Hey guys I will be in the USA for 3 weeks soon and I have a HTC Desire..
What would be the best prepaid carrier for that phone? I guess I don't really have a big choice since there only are 2 GSM carriers, and none of them does support the 3G frequencies my Desire is Using... but well I would be fine with EDGE so I can at least use my Google Nav. and get my way around the public transportation system (GPRS would suck hard..)
I'll be in Michigan(Detroit area) as well as in Utah(Salt lake area). also most of my friends are on Verizon so id does not matter what carrier...
Any Ideas?
I would go with AT&T as they have better coverage than TMobile does. I have both right now and a lot of the time when my Tmo work phone has no coverage, my AT&T personal phone has at least edge and usually 3G.
Hope this helps.......Later
Hello, I am going to visit USA in August for 1 month (many states), could you please advise me, which 3g network is cheapest for SMS (foreign SMS too) and 3g Internet (well, probably unlimited or best for Android heavy usage)
Thanks for attention
Read that AT&T has the best 3G coverage, but it's pretty expensive - 5 gb for $40, am I right?
P.S. Not sure if I chose correct place to post this thread
For no plan prepay you best bet is Tmobile. 3G coverage in almost all real cities. Edge in most small towns, and G everywhere else. I can get internet anywhere with it just slow internet if I'm in the middle of nowhere driving state to state. They have a data only plan for $38.99 a month unlimited(10GB). Or 500 anytime minutes free nights and weeksends, unlimited txt and unlimited data(10GB) for $59.99. If you go ATT you will have to run a credit check even to get 1 month of service and even then they don't have any data only plans so your bill will most likely be the 39.99 + $30 for 2GB data, + tax's which run around $10.
Thank you very much, in this case I'll take T-mobile unlimited data plan then
And maybe keeping second (old) phone with old sim card in roaming
Which plan do you think it is better to take for my sister if she doesn't use the internet at all and just SMS?
and are this unlimited SMS work if you send them abroad? I mean are they still free?
maxpower097 said:
For no plan prepay you best bet is Tmobile. 3G coverage in almost all real cities. Edge in most small towns, and G everywhere else.
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uh... just make sure that your phone supports Tmo's 3G bands (probably not)... 1700 AWS, not 2100 (i.e. UTMS 1700 not UTMS 2100)...
Yep, T-Mobile would be your best bet
Check out Simple Mobile.
They use T-mobile's network and offers $60 for everything INCLUDING unlimited international text message. If can get good T-mobile service in your area, you might as well sign up with them to save bunch. The only downside is you have to have a unlocked or T-mobile compatible GSM phone in advance as they don't provide subsidized phones.
hbkmog said:
Check out Simple Mobile.
They use T-mobile's network and offers $60 for everything INCLUDING unlimited international text message. If can get good T-mobile service in your area, you might as well sign up with them to save bunch. The only downside is you have to have a unlocked or T-mobile compatible GSM phone in advance as they don't provide subsidized phones.
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thanks, I am planning to but off contract Samsung Captivate (AT&T version of Galaxy S), but then unlock it for any GSM network
never heard about Simple Mobile, will google it, thanks
DarkVasyaK said:
thanks, I am planning to but off contract Samsung Captivate (AT&T version of Galaxy S), but then unlock it for any GSM network
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Again... don't expect such phones to work with Tmo's 3G... you'll be stuck with EDGE...
You'll need the Samsung Vibrant if you want Tmo's 3G to work in the US... or a Behold II or MyTouch... plus Tmo has funky rules for Android phones on prepay (or not)... you may need to do their FlexPay ...
there's a good chance that you'll have to go with AT&T prepaid... given what you're planning...
Your Euro phones probably won't work with Tmo 3G but you very well might pick it up some places. Many many many people have picked up 3G on tmo's US network with INTL unlocked phones. One of the bands matches, the other doesn't. So it depends on which tower your near.
maxpower097 said:
Your Euro phones probably won't work with Tmo 3G but you very well might pick it up some places. Many many many people have picked up 3G on tmo's US network with INTL unlocked phones. One of the bands matches, the other doesn't. So it depends on which tower your near.
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I believe what you say is incorrect. Not only are the frequencies around 2100Mhz different between Tmo's 1700/2100 (UTMS1700) and UTMS2100 different, but UTMS1700 *depends* on the 1700Mhz for uplink, so you can't even create a connection.
Actually...certain Asian phones operate on the same frequency bands as T-Mobile...but good luck getting your hands on one.
~Jasecloud4
Confused
So, I am going to buy Samsung Captivate
It's UMTS 850/1900/2100
If I unlock it for any sim and put T-mobile sim inside, 3g won't work?
I should use AT&T then? I saw at the web site that there is a 5 gb data plan for $60
I don't really want to buy T-mobile Samsung Vibrant because it's easier for me to buy international version then, but I don't really like how it looks.
And just one more question, I am going to live in Singapore for 1 year soon, does anybody know if 3g will work with Captivate in Singapore?
