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Shooting Blanks posted:It mentions that these are Verizon phones, but elsewhere it mentions that they are unlocked. If they are Verizon how hard is it to unlock it for use on AT&T (or another carrier if I look to lower my bill) Verizon phones are unlocked. Nothing you need to do.
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Mar 9, 2018 13:36
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drat I switched from Cricket to Verizon Prepaid for $40/month (3GB with rollover). Speed test (with OpenSignal) went from <2mbps down and 1mbps with cricket to 80mbps down and 15mbps up. I thought Verizon throttled their Prepaid users? Works out great for me since I don't use much LTE data, but when I do, it's because I need it to work. Latency also dropped from about 220ms with Cricket to 45ms with Verizon. Signal levels from -110dBm to -84dBm according to SatStat inside my apartment. Verizon Prepaid is a really good loving deal, I never thought I'd see the day where Verizon was best value in Prepaid but here we are. Also VolTE enabled itself on my phone after popping in the new sim card, along with Download Booster (uses WiFi and LTE at same time for higher speed, a feature I'd never use except maybe for uploading since Comcast sucks in that area). One downside I noticed is that Verizon Prepaid doesn't support Visual Voicemail, but I guess I can switch back to Youmail to work around that. Shooting Blanks posted:Provider: AT&T/USA, not under contract AT&T has really gone downhill in my area (Northern Colorado). I had AT&T post-paid for years, then switched to Cricket (which I thought would just be cheaper AT&T limited to 8mbps downloads). I moved to a new apartment and couldn't even send text messages/mms from it, and voice calls were barely functional and sounded like they'd drop any second. Cricket was $40/month for 5GB and no rollover, Verizon is $40 a month for 3GB + rollover data, so it is a good option for us <3GB users. I'd honestly recommend Verizon, they were the top-tier network (in voice coverage, LTE coverage, and LTE speed) three years ago when I used to do mobile phone support, and I doubt that's changed. https://opensignal.com/networks has good (real-world) coverage maps.
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Mar 9, 2018 14:00
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Alpha Mayo posted:https://opensignal.com/networks has good (real-world) coverage maps.  Does Sprint just severely throttle SERO users? I was ready to write off Cricket with its max speeds of "only" 8Mbps, but I may have to reconsider. I checked another coverage app as well (Sensorly) and it reported similarly abysmal speeds. And fwiw I just checked my usage and I'm not even at 0.4GB for this billing period.
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Mar 10, 2018 22:30
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Minidust posted:Thanks for this! So according to the Open Signal app - typical Sprint speed in my area is a little over 7Mbps, but I'm getting considerably worse in practice: Sprint just sucks.
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Mar 11, 2018 01:00
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Cricket’s speeds are capped at around 8-10 mbps download. This is enough for most people and I used to recommend them, but they seem to be throttling the speeds more and more now to the point where most of the time I was getting less than 1 mbps. I live in a busy area so that probably has some effect. I switched to AT&T’s prepaid and for now it is great. They cap their unlimited data plan at 3mbps but their 2 and 6 GB plans have no caps on the speed and I haven’t seen any throttling. I’m the evening I can get over 100mbps. They also have rollover data as long as you autopay or pay before your month is over, which gives me plenty of data. Verizon states that they may throttle prepaid speeds in areas of heavy congestion in the fine print but most of the time it should be fine. Honestly I don’t see much of a reason to go with MVNO networks anymore for the time being unless for a cheap talk and text only plan since the prepaid service on the parent networks are better.
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Mar 11, 2018 19:00
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I use Republic Wireless and I get about 35Mbps up and 15 down which is plenty for me. It's also a pretty good deal since I don't use data much in the first place so I only pay $20 a month for 1GB of data and unlimited calls/texts and if I need to add data I can at $5/GB any time.
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Mar 11, 2018 19:17
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Minidust posted:Thanks for this! So according to the Open Signal app - typical Sprint speed in my area is a little over 7Mbps, but I'm getting considerably worse in practice: I wouldn't go by the average speed ratings in Open Signal, they don't seem right to me. Go by the coverage map, you'll be able to see dead spots and weak spots (red areas) or see if all they are really covering are the major streets. If you compare operators you can see the best coverage for your city or neighborhood. Mine was all dark red for ATT/cricket and I was getting -115 dBm signal. MMS never went through and even SMS usually wouldn't. Verizon I get -84 dBm and everything is responsive. Also Sprint is really bad. I mean your download speed is more comparable to dialup than broadband. I never broke 300kbps when I had them though that was like 5 years ago.
