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What US carrier/ plan to get

PilotBob said:
Yes, with t-mo post paid is much better price if you have more than one line... since you get the benefit of $10 per additional line. I would certainly go that route with multiple phones a last 3 others in my family just got iPhone 4Ss with virgin mobile and they are locked. I guess we could jailbreak them and move them over.

I still don't believe the the pre-paid vs post-paid network priority. Where is that written in t-mo's terms of agreement?

BOb
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When I had Virgin Mobile I would pull down 200Kbps while my friends with Sprint would be pulling 600+ in the same location. This was on 3g.

I would get 1x with Virgin Mobile where they had 3g with Sprint because they roamed off Verizon's towers. I didn't.

I'm using Straight Talk right now running through AT&T. Who do you think AT&T is going to give more bandwidth to? It's contract users? Or the people renting and piggybacking off their network?

It doesn't need to be written in any TOS i've experienced it personally. Believe what you will.
 
The network priority statement is on the T-Mobile website somewhere, I'm not gonna look for you. All carriers do it, not just T-Mobile.

Just because some 3rd-party service reseller says they use a certain network doesn't they have full and equal access to that network. And they don't claim to.
 
Just found out that AT&T is adding 4G/LTE data support to GoPhone (their pre-paid) service.

AT&T adding iPhone, 4G LTE / HSPA+ support to GoPhone starting tomorrow

So, for $65 a month you can get unlimited talk/text with 1GB data. Or, you can get a lower voice plan but you have to add a data plan $25 for 1 GB, $15 for 200 MB, $5 for 50 MB. Rather than throttle once you hit your limit you pay it looks like $.01 per 5KB of data.

This contrasts with the AIO Wireless (their other prepaid choice) which while it provides unlimited data your max speed is only 4Mbps (which is about twice as fast as 3G).

Still, either way, you are on AT&T's network... yes, probably with some priority QoS stuff happening with data access.

BOb
 
PilotBob said:
Just found out that AT&T is adding 4G/LTE data support to GoPhone (their pre-paid) service.

AT&T adding iPhone, 4G LTE / HSPA+ support to GoPhone starting tomorrow

So, for $65 a month you can get unlimited talk/text with 1GB data. Or, you can get a lower voice plan but you have to add a data plan $25 for 1 GB, $15 for 200 MB, $5 for 50 MB. Rather than throttle once you hit your limit you pay it looks like $.01 per 5KB of data.

This contrasts with the AIO Wireless (their other prepaid choice) which while it provides unlimited data your max speed is only 4Mbps (which is about twice as fast as 3G).

Still, either way, you are on AT&T's network... yes, probably with some priority QoS stuff happening with data access.

BOb
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I use my Nexus 4 as a Gophone, but my needs are moderate. I tried the T-Mobile $30 plan but found too many holes in T-Mobile's coverage in my area (T-mobile seems to show you wide areas of coverage without pin-pointing those holes).

Since I don't use a lot of voice, I pay $25 a month for 250 minutes voice and unlimited texting. I seeded it with 1 Gb data for $25, but can keep it going for quite awhile with $5/month 50MB rollover (the disadvantage of their $65 smartphone package is there is no rollover on data).

It works out very nicely for me. I spend 8 hours a day in a building (work) with no cell reception at all and am on wifi at home, so I really don't need a lot. It's perfect. Obviously, YMMV, and if you consume a lot of ether voice or data, this approach may not be good. However, it is a good network, even without priority, and it seems to also work wherever I travel.
 
Hook said:
Since I don't use a lot of voice, I pay $25 a month for 250 minutes voice and unlimited texting. I seeded it with 1 Gb data for $25, but can keep it going for quite awhile with $5/month 50MB rollover (the disadvantage of their $65 smartphone package is there is no rollover on data).
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I didn't know the data would roll over? Do the minutes work that way too? Or is this a grandfathered plan of some kind?

BOb
 
PilotBob said:
That really depends on what you do with your phone. I know most of the time my phone is on WiFi. ...
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Yes, of course wifi usage wouldn't be included, but I was referring to using a mobile phone for such things as navigation etc.

I had unlimited voice/text/data on an AT&T (mvno) sim, and then AT&T restricted the service to 1GB/month. Data got truncated during a multi-state trip while using navigation and posting/viewing video ... not a good thing.

1GB doesn't last long in such mobile usage.
 
PilotBob said:
I didn't know the data would roll over? Do the minutes work that way too? Or is this a grandfathered plan of some kind?

