Will the Nexus 5 sold by Sprint or Best Buy be sim locked? I want to know because sometimes I travel to areas where sprint's coverage lacking to put it politely. I would like to be able to pop in a prepaid sim like a straight talk AT&T or T-Mobile sim to use in those areas while I am there and not have to deal with unlocking the phone through sprint.
I don't want to see people telling me I am wasting my time/money on getting the device through sprint. I get a good discount on my service through them from work and honestly since the network upgrades have started in my area the 3g and LTE I pick up occasionally have been surprisingly good so I am ok with a 2 year agreement on the phone.
Would Google even allow sprint to sell it with a carrier lock on the sim card since it is supposed to be a trueNexus this time around even on CDMA?
ktt4510 said:
Will the Nexus 5 sold by Sprint or Best Buy be sim locked? I want to know because sometimes I travel to areas where sprint's coverage lacking to put it politely. I would like to be able to pop in a prepaid sim like a straight talk AT&T or T-Mobile sim to use in those areas while I am there and not have to deal with unlocking the phone through sprint.
I don't want to see people telling me I am wasting my time/money on getting the device through sprint. I get a good discount on my service through them from work and honestly since the network upgrades have started in my area the 3g and LTE I pick up occasionally have been surprisingly good so I am ok with a 2 year agreement on the phone.
Would Google even allow sprint to sell it with a carrier lock on the sim card since it is supposed to be a trueNexus this time around even on CDMA?
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I don't believe so. We've been told all the N5's are the same so it would be logical to assume that they won't be SIM locked. But no way to know for sure until someone buys one from Sprint to test it out.
Ok so just a quick update to this. I got mine in the mail last night and decided to rty it out. I put a prepaid sim from a friend in the phone and it worked just fine. Connected to LTE data on AT&T and made calls no problem. So for any wondering if sprint decided to lock the phone I can confirm that is unlocked just as the phone would be if purchased from Google directly.
Related
I am tied into a crappy AT&T contract for the next year or so, but I really want one of these things. If I buy one off contract on ebay, will it work on at&t if I stick my sim card in it?
I'm not 100% sure but I could swear that I read somewhere that it does not support att bands.
But even if it did you would still have unlock it lol
Sent from my G2x running Bionix 2 with the power of Trinity.
Yup
It would work once u get it unlocked via an unlock code. But as said above, your 3g might not work. You will only be getting edge.
Yes the G2x will work just fine on Att. I live in a very rural area where all there is is edge an i use my G2x every day on the Att network as a roaming phone. my account is with tmobile but they have no coverage in some of my traveling area but i just use the network seach an it finds att an i have mostly full bars reception!! Gives me a smile i get to roam off of Att free of charge since they did me so crappy when i had a moto phone!
it will work on AT&T but only 2G (edge), no 3G o HSPA+. See here; http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/27/t-mobile-g2x-lacks-quadband-hspa-shatters-dreams/
It was advertised as quad band, but in fact, is not. I bought one unlocked the day it came out thinking it was quad, and it picked up EDGE only. Been getting sick of ATT crap phones though, so I took phone back to Best Buy for refund, called ATT and paid my ETF, then went down the street and opened up a tmo account with G2x at Costco. With the wifi calling feature, I have no regrets whatsoever. Best $300 ETF I've ever paid!!
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App
Hey,
I'm recently got an infuse off contract, rooted it, etc, but I haven't been able to make myself transfer my service too it from my other phone. I'm really torn, as it is a great phone but ehhh.
Anyway.
I'm just wondering if there is some way I can use this phone on a pre paid network or something. I looked it up and saw straight talk was perhaps an option, but it seems very confusing.
Thanks.
well you could use simple mobile. (they have ads on this site alot) you could the infuse unlocking guide to unlock your phone and use it on this service. they use t mobiles towers and have 4g (hspa+) in certain areas. their plans are 40 unlimited talk and text, 50 unlimited talk text and 2g data, and 60 unlimited talk text 3g/4g data. you should check them out.hope all goes well my friend.
thank you very much! are there any cheaper options? do you know anything about straight talk?
can i use it on att month to month?
