Unlimited 4g hotspot plan -> phone w/ Hangouts & nano SIM?

Jeremy8000

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Title pretty much conveys the question.

Here's the specifics of my situation:

I currently have a Verizon 4510L mobile hotspot, which uses a full-size SIM, on the grandfathered unlimited 4g hotspot plan. I also have a T-Mobile voice plan. I'm interested in purchasing the Nexus 6, and would like to, if it would work, move my Verizon service from the full-size SIM to a nano SIM and use it in a Nexus 6 (purchased directly from Google Play), porting my T-Mobile phone number to be my Google phone number and using Hangouts for calling.

Can anyone advise if Hangouts would be able to place and receive calls over Verizon's data network and, if so, if (and how I would go about getting) Verizon would migrate the service from the full-size to a nano-size SIM without losing the program? If this would work I could dump my T-Mobile service altogether, saving a considerable sum (as to network performance, both T-Mobile and Verizon work fine in my area, so that isn't a concern).

Sorry for the new thread, but what I've read has all been about voice plans with the grandfathered data feature, rather than the data plan...

Edit - I'd also, of course, want to be able to use the hotspot feature on the phone to connect other devices in unlimited use fashion - but given it's a hotspot plan, I presume that that part of it wouldn't be an issue (?)
 

dusoccer10

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Hangouts/Google Voice works fine on Verizon's LTE network. You'll have some issues with MMS, but that is nothing new. Hypothetically, your plan should work. However, you will not be able to get a nano-sim from Verizon since they do not sell and MiFi devices that uses nano (at least to my knowledge). Most likely, you'll need to get a sim cutter and cut your sim down to nano.

One thing you could do is buy a cheap, used Verizon phone or tablet and test the sim there first before going through with your plan.
 

dpham00

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If you don't want to cut, you can buy a nano sim from a third party retailer or ebay. Make sure that you buy an unactivated sim

Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 4
 

alxarambula

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The newest Jetpack MiFi 6620l takes a nano sim.

Posted via the Android Central App
 

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Jeremy8000

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Hangouts/Google Voice works fine on Verizon's LTE network. You'll have some issues with MMS, but that is nothing new. Hypothetically, your plan should work. However, you will not be able to get a nano-sim from Verizon since they do not sell and MiFi devices that uses nano (at least to my knowledge). Most likely, you'll need to get a sim cutter and cut your sim down to nano.

One thing you could do is buy a cheap, used Verizon phone or tablet and test the sim there first before going through with your plan.

I finally managed to get by to a Verizon store today. The rep had to go in back, get on the phone a few times, but finally came out and said that I would be able to put my SIM in a Verizon-supported phone (including the Nexus 6) and it would work fine for both on-phone data and hotspot use.

Her only caveats were that:

  • I wouldn't be able to buy the phone with them without activating a new service, since they couldn't sell me the phone when all I have is a data plan (and they no longer sell phones outright, even at retail, without an associated account
  • They couldn't provide me a different sized SIM unless they had different hardware to be associated with the account, which would require a purchase
So basically, I can get a Nexus 6 from the Play store or Motorola (whenever they eventually become available) or, if Verizon allows it (which she doesn't know the answer yet as to whether they will), one from another carrier. As to the SIM, yes, I'll have to trim it down to nano size (and possibly file the back to make it thinner - but if for some reason I screw it up they can always provide a new SIM of the same size for a $10 replacement fee.

In short, it'll run me $60.07/month after taxes for unlimited voice (via hangouts, and porting my current T-Mobile number to Google Voice means I keep my number), text, unlimited/unthrottled 4G LTE data on the phone, and unlimited/unthrottled 4G LTE hotspot (which I also use as my home internet service). All of that, and remaining on a month-to month contract (not that I'd leave!).

VERY happy right now... Just have to wait for the darn phone to become available!
 

dpham00

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You can buy the phone without service through the iconic portal linked to in my signature. As for sim, you can get a sim from a third party retailer or ebay. But you would need a valid device type for the plan in order to activate it online or in store or over the phone.

Other than that it should work. I put my unlimited phone sim into a Verizon broadband router with voice and it worked fine

Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 4
 

Jeremy8000

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So... I finally cut down my Mini SIM to Nano size and put it in my 32GB Nexus 6 from the Play store. After a couple of minutes, the LTE came alive, and the phone works fine for data connectivity and hangouts calling (there's a slight lag in the audio, but it's not that bad).

The problem comes when I go to turn on the Nexus 6's hotspot feature. I get a warning screen saying that I need to add a $30 feature to my plan to allow for it -- but the thing is, the plan IS the hotspot plan. I didn't want to go any further with it out of fear of losing UDP till I knew a bit more. Anyone know if there's a way around that? Or would Verizon actually charge me an additional $30 to allow me to use my hotspot plan to hotspot...
 
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dpham00

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I am not familiar with the hotspot plan, but if it let's you add the hotspot without removing unlimited data then you would be fine. I do it on my smartphone own without any problems

Sent from my SM-N900V
 

Jeremy8000

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I am not familiar with the hotspot plan, but if it let's you add the hotspot without removing unlimited data then you would be fine. I do it on my smartphone own without any problems

Sent from my SM-N900V

Well, according to the store rep I spoke with last night (grain of salt implied), the hotspot plan only allows use of the hotspot ability in dedicated hotspot hardware. If I want to use it when inserted in a phone that has hotspot capability - even without enabling any cellular voice/text functionality - I have to add the hotspot feature for an extra $30/month. Seems pretty screwed up to me.
 

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