[Discussion] Carriers! Discuss, compare, and/or hate on your carrier(s) - General Topics

Hello my fellow XDA members!
This is a thread about companies that provide us with the ability to call, text, browse internet and do other stuff on our mobile devices, and go all-out-rage or all-out-love thanks to the level of customer service - the carriers.
Here you can talk about them, discuss the current/past/future data/call plans, share your thoughts on %carrier_name% in %country_name%, compare them between each other. Tell us what, in your opinion, could your carrier improve based upon your personal thoughts or upon other carriers' experience.
If you have ever visited other countries and used the local carrier - tell us how it compares to carriers from your contry, or just ask about prices/plans/etc. about carriers from other countries.
And, if you can, make a top-3/5/7/etc. carriers. You may compile such lists either from the local ones on even include the foreign ones.
So, let's start!

carrier : Mobile one
Country : Singapore
2GB 4G LTE per month. which is too little.
500 free sms.per month. I don't text a lot though, so it really doesn't matter.
free incoming calls. per month. heh, my favourite phrase is "could you call me instead"
I don't remember how much it costs to have outgoing calls though.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk 2

carrier : Vodaphone
Country : India
changed my carrier a while back because of their poor service
their 3g stops working at 12 in noon and started to work again in evening wtf???

Fatal1ty_18_RUS said:
Hello my fellow XDA members!
This is a thread about companies that provide us with the ability to call, text, browse internet and do other stuff on our mobile devices, and go all-out-rage or all-out-love thanks to the level of customer service - the carriers.
Here you can talk about them, discuss the current/past/future data/call plans, share your thoughts on %carrier_name% in %country_name%, compare them between each other. Tell us what, in your opinion, could your carrier improve based upon your personal thoughts or upon other carriers' experience.
If you have ever visited other countries and used the local carrier - tell us how it compares to carriers from your contry, or just ask about prices/plans/etc. about carriers from other countries.
And, if you can, make a top-3/5/7/etc. carriers. You may compile such lists either from the local ones on even include the foreign ones.
So, let's start!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wow, this thread is dead pretty quickly
Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk 2

Well, let's not let it die then
Carrier: Beeline
Contry: Russia
2GB of 3G per month, free incoming calls from any other Russian carrier
This carrier has pretty much the most suitable costs for calling, texting, browsing and more. What definately differs this one from the other two is that you cal find yourself a plan basically for anything
Are you a granny/grandad? Grab this plan
Do you want to provide your kids with a plan? There you go
Browse internet from your phone/tablet? You have 6 options of 3G internet and 7 options for 4G
Plus Beeline also provides a home internet, the digital TV, AND it has WiFi Hotspots across Moscow, and probably in other cities too
Sadly their 4G coverage is just awful - it works only within Downtown of Moscow, so if I'd need LTE - I'd had to use other carrier's services for that

We have been using T-mobile pay-as-you-go in the US for years. Lowest price we can find if you don't call very often. May not fit everyone's needs but fits ours perfectly. No monthly fees, no contracts, very low cost. The downside is that the cell coverage is not very strong in the suburbs. But we can live with that. YMMV.

Related

Australia, can you recomend mobile provider data package for Touch Pro?

