Getting a N4 after 14 years with VZW

[roadrat]

Is ATT or TMo better for voice and data?

Do I need a carrier specific SIM card? Adapter?

I live in Houston but travel the US extensively.

How do you get a SIM card?

Does ATT offer month to month plans?

 

[erictehundying]

Hi Roadrat,

I don't live in the Houston area, so someone else will have to answer the first question for you. I can tell you that where I live (East Tennessee), AT&T has more consistent coverage, but for my everyday travel, T-Mob works fine, and is who I use.

As for getting a SIM card, a quick trip to the carrier store is in order. You'll want to ask for a Micro SIM for a new prepaid account. You can always get those online as well. You won't need any adapter of any kind, you'll just need to get Micro SIM instead of a full size.

AT&T does offer a month to month prepaid, but (again, in my area) the $65 smartphone plan with AT&T offers you 1 gig of data, with everything else unlimited. For $60 from T-Mob, you get unlimited everything, with 2.5 gigs of fast (HSPA+) data. Another $10 will get you unlimited fast data as well. Personally, I would not even consider AT&T, but depending on the coverage in your area(s), you may have different needs.

I hope this helps.

 

[gollum18]

Nice I'm thinking of ditching sprint and getting an n4 on straight talk myself. From everyone I know who has then, they get amazing service and they have unlimited data.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Citizen Coyote]

To add to the above, I would go T-Mobile over AT&T if you're going directly through a carrier. Depending on what your talking needs are, you might be able to make do with T-Mobile's web-only $30 plan for new subscribers, which gives you 5GB of HSPA speeds and unlimited texts but only 100 minutes of talk (additional minutes are $0.10 per). Many of us T-Mo N4 users are on this plan. You can also order a T-Mo SIM card online for cheaper than walking in to a store.

Also take a look at the various MVNOs, like Straight Talk, Simple Mobile, Solavei, and others. Their plans are usually a little cheaper than the direct carrier packages while offering similar data buckets and unlimited minutes/talk. Some also throw in international allowances if that's important. These are mostly online-only things, although you can sometimes find reps at unbranded cellular stores and kiosks.

Finally, if you travel a lot, make sure to look at the coverage maps for whomever you choose. In general, AT&T will have greater and more reliable coverage, but T-Mo will have superior speeds (on the N4).

 

[G3TCASHM0N3Y]

After extensive research, I have concluded that Solavei is a better deal than straight talk. Why? Clear data policy - 4gb 4g then unlimited throttled after. Straight talk can start throttling whenever they want, sometimes as early as 2 Gb. Also, solavei offers free roaming, which straight talk does not I believe. If anyone wants to try out solavei risk free, message me and I'll send you a free sim card.

Sent from my GT-N8013 using Tapatalk HD

 

[Unicorn Rancher]

I'm in the Houston area and have my Nexus 4 on T-Mobile's $30 prepaid plan with unlimited data and 100 minutes of talk time. Coverage is good in the metro area. I don't know if AT&T has better coverage elsewhere, but the common wisdom is T-Mobile has decent coverage in cities and along interstates, but you're out of luck in BFE. Their coverage maps seem to support this, so that's something to watch depending where you travel.

You can order a T-Mobile sim card on their website for $10, but they used to have sales for 99 cents (or free) periodically. You can also get a sim card in store, but you may be limited in what plans you can choose. For example, the $30 plan is supposed to be available online and at Walmart only.

 

[deano131]

I am a current VZW Customer (12 years) and have been experimenting with this whole issue for 2 months now. I started with a ST Tmo and then went directly to Tmo's $30 plan and just now went onto Net10's ATT sim. This all started for me wanting to go with ST ATT but then there is the whole ST ATT sim issue and at this time you can only by ST ATT sims second hand and not through ST.

Coverage all depends on where you live. In Wichita KS Tmo is pretty good but get outside of the city limits and it is marginally functional for both data and voice. Some say Tmo has better data speeds but I can not comment on this since I just started my Net10 ATT experiment. That said I have had my son on Net 10 for a month and he has yet to complain.

You stated you travel a lot. If that is the case I would encourage you to start with a ATT provider since ATT has a better reputation for reliable coverage. Right now though Tmo seems to be the go to network for the N4.

Sim cards are specific to the service provider (MVNO) and then to the network (att or tmo). In other words a ST Tmo sim will not work on the Net10 Tmo network even though they are both owned by the same company.

