Should I get TB if I don't live in 4G?

[H2342]

I'm not in a 4G area would it be dumb if I bought the thunderbolt. I think 4G will be in our area sometime this year but I don't wanna be stuck with paying for 4G if we don't have it right now.

 

[mkeith813]

Cant really answer that question until the phone actually releases and Verizon tells us about their 4G plans. If its unlimited for the standard 29.99, I'd say absolutely get it because then you'll have it when your area upgrades.

 

[Tank076]

Hopefully the light it up here in the upstate when the thunderbolt releases

 

[HTCThunderbolt]

Cant really answer that question until the phone actually releases and Verizon tells us about their 4G plans. If its unlimited for the standard 29.99, I'd say absolutely get it because then you'll have it when your area upgrades.

Good game haha

Hopefully the light it up here in the upstate when the thunderbolt releases

On the VZW website it does say Greenville/Spartanburg coming soon

 

[mkeith813]

Hopefully the light it up here in the upstate when the thunderbolt releases

Ha I just realized you were in Greenville. Yeah it would be great if they could get it going here fast. Last I looked at the 4G website, its supposed to drop this summer sometime. Its nice to see some other Thundernerds so close to home. I actually live in Powdersville but nobody knows where that is so I put Easley (as if they know that one either)

 

[mkeith813]

Good game haha

Yeah. The worst part was I knew with about 4 minutes left that would happen. That's just what we do. You can count on it

 

[aodmisery]

dont know how it works but would you have to pay for 4g if you dont live in an area with 4g

 

[HTCThunderbolt]

dont know how it works but would you have to pay for 4g if you dont live in an area with 4g

Most likely

 

[TxGoat]

I'm thinking the TB's delay has more to do with 4G coverage than they want us to believe for this very reason. Why buy a 4G phone if you're not in a 4G area? As a consumer you can dispute being charged extra for 4G if there is no 4G service. I'd say Verizon is trying to lay down more 4G towers because they fully intend on charging people a premium for 4G. Just makes sense IMO. If I didn't live in a rich 4G area, then I really wouldn't have any reason to buy a 4G device except maybe because I thought I could get grandfathered into an unlimited 4G plan.

 

[HTCThunderbolt]

dont know how it works but would you have to pay for 4g if you dont live in an area with 4g

All my friends that have evos have to pay the extra for 4g even tho there is no 4g where they live.. But that doesnt mean they can drive to Charlotte.. About 5 mins away and use it.. There is just no way to control it

 

[EarlyMon]

All my friends that have evos have to pay the extra for 4g even tho there is no 4g where they live.. But that doesnt mean they can drive to Charlotte.. About 5 mins away and use it.. There is just no way to control it

They claimed it was a premium service charge, but we all saw it as the 4G tax and just paid it.

Now, it's added to all of their smartphones - this allows them to advertise one price but step it up $10 for capable phones - even 3G only Android users now pay this.

 

[aodmisery]

yeah but doesnt the tb use a sim card for the 4g just dont give me the sim card. and 4g shouldnt work on the phone. i may be wrong though

 

[HTCThunderbolt]

yeah but doesnt the tb use a sim card for the 4g just dont give me the sim card. and 4g shouldnt work on the phone. i may be wrong though

BMX said the phone depends on the sim card to much for this to happen.

 

[mkeith813]

All this time I was thinking if grandfathered in, the $30 I pay now would cover the 4G. Then I would turn on the 4G radio as if it were wifi, when available. Im getting the impression now that ill pay the $30 for data and THEN extra on top of that for 4G. Is that correct?

 

[SolidOrange]

i am not an a 4g area and i will still be getting the t-bolt, as long as data pricing is not ridiculous. i have been eligible for an upgrade since november, and this is the first phone i have really felt was worth using it on. the droid2 actually seemed like a step back from my OG Droid since it was locked and Blur'd, and there is no way i would buy a Samsung device with their insanely slow updates, so t-bolt it is. if a chance to lock into a 2 year plan with unlimited 4g comes with it, even better. i am not actually committing to this phone for very long, because i have another upgrade available on my family plan anyway, so it makes the decision easy for me. buy the bolt now and lock into a contract, wait until the end of the year to see what is available/on the horizon, sell the t-bolt and pick something else up.