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Mar 12, 2018 02:40
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Need some help and it's not quite as easy as recommend me a phone and or plan Situation is I have a iPhone 6, unlocked and all that jazz What I require is : 1) A SIM card that is universal, IE: I can goto Europe, China, America, etc and the phone will simply work without any magic trickery 2) With the above, also I need to be able to add money to the account on the SIM without it expiring, or at least not expire every month like the most popular ones seem to want to do, worst case I keep it 'alive' every 6 months so the card doesn't expire Does such a beast exist? I found one called https://www.worldsim.com/international-sim-card?___store=global ... but the site seems a bit weird to be honest Thanks for the help!
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Mar 12, 2018 04:31
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Report back on the Moto G5+ I picked up based on this thread's recommendation. It's a great dad phone, and the price ($180 at Costco) and the battery more than make up for anything I'm missing. Took it off its charger Sat AM, forgot to plug it in before I went to sleep that night, ran it all day Sunday, and it still had 40%-ish left when I plugged it in last night. I don't think I have had that strong of a battery in this decade. A great choice for someone underwhelmed by the current flagship offerings.
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Mar 12, 2018 21:01
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Blue On Blue posted:Need some help and it's not quite as easy as recommend me a phone and or plan #1 exists, but it's either incredibly expensive, or has weird limitations. I assume you're based in the US but travel internationally often. For #2, you just to give up the whole "top up" concept. Single pay as you go prepaid plans don't travel well. That "world SIM" thing you linked is especially bad; check out the $100/GB data charge in the US 😅. The good news is that, if you're regularly buying transoceanic plane tickets, you've got a credit card, debit card, or bank account that can be linked to a postpaid account no problem. Going back to your international plan choices, the obvious one is Project Fi, which is global flat rate. Unfortunately it only works with a few phones, and none of them are your iPhone. Assuming you don't want to make the switch to high-end Android, it's out. The most convenient option is to go with a postpaid plan from a major carrier (AT&T, Verizon), and buy their international roaming package. This will give you the most seamless experience - your phone will work the second you take it out of airplane mode on landing, your number won't change, you'll keep all the same data plan allowances at similar speed limits, and you'll generally get high-tier service. The main market for this is business travelers who have a company-paid plan, though, because the international roaming fees are obscene. For instance, Verizon charges $10/day/line. This is only for people who absolutely have to have Important People contact them at the same number wherever they are in the world and are willing to pay hundreds of dollars a month for it. Option two is to go for one of the smaller US carriers - T-Mobile or Sprint - who do limited free/low-cost international roaming on postpaid plans. You keep the same phone number, and pay in the range of 20-25 cents per minute for voice, but your data is dialup speed unless you pay for an upgrade package. This can be surprisingly workable if you can stay connected to WiFi most of the time and just need to hit people up on iMessage/WhatsApp/FB/WeChat/local favorite texting app, but it's not the magic convenient solution you're looking for. Or, you could just do what most of the rest of the world does and buy a SIM card in the airport when you land. Pro tip, buy a nano SIM case before you leave. They're overpriced for what they are, but there is no other good way to store the tiny bastards. Can you maybe go into a bit more detail on why that wouldn't work for you? Space Gopher fucked around with this message at 00:44 on Mar 13, 2018 |
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Mar 13, 2018 00:36
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Space Gopher posted:#1 exists, but it's either incredibly expensive, or has weird limitations. I assume you're based in the US but travel internationally often. Thanks for the detailed reply It all sounds super mysterious of me I know , But the idea is the phone or sim card are able to be thrown away and replaced with a new one (And number) at the drop of a hat Basically what I need is a burner phone , But I'm not a drug dealer, mostly this is as you correctly said involving lots of international travel , and a very paranoid company in regards to corporate espionage I don't want to link the phone to a credit card or what have you , but I realize that may be 100 required given the way things work
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Mar 13, 2018 00:53
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stealie72 posted:Report back on the Moto G5+ I picked up based on this thread's recommendation. Is that the G5+, or just the G5? Does Costco sell an unlocked version?
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Mar 13, 2018 00:54
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berzerkmonkey posted:Is that the G5+, or just the G5? Does Costco sell an unlocked version? Costco sell unlocked 2GB/32GB ones for $180. It's a decent price on the low-spec G5+.
