No Nexus 5 for Verizon

[jova33]

In case you didn't already know. But, guess which CDMA carrier will have a Nexus 5. Sprint. You mad bro?
I'm about ready to sell my unlimited data plan and say farewell. What was the last flagship worth buying VZW had? S4, then the HTC One they released 6 months late with HTCdev blocked, and that's about it for 2013.

 

[la sal]

Check the data speeds for Sprint in your area closely. What good is unlimited data if your are getting between 0.03mbps and at best 0.3mbps download speeds?

Former Sprint customer here. They are currently looking to push customers on more expensive plans without their Network Vision project even being close to finished.

Lots of dropped calls with Sprint and poor coverage in rural areas. Strong network > latest phone.

 

[jova33]

Thinking T-Mobile.

 

[hilmar2k]

Thinking T-Mobile.

Yikes. Hopefully you live in a metropolitan area and never leave it.

 

[kyler13]

In case you didn't already know. But, guess which CDMA carrier will have a Nexus 5. Sprint. You mad bro?
I'm about ready to sell my unlimited data plan and say farewell. What was the last flagship worth buying VZW had? S4, then the HTC One they released 6 months late with HTCdev blocked, and that's about it for 2013.

Get the LG G2. Bigger screen, bigger battery, otherwise the same as the nexus 5. And you can get it Thursday instead of waiting a couple months. With a little love from the dev community, you can rock aosp and be be ready to take advantage of LTE-A next year on Verizon rather than waiting a couple years for the others to finish their build out of regular LTE.

 

[Rxpert83]

Check the data speeds for Sprint in your area closely.

That's solid advice when looking at any carrier. Data speeds fluctuate a LOT depending on where you are. Each carrier has its weak and strong points. It doesn't help sprints in a major overhaul.

Thinking T-Mobile.

If I switched from sprint that's where I'd head. :thumbup:

Like the person above mentioned, make sure to check the coverage and speeds in your area.

 

[jhawkkw]

Get the LG G2. Bigger screen, bigger battery, otherwise the same as the nexus 5. And you can get it Thursday instead of waiting a couple months. With a little love from the dev community, you can rock aosp and be be ready to take advantage of LTE-A next year on Verizon rather than waiting a couple years for the others to finish their build out of regular LTE.

While this is true, there's a couple of things that will likely favor the Nexus.

1st is that it will likely be roughly half the price. Nexus phones tend to price around 350 at launch and the G2 will price near the 600 dollar mark.

2nd is that the Nexus will have an unlockable bootloader at launch while the G2 will have to wait on getting one that may never come. It may get one, but it might not and that is a gamble.

3rd is that the Nexus will have official AOSP support which means all drivers/binaries will be public, and it will receive immediate updates from Google. Even if the G2 gets it's bootloader unlocked or cracked, it's AOSP roms will not be as stable because developers will have to reverse engineer all these drivers that Nexus owners will have given to them.

Plus to me, the bigger screen is actually a detractor. I would have liked the Nexus 5 to stay at 4.7 inches, but oh well.

 

[jova33]

Well Verizon does have the best coverage, it is seriously lacking in its availability in phones. I've been considering switching to a GSM carrier for some time. For one, GSM is global. Second, phones aren't restricted to the carrier. I could take an unlocked nexus phone to which ever carrier I want, and some have bring your own device pricing.

 

[kyler13]

Well, you'll have to switch countries too because you'll still be limited with global gsm phones that readily work with US HSPA bands. The US sucks for that, and seemingly LTE is only worse with the number of bands in use globally.

 

[bob60626]

Yikes. Hopefully you live in a metropolitan area and never leave it.

I've had solid voice and sms coverage in Alaska and nowheresvilles in Michigan and Wisconsin on my T-Mobile $30 plan.

 

[jova33]

I wasn't thinking prepaid. Actually going contract. Prepaid means no roaming, contract means roaming, right?

 

[bob60626]

I was roaming on AT&T, GCI, and 311750 (?). TMO has some coverage there but I don't think I ever saw it. I was able to call my girlfriend from a mountain top.

 

[jhawkkw]

I wasn't thinking prepaid. Actually going contract. Prepaid means no roaming, contract means roaming, right?

T-Mobile prepaid gives you voice/text roaming, but no data roaming. Can't speak for the other carriers though.

 

[Billbuscus89]

I thought the point of Nexus was that you can get it carrier unlocked and activate it with any company? Or can you only use prepaid with any company? I'm glad in my area there are only a few cell companies and I'm not locked into a contract.

 

[Rxpert83]

I thought the point of Nexus was that you can get it carrier unlocked and activate it with any company? Or can you only use prepaid with any company? I'm glad in my area there are only a few cell companies and I'm not locked into a contract.

The point of the nexus is a completely open operating system.

Android the way Google wants it.

 

[jhawkkw]

I thought the point of Nexus was that you can get it carrier unlocked and activate it with any company? Or can you only use prepaid with any company? I'm glad in my area there are only a few cell companies and I'm not locked into a contract.

The point of the nexus is a completely open operating system.

Android the way Google wants it.

Basically what Rxpert says is correct. However, Nexus devices are indeed usually carrier unlocked and support many frequencies so that Google can get them into as many hands in as many countries as possible.