 

[SolidOrange]

All this time I was thinking if grandfathered in, the $30 I pay now would cover the 4G. Then I would turn on the 4G radio as if it were wifi, when available. Im getting the impression now that ill pay the $30 for data and THEN extra on top of that for 4G. Is that correct?

pretty sure that a 4g plan will be the only available option for this phone, but it would include 3g service. there will not be two separate charges that you have to pay individually. for example, if you had a hypothetical tiered 5gb/mo 4G plan for $35, you could use 5GB on 4G and unlimited 3g for that price.

at least, that's how it has been explained to me.

 

[mkeith813]

pretty sure that a 4g plan will be the only available option for this phone, but it would include 3g service. there will not be two separate charges that you have to pay individually. for example, if you had a hypothetical tiered 5gb/mo 4G plan for $35, you could use 5GB on 4G and unlimited 3g.

at least, that's how it has been explained to me.

Gotcha


and BTW regardless of the outcome of the ball game today, we have a lot more Tigers in here than Heels. Go Tigers!

 

[SolidOrange]

Gotcha


and BTW regardless of the outcome of the ball game today, we have a lot more Tigers in here than Heels. Go Tigers!

[off topic]
ahhh, so close. i knew we couldn't hold on in OT, but i think we stamped our ticket to the NCAA tourney with the slaughter of BC yesterday.

and yeah, glad to see all the tigers here! there are so many that i had to change my avatar because it was getting confusing, lol.
[/off topic]

and now back to your regularly scheduled thunderbolt discussion...

 

[bigsexyy81]

HTC ThunderBolt? at Verizon

^If all of that excites you aside from the LTE portion, get it.

 

[atrain311]

Guys, this may be stupid to ask, but if I'm getting this phone and there's no 4g where I live and it doesn't seem Luke it is coming any time soon (sort of surprises me, because the Albany area isn't a small market) will I be able to use the front facing camera to video chat using WiFi or something? Again, sorry for being clueless about this. Thanks.

 

[garnto]

Guys, this may be stupid to ask, but if I'm getting this phone and there's no 4g where I live and it doesn't seem Luke it is coming any time soon (sort of surprises me, because the Albany area isn't a small market) will I be able to use the front facing camera to video chat using WiFi or something? Again, sorry for being clueless about this. Thanks.

I'm pretty sure you can skype with wifi and 3g(please correct me if I'm wrong)

 

[mkeith813]

Guys, this may be stupid to ask, but if I'm getting this phone and there's no 4g where I live and it doesn't seem Luke it is coming any time soon (sort of surprises me, because the Albany area isn't a small market) will I be able to use the front facing camera to video chat using WiFi or something? Again, sorry for being clueless about this. Thanks.

You can definitely use Skype on Wifi but im sure if the video option will work on 3G

 

[zim2704]

The one thing that everybody is forgetting is that if you sign a new contact you will be under the new throttling terms and your unlimited doesn't really mean much if your speeds are terribly slow.

 

[FatalErrorz]

You can definitely use Skype on Wifi but im sure if the video option will work on 3G

There is no video option on Skype for any phone as of yet. Video is only on the PC's through Skype. Tango, Fring, Qik and Yahoo! are the main options for the phones.

 

[FatalErrorz]

The one thing that everybody is forgetting is that if you sign a new contact you will be under the new throttling terms and your unlimited doesn't really mean much if your speeds are terribly slow.

Yep...And I wonder if Verizon is just going to let the signal degrade itself through bandwidth loss by the number of users (LTE has lower bandwidth) and then say they throttled it back due to demand, or if they will throttle users back when bandwidth starts to become compromised which would be even earlier...

For the original question though, I'd buy one (after all the bugs are fixed) even if there was no LTE around my area. It'll still do everything, or at least MOST things.