Database Users

Using Hero Without Sprint Service

Because I am on a limited budget and I need to cut costs, will I be able to use my Hero as a PDA after I activate a basic phone and switch to a lower plan?

ThaLuser said:
Because I am on a limited budget and I need to cut costs, will I be able to use my Hero as a PDA after I activate a basic phone and switch to a lower plan?
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EDIT: Never Mind I can't read.......

I already have the appropriate plan for the Hero. Will the phone work with Wi-Fi only after I switch to a basic phone and plan?

Good Question
Good Question,
I was wondering this myself. For future use of the phone after I move on to bigger and better ones (EVO4G).
At least get some use, or allow someone else to get use, as a PDA. Hell if google voice works, you still get a phone. Just need to be near wi-fi.

I switched to a basic phone and I was able to use my Hero as a PDA. The obvious stuff like calling, SMS, and MMS won't work. In order to get rid of the voicemail texts I received on my basic phone, I had to delete Visual Voicemail (Sprint_Core.apk) with adb. Otherwise the Hero without cellular service is great! The reason I switched to a basic phone is so that I can save up for the EVO 4G (or its successor) on my limited budget.

yeah, i just downgraded to the everything data plan to save cash. sipdroid+wifi ftw.
Sent from my HERO200 using the XDA mobile application powered by Tapatalk

Went Five months without sprint service on my hero,
It's kinda irrating sometimes but the phone still works as a pretty deccent pda. Left on the contract loophole back in dec, but it feels good to be back amazingly enough boost and tmobile pretty much suck or maybe it's just the cheap phones they had. Possibly look into getting a employee discount though, I'm paying around 65 a month with my 25 percent ups discount even though I don't work there anymore. But I do believe all folks with a credit union get a 10 percent discount on sprint also.
Also, be very careful of your minutes after you switch, everything mobile has kind of spoiled me for the most part be surprised how quickly minutes can add up

Yep, have a Samsung Behold 2, rooted and works on wifi for PDA, internet, music, movies.... Pretty much everything. Even used Google Voice with Sipdroid and my gizmo5 number in the past.

Use unlocked Aria without data plan?

If I buy an HTC Aria and unlock it, would I be able to use my existing GSM card (on AT&T "Blue" network (older GSM)) to make phone calls and connect via wifi without upgrading my plan or buying data plan? I don't need 3G support but would welcome a new phone that would allow me to jump on wifi and get on the web now and then.
Possible?
I would think other folks would be interested in this same scenario and I tried searching, but couldn't find anything.
Thanks

I can't think of a reason why you wouldn't be able to do that. I would think that any phone that obeys GSM standards that you stick a SIM in, should make calls on the network provided you have an active account. You don't need a data plan in order to do anything*, as I'm sure you know; however, that does mean you need to ensure you turn mobile networking off so you don't accidentally end up racking charges up for network access.
*YMMV, this has worked for me with different phones in the past.

because ATT scans the system for imei numbers occasionally you will ahve a data plan forcefully added at some point. If you call att and have a data block applied to your line you can supposedly lessen your chance of getting caught but its no guaruntee.
i find this business practice to be questionable at best but there is no sure fire way around it. They'll even add the plan to ouut of network phones that can't use their 3g band like the t-mobile version of N1.
Even if you call and convince them to remove you from the plan (an arduous process from what i understand) they'll add you back on in the next sweep.

i know a problem with this that occured on the iPhone was the EDGE network that the phone would randomly communicate with, idk how our phones work exactly with the whole edge/3g thing but its something that was a known issue with iphones

dasspunk said:
If I buy an HTC Aria and unlock it, would I be able to use my existing GSM card (on AT&T "Blue" network (older GSM)) to make phone calls and connect via wifi without upgrading my plan or buying data plan? I don't need 3G support but would welcome a new phone that would allow me to jump on wifi and get on the web now and then.
Possible?
I would think other folks would be interested in this same scenario and I tried searching, but couldn't find anything.
Thanks
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Click to collapse
You will be fine. When you activate the phone it asks if you have a data plan and gives you a option to say you don't have a data plan and to use WiFi only. And if your still worried you can download a HTC widget that turns off 3g completely. I have the 2gb data plan and I still disable 3g and WiFi unless I'm using it. So ya go get on because its a really great phone. Ps: about what another chap said about the iPhone using data with out his consent. Don't worry this is Android You have control over everything. One of the reasons we love android so much.
Sent from my HTC Liberty using XDA App