Hi,
I am moving to Melbourne this Monday and need to get a new SIM and number. Which mobile operator has the best deals on data packages? (Preferably unlimited)
And which company is a good broadband/ISDN Internet Service Provider (ISP) in Melbourne? What are the speeds I can expect?
On a budget here... no company paying for me or anything so...
Thanks,
VeenK said:
Hi,
I am moving to Melbourne this Monday and need to get a new SIM and number. Which mobile operator has the best deals on data packages? (Preferably unlimited)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi VeenK, I don't know where you're coming from but you might get bit of a shock with our telecommunication costs. Our incumbent telco is unfortunately a rip off and this flows down thru other providers I would suggest looking at Vodaphone, 3, Optus and then of course the rip off merchant Telstra, in that order of bang for buck. Unlimited is unheard of here.
VeenK said:
And which company is a good broadband/ISDN Internet Service Provider (ISP) in Melbourne? What are the speeds I can expect?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Once again, as above, other countries have a lot better value for money because of our monopolistic incumbent telco (Telstra).
I personally use and recommend "Internode" www.internode.on.net.
Once you know the address or phone number of where you are going to live start here: http://bc.whirlpool.net.au/ (Whirlpool is the broadband equivalent of what XDA is to PDA's )
PM me if you need any help.
Cheers TZB
Oh, and if you hadn't already guessed, I don't like Telstra lol (either does most of Australia except their shareholders).
tzb2 said:
Hi VeenK, I don't know where you're coming from but you might get bit of a shock with our telecommunication costs. Our incumbent telco is unfortunately a rip off and this flows down thru other providers I would suggest looking at Vodaphone, 3, Optus and then of course the rip off merchant Telstra, in that order of bang for buck. Unlimited is unheard of here.
Once again, as above, other countries have a lot better value for money because of our monopolistic incumbent telco (Telstra).
I personally use and recommend "Internode" www.internode.on.net.
Once you know the address or phone number of where you are going to live start here: http://bc.whirlpool.net.au/ (Whirlpool is the broadband equivalent of what XDA is to PDA's )
PM me if you need any help.
Cheers TZB
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Adding to that, cringepool will give you an idea of what's good for both mobile and fixed data services (you need to filter through the bunch of 14 year old know it alls)
Unlimited data plans as mentioned simply don't exist for mobile or fixed services. I guess it kind of makes sense that it's expensive given there is only 20 million of us on one of the largest countries in the world.
Enjoy your time in our fantastic (and best) city
I ended up with Optus, I only get 1gig per month but I don't use that much.
As mentioned there's no such thing as unlimited data packages unless you have a Blackbery or a Hiptop(Sidekick).
For about $80 a month I get $300 in calls, unlimited sms/mms, 1 gig of data. That's on a month-month plan so no contract involved.
You need to know the address of where you'll be staying to confirm if you'll get coverage.

Buying a phone/SIM/contract in the USA

Hi,
This could possibly be the dumbest question you've ever heard asked, but.....
I work for a UK based company and one of our members of staff is on a long-term contract in the US - based in New York, looking for new business etc... She has a Touch Pro device - on a UK contract with a data package - that she uses to make calls, send/receive email (via our Exchange server in the UK) and is very concerned about the size of the phone bills she's been generating!!!
My question is this: can she buy a contract SIM from a US provider to use in the Touch Pro, or will she need to get a CDMA-type phone - whatever she ends up with, will need to talk to our Exchange server in the UK
I have no idea as to what options are available - and also which option is the most cost-effective. I know we're gonna get shafted on the data charges whichever way we go, but hopefully the phone calls to US numbers from a US phone will be considerably cheaper as they won't be classed as roaming.
Any suggestions you guys may have would be most welcome; I'm relying on the expertise of the XDA members in the US
Thanks in advance - and apologies again for the dumb question!
Mark.
Mark Crouch said:
Hi,
This could possibly be the dumbest question you've ever heard asked, but.....
I work for a UK based company and one of our members of staff is on a long-term contract in the US - based in New York, looking for new business etc... She has a Touch Pro device - on a UK contract with a data package - that she uses to make calls, send/receive email (via our Exchange server in the UK) and is very concerned about the size of the phone bills she's been generating!!!
My question is this: can she buy a contract SIM from a US provider to use in the Touch Pro, or will she need to get a CDMA-type phone - whatever she ends up with, will need to talk to our Exchange server in the UK
I have no idea as to what options are available - and also which option is the most cost-effective. I know we're gonna get shafted on the data charges whichever way we go, but hopefully the phone calls to US numbers from a US phone will be considerably cheaper as they won't be classed as roaming.
Any suggestions you guys may have would be most welcome; I'm relying on the expertise of the XDA members in the US
Thanks in advance - and apologies again for the dumb question!
Mark.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let me be the first to say there are no stupid questions....just stupid people who ask them....LOL and just kidding. Actually your thinking is right on track. If she has sim version of the Pro 2 then she can go ahead and get either t-mobile or AT&T. Either way when she leaves she will be required to pay an early termination fee. The package for AT&T completely unlimited is $99.00 but don't hold me to it. Also if she is using the UK version, no 3G for her, unfortunately, but if you read those who have the blackstone here in the US then you will see that Edge seems good enough for them. One more thing to consider is if she is in New York City, is all the wifi hotspots available. Those along with her unlimited plan should get her through the mess. T-mobile is the next option, but I don't use their service so no dice on that one.
Tell her to go to an AT&T store and also a T-mobile and find out what she can from each and then make a decision based on what her needs are.
I hope this helped a little.
Thanks for that - I'll take a look at the AT&T site and see what options are available for her. Looks like the phone/data are separate packages, but that's no problem; whatever she ends up with will be less than the last two bills we've had (about $1500USD a month ). Even the termination fee is "only" $175, so that won't hurt too much
Hey, thanks for the tip about the wi-fi - hadn't even considered that!! Are there a lot of AT&T wi-fi hotspots in the NYC area or is there just a lot of wi-fi generally (I ask because the AT&T data plans I've seen so far include access to their own hotspots).
Certainly some food for thought - I'll go away and digest it all
Many thanks,
Mark.
Mark Crouch said:
Thanks for that - I'll take a look at the AT&T site and see what options are available for her. Looks like the phone/data are separate packages, but that's no problem; whatever she ends up with will be less than the last two bills we've had (about $1500USD a month ). Even the termination fee is "only" $175, so that won't hurt too much
Hey, thanks for the tip about the wi-fi - hadn't even considered that!! Are there a lot of AT&T wi-fi hotspots in the NYC area or is there just a lot of wi-fi generally (I ask because the AT&T data plans I've seen so far include access to their own hotspots).
Certainly some food for thought - I'll go away and digest it all
Many thanks,
Mark.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The touch pro in the US is called the Fuze, it is the only GSM Touch Pro available. Both US Touch Pros are CDMA ( Verizon and Sprint ). But since the hardware is the same I am sure that a european TP will work just fine on the AT$T network with an AT$T sim.
The unlimited calling package is $ 99/mo and the data package ( internet email, weather, MMS ....) is $30. Of course international calls are always extra. ( called Aruba last week to the tune of $12.50 for 15 min )
So $129 for unlimited calls, texts, and data to @4GB /mo.
You can also cut down the minutes package and save more considering all unused minutes from one month " rollover " into the next month. Nights and weekends are free and AT$T to AT$T calls are free.
Here is my package for 4 phones. TilT, iPhone, LG Vu and Samsung Propel.
59.99 +9.99+9.99+9.99= $86 for 900 shared minutes ( the kids rarely talk, just text, so we always have a good pile of rollover minutes left just in case someone gets " chatty " one month.
Data Tilt-30 ; iPhone-30 =$60 Unlimited Texts on all four phones = $30
So $ 176 for four phones, not bad I think ? ( better deals welcome )
Since you are not subsidizing the phone, no contract, no early termination fee. Hope this helps
OK, I think we're getting close......
Thanks for the responses; I think we're now armed with all the facts
I think she's been told to go to an AT&T store and get something sorted. Only problem (?) now is that she's decided she doesn't want the Touch Pro any more, so she'll be looking to get a new handset through AT&T too (our UK sales people had TP's, but hated them and now have the HTC Snap - think that's the way she wants to go too!!).
Cheers,
Mark.

