No Dropbox on AT&T or Verizon?

Shogun1 · Jun 21, 2012

Hi everyone,

I was pretty dismayed to hear that the 50G free dropbox storage option would not be offered for AT&T or Verizon customers. I know you have to pay for it after 2 years, but 2 years of free cloud storage is still a great value.

Couple Questions:

Does anyone know if these carriers or Google plans on releasing its own cloud based storage at some point?

Are there any alternatives that work as well as Dropbox (something that can be used on a computer as well is really what I'm looking for)?

I used Dropbox a lot on my computer, and I was really hoping for a service I couldj tegrate smoothly between the two. As a student, I imagine it would be invaluable to be able to check saved documents on the go, briefly annotate them, resave them, and finish the work on your computer. Are there any good, cheap alter alternatives that could work the same way?

Also, I am new to both these forums and smartphones in general (the plan was for the GS3 to be my first smartphone), so please excuse any poor terminology. That being said, I've briefly read up on "rooting" your Android phone (I imagine it is the equivalent of jailbreaking an iPhone). Do any of you Android experts know if rooting my phone could allow me to trick Dropbox/AT&T into giving me the storage anyways? Is that even possible?

Thanks in advance for any help or advice!

sherlock5545 · Jun 21, 2012

I don't know whether you can trick them by rooting, but as for a similar service to Dropbox, you have Google Drive with 5GB of free storage. The app is available for android as well as Windows.

Shogun1 · Jun 21, 2012

sherlock5545 said:
I don't know whether you can trick them by rooting, but as for a similar service to Dropbox, you have Google Drive with 5GB of free storage. The app is available for android as well as Windows.

Thanks! Does that mean I can get Google Drive on my Windows 7 computer as well? Although I wish there was more memory offered, it's enough for me to smoothly integrate school documents between my phone and computer. Do you know if there's an easy upload feature for pictures with Drive, like I've heard there is with Dropbox? Regardless, this is the exact type of alternative I was looking for - thanks a ton mate.

gman2020 · Jun 21, 2012

Unless you are specifically looking for more storage you can still use dropbox. The only difference is that certain carriers don't get any extra space. But dropbox is always offering ways to get free space. I have over 5gb at this point.

Shogun1 · Jun 21, 2012

gman2020 said:
Unless you are specifically looking for more storage you can still use dropbox. The only difference is that certain carriers don't get any extra space. But dropbox is always offering ways to get free space. I have over 5gb at this point.

5G is a lot better than what I initially thought I would be restricted to. While the extra space would be nice for pictures and videos, this will let me do most of the things I need to as a student. Do you have any thoughts on rooting your phone to get the extra space? Still, expandable storage is reassuring.

chrlswltrs · Jun 21, 2012

Shogun1 said:
5G is a lot better than what I initially thought I would be restricted to. While the extra space would be nice for pictures and videos, this will let me do most of the things I need to as a student. Do you have any thoughts on rooting your phone to get the extra space? Still, expandable storage is reassuring.

What extra space are you referring to? I root all of my phones and don't get any extra space.

One thing people don't think about when they get something like free dropbox storage with a phone is that once they upgrade or change phones they no longer have that storage for free unless it is also offered with their next phone. So they either have to find somewhere else to store what they have uploaded over the space that is free to everyone (2GB for Dropbox), or they have to pay a lot for that storage.

I quit using dropbox (I had a little over 2GB available) and box.net (I had 50GB available), both free the day that Google Drive launched (I have 30GB available because I purchased extra space for Picasa a couple years ago).

gman2020 · Jun 21, 2012

I think we'll have to wait the the carriers to release the phones to see if anything can be tweaked to lever the expanded data. In theory it could be possible and I know I read somewhere that somebody thought it to be possible. But the easiest way to get more storage is through dropbox itself because that storage doesn't disappear unlike this offer. I have 2 years worth of pictures and my first 3 years of college work on mine and its only taking up about half of my 5gb just for a reference

gman2020 · Jun 21, 2012

chrlswltrs said:
What extra space are you referring to? I root all of my phones and don't get any extra space.