Thanks everyone for the info. I'll be giving this a go and will update this thread with the results.
Now I just have to make a final decision between the Aria and the Nexus One... I like the smaller size of the Aria but it seems like the Nexus is a better phone, and will have less AT&T issues... If anyone has a strong opinion one way or the other, feel free to share.
Thanks again!

Aria or Nexus One
My wife and son both have Nexus One's. I have the Aria and think it is great. It was also a money issue. The Nexus One was $500 more. But I am not disappointed with my decision.
I have the Aria rooted and removed AT&T'S stuff. Put on Google Voice, Gizmo5, and Sippdroid and now have a VOIP phone. It works great and no problems with dropped calls yet.

ryan92084 said:
because ATT scans the system for imei numbers occasionally you will ahve a data plan forcefully added at some point. If you call att and have a data block applied to your line you can supposedly lessen your chance of getting caught but its no guaruntee.
i find this business practice to be questionable at best but there is no sure fire way around it. They'll even add the plan to ouut of network phones that can't use their 3g band like the t-mobile version of N1.
Even if you call and convince them to remove you from the plan (an arduous process from what i understand) they'll add you back on in the next sweep.
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Click to collapse
If that was true, ATT wouldn't allow me to still have the unlimited $15/mo data plan from my original RAZR on every smartphone I've owned since getting rid of the RAZR. They still list me as a RAZR owner even though I've gone through 6 smartphones (3 were iPhones, Moto Q9C, Verizon Imagio Worldphone, Moto Backflip) now over the last two years and I still only pay $15/mo for unlimited internet.

bogatyr said:
If that was true, ATT wouldn't allow me to still have the unlimited $15/mo data plan from my original RAZR on every smartphone I've owned since getting rid of the RAZR. They still list me as a RAZR owner even though I've gone through 6 smartphones (3 were iPhones, Moto Q9C, Verizon Imagio Worldphone, Moto Backflip) now over the last two years and I still only pay $15/mo for unlimited internet.
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yeah, and ive been using an unlocked blackberry storm on att for quite some time and used a blackjack and htc touch pro before that. they would have caught me a while ago if that was true.

its a newer policy that started late last year. for every person i've heard of still getting away with it there are dozens that haven't. there have even been people that switched from their smartphone w/o data to a dumbphone and then back to their original smartphone and have been nabbed by the scan. If you had a smartphone with no data before the policy change there is likely the feature "Smartphone Exclusion" on that line exempting you from the data plan (unless they notice that you switch phones that is).
they only scan for certain model's imei numbers( but good luck finding the list of which they scan for). For a while n1 users were getting away with it but have are now being nailed quite quickly.
Its right in the contract (that you sign automatically just by not canceling your service) that if they notice you using whatever they deem a "smartphone" they'll smack you with a data plan. The customer service reps are supposedly under the threat of suspension/firing if they remove the data plan as long as your sim is in said smartphone. People who have gotten them to remove the plan by switching phones got nabbed faster if they switched back.
I'm not here defending their position, as i find the whole situation to be a shadey money grab, just telling the OP how it is.
my only real tip is to call and have a data block applied to your line before ever putting a sim in your aria. The only fool proof way to avaoid data on a smartphone is to jump to t-mobile's no ctract plan unforutunately