Sprint Touch Pro 2 on a South Korean Carrier

My question is concerning the possibility of activating my Sprint Touch Pro 2 on a Korean service provider like LG Telecom and their OZ 3G data service. If anyone has any experience with using a cdma pocket pc in Korea, please let me know. Thanks.
I post here because I read the following here:
c. If the Rhodium supports having the telephone number programed into it, does that mean that I can have another CDMA service provider (in a different country of course) delete the existing number and program in a new telephone number?
A. Of course you can. It just depends on the service provider although not all of them might co-operate and would be willing to do this. Why? Simply beacuse it might affect their phone sales.
If you are willing to do most of the work yourself, check out this thread at PPCgeeks.
Further Reading
OZ 3G data service background
Up until now, there has been limited adoption of 3G data services in Korea because they have been expensive, hard to use, and lacking in content. Today, we offer our new OZ 3G data service on our upgraded EV-DO Revision A network, dramatically improving the user experience over our existing CDMA2000 1x network.
OZ service launched in April 2008
In April 2008, we launched our OZ-branded 3G data service to give Korean consumers a more convenient, reasonably priced alternative for truly open mobile Internet service. We have also partnered with Naver, Yahoo!, and a large number of other top portal sites to further enhance the mobile Internet experience.
The new 3G market innovator
With the launch of OZ, we are progressively expanding our handset lineup with models designed to make 3G data services easier to use as well as offering a very reasonable introductory tariff plan. Now, subscribers of all ages can freely browse the Internet, send email, and instant message friends in addition to all the standard data services they’ve come to enjoy

help! prepay sim for htc desire in New york, which to buy for DATA???