Well simple mobile is one of the cheapest prepaid gsm carriers around. And I know of straight talk. But the only straight talk smart phone is the nokia e71 I believe and that's the only straight talk phone that uses a sim card. So you would have to buy a 200+ phone JUST to get the straight talk sim card out. And yes you can use simple mobile from month to month but after 30 days of no payment they will take your number and deactivate your sim. And another good cheap prepaid option is walmarts family plan. The only thing is to start to see savings you would have to have multiple lines that's why it's good for families. Finally you could check out h20 wireless solutions they have similar rates to simple mobile but they use att towers.... Whew....that was allot of typing....lol
Itaer said:
thank you very much! are there any cheaper options? do you know anything about straight talk?
can i use it on att month to month?
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Based on conversations on IRC with a ST user:
If your SIM was taken from one of th $200 Nokias, you can use in the Infuse. ST is a Tracfone reseller, which uses AT&T's network.
SIMs from all other ST phones are specifically locked to the phone.
ALSO: If you use a SIM from one of the $200 Nokias, you MUST keep the Nokia. If that phone is ever activated with another service, ST will drop service on your SIM.
Edit: Note, I'm an AT&T contract user, all of the above are hearsay from IRC a month or two ago.
i believe you need a $200 nokia smartphone on strait talk but never sell the nokia! the sim is locked to the imei somehow and if the nokia is activated again the old sim is deactivated. also i think strait talk is a reseller of many carriers, they have cdma phones and a few of the nokia smart phones are on t-mobile sim cards from what i understand. you can try it but i think ifg the sim has a "t" on it then you cant use it, only problem is you have know way to know which sim will be in the phone you are buying.
many of those prepay services have one of a number of methods to lock the phone to their network. do as much research as posible before dropping cash on a device that might be useless
I though Att itself has a pay as you go with no contracty plain also tat works for this for for $5 data (10 mb ha) and $.010 a min talk.
Dani897 said:
i believe you need a $200 nokia smartphone on strait talk but never sell the nokia! the sim is locked to the imei somehow and if the nokia is activated again the old sim is deactivated. also i think strait talk is a reseller of many carriers, they have cdma phones and a few of the nokia smart phones are on t-mobile sim cards from what i understand. you can try it but i think ifg the sim has a "t" on it then you cant use it, only problem is you have know way to know which sim will be in the phone you are buying.
many of those prepay services have one of a number of methods to lock the phone to their network. do as much research as posible before dropping cash on a device that might be useless
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So theoretically, you could buy the 200 phone, and buy the cheap ass phone......in separate transactions, from Wal-mart and then use the expensive sim card, but put the cheap sim card in the expensive phone pkg and return the phone......only if you are evil!
I understand you could use the GoPhone plans, but you will need a new sim card, and also have to have a data plan to go with it, not sure how much the Simple Mobile plans are they talk about, but your looking at around 55-60$ for GoPhone plans with minimum data. 50$ unlimited talk and text and 5$for 10mb. Tops is 25$for 500mb, thats still not a lot of data though. I think 10mb for a phone is a joke, in my opinion. Maybe check out the Simple Mobile, you will have to unlock your phone for that though. Instructions for that are XDA.
emeralds5668 said:
So theoretically, you could buy the 200 phone, and buy the cheap ass phone......in separate transactions, from Wal-mart and then use the expensive sim card, but put the cheap sim card in the expensive phone pkg and return the phone......only if you are evil!
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Click to collapse
No. If the expensive phone is EVER activated with another SIM, the expensive SIM you're using will get deactivated according to everything I've heard.
Entropy512 said:
No. If the expensive phone is EVER activated with another SIM, the expensive SIM you're using will get deactivated according to everything I've heard.
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Yeah but if the phone is returned, after it has been opened, then its not returned to the shelf. I think it would be considered refurb. I dont know, but they would probably reassign the imei to another sim. Dont know. I think I will just keep my edge speed in the hope that when att buys t-mobile that I will finally gtr hspda.
Hey Folks,
Here in the U.S. phones are bound to their carriers--you buy an AT&T handset to run on the AT&T network, Verizon handset to run on Verizon, etc.. This, of course, is annoying as hell, because it makes it hard to switch carriers and lock you into a contract.