I gotta agree here and tell you that the scanning process is real.
The key is that they have to care to put your IMEI number in their database (or rather, a range of IMEI's that includes your phone). When your IMEI comes up in one of their scans, it's done.
I had a Rogers Magic on my account for 5-6 months, never had a problem. When the Nexus One became available for AT&T, I immediately gave the magic to my mom and got myself an N1.
For a while I had no issue, must have been 3 months on the cheapy data plan. Then, sometime last month (I think) my phone was moved to the smartphone plan. Before I called AT&T, I checked the forums and sure enough, everyone with an AT&T N1 was being switched to the smartphone plan forcefully.
So, it's a matter of chance really. If you have a phone that shouldn't be on their network and is unlikely anyone would pay the expense and use it on their network, well... there's a chance they won't have your IMEI in their database. However, if it's one of their phones and it's a smartphone, you have little choice.
Fortunately though, they now have a better "tiered" data structure that can ultimately be cheaper... but it still sucks.

Unlock Code
I finally got the phone but AT&T will definitely NOT unlock the Aria. Support said it's probably because it's an exclusive phone. They were kind enough to mention that it "may be possible" to get a code somewhere else
Can anyone recommend a reputable unlocker? I tried one on Ebay already but they were unable to find a code for the Aria. They offered to try another server for an additional $5 but I figured I'd go another route. They refunded the money though...
Thanks in advance for any help.

Returning the Aria
So after spending most of the day trying to sort this out, here's the deal. The phone I received from Amazon (and paid full price without a phone plan) can/will NOT be unlocked by AT&T or HTC or the unlockers on ebay.
AT&T couldn't tell me which phones might have this problem. The ONLY solution to be sure is to not buy anything from AT&T... which is what I plan on doing from here on out.
Too bad really... it's a nice little phone.

The scanning is real but i have been using a smartphone on my regular account for a few years now and didnt get caught yet. Seems people get caught easily when their account becomes delinquent. I let my mom use my old smart phone because hers were damaged and within 24 hours i received and email and a text message was sent to the phone saying that they placed the $15 200MB dataplan on her account.
I had to call them up and give them the IMEI number for her old phone in order for them to take it off which they didnt want to do right away because the account was past due, but was done eventually. But if you have the medianet bundle and they put the data plan on it removes the medianet bundle from your phone which they cannot add back on because the option no longer exists. I fought tooth and nail for them to put it back on but got nowhere.
I still have my Medianet bundle 5MB + 1500 texts for $15 a month that u use on my Aria and i dont even use the data part because i have WIFI at home, WIFI at work and Optimum Online WIFI most places outside so since the phone automatically switches to a WIFI signal when its in range its useless to pay for data i will not use.
What i have noticed and users have to be careful about is that if you send or receive a MMS while out of WIFI range the phone will not automatically disconnect from the 3G data until your back in range of a connectible WIFI sourcel. During this time if its syncing with your Mail, facebook, news, feeds, and other data things you can easily rack up 20MB

its possible. Ive done it on an old ATT blue account from 6+ years ago. The trick is just getting them to unlock it for you by telling them you need to use it overseas. This needs to be done over 611 or other customer service number. They will need the IMEI number and will either email you unlock information after a few days or give it to you immediately. My ATT blue account blocked the customer service from knowing which phone I was currently using. They THOUGHT I was using my first phone that I signed with(nokia 3300).
Also note that ATT Blue accounts for the most part cannot be touched (feature wise). Ive called them multiple times and asked for a data plan and other features but they were never able to do it.
This is my experience, it may or may not work for you. Note that I have a FAN account, but that shouldnt matter.

flipf0nt said:
its possible. Ive done it on an old ATT blue account from 6+ years ago. The trick is just getting them to unlock it for you by telling them you need to use it overseas. This needs to be done over 611 or other customer service number.
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So the question is where/how did you get your phone? Has anyone bought a phone from Amazon that could be unlocked? I seem to be missing something.
If I could have just gotten the Aria unlocked, it'd work just as I wanted.
Thanks

dasspunk said:
So the question is where/how did you get your phone? Has anyone bought a phone from Amazon that could be unlocked? I seem to be missing something.
If I could have just gotten the Aria unlocked, it'd work just as I wanted.
Thanks
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I dont know what dasspunk is talking about, there are people with the Aria unlocked on T-mobile!

dynamics_blue said:
I dont know what dasspunk is talking about, there are people with the Aria unlocked on T-mobile!
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Exactly my point... some Arias can be unlocked and some can't. I bought mine from Amazon full price/no contract; it can't be unlocked. Which ones can?
I'll ask again... where/how did you get your Aria?

my friend got the Aria on amazon and unlocked it. so maybe you didnt go to the right place to Unlock it.

dynamics_blue said:
my friend got the Aria on amazon and unlocked it. so maybe you didnt go to the right place to Unlock it.
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Did he buy it outright ($330) or via a plan/upgrade ($0)?