i have a uk vodafone desire, its custom with aosp roms and us unlocked.
I am going to new York for a week and i need to get a pre pay sim, mainly just for data, i don't care about calls and texts as i just want access to email and Skype to call home.
I have looked at some of the sites, but i dont know which one to get, can anyone recommend one?
I have a truphone simcard here.
which i need to pay£10 to get the membership this will give me local rates in uk or usa no matter where i am then i can buy a USA number for £5 and then buy some credit maybe £10 may do.... so that's £25 about $50, so i guess thats the bench mark. The desire is quad band so should work over there.
Did you take your trip already?
Your UK Desire doesn't have any 3G bands for the USA, so you'll be stuck with 2G/EDGE. T-Mobile USA has a $1.49/day data pass that is "unlimited". They throttle after 30 MB daily usage, but the speed reduction only shows up in 3G mode. You won't get 3G so you won't notice. It'll just be slow all the time...
If you want faster than EDGE you'll need a separate device.
Missed it. As been already. Bought a samsung fakeberry while I was there. Expensed the topups. Was just for email, for 5days.
But thanks I will look at t. Mobile next time. I bought at&t..... they suck. With the new job I will be going NYC regularly.
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
iamdarren said:
Missed it. As been already. Bought a samsung fakeberry while I was there. Expensed the topups. Was just for email, for 5days.
But thanks I will look at t. Mobile next time. I bought at&t..... they suck. With the new job I will be going NYC regularly.
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, well if you will be visiting the USA regularly, you may want to consider buying in the US a phone with T-Mobile US compatible 3G frequencies. Most of the T-Mo US phones also have UMTS 2100 for the UK, so you'll get 3G back home.
Be warned, T-Mo US is pretty choppy too, but you get a better deal for data than AT&T.
Another option as long as we're talking new hardware - you could buy a prepaid MiFi device from Virgin Mobile USA (CDMA carrier, runs on Sprint's network) and purchase data for that. Use the wifi on your phone to tap into that instead of data roaming; and you can also run your laptop/tablet/etc on it. It won't do you much good anywhere outside the USA, but for some this is a viable option.

[Q] Going to Europe, best plan for calling texting?

On AT&T going to Ireland then England. Any tricks other than paying att their ridiculous price to have calling/texting while I'm there? Maybe through Google voice? Or does that need data?
Thanks!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using xda premium
If you're gonna be strictly communicating with people back in the states, then the smart thing is to stay with Google voice via PC. However, if you plan on communicating with people in Europe for an extended period of time, then unlock your phone and go with an EU Virgin Mobile prepaid plan.
I forget how my minutes/texting plan looked like but it was ideal, only 30 Euros per month prepaid, and I was able to pickup service and call all throughout Europe.
Will be contacting with friends and traveling family in europe, and with friends and family back in the states. Last time I went I unlocked my old blackberry and went with a prepaid sim, but I don't feel like it really saved me much money. If people call and text my gvoice number while I'm in Europe, is that free? Do I just have to worry about the local stuff then?
It's two of us that are going so really trying to save where I can.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using xda premium
my cousin went to portugal last summer and used handcent sms to text all of us back in the states for free, and used his gvoice account to make calls also for free
mjwhirly said:
my cousin went to portugal last summer and used handcent sms to text all of us back in the states for free, and used his gvoice account to make calls also for free
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Handcent needs data I'm sure which costs a lot more. As for calling AT&T wants 99c a minute. Calling put with Google voice still uses minutes I'm almost certain. So how does that work.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using xda premium
Giffgaff
I'd recommend going with Giffgaff:
h**p://giffgaff.com/goodybags/10pound-facebook-goodybag
For 10 pounds/month you get 250 minutes, unlimited texting, and unlimited data. The APN settings are easily found on their website. All prepaid, no contracts. Runs on the O2 network, which is considered [from what I've read] the best in the UK.
Then I would download WhatsApp! from the market and have all your friends do the same. You give them your new Giffgaff number, and you can message all your friends back home for free using the data connection. You could also use google voice for this purpose.
I wish we had options like this in the US. I had an equally inexpensive provider in Germany. Worked great!
Best plan, "borrow" someone else's phone
Sent from Down The Rabbit Hole, using Tapatalk 2.
That looks epic! Will have to unlock my phone first though. Hope they are legitimate I have no idea how they afford those rates.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using xda premium
I'm sure they're legit.
If you're worried, Tesco (the grocery store chain) also offers a cheap prepaid SIM with roughly the same benefits, for the same price.
Both services use the O2 network, and I know a couple different people that use Tesco, and say it works great.
h**p://shop.tescomobile.com/sim-only
In all honesty, from having used many prepaid providers in many european countries, once you find a provider that works, you're pretty much just shopping around for who has the best refill options. Giffgaff looks like you can top up with a credit card. Tesco might require you to go buy a top-up card at the store. I'm not entirely sure.

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