Ordered my N4........some (again) Straight talk Qs..........................

[waxwabbit]

Hi everyone,

So I ordered my N4s (wife too).........

I am planning on using ST via At & t

I asked before about issues with MMS and multiple texts( porting no. using Google Voice), and am now confident that as long as I put in the right settings it should be fine if Porting through Straight Talk.

I was wondering though; could I get the micro sim and $45 month package - set it up with JUST a new number, and then If I am happy with the service, THEN port my old number to Straight talk afterwards? ( I am aware that when you port the number over, you cancel your old original service).


Also, the $30 T mobile package looks very tempting. Could I......

* try the At&t Micro sim; either with new no. only / or with ported number (thus cancelling my old original service) and then buy a micro sim for T mobile and test out their service to compare? ( although from looking on their map, I don't feel too confident in their coverage by me)

I am just wondering about the flexibility of switching, and If I could run into problems.

From reading these fine forums, I get the impression that Straight Talks Customer service, is not of the highest quality, so am picking the forums enlightened brains


I appreciate your feedback, and am looking forward to receiving my N4


Lee

 

[nickacs]

When I bought my N4 on launch day back in Nov, I was on VZW and just kept my old phone/# and bought a TMobile micro-sim to try the $30 prepaid plan. Worked pretty good for the first 2 months, but for some reason, data connection at work was slim to none. My friends on AT&T have no issues, and I can't not have any data connection 8hrs/day at work all week!

So last month I decided to pop out the TMobile sim and give ST AT&T a shot for a cycle and so far all has been great. Data connection 100% at work, calls around town fine and no data throttling. I miss the data speeds TMobile had, but still everything is fast enough with ST that I really can't tell the difference, except with Speed Test app.

Both prepaid carriers, I received new phone#'s while still having my VZW phone/# and no issues. That's the great thing with prepaid carriers. Don't like one, just don't renew the next month and pop in a different sim

The only thing I don't think will work in your scenario is using an AT&T micro-sim with the TMobile prepaid. I had to buy a new ST micro-sim when I left TMobile prepaid. So right now I have 2 micro-sims; Tmobile and ST. So if, for some reason, I want to just switch back to TMobile, I can immediately.

 

[C_Harrison]

If your going to go with Straight Talk with a ATT sim you might want to get it now. I had to get mine from Wal-Mart online because Straight Talk doesn't have it on their site currently. From what I can tell is that they still carry the service but may just be out of Sims right now.

 

[waxwabbit]

Thank you for your responses.

I figured to try out both at t and t mobile would require two separate $ 15 micro sims.....I'm fine with that.

So it would seem I would have two separate phone no.s, one for the t mobile, and one for the at t. If ( just for example) you kept alternating between the two carriers, would u still only have one number for each carrier?

Incedently, someone at my work said he gets great coverage with t mobile. So I may try them first.

The n4 isn't LTE though, so would the $30 be that much of a difference? You mentioned it was quicker with t-mobile.......so now I'm curious.


Thanks for your input


Lee

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

 

[rjfarrow]

I went with Straight Talk AT&T initially and although everything was fine my download speeds were a pathetic 1.5 Mbps. So I thought I would give Straight Talk T mobile a try. An although I have dropped a couple calls my download speeds jumped up to 15 Mbps, 10x faster. Neither T mobile nor AT&T have great service in my area. Seeing that I dont make alot of phone calls anyway I figured the trade off was in my favor.

Second, I for a couple months had trouble sending and receiving MMS. Nothing would work. Changed my APN multiple times and tried this and that, double checked everything and nothing. Til one day I read something about Google Voice interrupting MMS messages. So I deleted Google Voice and to my surprise I started receiving MMS messages. I am not to say that in every instance that this will fix the issue but for me it did.

 

[Jennifer Stough]

I heard somewhere that you could only port to an unactivated SIM, so if that's the case you could have to buy a new SIM and service card to port. But if it isn't the case, you would still need to buy a new service card in order to port to the SIM. Straight talk activates their cards through numbers alone, not your account. So of you were to pay for a month of service and halfway through want to change your number, you would have to buy a new month of service. I used ST SIM in att iPhone and had a horrible expierence. Had ST SIM in tmobile sidekick 4g and loved it even though 4g in my area was slim to none.

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Android Central Forums

 

[runtmms]

Thank you for your responses.

I figured to try out both at t and t mobile would require two separate $ 15 micro sims.....I'm fine with that.

So it would seem I would have two separate phone no.s, one for the t mobile, and one for the at t. If ( just for example) you kept alternating between the two carriers, would u still only have one number for each carrier?

Incedently, someone at my work said he gets great coverage with t mobile. So I may try them first.

The n4 isn't LTE though, so would the $30 be that much of a difference? You mentioned it was quicker with t-mobile.......so now I'm curious.


Thanks for your input


Lee

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

Speed and coverage is going to be very dependant on where you are located. A friend with a good T-Mobile review in your area is a good start.

If you're going to be swapping sims between the two carriers make sure you know how long the sim can be on an inactive account before it can no longer be re-activated. For example, at Solavei (T-Mobile MVNO) after your prepaid month is complete, you have 30 days to pay for another month. After that 30 days with no service the sim cannot be reactivated. I know I read about there being a similar limitation with the other prepaid plans but I don't remember the details. It's worth checking out if you're going to be demoing carriers.

Do a Google search on hspa+ 42 vs LTE. Performance varies greatly between carriers and region. (hspa+ 42 is pretty darn fast.)


Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

 

[waxwabbit]

Thanks again for the input everyone. What a nice and friendly bunch you all are!

My friend who rates the local T-Mobile network, I believe he is on post paid and not prepaid. Should I factor that into coverage?

I was even thinking about going down to my local T-Mobile shop, and asking customers, and maybe staff? ( although I'm wary of their bias)

Or I could just get T-Mobile for me, and ST for my wife and compare...... LOL

Thanks again everyone



Lee

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

 

[waxwabbit]

Actually, I may go into the T-Mobile shop to get the micro sim......I can delve whilst I am there.

He he




Lee

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

 

[runtmms]

My friend who rates the local T-Mobile network, I believe he is on post paid and not prepaid. Should I factor that into coverage?

I was even thinking about going down to my local T-Mobile shop, and asking customers, and maybe staff? ( although I'm wary of their bias)

Prepaid vs post paid matters for roaming. There are two separate coverage maps on the T-Mobile website. I don't think you can get the $30 plan in store - but you should be able to get the MicroSIM and sign up online.

If you need more minutes than the $30 plan offers you might consider Solavei. I've been happy with them. Unlike ST they have a defined data plan.

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