How long have you guys had Jellybean

[evperry]

For those of you who bought directly from Google when did you get your update for Jellybean and how does your Google wallet work?

Also, what do you think about the tmobile coverage and speed of network. Im from NYC so Im looking for a speed GSM network.

Thanks.

P.S. Im a Verizon Galaxy Owner and Im thinking about switching.

 

[Andrew Martonik]

For those of you who bought directly from Google when did you get your update for Jellybean and how does your Google wallet work?

Anyone with a yakju or takju (updated directly by Google) Nexus had the Jelly Bean update about within a week of when it started to roll out. Of course it was available for anyone the day it started coming out that wanted to update manually with the package download.

Also, what do you think about the tmobile coverage and speed of network. Im from NYC so Im looking for a speed GSM network.

T-Mobile certainly doesn't have the best coverage ever nationwide, but they do cover a lot of the major metro areas. The major coverage issues for T-Mobile are in the rural areas of the country. They generally have pretty good speeds. It really depends on your area and the saturation of the network. The T-Mobile towers don't have the best backend ever, but don't really have enough customers for that to be a problem. I'd ask people you know in your area who have T-Mobile to see how the coverage is. I'm sure it's probably pretty good in NYC.

As far as speeds go, the Galaxy Nexus has a 21mbps HSPA+ radio, so your max theoretical speeds are going to be about ~11mbps real-world. You can probably expect something around 4mbps - 8mbps download depending on the time of day.

 

[Biggnaa20]

Watch out for building penetration issues if you are in New York as well.

I find that the T-Mobile signal doesn't come in through buildings as well as my old Sprint signal, BUT 3G is oodles faster.

 

[myrcgarage]

I am in the Chicago area. I used to have Sprint and I usually get 2mbps for the most part. Since I switched to t-mobile last Friday, I am getting avg 8 or 9mbps. What a difference!

 

[Mobimop]

T-Mobile in NYC (Manhattan) is excellent, I travel to the city on a regular basis and rarely have issues.

 

[font1975]

To answer the question about Google Wallet: as long as the retailers in your area support NFC payments - specifically MasterCards's Paypass - Wallet works fine. Some areas in the country seem to have better PayPass support than others. And you can use any credit card with Wallet now-a-days.

In Houston, the stores are pretty much McDonald's, Jack in the box, Petco, and CVS. There're are a few others here and there. Best Buy had the terminal, but I was told by the cashier they don't accept NFC. The jack-in-the-box near my office doesn't even have their terminals plugged in.

 

[project.in.process]

i bought my gnex on 7/28, received the phone on 8/5, received jellybean within 30 minutes of powering on the phone.

loving it.

(ps, then w/i 1 hour it was rooted and all the better )

 

[randyw]

My Gnex arived with 4.0.4 ICS on it and 15 minutes after powering it up I had Jelly Bean 4.1.1 on it. And within an hour the Bootloader was unlocked and It was Rooted. I Love It!

 

[evperry]

I'm generally in nyc so I think that t mobile would be fine but on that occasion when I go out of town I wanna know that my phone is gonna work. Although I guess it would be possible to get a different pre paid carrier gsm card if I checked things out in advance.

I like the idea of quick updates and a pre paid service service of using what I actually use.

I also like no contract.

When is at&t gonna get their 4g together. I hear that their network is awful.

 

[Andrew Martonik]

When is at&t gonna get their 4g together. I hear that their network is awful.

Their LTE network is good where it is, simply because no one is on it. Their HSPA+ network is completely saturated and failing in many areas (a vast majority of their customers are iPhones on HSPA+). As they shift to LTE hopefully it'll balance out and HSPA+ will free up a little.

 

[evperry]

Wow, that makes soooo much sense. Iphone is not 4g yet. If the Iphone doesnt get 4G this go around I bet the network would be fantastic!

Good call.

So essentially the cheapest 4G plan using AT&T would work.

Thanks man.

Their LTE network is good where it is, simply because no one is on it. Their HSPA+ network is completely saturated and failing in many areas (a vast majority of their customers are iPhones on HSPA+). As they shift to LTE hopefully it'll balance out and HSPA+ will free up a little.

 

[evperry]

I havenet had a GSM phone since Omnipoint days.

If I goto a place that isn't covered well with Tmobile could I buy a temporary prepaid card with AT&T. I know the number would be different but maybe I could just forward it or use my google voice.

 

[Andrew Martonik]

So essentially the cheapest 4G plan using AT&T would work.

Not sure what you mean by this?

If I goto a place that isn't covered well with Tmobile could I buy a temporary prepaid card with AT&T. I know the number would be different but maybe I could just forward it or use my google voice.

You could get a SIM and activate it with AT&T for a little while, but its not very financially viable. AT&T proper has pay per use and day passes, but their prepaid options are quite expensive compared to other MVNOs that operate on AT&T's network.

