Nexus 5, Moto X, Verizon, Tmo, Straight Talk? My Head is spinning - Advice please?

[chackett99]

For what seems like months now, I have been trying to educate myself about what phones to get. Currently my wife and I both have the Droid Bionic on Verizon. We're anxious to get new phones, and will be off contract the first of January. We like the Verizon network, but not the Verizon prices. We pay about $190 currently for shared minutes, unlimited grandfathered data, talk, text, whatever.

My wife wants the Moto x and I'm leaning toward the Nexus 5, but could be pretty easily talked into the moto x. Wife likes the Verizon network (so do I) .. but geesh .. I can get unlimited everything from Tmo for $80 for the both of us ($40/each). We both got a discount code for the $150 off on the moto x, so we could just buy it outright.

According to VZW the cheapest thing I can do with them is $120. That would be unlimited talk and text with 500 MB shared data. Surely there is some less expensive way to get on the VZW network? What about Straight Talk or some other MVNO? I guess the rub though, is that the Moto X only supports CDMA or GSM, not both .. where as I believe the Nexus 5 supports both (although not the popular VZW Bands).

So .. two question if you please :
1. What is the least expensive way to get on the VZW network with a BYOD / no contract type plan?
2. If I buy a Moto X from motorola, and select VZW as the carrier, is the phone "locked" to that carrier, or is that just to determine whether to send me the CDMA version or the GSM version? Can I take my Moto X somewhere else if I get fed up with VZW?

Thanks all!
Chris

 

[Golfdriver97]

For what seems like months now, I have been trying to educate myself about what phones to get. Currently my wife and I both have the Droid Bionic on Verizon. We're anxious to get new phones, and will be off contract the first of January. We like the Verizon network, but not the Verizon prices. We pay about $190 currently for shared minutes, unlimited grandfathered data, talk, text, whatever.

My wife wants the Moto x and I'm leaning toward the Nexus 5, but could be pretty easily talked into the moto x. Wife likes the Verizon network (so do I) .. but geesh .. I can get unlimited everything from Tmo for $80 for the both of us ($40/each). We both got a discount code for the $150 off on the moto x, so we could just buy it outright.

According to VZW the cheapest thing I can do with them is $120. That would be unlimited talk and text with 500 MB shared data. Surely there is some less expensive way to get on the VZW network? What about Straight Talk or some other MVNO? I guess the rub though, is that the Moto X only supports CDMA or GSM, not both .. where as I believe the Nexus 5 supports both (although not the popular VZW Bands).

So .. two question if you please :
1. What is the least expensive way to get on the VZW network with a BYOD / no contract type plan?
2. If I buy a Moto X from motorola, and select VZW as the carrier, is the phone "locked" to that carrier, or is that just to determine whether to send me the CDMA version or the GSM version? Can I take my Moto X somewhere else if I get fed up with VZW?

Thanks all!
Chris

Welcome to the forums.
I would look at choosing a carrier first. You can go to Coverage Maps for Wireless Carriers - Sensorly and find out which carrier would best suit your needs.

As for the Nexus, it won't run on VZW. I think for the Moto, once you tie it to VZW, you would have to get VZW to unlock it for you in order to change carriers.

 

[chackett99]

Thanks golfdriver!

So I live in a somewhat rural area outside Atlanta .. North Alpharetta. Most of the "install a sensor app" type coverage map tools don't seem to have enough sample data to provide a really clear answer for me about how I can expect service to look in my specific neighborhood. You can tell there are seems to be a small sample set for the data. I have Verizon today and am happy with the coverage, and unhappy with the price. My guess is that Tmobile, ATT, and Sprint have similar coverage in my area.

Also, I hear rumors that the Nexus 5 will eventually be available on Verizon. If that happens within .. say .. 3 months, I could wait and make the move later.

Will Verizon typically unlock phones so you can take them elsewhere? Especially if it's my device that I purchased from the manufacturer (like Google or Motorola?)

Thanks again!
Chris

 

[benhmadison]

For what seems like months now, I have been trying to educate myself about what phones to get. Currently my wife and I both have the Droid Bionic on Verizon. We're anxious to get new phones, and will be off contract the first of January. We like the Verizon network, but not the Verizon prices. We pay about $190 currently for shared minutes, unlimited grandfathered data, talk, text, whatever.