[Q] What's the strategy behind "no voice"

What do you think is the strategy behind selling the Tab with no voice capability? Make us buy two devices instead of one? I don't think that would work, the first carrier that decides to sell it with voice will get the whole market.
Is there some other reason I'm not seeing? Come to think of it, why am I buyng this thing from the phone company if it's not even a phone!?
I'm with Bell and the TV add clearly says "complete communications solution" and shows a guy in a phone call... but only when you get to to store do they tell you you can't actually make a phone call!
No hothead answers please and yes, I know you can flash the thing and make calls anyway...

davidke said:
What do you think is the strategy behind selling the Tab with no voice capability? Make us buy two devices instead of one?
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Exactly.
A few of us has commented on this in other threads... and I come down on the thought that all of the carriers are now rolling out these data-only (or Mobile Broadband, webConnect, DataConnect, etc) monthly plans where the obvious intent is to lock customers into multiple contracts -- one for their phone and another for their tablet device -- i.e., it is a play for additional revenue.
I can't imagine how there wasn't collusion involved here by the US carriers... unless it was Samsung's strategy, but that seems rather ham-fisted, even for Samsung.

Forcing you buying the device with additional data plan to the one you have now for your smartphone, that's whats behind date.

Wont I just cancel the data plan on my current phone when I get the Tab?
I'll be giving them less money not more... Why would anyone get two data plans?

Well, had just been to the TMobile store today to sort some other things out.
Had a chat with the sales girl who at first said it was impossible to get phone calls, they were different to the Euro models. When I took out my Tab and made a phone call, she was suprised but I pointed out that it was crazy I could get voice on Tmobile, but not 3G, but AT&T could be hacked to enable both. I asked 'why would I want to keep 3 accounts (my phone, my tab, and GF's phone) on TMobile, when I can more them to AT&T and get the device working the way I wanted to.
She couldn't really come up with a reason but didn't try to BS me. Eventually she realised that it was mad buying a phone capable device that had the phone part removed, but understood why I'd be bringing it back in < 30 days to get a refund and go to AT&T.
Then, after all that, she admitted that I wasn't the first person in complaining about it.
Sheesh.
But yeah, at this time, it's Prisoner's Dilemma. If NO-ONE offers voice, they'll get away with it. As soon as one carrier in the US offers it, the rest will have to offer it.

Jyveafk said:
Well, had just been to the TMobile store today to sort some other things out.
Had a chat with the sales girl who at first said it was impossible to get phone calls, they were different to the Euro models. When I took out my Tab and made a phone call, she was suprised but I pointed out that it was crazy I could get voice on Tmobile, but not 3G, but AT&T could be hacked to enable both. I asked 'why would I want to keep 3 accounts (my phone, my tab, and GF's phone) on TMobile, when I can more them to AT&T and get the device working the way I wanted to.
She couldn't really come up with a reason but didn't try to BS me. Eventually she realised that it was mad buying a phone capable device that had the phone part removed, but understood why I'd be bringing it back in < 30 days to get a refund and go to AT&T.
Then, after all that, she admitted that I wasn't the first person in complaining about it.
Sheesh.
But yeah, at this time, it's Prisoner's Dilemma. If NO-ONE offers voice, they'll get away with it. As soon as one carrier in the US offers it, the rest will have to offer it.
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Interesting I plan on doing the same but did she say anything about returning it with the modified firmware allowed?? But yeah I'm seriously trying to debate if I really like having my second phone as a access point just to access Internet with the tab , and going to AT&T now with no unlimited Internet would be a crappy option stupid AT&T