If you have to regularly rely on switching SIMs because you're going outside of T-Mobile coverage and need service, you should consider just going with AT&T. If for no other reason than its just too expensive to keep buying and switching SIMs / providers.

 

[evperry]

In other words, if I found something equivalent to the $60.00 tmobile plan and I get similar speeds, at&T/ straighttalk might be the solution for me. In any event I have options and I never thought I did.

Yeah I would be interested in a day pass or pay per use with at&T proper. that would make sense when I do out of town.

I am researching. So the straigth talk s $45 a month unlimited. Im in NYC so I would assume they use AT&T as their network here. And as you said prior, the AT&T 4g is not being used yet (will be when new iphone comes out), so they might be just as good as tmobile in terms of speed.

This is awesome news.

Not sure what you mean by this?



You could get a SIM and activate it with AT&T for a little while, but its not very financially viable. AT&T proper has pay per use and day passes, but their prepaid options are quite expensive compared to other MVNOs that operate on AT&T's network.

If you have to regularly rely on switching SIMs because you're going outside of T-Mobile coverage and need service, you should consider just going with AT&T. If for no other reason than its just too expensive to keep buying and switching SIMs / providers.

 

[evperry]

When you order straighttalk with a phone direct from Google. Would I select the unlocked GSM phone as the SIM card when checking out?

Also would it be a micro sim or a regular sim?

Sorry for all the questions.

 

[Andrew Martonik]

Yeah I would be interested in a day pass or pay per use with at&T proper. that would make sense when I do out of town.

Be aware that you'd have a different phone number on that SIM. You wouldn't be able to switch the number back and forth. This is remedied if you use Google Voice for your primary number, that that's a different thread all together .

I am researching. So the straigth talk s $45 a month unlimited. Im in NYC so I would assume they use AT&T as their network here. And as you said prior, the AT&T 4g is not being used yet (will be when new iphone comes out), so they might be just as good as tmobile in terms of speed.

This is awesome news.

Little confusion here I think.

When you select Straight Talk service, you tell them at the time of purchase which carrier's towers you'd like to use, AT&T or T-Mobile. Usually this is dictated by your device, as they usually only support 3G/HSPA+ on one set of bands (it can also be dictated by your area, ST may say that you should use one or the other). Luckily the Galaxy Nexus supports either AT&T or T-Mobile so you get to choose. If you want better speeds and can deal with less coverage, choose T-Mobile. If you're okay with slower speeds in order to get better nationwide coverage, choose AT&T.

Straight Talk does not offer AT&T 4G LTE, only HSPA+. The Galaxy Nexus also does not support AT&T's 4G LTE, only HSPA+. My statement about 4G not being used comes from the fact that a vast majority of AT&T's users have iPhones, which are not LTE, so the LTE network is very unsaturated and therefore extremely fast. Their HSPA+ network, which the iPhone and the Galaxy Nexus both use, is very saturated. When the new iPhone comes with LTE that should balance out a bit more, but over time of course, as there will still be millions and millions of HSPA+ iPhone users.

When you order straighttalk with a phone direct from Google. Would I select the unlocked GSM phone as the SIM card when checking out?

Answered above, you select whatever service you want. Either AT&T or T-Mobile, that's your call. The GSM Galaxy Nexus works on either carrier just fine.

Also would it be a micro sim or a regular sim?

The Galaxy Nexus uses a "Regular" (technically "Mini") SIM. The Micro SIM is the exact same, but with less cardboard around the edges. You can buy the Micro and use an adapter for your GNex if you plan on also using the Micro in other phones that require it. Conversely, you can buy the Regular SIM and cut it down later to be a Micro also.

Sorry for all the questions.

That's fine, happy to help. I just think you need to do some research and make sure you understand it all before you "get your feet wet" so to speak. It'll save you a lot of frustration later if you understand it before you're relying on the phone to be working .

 

[evperry]

I am getting it.

Just to clarify, if I go straight with At&T pre paid I can get LTE? If so I would just use to Google Voice when I travel and do the day pass option.

Ive ordered the Galaxy nexus from the Play store today and I plan to try out both services and see what gives better speeds. I actually looked at AT&T prepaid and its about $15 more per month than tmobile with 1 gb less in data. So tmobile is the way to go for me.

 

[Andrew Martonik]

I am getting it.

Just to clarify, if I go straight with At&T pre paid I can get LTE?

NO. AT&T's own prepaid "GoPhone" does not offer LTE. You need full priced AT&T postpaid service and an LTE phone with AT&T's bands to get their LTE service. That is the only way you'll get LTE on AT&T.

Even if they offered LTE on prepaid, the GSM Galaxy Nexus does not have LTE. It has HSPA+ only.

 

[evperry]

Got it.

Thanks.