What's the best Android phone to use if I want to switch among Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint? I've got 7 months left on a crappy contract and I can't wait to start taking advantage of better deals.
tyvm for your help, and forgiving the n00b question.
tangoking said:
Hey Folks,
Here in the U.S. phones are bound to their carriers--you buy an AT&T handset to run on the AT&T network, Verizon handset to run on Verizon, etc.. This, of course, is annoying as hell, because it makes it hard to switch carriers and lock you into a contract.
What's the best Android phone to use if I want to switch among Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint? I've got 7 months left on a crappy contract and I can't wait to start taking advantage of better deals.
tyvm for your help, and forgiving the n00b question.
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Click to collapse
You have 2 choices. GSM (ATT & Tmobile...Sim card) or CDMA (Sprint & Verizon...Non Sim card) There are a few phones that will work on all of them but you will lose faster data speeds like 3g and lte. All carriers are not using the same bands and each carrier has their bands hard coded in the hardware.
Hey guys...I've lurked on this forum for a while...But this is my first post. Sorry if this has already been asked a million times or if it's in the wrong forum. But I need help asap.
I had a Verizon Galaxy Nexus but just cancelled my plan because it was getting too expensive. I was going to sign up with Sprint because I get a huge company discount, but a friend of mine just gave me his Verizon S4 because he bought a G2. Anyways...I would rather bring the S4 to a carrier like Straight Talk and avoid getting a new phone an plan with Sprint.
Anyways...I've read a bunch of different threads that have conflicting information. Am I able to active the S4 with Straight talk? I went to their website and found that the phone is indeed compatible. But I am getting two messages, "Purchase an Activation Kit which contains a 30 Day Unlimited Service Plan Card, SIM Card and Network Access Code." and "For your particular phone only the Service Plan Card and SIM Card are needed for activation. The Network Access Code is not required. The SIM Card is in the blue area for AT&T Compatible phones and the pink area for T‑Mobile Compatible phones."
Am I going to get screwed if I buy all this stuff? Has anyone tried this? And if so, do I straight up select an AT&T compatible SIM card even though it's a Verizon phone? Any help would be huge! I'd like to get this done today.
Thanks in advance.
Alright, so this is pretty simple.
First of all, people are going to say the VZW Galaxy S4 is CDMA and thus does not work on Straight Talk and other GSM carriers. They are false. Verizon has been SIM unlocking all of their phones, including the iPhones, for the past year or so.
There is one caveat. You will NOT be able to access LTE. Just HSPA+ or pseudo 4G which is actually pretty fast.
Now, when you sign up with ST, you can choose to go with AT&T or T-Mobile since they piggyback off both services. AT&T has the better coverage but there's a hard 1.5 GB data cap (or so they claim. it is unclear on what ST's data usage policies are). The T-Mobile side has spottier coverage but I hear there are less strict data rules. Mileage may vary. It's prepaid so you're free to try out both sides.
As far as the Network Access Code question, just buy the one with it. I've never used ST but as long as it doesn't cost more, it is better to have the code than not.
sorry for that
sorry for that
I just ordered a few of these and will be dropping sprint. This will be my first time going to a GSM carrier. Locally here out of the big 4 we have AT&T and T-Mobile. The T-Mobile service apparently sucks here, so I'm going to bypass. In regards to MNVO carriers, we have Cricket, Metro PCS, or Straight Talk to choose from. Do any of you guys seem to have any issues, using this phone, with any of the mentioned carriers?
BonezMontana said:
I just ordered a few of these and will be dropping sprint. This will be my first time going to a GSM carrier. Locally here out of the big 4 we have AT&T and T-Mobile. The T-Mobile service apparently sucks here, so I'm going to bypass. In regards to MNVO carriers, we have Cricket, Metro PCS, or Straight Talk to choose from. Do any of you guys seem to have any issues, using this phone, with any of the mentioned carriers?