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Mar 13, 2018 01:06
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Country/Provider: Portugal/NOS (here's what's easily available to me: https://www.pcdiga.com/smartphone-android) Current: Galaxy S5 Budget (phone/plan): 200-400€ Features I want: Good performance, little bloatware Hey goons, I lost my Samsung Galaxy S5, so now I need a new (hopefully better) Android phone to take its place. As you can see I rarely upgrade so I expect it to last long. What do you recommend? I primarily use my phone as a timewaster: browsing, listening to music or playing 2D games when I got nothing better to do. Don't really care about camera or video or cutting-edge gaming. Some options I considered: - Huawei Honor 8 (100€ used): A friend is willing to sell me his cheap. From what I could find, the specs seem alright for a mid-range phone, but the OS customizations suck. - Motorola Moto G5+ (280€): Is this still the goto cheap Android? Size seems a bit bulky. - Samsung Galaxy S7 (440€): At least this would be a familiar upgrade, but is the price hike worth it? - Google Pixel XL (400-500€): Only seems to be available online which would really drive up the price unless I find a good deal. SupSuper fucked around with this message at 01:57 on Mar 13, 2018 |
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Mar 13, 2018 01:21
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Twerk from Home posted:Costco sell unlocked 2GB/32GB ones for $180. It's a decent price on the low-spec G5+. It's this. It's nothing to write home about, but it works fine.
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Mar 13, 2018 01:21
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Hiyo thread! Looking for a dumbphone replacement for my one that's dying. Country/Provider: New Zealand/Agnostic Current: Samsung GT B2710 Budget: Under 250 NZD Features I want: Durable & IP67, long battery life, compact. Use case: I go tramping a lot, and I don't use internet features on my phones. Things my phone needs to do: call, text, have a custom uploaded ring tone, and weeks of battery life. Things I don't care about: camera, internet, touch screens. Preferable: Very small size, no mechanical parts (clamshell etc) as they tend to die first. Since my use case can be described as 'not spending a thousand dollars every two years', there is zero marketing towards what's new on the market. Help?
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Mar 14, 2018 12:37
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Posting from my S9+. It's godlike.
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Mar 15, 2018 03:20
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I got a G5+ last Summer and it's been pretty great, but in the last week or so this thing has been tweaking out. The lockscreen doesn't register my swipes or finger prints a lot of the time, but then hitting the power button once or twice will randomly unlock it. Sometimes the screen will also get stuck when I'm switching between apps, though that's much less frequent. I'm on T-Mobile and my wife is on Sprint and her G5+ recently started doing exactly the same thing. I'm sure that we can just do a factory reset and be fine for the time being, but I'm curious if there are any similarly decent and affordable phones we should keep an eye out for when we do decide to upgrade. Seems like the G5+ has been the go to option for a really long time.
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Mar 15, 2018 03:30
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There are some Nokias that are going to be Android One that people have eyes on but they aren't out yet. The G5 successor should be announced at some point. Those are your main ones to wait for though I don't know if the Nokias will work on Sprint. If I had to guess I'd say they will not.
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Mar 15, 2018 08:18
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Inspector 34 posted:I got a G5+ last Summer and it's been pretty great, but in the last week or so this thing has been tweaking out. The lockscreen doesn't register my swipes or finger prints a lot of the time, but then hitting the power button once or twice will randomly unlock it. Sometimes the screen will also get stuck when I'm switching between apps, though that's much less frequent. I'm on T-Mobile and my wife is on Sprint and her G5+ recently started doing exactly the same thing. I'm sure that we can just do a factory reset and be fine for the time being, but I'm curious if there are any similarly decent and affordable phones we should keep an eye out for when we do decide to upgrade. Seems like the G5+ has been the go to option for a really long time. Mine (unlocked on Verizon) has been doing the exact same thing in the last week or so. I wonder if the last update did something?
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Mar 16, 2018 01:56
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Just wanted to come back and say I am very pleased with my G5S+ that I picked up just over a month ago now. Battery life is great, screen quality is great (although to be fair coming from a 1st gen Moto G anything modern would be better), camera is better than I expected, and I don't regret it one bit. Since they're not officially released in  I bought it from Newegg.ca which had it for sale and imported it trouble free.