TurckBoatTruck said:
Exactly.
A few of us has commented on this in other threads... and I come down on the thought that all of the carriers are now rolling out these data-only (or Mobile Broadband, webConnect, DataConnect, etc) monthly plans where the obvious intent is to lock customers into multiple contracts -- one for their phone and another for their tablet device -- i.e., it is a play for additional revenue.
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Well, the joke's on them because I've cancelled my smartphone line & using the hacked Skype app to handle all of my Google Voice calls over their 3G network for a cool $25 a month. Can't imagine Im alone.

Unfortunately for tmobile I am going to return mine and get one from att. Didn't know they offer non contract. And their data plan seems cheaper and I can enable voice...
Sent from my SGH-T849 using XDA App

My buddy who is a manager for AT&T said there were 2 reasons to cripple the tab... #1 - why have customers have a total solution when they can pay for 2. #2 - can't have it take any fame from the iPad. Come on, why would AT&T make a stupid move and take out mms on their tab?! As small as it is but still, didn't they learn their lesson with mms on the iPhone?? He said this was covered in training. Im sure other US carriers have the same think in mind... Minus tmobile for reason #2... I am rather surprised in tmobile as they have been Rollin out devices like nobodys business and meeting the community demand.

peestandingup said:
Well, the joke's on them because I've cancelled my smartphone line & using the hacked Skype app to handle all of my Google Voice calls over their 3G network for a cool $25 a month. Can't imagine Im alone.
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I just signed for Axvoice unlimited international for just under $17/mo. and will be porting my cellular number to it. Now I can choose Simple Mobile or At&t for $60/mo for data only on the respective Tab and have simultaneous data and voip. I've been wanting to do this for a long time but now the plans and options make it possible .

peestandingup said:
Well, the joke's on them because I've cancelled my smartphone line & using the hacked Skype app to handle all of my Google Voice calls over their 3G network for a cool $25 a month. Can't imagine Im alone.
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Agreed. I'm sure a ton of folks will simply move to a data-only voip solution... but then you have folks like me who can't deal w/ any voip lag and require a traditional voice solution (but then I'm just going to use an ATT reseller as I refuse to contract w/ ATT directly!).

TurckBoatTruck said:
Agreed. I'm sure a ton of folks will simply move to a data-only voip solution... but then you have folks like me who can't deal w/ any voip lag and require a traditional voice solution (but then I'm just going to use an ATT reseller as I refuse to contract w/ ATT directly!).
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Click to collapse
Tell her to keep quiet while you're talking, problem solved!

TurckBoatTruck said:
Agreed. I'm sure a ton of folks will simply move to a data-only voip solution... but then you have folks like me who can't deal w/ any voip lag and require a traditional voice solution (but then I'm just going to use an ATT reseller as I refuse to contract w/ ATT directly!).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I imagine it may not be a robust enough solution for a lot of folks, esp business types who need to talk on the phone a lot & need everything to be solid.
Fortunately for me, Im just a stay at home dad & dont talk on the phone that much. My wife & I mostly email/IM when she's at work, even when I had a smartphone. And the Skype/Google Voice combo works well enough when Im on the road to make/receive decent calls from random friends/family if I need that.
So for someone like me who uses much more data than voice, its pretty awesome that the US carriers actually didn't try to turn the Tab into a phone & charge extra for a voice plan.

Its possible to use the voip for the sprint g tab?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

StraightTalk for the Network unlocked Bravo user

Hey all. I just found (but has probably been out for awhile) a new thing that StraightTalk and the sister companies are doing. They are now offering GSM based SIM Cards for any AT&T and T-Mobile (and some sprint i believe) networked unlocked phones. Link at bottom for StraightTalk Sim card. They have both the full size card and the micro sim too. (For the iPhone 4s guys) I ordered a sim card last week and will hopefully get it on Thursday (7/12/12). I'll post later how it is and all. If anyone else has or had or will do this too post away how it worked out for you. StraightTalk and Net10 are both offering the SIM card for only $14.99 right now and charge you for shipping SOMETIMES. I was able to get just in under the limit that they were offering Free shipping on all orders $14.99 and over. Good for people that want a new Cheap phone service but want to keep their GSM based phone or cannot afford a new phone.
Net10
StraightTalk

Excelent, awsome offert. But I will not enjoy it because I dont use Tmo or At&t.