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I've had Cricket for 2 years now, and I have zero complaints..other than that freak like 11 hour or so service outage a while back. Besides that, A+ 4G LTE, love the no contract, the myCricket app, the Cricket Visual Voicemail app, and they have great support. Your Cricket sim will work as soon as you pop it in. I've had both my fiancé and I on the $50 5GB/mo. plan since I started with them..and I actually only pay $45 for each line each month because they knock $5 off ea. line amount for having a multi-line account. Also, when I just paid my November bill last week I was shocked to see that they changed their $50 5GB/mo. plan to 8GB/mo., they also have the Unlimited plan too. But either way, really it's whatever you "need" in that dept..I am a bit of a phone "nut", and have been on every major network and Metro and Boost in the past..and none compare to the overall service+price total package you get from Cricket. As I'm writing this, I feel I should make sure that I say that I do not work for Cricket nor am I getting paid or receiving anything in exchange for this comment lol..just honestly really love the network (which is really just AT&T) and am more than happy to pass on my great experience. Anyway, good luck with the search and enjoy your Honor 8..love that too! Lol ?
I'm in the Philly area with MetroPCS. I generally get 25/25Mbps down/up speeds and good coverage.
at&t go.
Bouygues Telecom in France
I use rogers in Ontario, Canada. I have no issues.
Am using AT&T and have to say no issues drove from South Carolina to New York and not once did I loose signal.
Cricket: Noticed that I never received a text this afternoon.
BonezMontana said:
I just ordered a few of these and will be dropping sprint. This will be my first time going to a GSM carrier. Locally here out of the big 4 we have AT&T and T-Mobile. The T-Mobile service apparently sucks here, so I'm going to bypass. In regards to MNVO carriers, we have Cricket, Metro PCS, or Straight Talk to choose from. Do any of you guys seem to have any issues, using this phone, with any of the mentioned carriers?
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I'm using T-Mobile in my brand new Honor 8, LTE works great when im at work but at home it refuses to connect to LTE, only 4G
nichobrooks said:
I'm using T-Mobile in my brand new Honor 8, LTE works great when im at work but at home it refuses to connect to LTE, only 4G
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Just bought an Honor 8 for my wife and we are on T Mobile prepaid...did you have to do anything with the apn settings or just pop in your sim and go?
Thanks
ElCid43 said:
Just bought an Honor 8 for my wife and we are on T Mobile prepaid...did you have to do anything with the apn settings or just pop in your sim and go?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use the pin to open the tray, pop in your nano SIM card, push the tray back and GO. (I used T-Mob pay as you go before changed to another one Cricket)
ElCid43 said:
Just bought an Honor 8 for my wife and we are on T Mobile prepaid...did you have to do anything with the apn settings or just pop in your sim and go?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just popped in the sim, but I still went ahead and checked the settings, everything was good. Your wife will love the phone it's awesome
BonezMontana said:
I just ordered a few of these and will be dropping sprint. This will be my first time going to a GSM carrier. Locally here out of the big 4 we have AT&T and T-Mobile. The T-Mobile service apparently sucks here, so I'm going to bypass. In regards to MNVO carriers, we have Cricket, Metro PCS, or Straight Talk to choose from. Do any of you guys seem to have any issues, using this phone, with any of the mentioned carriers?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If T-Mobile sucks for you don't go with MetroPCS. It is owned by T-Mobile and uses the same network. It will also give you a lower priority than T-Mobile customers. Straight Talk uses either of the 4 main networks depending on which you choose.
MT2-User said:
Use the pin to open the tray, pop in your nano SIM card, push the tray back and GO. (I used T-Mob pay as you go before changed to another one Cricket)
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Did you buy a new sim card or can you get them for free? I currently have a mini that was cut down to a micro and now, I am thinking of just buying or "getting" a nano from AT&T for this phone. Would they transfer everything for me or how does it work? Thanks in advance!
lowao said:
Did you buy a new sim card or can you get them for free? I currently have a mini that was cut down to a micro and now, I am thinking of just buying or "getting" a nano from AT&T for this phone. Would they transfer everything for me or how does it work? Thanks in advance!
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Click to collapse
I cut it myself.
You could buy new one or go to their local store requesting one and ask for "transferring".
MT2-User said:
I cut it myself.
You could buy new one or go to their local store requesting one and ask for "transferring".
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the information!
lowao said:
Thanks for the information!
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Click to collapse
Np.
Any GSM network should be fine. Sounds like you got something weird going on. If it makes any difference, my phone says 4G LTE, not the standard LTE I've seen on every other phone.
T-mobile
ATT. Works perfectly.