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Mar 16, 2018 20:34
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What's a good phone for someone who wants an awesome camera on it but doesn't use too many apps? I don't much care about screen size/quality either. Not too fussed which OS. I'll miss my iPhone for the few apps I do use, but I'm sure everything I use on it i'll find android equivalents these days.
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Mar 19, 2018 17:49
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jiggerypokery posted:What's a good phone for someone who wants an awesome camera on it but doesn't use too many apps? I don't much care about screen size/quality either. Not too fussed which OS. I'll miss my iPhone for the few apps I do use, but I'm sure everything I use on it i'll find android equivalents these days. What's your budget? The best cameras around are the Galaxy S8, Galaxy S9, iPhone 7 or newer. Bad news is phones with an "awesome camera" start at $550 unless you're willing to play the carrier-locked discount game. If a "good enough" camera is fine, I'd reach for the iPhone SE at $349.
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Mar 19, 2018 17:58
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I live in San Diego, CA I currently have a samsung galaxy s7 and T-mobile. I pay like $80 a month for unlimited talk/text and 2 GB of 4g + the phone. My main problem is that every. god. drat. phone. I buy ends up breaking or running like absolute shite. I shelled out extra money for a nice galaxy hoping it'd last but it's been1 year and it's dying on me and barely even able to run snapchat. I just need a reliable phone that will last because I don't do anything with my phone other than call/text, use gps, and write down notes in evernote. Any recommendations?
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Mar 19, 2018 20:22
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I'm on a grandfathered unlimited data plan from AT&T, and combined with my calls and texts they charge me $113 per month. I was thinking of switching to Verizon or T-Mobile who will give me unlimited talk, text, and data, plus a new iphone for around that same price. I think T-Mobile's even cheaper at like $90? My question is whether there's some sort of gimmick or something I need to look out for? Also device protection: I remember having to buy apple care a long time ago, and is it better to just get the monthly protection charge from my phone company? It's been like 7 years since I've done any of this.
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Mar 19, 2018 21:08
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yehdawg posted:I live in San Diego, CA Is it damaged? Check and see if T-Mobile has an option to trade up (assuming you’re still paying for it). Otherwise, the S7 should be a good phone, so I would consider hard wiping the phone and starting fresh. If you want to look at a new phone, look at an iPhone 8. Rand alPaul posted:I'm on a grandfathered unlimited data plan from AT&T, and combined with my calls and texts they charge me $113 per month. Unlimited data is $70 on T-Mobile, $75 on Verizon, both requiring auto pay. Both charge more if you need mobile hotspot. They sometimes have phone promos, so check on that between the two. phone payment plan is like; $30 a month for an iPhone 8 for 2 years ($42 for a X), so about the same as what you are paying now. Do you break phones? Apple Care is $129, or $199 for a X, covers an iPhone for 2 years for damage, not lost or stolen (plus warranty). I don’t know T-Mobile, Verizon will offer insurance for $7 a month to cover damage, lost and stolen, $10 for that plus extended warranty. Apple Care deductible: $30, or something like $150 if it’s not repairable? Insurance deductible : $30 for screen repair, $149 for lost / stolen. I usually don’t get insurance because I just rarely break my phone, same with my wife. Weigh the cost benefits. I just got my wife a new phone and I got insurance to start because we happen to be traveling, and I plan on canceling it in 2 months.
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Mar 20, 2018 11:14
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Twerk from Home posted:What's your budget? The best cameras around are the Galaxy S8, Galaxy S9, iPhone 7 or newer. Bad news is phones with an "awesome camera" start at $550 unless you're willing to play the carrier-locked discount game. If a "good enough" camera is fine, I'd reach for the iPhone SE at $349. e: dumb question I googled
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Mar 20, 2018 12:16
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Duckman2008 posted:
I've broken a whopping one phone, and that's because I was really dumb and didn't get a bumper/case for it and dropped it outside. Thanks for your responses, I think I'll go with T-Mobile.
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Mar 20, 2018 19:59
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I'm currently on Ting with a Galaxy S4. I'm going to switch to a different MVNO. How much of an upgrade will a G5 plus be? I'm having a hard time swallowing the cost of a pixel 2...
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Mar 22, 2018 02:19
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Approximately: 
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Mar 22, 2018 02:32
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I ordered the 5G Plus. Now I'm looking at FreedomPop and Red Pocket for my new MVNO, but I'm open to other ones. Typical usage is 200-300 minutes, 0-10 texts, and < 500 MB data. Any suggestions?
