What is the best carrier for my new Nexus?

[robk84]

I am currently a Verizon subscriber but I am totally going to break my contract and get the Nexus 4. My question is which carrier option is the best for me? I understand it depends on where you live and your needs. Here are mine. Any guidance is greatly appreciated!

Location: Phoenix, AZ
Data: 5-10 gb per month
Roaming: 2-3 good sized road trips a year and my phone is my gps so coverage in and around cities is important, it is less important on the highways between cities.
Talk: Minimal during the day but somewhat heavy usage nights and weekends.

 

[Woosh]

I am currently a Verizon subscriber but I am totally going to break my contract and get the Nexus 4. My question is which carrier option is the best for me? I understand it depends on where you live and your needs. Here are mine. Any guidance is greatly appreciated!

Location: Phoenix, AZ
Data: 5-10 gb per month
Roaming: 2-3 good sized road trips a year and my phone is my gps so coverage in and around cities is important, it is less important on the highways between cities.
Talk: Minimal during the day but somewhat heavy usage nights and weekends.

Not much can rly fit your needs. You are likely either stuck with T-Mobile and download a GPS app that stores maps or one of the T-Mo MVNO's. Simple Mobile might be a good one if you don't care too much about speed. They might throttle you after some time though, not too sure how Simple Mobile works. Haven't read a whole lot about it but they have decent plans.....$40 for 3G or $50 for 4G speeds.

No MVNO is unlimited unfortunately, the only true unlimited that would give you that much data is T-Mobile unlimited plan.

 

[Dr0me]

I think the t mo unlimited would be the best for you since you use a crap load of data. I am going to go with ATT since they are a faster network in SF and i only use about 2GB per month

 

[Andrew Martonik]

If you really need 5+ GB every month, you should look into signing a 2-year contract with T-Mobile on their Value Plan. Since you are bringing your own phone you'll save money by not having a subsidy (their value plans are cheaper per month because of this) and they just recently added truly unlimited data w/o throttling.

 

[Ziptied]

T-Mobile, if you get the coverage you need where you live with them.

 

[anon(357286)]

I'm looking into Simple mobile the price is right and I've heard good things

 

[Woosh]

I'm looking into Simple mobile the price is right and I've heard good things

It all comes down to data uses. Fact is, now every carrier is very stingy about giving us data.

Originally the $40 ST plan would cap out at 2G speeds, or 117 mbps down, I believe now its more like 260 down. So its a bit more "3G" now. But it seems both the $40 and $50 plan throttle you at 2GB and then will cut you off if you use too much after that. So keep that in mind when you go looking. All MVNOs pay carriers so even though they advertise unlimited, its not even close to being actually unlimited.

I'd say if you want T-Mo and don't mind slow speeds for whatever reason the $40 plan is awesome, otherwise go with the $45 Straight Talk plan....its cheaper and provides pretty much the same data limitations.

 

[Ptrm]

T-mobile with their $30/ month plan. 5gb data, unlimited texting, and 100 min. no contract.

 

[Ry]

The best carrier would be the GSM carrier that has the best coverage where you'll use the phone the most.

And that varies by location.

 

[srosencrans]

Check the coverage area, but I'm on T-Mobile Unlimited Value plan with 1000 minutes, 2 lines, 5gb data for $110 a month does everything I need. And with the unlocked price of the Nexus 4, it's hard to beat.

 

[Woosh]

Check the coverage area, but I'm on T-Mobile Unlimited Value plan with 1000 minutes, 2 lines, 5gb data for $110 a month does everything I need. And with the unlocked price of the Nexus 4, it's hard to beat.

Curious, Why not change to the unlimited plan and save yourself $10 a month?

Also....For those interested in a T-Mo discount and don't get one through your company. This little trick will help.......

T-mobile 12% or 10% off total bill - Slickdeals.net

 

[Dr0me]

I went to a T-Mobile store at lunch today and played with the Galaxy Note two. I ran a network speed test on it vs my VZW LTE nexus. The nexus dominated it on the speed test but the actual speed of opening webpages and downloading an app was barely noticeable.

HSPA+ is a lot faster than I expected it to be. They also told me that they were not allowed to tell me when exactly they were going to get the Nexus 4 in store. The guy told me a lot of people buy them from best buy and use them on the t mo network. I think he was sort of confused but I feel a lot better about switching to HSPA+ from 4G LTE.

 

[Andrew Martonik]

I went to a T-Mobile store at lunch today and played with the Galaxy Note two. I ran a network speed test on it vs my VZW LTE nexus. The nexus dominated it on the speed test but the actual speed of opening webpages and downloading an app was barely noticeable.