DarkVasyaK said:
Confused
So, I am going to buy Samsung Captivate
It's UMTS 850/1900/2100
If I unlock it for any sim and put T-mobile sim inside, 3g won't work?
I should use AT&T then? I saw at the web site that there is a 5 gb data plan for $60
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This is correct. Tmo runs on a special band so only Tmo branded phones, and some "asian or INTL" phones can use tmo 3G. ATT 3G is US standard and can be used by most phones, but ATT doesn't have any unlimited dataplans anymore. They don't have any prepay dataplans, the only data only plans they offer are for the ipad. So your gonna pay much more, but ATT will give you better 3G coverage, but slower in the cities compared to TMO. TMO actually is beating out sprint 4G in most area's, but its coverage is spotty and only in large cities. I would go tmo and buy a throw away phone when you get here. Or get a tmo phone for the trip, then actually spend real money on a phone when you get home. You can get a TP2 for around $150-$200 here, and HD2 for $250, then you can ebay it off when you get home or sell it real quick on CL before you leave. If you haven't tried it the TMO HD2 is a beast.
well, I wanted to use tons of android apps using 3g internet, but in this case I should just use EDGE... don't want to buy special phone for 3g or something like that...
it seems that I have a choice between 3g with AT&T for $60 (5 gb) and T-mobile EDGE for $40 (unlimited data) ?
DarkVasyaK said:
well, I wanted to use tons of android apps using 3g internet, but in this case I should just use EDGE... don't want to buy special phone for 3g or something like that...
it seems that I have a choice between 3g with AT&T for $60 (5 gb) and T-mobile EDGE for $40 (unlimited data) ?
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well you could get 100MB of data on AT&T for $20... but perhaps that isn't enough for you... seek out Wifi whenever possible? (that's what I do when traveling outside the US...)
or live with Tmo EDGE, which really isn't that bad and some would claim that you may be dealing with EDGE or EDGE-like bandwidth on AT&T as well, depending on where you go and congestion (hoards of iphone users)...
I am currently looking at getting a new phone and just want to know which people think is better for data usage. I live in Chicago and have heard good and bad things about both regarding their 4G coverage. With both contract plans being the same amount of money and both making acquisitions recently of US Cellular and Metro PCS which do you feel is the better company for data coverage and speeds?
unnoan said:
I am currently looking at getting a new phone and just want to know which people think is better for data usage. I live in Chicago and have heard good and bad things about both regarding their 4G coverage. With both contract plans being the same amount of money and both making acquisitions recently of US Cellular and Metro PCS which do you feel is the better company for data coverage and speeds?
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AFAIK T-Mobile has a better netwrk coverage compared to Sprint and most of the good things heard are about T-mobile only on this site
Sun90 said:
AFAIK T-Mobile has a better netwrk coverage compared to Sprint and most of the good things heard are about T-mobile only on this site
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Thanks!
Does anyone else think that T-Mobile's coverage map is BS? I bought a T-Mobile SIM card for my unlocked HTC Desire C when I a traveled to USA and I was NEVER able to get a 3G signal anywhere. Every now and then my phone would show the 3G icon, and the minute I did something it would go back to Edge.
I'm wondering if it's an issue with my phone. Not sure why because it works great on the Rogers network in Canada.
yeahhhhhh
Where in the US were you? I've found that in most cases I have 3g/HSPA+, but I live in the city. I only have to drive 30 miles out of town before I lose signal.
I'm in Indianapolis, Indiana using an SGH-T679.
Although, I don't disagree with you, there's a high chance their coverage map is BS.
Hello everyone,
I just received my new OPO, and I'm trying to get a feel as to what service providers work best with the stock version(for now). I understand a lot of it has to do with coverage, but I justed wanted to see what everyone was using. Plans and pre-paid( month to month).
Sent from my A0001 using XDA Free mobile app
Well i had both Att and Tmobile ... I lasted less than a month with Att switch to tmobile with speeds more or less around 30mb... I live in sun valley california
I am from India.. but when I visited USA in Dec-Jan I bought T Mobile sim.. I found it to be decent n/w with LTE coverage in most of the good places.. ( I went to Pittsburgh, Washington DC, new york, Las Vegas, San fransisco, Miami, Orlando ). Also I bought it becoz it has unlimited LTE without capping.. the prepaid plan costed me 86$ including taxes.. T Mobile very very cheap compared to AT & T!
I went from AT&T (which I had used for 4 years) to T-Mobile for about 3 months. I personally thought that voice quality on T-Mobile was a bit better than AT&T (maybe I'm just paranoid or something) but boy did coverage suck with T-Mobile. I often time roamed on Canadian networks when I was close to the border, had 2g in a lot of buildings, and I never got LTE at my house. I just switched to Cricket, and since it's an AT&T mvno, signal is great again but voice quality seems subpar to Post-paid AT&T (again, I might be paranoid) but it's justified with paying 90 bucks for 3 lines than the 140 w/ AT&T and 120 with T-Mobile. But it really all depends on coverage and where you are the most. I'm closer to the border for a good chunk of the day so T-Mobile's coverage just can't cut it for me.