My wife wants the Moto x and I'm leaning toward the Nexus 5, but could be pretty easily talked into the moto x. Wife likes the Verizon network (so do I) .. but geesh .. I can get unlimited everything from Tmo for $80 for the both of us ($40/each). We both got a discount code for the $150 off on the moto x, so we could just buy it outright.

According to VZW the cheapest thing I can do with them is $120. That would be unlimited talk and text with 500 MB shared data. Surely there is some less expensive way to get on the VZW network? What about Straight Talk or some other MVNO? I guess the rub though, is that the Moto X only supports CDMA or GSM, not both .. where as I believe the Nexus 5 supports both (although not the popular VZW Bands).

So .. two question if you please :
1. What is the least expensive way to get on the VZW network with a BYOD / no contract type plan?
2. If I buy a Moto X from motorola, and select VZW as the carrier, is the phone "locked" to that carrier, or is that just to determine whether to send me the CDMA version or the GSM version? Can I take my Moto X somewhere else if I get fed up with VZW?

Thanks all!
Chris

120 is by far the cheapest you will get for 2 lines on Verizon and remember that included data is virtually non existent. You guys would burn through that in just a few days and then would get hit with data overages that would make you wish you still had that 190 plan.

As far as ordering the moto x, if you select Verizon it will be the locked Verizon model and will only be compatible with Verizon.

I've never really heard of any mvno's that go through Verizon.

Your best bet would be to find a cheap unlocked T-Mobile compatible smartphone either from s friend, or from craigslist and since they don't have contracts, go to T-Mobile and activate it on a plan to see if their coverage will be good for you guys.

If it is, you can order the T-Mobile Moto X or the nexus 5 and be free of Verizon. If not your best bet is to hang on to that unlimited data as it's still the only way to have truly unlimited data on a reliable network.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[chackett99]

Your best bet would be to find a cheap unlocked T-Mobile compatible smartphone either from s friend, or from craigslist and since they don't have contracts, go to T-Mobile and activate it on a plan to see if their coverage will be good for you guys.

I think I'm definitely going to do this. Are there any recommendations on a cheap smartphone that would be good for this?

 

[Golfdriver97]

I think I'm definitely going to do this. Are there any recommendations on a cheap smartphone that would be good for this?

Do you need to test it for 4G?

From a Sprint Moto X using the AC forums app.

 

[chackett99]

Do you need to test it for 4G?

Yeah .. my family is pretty heavy data users.

 

[Rolandrice]

So i'm gonna buy this

 

[chackett99]

So i'm gonna buy this

Huh? I'm guessing this was mis-posted?

 

[someguy01234]

I think I'm definitely going to do this. Are there any recommendations on a cheap smartphone that would be good for this?

For test trials, not any that work with LTE for cheap. You can get an unlocked Galaxy Nexus on Swappa for little more than $100 though, or maybe a cheap "Blu" phone from Amazon.

I think you already did your homework and getting on T-Mobile is a good idea, you can buy phones from them as well and pay monthly for it. Being a Nexus fan I would naturally go for the N5 for more performance and customization potentials, but I understand Moto X have unique features by itself, but the N5 will outlast the MotoX in the long run by versions upgrades imo (even despite Motorola phones getting fast updates now). So I would go ahead and test a cheap unlocked phone on T-Mobile prepay, then get on their full plan with a N5 and/or Moto X.

For the trial phone, you'll probably want to make it a good "backup" device, I would make that a Galaxy Nexus or Nexus 4.

sent via tapatalk

 

[benhmadison]

I think I'm definitely going to do this. Are there any recommendations on a cheap smartphone that would be good for this?

It really depends on what is on Craigslist in your area. I would say you could probably pick up an older galaxy s2 or something like that for under 100 bucks. Worst case you could always sell it or keep it as a spare if the service does work out. Also if you are not under a huge time crunch, look on swappa.com. It is by far the best place to find a specific device. Just look under T-Mobile devices and find you an inexpensive smartphone. Most of the time the seller will ship it to you within a day or two and so your total turn around time probably wouldn't be more than 4 or 5 days.