Yup, all about real-world use.

They also told me that they were not allowed to tell me when exactly they were going to get the Nexus 4 in store. The guy told me a lot of people buy them from best buy and use them on the t mo network. I think he was sort of confused but I feel a lot better about switching to HSPA+ from 4G LTE.

He must've been confused thinking you're talking about the Nexus S. There's no indication that the Nexus 4 will be sold in Best Buy at launch.

 

[Woosh]

I went to a T-Mobile store at lunch today and played with the Galaxy Note two. I ran a network speed test on it vs my VZW LTE nexus. The nexus dominated it on the speed test but the actual speed of opening webpages and downloading an app was barely noticeable.

HSPA+ is a lot faster than I expected it to be. They also told me that they were not allowed to tell me when exactly they were going to get the Nexus 4 in store. The guy told me a lot of people buy them from best buy and use them on the t mo network. I think he was sort of confused but I feel a lot better about switching to HSPA+ from 4G LTE.

Ha, Don't expect a T-Mo sales person to be overly informed of stuff. When we went to sign up for our plans I had to correct the woman more than a few times on their phones and even the plans/deals they offer.

I also kinda think T-Mo uses boosters in their back room so idk how much trust I would put in a speed test there. I saw some crazy high speeds when I was in T-Mo but out and about its usually a different story.

No doubt HSPA+ is efficient enough for 99% of ppls regular needs. But T-Mo is very spotty in certain areas so pay attention to those maps and if you have the spare money to get a $30 prepaid plan to test out for a month it'll prove to be beneficial. At least don't port your number over until you are out of your 14 day return window.

 

[Dr0me]

Ha, Don't expect a T-Mo sales person to be overly informed of stuff. When we went to sign up for our plans I had to correct the woman more than a few times on their phones and even the plans/deals they offer.

I also kinda think T-Mo uses boosters in their back room so idk how much trust I would put in a speed test there. I saw some crazy high speeds when I was in T-Mo but out and about its usually a different story.

No doubt HSPA+ is efficient enough for 99% of ppls regular needs. But T-Mo is very spotty in certain areas so pay attention to those maps and if you have the spare money to get a $30 prepaid plan to test out for a month it'll prove to be beneficial. At least don't port your number over until you are out of your 14 day return window.

I live in San Francisco. This is like a mobile haven. I feel pretty confident that I will get good data service anywhere in the city.

 

[srosencrans]

I'm debating that right now actually, I kind want to use the hotspot service though.

 

[Woosh]

I'm debating that right now actually, I kind want to use the hotspot service though.

Here is a dirty secret.....It's not blocked on an unlocked phone with no carrier affiliation.

Wouldn't be good to abuse it though.

 

[Kaenon]

I am also on Verizon, with a Galaxy S3 looking to make the switch.

I have $200 in Best Buy gift cards and I also have 2 upgrades on my account that renew on Nov. 7th and Nov. 12th for discounted pricing. I don't think Best Buy sells Google Play gift cards, so that's a bust. Maybe I buy another GS3 with the gift cards renewing on another line but not activate it, sell both GS3's and cancel my line, paying $230 for the ETF, and then spend $350 on the 16GB Nexus 4.

So I will spend about $580 to get the N4, but could definitely sell the 2 GS3's, one new and one used with a brushed Al. case, 32GB HDSC, navigation mount and car charger for more, right? I think so, hope so.

 

[Mooem]

I am also on Verizon, with a Galaxy S3 looking to make the switch.

In the same boat. I'm looking to free myself from Verizon's chains and venture into the unlocked phone world. Although I'm not looking to get service with T-Mobile since their coverage is terrible around here. AT&T does a lot better. I'm not entirely sure about the prepaid route yet as I get a rather hefty discount for postpaid plans from the company I work at (although prepaid would still be a little bit cheaper).

 

[natehoy]

According to Cartes de couverture | Sensorly, there are a number of GSM carriers that service the Phoenix area pretty well.

Here's what I'd do:
1. Set up or port your current number to Google Voice. That means you can change carriers at will without losing your phone number.
2. Pick a prepaid/contractless carrier of your choice that gives you the data you want at a reasonable monthly fee.
3. When that carrier no longer meets your needs, remove SIM from phone and throw it away, put SIM for new carrier in.

StraightTalk is $45 a month and claims unlimited everything, I'd think 5-10GB a month would probably not trigger any red flags with them. If it does, see Step 3.