So for the past 7 years I've been a verzion Customer, in that time I have had every major smartphone at one point or another and in my search for the perfect phone after all these years have without a doubt chosen android as my all time love.
This will probably be long winded, random and completely all over the place so bare with me.
The thing about android and verizon phones is the complete lack urgency on verizons part when it comes to releasing updates, and some 3rd party developer roms because well, CDMA android phones seem to be the red headed stepchild of the family. Finding a completely working stock vanilla android rom for some of these phones is nearly impossible, they may mostly work but there always seems to be a quirk somewhere that drives me insane.
Did I mention the Verizon bloatware?
I like stock android especially since ICS came out, thats when I fell in love... When the Galaxy Nexus came out for Verizon I was ecstatic to finally have a phone that was promised to get updates from google in a timely fashion, well that never seemed to happen and well there is no more nexus phones available on verizon
I have unlimited data with verizon, I have jumped through hoops, spent long hours on the phone to keep it, I have battled and tricked my way into keeping the holy unlimited data plan with my amazing 4G LTE speeds. To be honest for the longest time i abused it because I could, id tether wheneve rI was out and about, id stream music all day without a care in the world.. However none of that really started to matter recently when I was dieing to just have a stock Android 4.2/4.3 rom without any issues.
I use my phone heavily for work, but mostly stay under 2GB of data a month, once in awhile ill tether to take care of some remote access on servers and switches through our VPN but thats few and far between.. I get coverage everywhere but in the areas im at the most I hardly get fast 4G let alone 3G speeds and end up connected to wifi most of the time.
I have been burning inside to have a pure google device, specifically the nexus, call me a fan boy but thats what I want. I want what google considers there bench mark phone, did I mention the price? Being able to buy a phone outright under 400 dollars is just insane how could you not want that?
Enter Straight Talk. I spent hours reading through people testimonials, some damning them to hell others praising the great service (depending on the carrier and location) with the few caviots, some saying they get throttled going over 100MB a day, others saying they dont. Some saying they go over the 2GB cap without throtting more saying after 2GB they basically get the big middle finger from straight talk..
With all this in mind I bought myself a nexus 4 that arrived on wednesday, and with that I have paired it with Straight Talk on the ATT network. My plan is to use this for the next month, really use it (not abuse and push the limits just because I can) to use my device in the most heavy use scenario im typically in throughout the month and see how I end up. The thing is I don't expect much issue with talking/texting its the DATA everyone seems to worry about..
So far I have had straight talk for 3 days. off the batt I can tell you in my area I am getting much better reception and data speeds than I have with Verizon (except when i go into the heart of a couple of areas where there are 4G towers and I could hit 40MBPS) the best speed Ive gotten so far with my nexus 4 is around 10MBS, but I average around 1.5-3MBPS in my home and at work (where I normally only got 150KBPS-1MB with verizon on 3G) now this is just my own experiance in my area, that doesnt mean one is better than the other for everyone.
I have used about ~350MBPS (over 100MB a day) so far, streaming some youtube when I was bored on my lunch in my car, downloading apps.. Some light web browsing, some instagram etc..
While I don't plan to update this thread with every little thign I plan to update it as I get towards my end of the month, and if anything major happens which better or worsens my opinion of straight talk.
I'm not trying to ABUSE my data to see if I can hit a cap, im simply trying to use it as much as possible in a real case scenario for me and to use as much as possible to see if I can hit some sort of wall, to see if this really will work for me..
If it does, and to be honest ai am REALLY hoping it does I plan to cancel my verizon.
These are simply first impressions, I could totally end up changing my tune, but honestly my love of the Nexus 4 is keeping me optimisitc.. After having the Galaxy nexus, then the S4, HTC one recentely to try out.. I must admit I am extremely in love with the nexus 4 and how it fits in my hand, how great the stock experiance with no custom BS feels..
I know I could get this with the MotoX, but in a year, maybe two am I going to want to jump through hoops and hope verizon keeps the unlimited? Do I really want to spend 600 bucks on a phone outright? do I want to pay subsidized pricing anymore and end up paying for it later?