@josuearisty: The SIM Cards can be used in any unlocked AT&T or TMO phone, ex. our Bravos. That's what I was talking about.
The SIM cards really work in about any unlocked GSM phone that works on 800mhz and 1900mhz bands.

Working......
Well my Sim chip came in yesterday, put it in my phone, went online and switched my equipment on www.straighttalksim.com. Well all was well yesterday after about 5min of easy work. Old phone turned off new one on. Ok. No data, no text's? huh? Oh ya! Switch the APN settings. Got the little red card that came with the chip and had the settings I needed. Cool I thought to myself. Punch in the settings, reboot, enjoy! Works! Cool. Make a test call, hmm. There's a ring, yea. Connects, yea. Can you hear me? Good. Everything works. Awesome. So I use it all day yesterday and what happens? You guessed it, battery dies. Ok fine, charge it. Charged overnight. Wake up. Checked my emails, didn't notice I was connected to my home wifi, was out side, sent off a text, it sent, I thought, waited, hmm, must still be asleep. Oh well. Took my son to school. Cool. Check my phone at school, no messages. Strange, I usually have something by now, it's been an hour. Make a call, "Were sorry but you have reached your service end date. To contune please add another airtime card or......" WTF!! WHAT HAPPENED TO MY 20 MORE DAYS LEFT! I JUST BOUGHT A DAMN CARD! Drive home PISSED. Called StraightTalk off the wifes phone. "Please hold for the next available customer service rep." ok shouldnt be that long "your expected wait time is TEN MINUTES", pause for information to sink in. WHAT!? Whatever. Then they answered. "How can we help you today Mister Jones?" You cut off my service, "Oh i'm sorry about that, let me transfer you to someone who can help you, may I do that now?" yes "Ok thank you and thank you for being......... yada yada" ok so next guy comes on "Hello how may I help you?" You cut my phone service off "Oh i'm sorry for that let's take a look at your account." So he does and then asks when did I start and when did I last buy a card and such and then he says please hold so I can look at the account. Well his hold I guess is just not talking, not the button. Well after about 6 min of just hearing him breathing he says "Ok mister Jones i've replaced 11 days of service for you, will there be anything else I can do for you today?" Umm you did what? "I've put the remaining days back onto your account that we're supposed to have transferred but didn't" Oh ok thank you that will be all for today. " I thank you Mister Jones for being a part..." CLICK! I really don't like talking to customer service people that much. So,, I've been having a fairly good experience except for the time I had no service.
Rating is interesting for this one. 7 out of ten for service (or having service), I guess 5 out of ten for the customer service people, and everything else is fine so far.

Your sig shows you running CM7? Mine or Quarx's? Need to know if I need to update the apns since Strait Talk is supposed to be there by default now.

No I use an old quarx one. If you need to know any apn let me know and I can find it for you. Most of the time I've seen that the apn settings are somewhere on the sim card and the phone saves them.
Sent from my MB520 using xda app-developers app

Junkyardjames87 said:
No I use an old quarx one. If you need to know any apn let me know and I can find it for you. Most of the time I've seen that the apn settings are somewhere on the sim card and the phone saves them.
Sent from my MB520 using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
I don't. Straight Talk's Apn comes with CM9 by default and I can get it from there. Just checked my APNs with my CM7 and I need to add that one in....Is they're unlimited data "AT&T\Verizon 2Gb Unlimited" or "Sprint Unlimited"? I'm thinking of going to Straight Talk and dropping off my parent's AT&T Family Plan.
//I still think AT&T & Verizon should be taken to court for offering unlimited data in big letters on the ads while its really only 2gb of data -- hardly unlimited, small, unreadable, quick changing terms you can barley read at the bottom of a 48" 1080p screen shouldn't count; I wouldn't complain if the cap was at 50gb+, but you can barley watch a few youtube videos with 2gb. I can easily burn 1+ gigs a day just with rom development (repo syncing, up\downloading roms, mods, syncing\installing apps after a flash); factor in streaming music, social integration apps, YouTube, email, web browsing, navigation, push ads....I can go on, but ya'll get the point of the rant.