BOb
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The minutes don't roll over on the monthly packages, only on the 10 cents a minute plan which isn't allowed on smartphones. However, the data feature packages that you add to those plans do. You simply have to add a new package by the end of the 30 days. So, say you start out with 1 GB and use 300 MB during the month. If you buy the cheapest data package, 50 MB for $5, before the 30 days expire, you will end up with 750MB of data for the next 30 days and so on.

Unfortunately, the so-called "smartphone plan" doesn't allow you to add data feature packages. You just have the 1 Gb data and it expires every 30 days if not used up.
 
Hook said:
The minutes don't roll over on the monthly packages, only on the 10 cents a minute plan which isn't allowed on smartphones. However, the data feature packages that you add to those plans do. You simply have to add a new package by the end of the 30 days. So, say you start out with 1 GB and use 300 MB during the month. If you buy the cheapest data package, 50 MB for $5, before the 30 days expire, you will end up with 750MB of data for the next 30 days and so on.

Unfortunately, the so-called "smartphone plan" doesn't allow you to add data feature packages. You just have the 1 Gb data and it expires every 30 days if not used up.
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Hook

So each month you pay $25. Then add a data package either when you are low on data, or before the end of the month?

What is your monthly average cost then, between the fixed $25 and the data adders?

Thanks for this great info!
 
russ1408 said:
Hook

So each month you pay $25. Then add a data package either when you are low on data, or before the end of the month?

What is your monthly average cost then, between the fixed $25 and the data adders?

Thanks for this great info!
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It's basically $30 a month. This will get thrown off as once in a great while I might need a larger replenish of data than just 50MB, but that isn't that often, usually caused by having to take a trip somewhere where the wifi isn't very good. I'm guessing. Basically, I start with with 1Gb and then add 6ooMb in rollover over a year. Frankly, under most circumstances, that initial 1GB is a waste of money because, honestly, I have trouble using 600 MB in a year. I don't stream, I don't do tons of photos, I don't find browsing or even GPS uses up that much data (I use off-line maps for navigation). However, that initial kick of 1 GB gives me flexibility if I run into a data demanding situation.

It used to be much better. They used lo let you use the 10 cents a month plan on Smartphones. I was able to pull off about $15 a month, rolling over much smaller amounts of data. The $25 is essentially the allotted 250 minutes at 10 cents/min, but I rarely use more than 100, but I'm being forced to pay for the unused minutes because they have eliminated the possibility of buying data on the 10 cents a minute plan.

Clearly the T-Mobile $30 plan is a better deal, but a deal is only as good as what works for you and T-Mobile didn't for me.
 
russ1408 said:
Thanks for all the details!

Do they charge you any taxes or fees, ie E911, on the monthly rate or the data adders?
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I know they do on the monthly ($.50) but I haven't paid enough attention to remember if they go an the data packages. Sorry. Be awhile before I can answer that question. ;)
 
Pre-paid is always just sales tax only. No fees or other stuff tacked on. That's one reason why I don't like post paid.. Florida has one of the highest fee/tax rates about around 21%.
 
Hook said:
It's basically $30 a month. This will get thrown off as once in a great while I might need a larger replenish of data than just 50MB, but that isn't that often, usually caused by having to take a trip somewhere where the wifi isn't very good. I'm guessing. Basically, I start with with 1Gb and then add 6ooMb in rollover over a year. Frankly, under most circumstances, that initial 1GB is a waste of money because, honestly, I have trouble using 600 MB in a year. I don't stream, I don't do tons of photos, I don't find browsing or even GPS uses up that much data (I use off-line maps for navigation). However, that initial kick of 1 GB gives me flexibility if I run into a data demanding situation.

It used to be much better. They used lo let you use the 10 cents a month plan on Smartphones. I was able to pull off about $15 a month, rolling over much smaller amounts of data. The $25 is essentially the allotted 250 minutes at 10 cents/min, but I rarely use more than 100, but I'm being forced to pay for the unused minutes because they have eliminated the possibility of buying data on the 10 cents a minute plan.

Clearly the T-Mobile $30 plan is a better deal, but a deal is only as good as what works for you and T-Mobile didn't for me.
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And here comes AT&T to screw with everything again. Yes, offering more data on Smartphone plan, but $65-85 and no rollover. Still haven't officially released info, but it suddenly is a lot less attractive unless you use very little. I'm guessing they will end up eliminating rollover across the board. We'll see.

Updated: AT&T Ending Most Add-on GoPhone Data Packages June 20 | Prepaid Phone News
 
I have the Tmobile $60.00 plan and it works great in my area (Atlanta). I would do ATT but they screw you with 4G LTE phones (no data works) so it doesn't work.
 
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