Happiness Commando fucked around with this message at 23:39 on Mar 22, 2018 |
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Mar 22, 2018 23:37
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Gotta say, I really like this Moto X4, but it sure does only have Android 8.0. Lenovo has been pretty cranky to people asking about an update. Seems like they aren't living up to the spirit of the Android one program. On top of that I think I heard news that Moto is shutting down the x line and laying people off. Ugh.
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Mar 23, 2018 02:48
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Jago posted:Gotta say, I really like this Moto X4, but it sure does only have Android 8.0. Lenovo has been pretty cranky to people asking about an update. Seems like they aren't living up to the spirit of the Android one program. On top of that I think I heard news that Moto is shutting down the x line and laying people off. Ugh. Wouldn't be an issue if it were a Project Treble device but given that it wasn't I guess you're screwed.
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Mar 23, 2018 05:54
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Does AT&T throttle data speed on its pre-paid U.S. plans? I don't mean after 22GB, I just mean slowed down in general like what they do for Cricket. I saw some articles alluding to this, but they were pretty old. My wife and I might go prepaid since we don't really care about losing a new phone subsidy/lease option, but if data is slow that's gonna be a no-go.
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Mar 24, 2018 17:41
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Minidust posted:Does AT&T throttle data speed on its pre-paid U.S. plans? I don't mean after 22GB, I just mean slowed down in general like what they do for Cricket. I saw some articles alluding to this, but they were pretty old. I switched from Cricket to AT&T’s 6 GB plan and it is not throttled. I’ve hit over 100 MBPS in speed tests. AT&T’s prepaid unlimited plan is capped at 3 MBPS.
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Mar 24, 2018 18:19
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sweetmercifulcrap posted:I switched from Cricket to AT&T’s 6 GB plan and it is not throttled. I’ve hit over 100 MBPS in speed tests. AT&T’s prepaid unlimited plan is capped at 3 MBPS.
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Mar 24, 2018 19:41
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Minidust posted:Ah drat, like capped for the whole duration of the month? Is Verizon's prepaid any different in that regard? Verizon’s unlimited prepaid is $75 a month, it isn’t capped, but it is de prioritized if there is a congested tower (no “only after 22GB”).
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Mar 24, 2018 20:57
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Thoguh posted:Mine (unlocked on Verizon) has been doing the exact same thing in the last week or so. I wonder if the last update did something? Laaaaaame! With so many people around here going for the g5+ and 100% of the people I personally know with the phone having this issue I'm surprised I haven't seen/heard more complaints. Last update I got was in January, hopefully they'll release a new update that solves the issues. The most annoying part of all this is that my wife constantly complains about her g5+ being an unusable piece of poo poo but won't actually buy a replacement.
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Mar 24, 2018 22:45
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I don't use my phone as a phone a whole heck of a lot, but I still need one. So I eventually switched from Verizon to TracFone since they still use Verizon towers. The plan is $25 for 60 days of airtime / 500 minutes / 1,000 texts / 500 megs of data but I just have set to roll over whenever the air time runs out. So it comes to about $12.50 a month. I think at this point I've built up enough minutes, texts, and data that I could just buy six months to a year of airtime alone. The trade-off is that I am on my own when it comes to updating firmware on my phone (Note 5), but fortunately Samsung SmartSync via my PC takes care of that. And the other part, which may be specific to me, is that whenever I power off my phone I have to be sure to just make a quick 1 second (or more) call anywhere just to re-establish my phone's connection to their towers. It took me awhile to figure that one out - when I would miss calls and texts between when I rebooted my phone and made a call. After the call, the notifications would come flooding in for everything that came between me powering off the phone and making that call. However, now that I know that, I haven't had a problem since. Ghostpilot fucked around with this message at 15:48 on Mar 25, 2018 |
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Mar 25, 2018 15:43
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So I've made the decision to pick up a new generation pixel phone, but I am torn between the regular or 2 or the 2XL. My biggest priority is battery life at this point , and I'm slightly concerned about upgrading to a phablet sized phone (currently on an S5 sport). Each works for my hands and pockets but I obviously can't get a case on them in the store. is there a reason I should go with the 2XL over a 2 with a battery case? Has anyone used either for a long enough time to weigh in? All the reviews basically say the same thing so I'm probably just hemming and hawing for no reason over an expensive purchase.
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Mar 25, 2018 19:29
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