I don't have the capped data I have the unlimited one. I don't know if they do like T-Mobile and roll your speed back after a few gigs or not. Alot of mixed information is online so until I use it I don't really know.
Short version. I have unlimited data.
Sent from my MB520 using xda app-developers app

Junkyardjames87 said:
I don't have the capped data I have the unlimited one. I don't know if they do like T-Mobile and roll your speed back after a few gigs or not. Alot of mixed information is online so until I use it I don't really know.
Short version. I have unlimited data.
Sent from my MB520 using xda app-developers app
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I have a friend who has it, and from what I understood from him, its unlimited until you run out of minutes. Not sure if they throttle it or not, but I can deal with throttled internet....its being charged $20 for every 2GB that bothers me more than anything. He's only had it for less than a month as well and isn't a geek or tech savvy.
Makes me wonder if there's some way to use a VOIP service for calls with Straight Talk so you'd never go over the minutes and lose internet...

skeevy420 said:
I have a friend who has it, and from what I understood from him, its unlimited until you run out of minutes. Not sure if they throttle it or not, but I can deal with throttled internet....its being charged $20 for every 2GB that bothers me more than anything. He's only had it for less than a month as well and isn't a geek or tech savvy.
Makes me wonder if there's some way to use a VOIP service for calls with Straight Talk so you'd never go over the minutes and lose internet...
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I haven't looked around all that much but there are several voip options in the google store. I don't remember but I think you can use skype to call other skype users voip. I just pay the $45 a month and have unlimited everything for 30 days. I don't care about min or texts or data usage. I am watching how much data I'm using to see if they throttle me or cut me off. In the terms of service they do say to not tether or data but I am anyway. Netflix and youtube are also taboo to them as well but what do we care? I'? tethering to my laptop to watch netflix and youtube with open garden. I'm using the non-root open garden just to try it out and even though there is a very lax set of settings it works as it should. Only downside to the non-root app it that you have to have bluetooth on the receiving computer or device. Mines built-in on my laptop but not my wifes. As well the app doesn't work on her HTC rhyme.

Junkyardjames87 said:
I haven't looked around all that much but there are several voip options in the google store. I don't remember but I think you can use skype to call other skype users voip. I just pay the $45 a month and have unlimited everything for 30 days. I don't care about min or texts or data usage. I am watching how much data I'm using to see if they throttle me or cut me off. In the terms of service they do say to not tether or data but I am anyway. Netflix and youtube are also taboo to them as well but what do we care? I'? tethering to my laptop to watch netflix and youtube with open garden. I'm using the non-root open garden just to try it out and even though there is a very lax set of settings it works as it should. Only downside to the non-root app it that you have to have bluetooth on the receiving computer or device. Mines built-in on my laptop but not my wifes. As well the app doesn't work on her HTC rhyme.
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My buddy does it by the minutes, didn't know they had an unlimited service for $45 -- that's not bad at all -- which is why I thought the voip option was an idea to get around that, but I'd rather pay $45 for the unlimited anyways since its cheaper then AT&T's (un)limited plan.

Junkyardjames87 said:
I haven't looked around all that much but there are several voip options in the google store. I don't remember but I think you can use skype to call other skype users voip. I just pay the $45 a month and have unlimited everything for 30 days. I don't care about min or texts or data usage. I am watching how much data I'm using to see if they throttle me or cut me off. In the terms of service they do say to not tether or data but I am anyway. Netflix and youtube are also taboo to them as well but what do we care? I'? tethering to my laptop to watch netflix and youtube with open garden. I'm using the non-root open garden just to try it out and even though there is a very lax set of settings it works as it should. Only downside to the non-root app it that you have to have bluetooth on the receiving computer or device. Mines built-in on my laptop but not my wifes. As well the app doesn't work on her HTC rhyme.
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Did straight talk cut you off for watching Netflix ? I called their customer service about netflix, and couldn't get a straight answer about whether or not they allowed it. (no pun intended)

[Q] Where to find Sprint compatible V20 SIM?