The sgs3 is offering 50gb free for 2 years through dropbox. Except Verizon and at&t opted out.

Shogun1 · Jun 21, 2012

By the extra space, I was referring to the 50GB that Sprint/T-Mobile users get from Dropbox because they opted to stay with Dropbpx's promotional offer. I'm quite ignorant when it comes to smartphones - I just read about rooting somewhere, and was wondering if rooting would "unlock" restrictions set by the carrier (in this case, allowing Dropbox to give you the free space even if your carrier - AT&T or Verizon - opted out of the promotional offer). I hope that makes sense.

On that note, you're absolutely right - I didn't think about this long term. From what you educated posters are saying, Google Drive seems like the way to go (I assume that it isn't limited in the same way as Dropbox).

Just a couple last questions:

Does Google drive allow for smooth integration between Windows computers and Galaxy S3 phones like I heard Dropbox did? Basically, being able to upload files from your phone or computer, and easily being able to view, edit, and reupload files from the other.

Also, are there any free/cheap ways of permanently expanding your Google drive storage on your GS3 phone?

Thank you so much for all the help. The community on these forums is pretty stellar.

Shogun1 · Jun 21, 2012

gman2020 said:
I think we'll have to wait the the carriers to release the phones to see if anything can be tweaked to lever the expanded data. In theory it could be possible and I know I read somewhere that somebody thought it to be possible. But the easiest way to get more storage is through dropbox itself because that storage doesn't disappear unlike this offer. I have 2 years worth of pictures and my first 3 years of college work on mine and its only taking up about half of my 5gb just for a reference

Yeah, it definitely sounds like permanently expandable memory is the way to go. I was worried that pictures and videos from the phone's stellar camera would prompt me to eat up 2-5G quickly, but the microsd card seems like a good place to store those as well, since it isn't as necessary for me to transport those super quickly from my phone to my computer. I would give you more "thanks" if I could - you're awesome bud.

gman2020 · Jun 21, 2012

I don't know much about Google drive but in order it get around the carrier blocks for free dropbox space it would take more than just rooting the phone some tweaking would actually have to be done to "trick" dropbox. And even then it's up in the air if that would even work.

chrlswltrs · Jun 21, 2012

Shogun1 said:
By the extra space, I was referring to the 50GB that Sprint/T-Mobile users get from Dropbox because they opted to stay with Dropbpx's promotional offer. I'm quite ignorant when it comes to smartphones - I just read about rooting somewhere, and was wondering if rooting would "unlock" restrictions set by the carrier (in this case, allowing Dropbox to give you the free space even if your carrier - AT&T or Verizon - opted out of the promotional offer). I hope that makes sense.

On that note, you're absolutely right - I didn't think about this long term. From what you educated posters are saying, Google Drive seems like the way to go (I assume that it isn't limited in the same way as Dropbox).

Just a couple last questions:

Does Google drive allow for smooth integration between Windows computers and Galaxy S3 phones like I heard Dropbox did? Basically, being able to upload files from your phone or computer, and easily being able to view, edit, and reupload files from the other.

Also, are there any free/cheap ways of permanently expanding your Google drive storage on your GS3 phone?

Thank you so much for all the help. The community on these forums is pretty stellar.

Just rooting would not do anything. Basically all rooting does is give you access to the system files on your phone. The only way that you might be able to "trick" dropbox would be to edit the build.prop file in your system files. This can lead to a lot of other issues however and I do not recommend anyone that is not very experienced with smartphones try editing system files.

I have a Windows laptop that I use to edit my files on Drive (upload, download, organize, etc) and my Galaxy SII. The only thing that you can not do from your phone is organize your files/folders, but that can easily be done from any browser. Much of your document editing can be done from any computer since it is all cloud based and Google Drive is integrated with Google Docs.