Honestly the best place to get sims is ebay. Net10 ATT sims can be had on ebay for $1. ST ATT sims are another story. They are bringing a premium. If you are going to use Tmo you can easily order the sim from the service provider or from Tmo if you are going to use a direct Tmo prepaid plan. My local Walmart has Net10 activation kits in stock for $65 this includes both Att (std and micro sim) and Tmo std sim with a 30 day activation card.

Note the N4 uses a micro sim. You can order a Standard sim and cut it down to size. If you end up with a Standard sim not a big deal but I would recommend you have someone cut it down using a sim cutter or you can get those on ebay as well. I cut my ST Tmo sim down with scissors and it worked just fine but if you mess up you can damage the sim rendering it useless.

ATT does offer a monthly plan called GOphone. Not sure how to get a sim for this plan since they sale the phone and all. If I am not happy with Net10 I might go there but at this point have not looked into it.

One last thing this is not like walking to a VZW store and having a rep hold your hand and then send you out the door with a fully functional phone. N4 does require you setup the APN settings. This seems to be a problem for some people but myself I have not had any issues. Most of the problems are with the phone sending and receiving MMS texts. If you are not into MMS texting then your stress leave will be a lot less. BUT the APN still needs to be setup to receive data.

 

[minnemike]

Is ATT or TMo better for voice and data?

Do I need a carrier specific SIM card? Adapter?

I live in Houston but travel the US extensively.

How do you get a SIM card?

Does ATT offer month to month plans?

IF you get good coverage Tmo is unquestionably the fastest network. Also, you have nothing to lose since all of their plans are now monthly. Try it out, is my best advice. Also, be sure to get yourself a google voice number or port your existing phone number to it and then you can freely use and switch to any new account and number and simply forward to them.

 

[roadrat]

Thanks everyone! I just ordered a T-Mobile SIM card

 

[runtmms]

Is ATT or TMo better for voice and data?

Do I need a carrier specific SIM card? Adapter?

I live in Houston but travel the US extensively.

How do you get a SIM card?

Does ATT offer month to month plans?

As others have said, T-Mobile vs AT&T is all a matter of location. You might want to spend some time looking at the coverage maps.

We left Sprint in January after close to 15 years and couldn't be happier. One word of warning, especially if you switch to an MVNO... There is a degree of setup that you need to do yourself in the way of entering APN's. It isn't difficult, it's just different than getting your new phone and having it work with no setup.

Sent from my Nexus 4 on Solavei

 

[roadrat]

One word of warning, especially if you switch to an MVNO... There is a degree of setup that you need to do yourself in the way of entering APN's. It isn't difficult, it's just different than getting your new phone and having it work with no setup.

Can someone explain how to set up the phone for TMo? Or link me to some instructions?

 

[runtmms]

Can someone explain how to set up the phone for TMo? Or link me to some instructions?

I hope I didn't worry you. You just need to set up APN's which isn't much different than getting on someone's home wireless router.

With the Nexus 4 you go settings->more->mobile networks->Access Point Names

From their you can edit the existing APN or create a new one. Your new provider will tell you what needs to be entered in what fields.


Sent from my Nexus 4 on Solavei

 

[minnemike]

IF you are going with tmo direct, simply bring it in to a store for set up. They'll do it all for you in under 30 mins. However, I have heard that the settings as default are just fine with a standard tmo sim.

 

[Nonymous666]

I'm in the Houston area and have my Nexus 4 on T-Mobile's $30 prepaid plan with unlimited data and 100 minutes of talk time. Coverage is good in the metro area. I don't know if AT&T has better coverage elsewhere, but the common wisdom is T-Mobile has decent coverage in cities and along interstates, but you're out of luck in BFE. Their coverage maps seem to support this, so that's something to watch depending where you travel.

I tried T-Mobile for a couple months, and an now on on AT&T (through Straight Talk) and this pretty much echoes my thoughts.

TMO had good coverage in the downtown (pittsburgh) and immediate surrounding areas but once I got too far out in the suburbs and beyond, it became useless. Especially data.

AT&T has much better coverage for me so I ended up switching to them.

Speeds with TMO were terrific. I'd see speeds of 21-22 Mbit in some areas. Most areas were high teens (17 or so), though. At home it was around 10.

The best speeds I see with AT&T are 6-7 Mbit. I've never seen it actually reach 7. At home it's around 3 or 4. Fine for my needs.

I found the coverage maps for TMO in my area were *very* detailed and accurate.

AT&T maps tend to just put a colored blob on the whole map implying "you'll be good wherever you go", but in reality I do find occasional coverage "holes".

I've been getting super annoyed with AT&T lately.... there's so many times where I have a decent signal, but data just doesn't work very well at all. Browser just gets stuck loading a new page, or tapatalk can't load a post or thread list, etc.