You do not need to use prepaid, though many people who own Nexus device do because prepaid rates are generally cheaper than postpaid. Most postpaid services has subsidy repayment fees built into them which means you're paying more than you need to because you bought your device full retail from Google. Not to mention postpaid have a bunch of extra taxes and fees that get tacked onto them while prepaid only has sales tax.
I'm on T-Mobile prepaid and get 100 minutes, unlimited texting, and unlimited data throttled after 5GB for 30 dollars. If you can find a postpaid plan that gives me that, I'd be interested to know where.

 

[GiantJay]

Where exactly did you here that Sprint is getting the Nexus 5. This is not true. Not to mention the G2 won't be coming to Sprint till 2 months after every other carrier gets it. But...... Uh....... Ya......cool story though.

 

[kyler13]

Where exactly did you here that Sprint is getting the Nexus 5. This is not true. Not to mention the G2 won't be coming to Sprint till 2 months after every other carrier gets it. But...... Uh....... Ya......cool story though.

I could be wrong but the supposed FCC filling of the Nexus 5 had the LTE bands for all carriers except Verizon. Maybe CDMA too? If so you could theoretically be 3g-only on Verizon but with CDMA the ESN must be whitelisted.

 

[jhawkkw]

Where exactly did you here that Sprint is getting the Nexus 5. This is not true. Not to mention the G2 won't be coming to Sprint till 2 months after every other carrier gets it. But...... Uh....... Ya......cool story though.

According to the FCC filing for what many believe is the Nexus 5, it supports the following:

GSM 850/1900
WCDMA Band 2, 4, 5
CDMA-2000 Band 0, 1, 10
LTE Band 2, 4, 5, 17, 25, 26, 41

AT&T is GSM 850, WCDMA Band 5, LTE Band 17
T-Mobile is GSM 1900, WCDMA Bands 2 and 4, LTE Band 4
Sprint is obviously the CDMA-2000 and LTE Band 25

So it will support Sprint frequencies, it's only a matter of whether they will sell it.

 

[jova33]

And with the whole Nexus 7 LTE and Verizon fiasco, I really doubt VZW will even see a VoLTE nexus

 

[jhawkkw]

And with the whole Nexus 7 LTE and Verizon fiasco, I really doubt VZW will even see a VoLTE nexus

I think how the future proceeds will have a lot to do with how many manufacturers try making multi-band unlocked LTE tablets or VoLTE phones. If a lot do, I think Verizon is going to eventually find that it isn't worth the money to keep testing all of them. If very few do, then they will keep doing it. If that's the case, I still suspect we'll see a VoLTE Nexus phone, but it will be like the Gnex in a way. If any recall, the GSM Gnex came out November 17th while the Verizon version came out December 15th. There's that 4-6 week testing period that Verizon brought up with the Nexus 7 tablet.

 

[jova33]

iProducts don't require testing on VZW. It really does seem like VZW has some beef with Google.

 

[jhawkkw]

iProducts don't require testing on VZW. It really does seem like VZW has some beef with Google.

From what I understand based on the statement put out by Verizon, their testing is done by 3rd party that's sanctioned by Verizon and chosen by the manufacturer. Apple might finish their products so far in advance(which would make sense since they're infamous for using outdated hardware that the testing is done by launch time. I've also heard that Apple has their own private Verizon network towers on their campus. So maybe they're one of those 3rd party testers and they just pick themselves?

 

[jova33]

iPhone comes bloat free too.
I kinda blame Google for not being able to negotiate the same deals Apple is able to make with VZW. But the iPhone is a bigger seller than a Nexus phone or tablet, so they probably have more leverage.
I think VZW really needs to change their game plan or hopefully they'll start losing customers.
Two of the top ten paid apps on Google play are for root users. More people are wanting phones that can be unlocked to suit their needs, and VZW requesting phones that can be unlocked on every other network be locked on theirs. And VZW's horrible policy regarding software updates.

 

[jhawkkw]

iPhone comes bloat free too.
I kinda blame Google for not being able to negotiate the same deals Apple is able to make with VZW. But the iPhone is a bigger seller than a Nexus phone or tablet, so they probably have more leverage.
I think VZW really needs to change their game plan or hopefully they'll start losing customers.
Two of the top ten paid apps on Google play are for root users. More people are wanting phones that can be unlocked to suit their needs, and VZW requesting phones that can be unlocked on every other network be locked on theirs. And VZW's horrible policy regarding software updates.

If Verizon had agreed with Apple when they brought the original iPhone to them for sale, maybe it would have had bloatware. But since they passed on it and it became a hot commodity, the leverage shifted. The contracts that Verizon & Sprint (and I'm assuming T-Mobile as well) signed in order to bring the iPhone to their networks.

The Nexus didn't really have bloat, only 2 or 3 apps and they were necessary to help people transfer to the Nexus. The problem isn't with Google regarding the bloat on the phones, it's the manufacturer's refuse to fight for the integrity of their devices. The threat of a carrier refusing to subsidize their phone if they can't load it with bloat has scared all the manufacturer's into submission. Google isn't scared by this and decided as a result to sell it themselves with less of a profit margin. If a carrier is willing to sell it as is, they let them (T-Mobile selling the Nexus 4).

Verizon has gotten to the point where they are just too big to care. Most customers are either too complacent, too ignorant, or feel trapped due to coverage to speak with their wallet. AT&T is no better, but together they own roughly 70 percent of the market. But at least with AT&T, you can import the carrier free version and avoid all of AT&T's crapware.