As far as pricing goes, you get 5GB for free, then plans start at $2.49 a month for 25GB additional. All the pricing plans here.

sherlock5545 · Jun 21, 2012

To tell you the truth, I actually don't know if GDrive offers the same facilities as Dropbox does. It should, though, as it is a service offered directly by Google, the same goes for Android. I am actually using Dropbox, so I didn't feel the need for the other one. I do have it installed on my PC and Android anyway.

For what matters the Dropbox offers, the only way I believe it might work, is to install the ROM with the European firmware, but then I can't say whether this way your phone would be still useable in the US. Still, I wouldn't risk it for only 2 years of 50GB.

Shogun1 · Jun 21, 2012

Yeah, I'm definitely not savvy enough to attempt anything like that. I'll just stick with the free storage space offered by either Dropbox or Google Drive, and expand them as and when I need it. Thanks a ton for the help - I learned everything I needed to (and more). Really do appreciate it everyone - just trying to figure out how to "close" this thread. Suppose I can just let it die as well.

chrlswltrs · Jun 21, 2012

sherlock5545 said:
For what matters the Dropbox offers, the only way I believe it might work, is to install the ROM with the European firmware, but then I can't say whether this way your phone would be still useable in the US. Still, I wouldn't risk it for only 2 years of 50GB.

DO NOT EVER FLASH A ROM DESIGNED FOR 1 PHONE TO A DIFFERENT PHONE!! Even if they are both a GSIII there are things that are done specific for each carrier and individual phone. Most of the time you will make your phone unusable!

sherlock5545 · Jun 21, 2012

The thread can only be closed by an Admin or Mod, you can let it die. It might be useful for someone else, though.

chrlswltrs · Jun 21, 2012

Shogun1 said:
Yeah, I'm definitely not savvy enough to attempt anything like that. I'll just stick with the free storage space offered by either Dropbox or Google Drive, and expand them as and when I need it. Thanks a ton for the help - I learned everything I needed to (and more). Really do appreciate it everyone - just trying to figure out how to "close" this thread. Suppose I can just let it die as well.

If you want the thread closed just PM me and I'll let a Mod know, but there are probably other user who will have the same questions as you and could also learn from this thread and may even have additional questions.

I'm glad you got the information you were looking for. And, welcome to the forum!

nesto1 · Jul 25, 2012

Just posted up some how to's on getting the free space if you are on AT&T or Verizon

AT&T
http://androidforums.com/t-galaxy-s3-all-things-root/589665-guide-how-get-50gb-free-dropbox-space-t-opted-out.html#post4721318

Verizon
http://androidforums.com/verizon-galaxy-s3-all-things-root/589672-guide-how-get-50gb-free-dropbox-space-verizon-opted-out.html#post4721341

Hogan773 · Jul 25, 2012

I've had good luck with the new SkyDrive (Microsoft) on my PC. Works really well actually.

I haven't looked to see if there is an app or otherwise a way to integrate that to the phone (although I assume you can just get there through the browser need be)

JayAaroBe · Oct 25, 2012

nesto1 said:
Just posted up some how to's on getting the free space if you are on AT&T or Verizon

AT&T
http://androidforums.com/t-galaxy-s3-all-things-root/589665-guide-how-get-50gb-free-dropbox-space-t-opted-out.html#post4721318

Verizon
http://androidforums.com/verizon-galaxy-s3-all-things-root/589672-guide-how-get-50gb-free-dropbox-space-verizon-opted-out.html#post4721341

I clicked on the link for the Verizon one but I got a message saying:

Invalid Thread specified. If you followed a valid link, please notify the administrator

JayAaroBe · Oct 30, 2012

Bump to my above post

valorian · Oct 30, 2012

JayAaroBe said:
Bump to my above post

Those threads have been removed.

No Dropbox on AT&T or Verizon?

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