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Best pre-paid plan for GSM Nexus?

egernant

Well-Known Member
Jun 30, 2010
154
13
Unfortunately, I'm still on contract with Verizon for another year, so I won't be hopping over to the greener pastures of pre-paid plans and unhindered google experiences. I have a couple friends / family members who have no knowledge on the concept of pre-paid plans and off-contract phone purchases, so I'm getting some blank stares when I suggest they buy the Nexus 4 and show around for a plan.

The first plan I took a look at was T-Mobile's $30 plan that includes unlimited data, text, but only 100 minutes. For most people, that's just not enough minutes. Does anyone else know of other plans with, say, 300+ minutes and unlimited data? I'm trying to keep the cost low for these people since their alternative is to stay on Sprint / Verizon / etc., get a new phone under contract and just pay the incremental cost of access and data (they are already on family plans, so they are paying maybe $40 per month, not the full $90+ of an individual plan). It's hard to use the cost savings as a selling point when they aren't coming from a much more expensive plan. Any good options out there?
 
Straight Talk has BYOP sim card plan. You choose either ST "AT&T" network or "T-mobile". $45 per month. On the AT&T side they have unlimited talk and text, with about 2GB data before throttling. On the T-mobile sim it's unlimited talk and text and a lot more data. One guy went 20GB before getting warned. Now Straight Talk CLAIMS unlimited data for both plans, but that's marketing lies. The T-mobile is more data than the AT&T but both have limits.

go to www.StraightTalkSIM.com.

  • choose the sim you want,
  • choose 3-day FedEx shipping,
  • pay for the first month ($45).

At checkout, use the code SIMSAVE and the sim cost ($10) will be waived.
With the 3-day FedEx (and only that option), shipping charges will be waived.
All you pay for then is the first month, which you would have to pay for anyway, right? ;)

It's StraightTalkSIM.com -- not regular Straight Talk. At regular Straight Talk they sell their own bargain basement, crappy phones. The Bring Your Own Phone sim card plan is revolutionary, where you can bring any GSM sim card phone and choose the network you want.

Since the Galaxy Nexus is pentaband, we have a choice.
 
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I'm on the $30 and use Vonage for all my out going calls which is free and works both on wifi and cell data. Also, my number shows up on call ID with Vonage. I have been very pleased with the call quality using Vonage. If you are the one doing the calling most of the time this is a good option.

I actually followed Chazz off of MetroPCS onto ST but in Dallas ST was just awful for me. Moved to T-Mobile a few months back and have been very happy.

That is the wonderful thing about pre-pay. Don't like your service...change.
 
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Unfortunately, I'm still on contract with Verizon for another year, so I won't be hopping over to the greener pastures of pre-paid plans and unhindered google experiences. I have a couple friends / family members who have no knowledge on the concept of pre-paid plans and off-contract phone purchases, so I'm getting some blank stares when I suggest they buy the Nexus 4 and show around for a plan.

The first plan I took a look at was T-Mobile's $30 plan that includes unlimited data, text, but only 100 minutes. For most people, that's just not enough minutes. Does anyone else know of other plans with, say, 300+ minutes and unlimited data? I'm trying to keep the cost low for these people since their alternative is to stay on Sprint / Verizon / etc., get a new phone under contract and just pay the incremental cost of access and data (they are already on family plans, so they are paying maybe $40 per month, not the full $90+ of an individual plan). It's hard to use the cost savings as a selling point when they aren't coming from a much more expensive plan. Any good options out there?


If your going to go with Tmobile, you might be better off buying the phone outright from Google and then hopping on the BYOD value plans T mobile has to offer.

Or straight Talk.
 
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Straight Talk has BYOP sim card plan. You choose either ST "AT&T" network or "T-mobile". $45 per month. On the AT&T side they have unlimited talk and text, with about 2GB data before throttling. On the T-mobile sim it's unlimited talk and text and a lot more data. One guy went 20GB before getting warned. Now Straight Talk CLAIMS unlimited data for both plans, but that's marketing lies. The T-mobile is more data than the AT&T but both have limits.

go to www.StraightTalkSIM.com.

  • choose the sim you want,
  • choose 3-day FedEx shipping,
  • pay for the first month ($45).

At checkout, use the code SIMSAVE and the sim cost ($10) will be waived.
With the 3-day FedEx (and only that option), shipping charges will be waived.
All you pay for then is the first month, which you would have to pay for anyway, right? ;)

It's StraightTalkSIM.com -- not regular Straight Talk. At regular Straight Talk they sell their own bargain basement, crappy phones. The Bring Your Own Phone sim card plan is revolutionary, where you can bring any GSM sim card phone and choose the network you want.

Since the Galaxy Nexus is pentaband, we have a choice.


I bought a T mobile SIM but it shows up as ATT Galaxy Nexus in the play store :thinking:
 
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I actually followed Chazz off of MetroPCS onto ST but in Dallas ST was just awful for me. Moved to T-Mobile a few months back and have been very happy.

That is the wonderful thing about pre-pay. Don't like your service...change.

Did you use Straight Talk "AT&T" or Straight Talk "T-mobile" when you tried out Straight Talk in Dallas?
 
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Did you use Straight Talk "AT&T" or Straight Talk "T-mobile" when you tried out Straight Talk in Dallas?

I was ATT. I had it when I was traveling in San Fransisco and Chicago and it worked well but at home base it was very slow. Tried all the APN tricks and what not.

No real reason to move to ST T-mobile because of the $30 plan from T-mobile directly and knowing what my data caps were was also a piece of mind bonus. The other bonus was that I travel to Mexico and while it is expensive I have the option to text and talk on T-mobile while I'm there. That is something ST does not offer.

Both Metro and ATT are based in Dallas. Metro's Dallas service is rock solid and I just figured ATT would be the same...not so much for me at least.
 
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Most areas in the western US do not have the option to get T-Mobile on Straight Talk. Dallas and, to the best of my knowledge, the rest of Texas are only given the option for AT&T.

On Straight Talk Bring Your Own, you can chose either ATT or T-Mobile SIM when you order it from their web site regardless of geographic area. That way if you have a locked ATT or T-Mobile phone it still works on ST.
 
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I've been looking at the T-Mobile plan for my next phone, but I was wondering if there are any other options for someone that's looking for international roaming as well. I travel some time to Europe and it would be nice to have a pre-paid plan that works with European carriers.

I couldn't find a good page with the rates on the regular site but here is what I found in the members area.

Intl Calling Rates.pdf - 529.07 KB
 
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That's helpful for talk and text, but I was looking for data as well. I guess I would have to do a contract to get that capability. :/

From what I've read, your best bet (if you have a GSM phone) is to buy a prepaid SIM once you are in the country you are visiting. While there are plans that give you International roaming, prices are extremely high if you use any data.
 
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From what I've read, your best bet (if you have a GSM phone) is to buy a prepaid SIM once you are in the country you are visiting. While there are plans that give you International roaming, prices are extremely high if you use any data.


Yea, I was thinking about that too. Just have my Google Voice number forward to the international prepaid phone number.
 
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