I bought a V20 used on Swappa that didn't come with a SIM, didn't realize how much trouble that would prove to be. Sprint is not like the other carriers where the service follows the SIM. The SIM card you have has to be associated with certain ranges of IMEIs otherwise it won't work, apparently.
I went to 2 different Sprint stores last night. At the first store they tried every nano sim that they had on hand but none of them worked on Sprint's network in the V20. The 2nd store said they didn't have one in stock but I could try calling the national sales support line, well, the sales support line will not talk to you unless you work at a Sprint store. The 2nd store also said that I needed an ICCID ending in 0849.
This is for a Sprint specific V20.
Anyone have any ideas?

Are you a sprint customer? Try customer service or tech support. You can chat on the sprint website. Ask them to send you a new sim card

Yea I did the chat thing and they are overnighting it to me, at their expense.
I far prefer chat to actually calling, I usually get the right people and its usually resolved.

brons2 said:
Yea I did the chat thing and they are overnighting it to me, at their expense.
I far prefer chat to actually calling, I usually get the right people and its usually resolved.
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Great glad it's all working out just an FYI they overnighted me a Sim 2 weeks ago it took them eight days to get it to me wasn't quite overnight hope your experience is different

They shipped it on Friday and per UPS web site, it's on the truck for delivery today. I hope to see it this evening when I get home.
So sick of iOS! It was a mistake for me to get an iPhone for my personal use. I have a work phone also and it's a 7 plus. iOS is fine for my work phone but for someone who uses pretty much all of Google's services and likes to root and ROM, it's a real bummer to have an iPhone as your personal. One of the biggest drawbacks is that you can't do both the Google Voice outbound calling and WiFi calling at the same time. You have to choose one or the other. When I turned on WiFi calling, Sprint disabled my Google Voice integration. Enough of that already. People keep asking me why I am calling them on this weird number, because I've been using my Google Voice number for years for all my outbound cell calls.
Bottom line I'm just too invested in the Google ecosystem to use an iPhone. They have most of the Google apps but it's just not as good. I told my wife if she wanted to FaceTime me, just use my work number. Problem solved.
Side note - by loading the security updates, I read here that the V20 can't be rooted now? That would be kind of a bummer but the V20 stock ROM is probably the least buggy that I've seen, so hopefully I'm content to use it as is.

brons2 said:
They shipped it on Friday and per UPS web site, it's on the truck for delivery today. I hope to see it this evening when I get home.
So sick of iOS! It was a mistake for me to get an iPhone for my personal use. I have a work phone also and it's a 7 plus. iOS is fine for my work phone but for someone who uses pretty much all of Google's services and likes to root and ROM, it's a real bummer to have an iPhone as your personal. One of the biggest drawbacks is that you can't do both the Google Voice outbound calling and WiFi calling at the same time. You have to choose one or the other. When I turned on WiFi calling, Sprint disabled my Google Voice integration. Enough of that already. People keep asking me why I am calling them on this weird number, because I've been using my Google Voice number for years for all my outbound cell calls.
Bottom line I'm just too invested in the Google ecosystem to use an iPhone. They have most of the Google apps but it's just not as good. I told my wife if she wanted to FaceTime me, just use my work number. Problem solved.
Side note - by loading the security updates, I read here that the V20 can't be rooted now? That would be kind of a bummer but the V20 stock ROM is probably the least buggy that I've seen, so hopefully I'm content to use it as is.
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Have you already upgraded security? Do you know your arb# currently or what Zv# your on? You can root if your zv7 or under. Developer mode had a switch to disable automatic updating if your looking for that feature