switching to gnex unlocked

[zombiesawyer]

i was thinking about switching from the verizon rezound to the unlocked gnex and jumping off verizon for tmobile no contract plans. i'm just shy of a year into verizons contract which means that i would have to pay a termination fee which i believe would be around $260 but hopefully i will recover that when i sell the resound. the rezound is a nice phone but i pay 80$ a month and with the gnex on tmobile i would only pay around 30$ - $50 for the non contract plans. the problem is i've never done this kind of switch. the plan is to buy the gnex, cancel my verizon contract, sell my rezound on ebay (would i take my sim card out of the phone first?) the activate the gnex on tmobile. when everything is said and done i'm hopeing to only be out the 350$ it cost to buy the gnex. my question is if this is a good plan or am i missing something important that will roadblock me?

 

[hodan]

Pretty much exactly what I did with my Sprint Evo3d.

Sold it on Ebay for $145, bought GNex for $442 (tax & shipping), bill went from averaging $115 to $53. Had to pay an early termination fee of $180. It won't take long to make up the difference.

What I realized is that carrier subsidized phones are an INCREDIBLE RIPOFF. Especially with T-Mo's prepaid plans.

If you have the cash, I'd say go for it, no more contract is really nice.

And yes, you wanna take your sim card out, and also do a factory reset of your phone. Copy all your files to a computer first of course.

 

[Pre-dawn raid]

Glad you asked this. I'm thinking of doing the same thing (as are a lot of people I'm sure) but instead I'd be coming from Sprint. Checked on ATTs plans and my monthly bill would actually go UP by about $12 with the same type of plan I have on Sprint. I haven't looked at Tmob but you say their plans are around $50/month! That's fantastic but I've heard bad things about Tmobile's coverage area (I'm in central and eastern NC).

If I make the switch, will I be able to port my same phone # over from Sprint? I've had it for >10 years and don't want to switch numbers.

 

[hodan]

Yeah, you can port your number. Just wait til you get your T-Mobile/AT&T/whatever sim...then call T-Mo and port your number. It will cancel your Sprint service with the port. If you cancel Sprint before you port, say good bye to your number.

 

[swebb]

I also left Sprint for Tmobile and an unlocked galaxy nexus. My savings on my two line family plan is $50. If Tmo works in your area it is the way to go. I looked at ATT but savings there were only $15 or so. Lost some minutes and unlimited data but did not need them. I really did like Sprint, 12 years with them, but they have no middle range plans. It's either entry level minutes, or a ton of minutes and unlimited data that I don't utilize. Not to mention the $10 smartphone fee. Loving Tmo and the GN.

You can get your sim card with the Tmo phone number and test it for a few days. Then port your existing number. Don't cancel your existing service before you port. You'll lose the number if you do.

 

[zombiesawyer]

good to know other people have done the same thing. i was looking on tmo's site and they talk about buying their phones for monthly use. i'm assuming they are doing that so that you will buy their phone. i found the section were you can buy the sim for the phone you already have. they have a few plans but i'm not sure which to get. probably the 30$ plan with 100 minutes (because i actually hardly ever talk on the phone). i thought it was weird that the 50$ plan had the asterix that read **First 100MB at up to 4G speed and the 30$ plan read *First 5GB at up to 4G speeds. New activations only. Available exclusively in-store at Walmart, on Walmart.com, and T-Mobile.com.

 

[tsp907]

Switched from Att after they killed data plans for pay go customers.
Tmo is a much better value for my area in Florida.
For Tmo you need an "activation kit", which is a sim card plus activation code. Order on Tmob website or I got mine off Amazon. Like a few bucks for that.
There are other virtual providers too who sell Sims like Simple Talk or Red Pocket. ST uses the Tmob network, RP uses Att.
Assuming you have your gnex put in the sim, register it online and fund whatever plan you like.
Once you are happy (I tried several providers first) Tmob will port your number from VZ free. Takes like 10 minutes.
I think RP makes you port a number at the time you subscribe... not cool.

Love my gnex/tmob 30.



Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Android Central Forums

 

[giograves]

What are the 4G implications of such a switch. I mean, will future GSM nexus be LTE compatible globally or is this the last time we might be able to light up a GSM 4G world phone in America?

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk 2

 

[Biggnaa20]

Love my gnex/tmob 30.

Does the $30/month plan allow for an additional of any mobile to any mobile minutes for cost or otherwise?

I don't know that I could cut chatting down to 100 minutes a month, but I could definitely keep my access to landlines down to that much.

Thanks!
NB

EDIT: the $30 Tmobile plan doesn't allow for the mobile to mobile add on.

 

[rhea]

No free anything. You can set up wifi calling through google voice and a voip service if you have wifi access at home. I had to do that because of very poor reception (with t-mobile non-existent inside my house). FWIW, even my sprint phones (+10 yrs) quit receiving satisfactory signals. As far as 100 minutes go, you can put $ in your account to cover extra calls @ $.10 a minute. Straight Talk offers unlimited talk for $45. I tried t-mobile ($30) for a month. Reception was poor but used very few talk minutes due to wifi calling. I'm on ST but at&t and it's working better. I was concerned about those times when I'm put on hold for 20 minutes. With ST, I don't worry. That's worth the extra cost to me. It was still worth trying t-mobile. ST does offer t-mobile sim.

sent from my TT (terrific Thrive) using TT (Tapatalk)

 

[Biggnaa20]

Thanks!

I couldn't find anything about the any mobile minutes until after i posted that. If i understand correctly, i can get the any mobile minutes for $10/ month more, but only if i use a more expensive plan. either way, it'll be a savings over Sprint, but even if it were even, and i have service, I'd be fine. we'll see i guess.

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