No i really dont, and if google keeps on their trend and I hope they do, the ability to by a phone outright at a reasonable cost will keep me on this path for as long as it goes on.
This will probably be long winded, random and completely all over the place so bare with me.
The thing about android and verizon phones is the complete lack urgency on verizons part when it comes to releasing updates, and some 3rd party developer roms because well, CDMA android phones seem to be the red headed stepchild of the family. Finding a completely working stock vanilla android rom for some of these phones is nearly impossible, they may mostly work but there always seems to be a quirk somewhere that drives me insane.
Did I mention the Verizon bloatware?
I like stock android especially since ICS came out, thats when I fell in love... When the Galaxy Nexus came out for Verizon I was ecstatic to finally have a phone that was promised to get updates from google in a timely fashion, well that never seemed to happen and well there is no more nexus phones available on verizon
I have unlimited data with verizon, I have jumped through hoops, spent long hours on the phone to keep it, I have battled and tricked my way into keeping the holy unlimited data plan with my amazing 4G LTE speeds. To be honest for the longest time i abused it because I could, id tether wheneve rI was out and about, id stream music all day without a care in the world.. However none of that really started to matter recently when I was dieing to just have a stock Android 4.2/4.3 rom without any issues.
I use my phone heavily for work, but mostly stay under 2GB of data a month, once in awhile ill tether to take care of some remote access on servers and switches through our VPN but thats few and far between.. I get coverage everywhere but in the areas im at the most I hardly get fast 4G let alone 3G speeds and end up connected to wifi most of the time.
I have been burning inside to have a pure google device, specifically the nexus, call me a fan boy but thats what I want. I want what google considers there bench mark phone, did I mention the price? Being able to buy a phone outright under 400 dollars is just insane how could you not want that?
Enter Straight Talk. I spent hours reading through people testimonials, some damning them to hell others praising the great service (depending on the carrier and location) with the few caviots, some saying they get throttled going over 100MB a day, others saying they dont. Some saying they go over the 2GB cap without throtting more saying after 2GB they basically get the big middle finger from straight talk..
With all this in mind I bought myself a nexus 4 that arrived on wednesday, and with that I have paired it with Straight Talk on the ATT network. My plan is to use this for the next month, really use it (not abuse and push the limits just because I can) to use my device in the most heavy use scenario im typically in throughout the month and see how I end up. The thing is I don't expect much issue with talking/texting its the DATA everyone seems to worry about..
So far I have had straight talk for 3 days. off the batt I can tell you in my area I am getting much better reception and data speeds than I have with Verizon (except when i go into the heart of a couple of areas where there are 4G towers and I could hit 40MBPS) the best speed Ive gotten so far with my nexus 4 is around 10MBS, but I average around 1.5-3MBPS in my home and at work (where I normally only got 150KBPS-1MB with verizon on 3G) now this is just my own experiance in my area, that doesnt mean one is better than the other for everyone.
I have used about ~350MBPS (over 100MB a day) so far, streaming some youtube when I was bored on my lunch in my car, downloading apps.. Some light web browsing, some instagram etc..
While I don't plan to update this thread with every little thign I plan to update it as I get towards my end of the month, and if anything major happens which better or worsens my opinion of straight talk.
I'm not trying to ABUSE my data to see if I can hit a cap, im simply trying to use it as much as possible in a real case scenario for me and to use as much as possible to see if I can hit some sort of wall, to see if this really will work for me..
If it does, and to be honest ai am REALLY hoping it does I plan to cancel my verizon.
These are simply first impressions, I could totally end up changing my tune, but honestly my love of the Nexus 4 is keeping me optimisitc.. After having the Galaxy nexus, then the S4, HTC one recentely to try out.. I must admit I am extremely in love with the nexus 4 and how it fits in my hand, how great the stock experiance with no custom BS feels..
I know I could get this with the MotoX, but in a year, maybe two am I going to want to jump through hoops and hope verizon keeps the unlimited? Do I really want to spend 600 bucks on a phone outright? do I want to pay subsidized pricing anymore and end up paying for it later?
No i really dont, and if google keeps on their trend and I hope they do, the ability to by a phone outright at a reasonable cost will keep me on this path for as long as it goes on.