carriers. If AT&T and/or T-Mobile sucks on one, it will suck for all of them. Moving around from carrier to carrier only really works outside of the US.

I honestly don't know if I should stick with Sprint and ignore the Nexus 4 or just take my chances and see if I get decent service.

Bingo, that is the huge problem. But check out the lovely Sprint coverage on the map above to make the decision easier.

I went on TMO's site today and just picked 'Bring your phone' link and then it asked which SIM card sizes did I want to get. Picked one and then it automatically loaded their $79.99 shared calling plan, unlimited text and $20 x 2 (both phones) at unlimited data. So that comes to $120. How did you get your 2 smartphones at $100? Just curious
Thanks!

OOPS EDIT: I picked the 'see other Value plans' and saw I think where your getting your $100 price from. I saw "Package 5" as the Micro-SIM and $100 plan with 1000 mins/unlimited txt/unlimited data. I didn't see a "package" that you can pick one phone line as a regular SIM and the other as a Micro (for N4). Hmmm..

Do you have a T-Mo store there? It's easier to just go and get it done there imo, if you decided to order on the internet and needed a smaller SIM you could simply go to the store and they will cut or give you a new one for the N4.

 

[natehoy]

I honestly don't know if I should stick with Sprint and ignore the Nexus 4 or just take my chances and see if I get decent service.

Another option if you can't find good coverage maps that you trust is to simply buy a dumbphone on Straight Talk / GSM (prices start at FREE) and a one-month plan, travel to all the places you'd go to, and see what the signal levels are like. If you like what you see, buy the Nexus and move the SIM over to it.

If you don't like what you see, donate the phone and the remaining credit to a local battered women's shelter or someone who can use a phone for a month, and don't order the Nexus 4.

 

[Ryuuie]

It's a bit complicated and their maps are semi confusing. But it does seem like T-Mo will roam on AT&T and tbh I'd be somewhat surprised if you don't have AT&T coverage, even if its bad coverage you should have it because they are fairly decent.

Map below shows the diff coverage, Idk why it says GSM but, A = ATT, V = Verizon, T = T-Mo, S = Sprint coverage.

View attachment 44446



Bingo, that is the huge problem. But check out the lovely Sprint coverage on the map above to make the decision easier.

But does the AT&T coverage on ST roam to T-Mobile is the question then. =/ If Sprint's coverage is that bad, I shouldn't be getting as decent a signal as I'm getting but I don't know. Maybe that's the reason why Sprint's 3G is pretty much unusable for me.

- - - Updated - - -

Another option if you can't find good coverage maps that you trust is to simply buy a dumbphone on Straight Talk / GSM (prices start at FREE) and a one-month plan, travel to all the places you'd go to, and see what the signal levels are like. If you like what you see, buy the Nexus and move the SIM over to it.

If you don't like what you see, donate the phone and the remaining credit to a local battered women's shelter or someone who can use a phone for a month, and don't order the Nexus 4.

I could try this, yeah. What are some good dumbphone GSMs to use on Straight Talk?

 

[EnderTheThird]

So a quick update. I just activated the ST SIM on my friend's Galaxy Note and I'm very impressed. I'm in a somewhat rural area of NW Ohio right now, and I'm getting better signal than my Galaxy Nexus on VZW and my mom's S3 on Sprint. It's showing me on HSPA+, and the Speedtest.net app is showing me 169ms/6297kbps/1265kbps! (Note: You might have to leave the Proxy field blank in APN settings to get Speedtest and some other sites/apps to work correctly; it was showing me 9kbps down when I had ST's proxy info in that field instead).

I'll be doing some additional traveling over the next few days, so I'll have some great opportunities to test ST while I'm out and about in NW Ohio, Detroit, and Indiana. I'll keep you all updated in case anyone else out here in the midwest is considering dropping VZW or Sprint for the Nexus 4.

 

[limdoug]

Well...after much more research, I'm just going with the T-Mobile $30 plan which includes 100 min and 5GB data...I rarely go over 100 mins a month so this plan will be perfect.

 

[nickacs]

Well...after much more research, I'm just going with the T-Mobile $30 plan which includes 100 min and 5GB data...I rarely go over 100 mins a month so this plan will be perfect.

I'm doing the same..Just order my Micro SIM card/activation kit today so it's already here when the phone comes next week Counting the days!!

 

[chestont]

I've heard grumblings about the ST plan with the AT&T sim having arbitrary data caps, is this strictly an issue for the AT&T ST plan? Or is it also an issue if you use a ST sim on T-Mobile's network as well?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

[GiantJay]

I don't know what that map for Sprint is supposed to be. First Sprint is cdma not gsm. It looks more like Boost or Nextel coverage.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Andrew Martonik]

I don't know what that map for Sprint is supposed to be. First Sprint is cdma not gsm. It looks more like Boost or Nextel coverage.

Straight Talk offers CDMA (on Sprint's network) phones directly, so they actually do need to show that CDMA coverage. They sell ST-branded phones on their site and in walmart stores.

 

[limdoug]

I'm doing the same..Just order my Micro SIM card/activation kit today so it's already here when the phone comes next week Counting the days!!

I ordered 3 just in case because apparently, some of them have invalid codes. You can eventually get it fixed through talking with supervisors but I'd rather just spend a couple extra bucks to make sure I get a good one. If all 3 of mine are bad, I'll probably flip out. I read this info on the giant slickdeals thread about the $30 plan. It's not a huge widespread problem, but I did notice that some people complained about it. I'd rather be safe than sorry.

 

[HonkyTonker]

I'll be able to better answer this for your tomorrow after my road trip.

How did roaming on the road trip go?

 

[limdoug]

1st micro sim worked actually. i've activated and funded the account. i went ahead and put the micro sim into an unlocked att iphone4 and everything worked. even got tmobile 3g on it. now just need my nexus 4 to arrive...

 

[HAAS599]

I'm leaving Sprint and going to SimpleMobile. I like the thought of actually having unlimited everything and 4g(something sprint promised 2 years ago and never delivered).

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