Database Users

Republic Wireless $19 unlimited voice, SMS and data service: Nov 8

Update:
I got a coupon code to get the phone + 1 Month of service for $100. Comes with 30 day money back if you don't like it.
"There’s so much more we have to show you. So visit, look around. Oh, that $99 offer we told you about? To get it, use the code welcome19 to join before November 27, 2011 at 11:59 pm ET."
Found this over at fatwallet.com (http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/hot-deals/1136530/)
Here is what is posted there:
The service will require a special Android-based phone. Calls and SMSs will be routed via VOIP when on wifi and via cell towers otherwise.
Read more at Techcrunch:
http://techcrunch.com/2011/10/31/republic-wireless-an-android-po...
Read more at Gigaom:
http://gigaom.com/2011/10/31/republic-wireless-to-launch-19-voic...
Company website:
http://republicwireless.com/preview/
Summery:
The phone will primary use wifi for voice and texting and if no wifi is within range it will jump over to the Sprint network for voice, texting, and 3g data (no data cap). I guess you will need a CDMA android phone. Not sure yet if you have to buy a special phone from them but I'm sure someone will come up with a rom to flash to a Sprint android phone.
If this is all true it would be great to have one phone number, text, and unlimited data for only $19 with VoIP! I'll sell my G2x and find a phone that will work on this in a heart beat.
Let me know your thoughts.
I think I'm going to get one. If the phone if just an LG Optimus maybe someone can help me dump the ROM and flash it to a normal Sprint Optimus so you don't have to buy there phone.

From what I've read, you need a phone with special hardware sold by Republic, and judging from the picture on the website, it's probably going to be the LG Optimus S/V.
If it pans out and works like they say it will, I'd considering switching from Virgin Mobile. I'm already using the Optimus V, so it wouldn't be that much of a change for me.

I wonder how much they are going to charge for the phone?
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App

It's a gambe. Watch it go under in weeks.

chrischoi said:
It's a gambe. Watch it go under in weeks.
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Bandwidth.com isn't a fly-by-night company...I'd wait to get the details before dismissing them outright...

C_Rab said:
Bandwidth.com isn't a fly-by-night company...I'd wait to get the details before dismissing them outright...
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I'm switching over this week I have faith they will last and the optimus one is pretty similar to my virgin mobile V
Sent from my LG-VM670 using xda premium

Bandwidth.com has been awhile for now. I'm sure they will keep it afloat for awhile before they shut it down.
BUT, I have a feeling it will be relatively well. But I want to see their off-Wifi plan in details more.

Anyone know exactly which model this is?

nosit1 said:
Bandwidth.com has been awhile for now. I'm sure they will keep it afloat for awhile before they shut it down.
BUT, I have a feeling it will be relatively well. But I want to see their off-Wifi plan in details more.
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from there website:
How much cellular usage is too much?
It depends. Even assuming 0% wifi usage, for example, you could consume 550 minutes, send 150 texts, and download 300 megabytes of data without crossing the community’s fair use threshold. Everyone's usage patterns will be different, but we're confident you’ll be amazed at how little cellular you actually use when you have a phone that makes it easy to leverage the power of your Wi-Fi networks.
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Thats not bad AT ALL! of course i don't have the $200 for a new phone, but I do have a sprint branded lg optumus. I hope there is going to be a way to flash over our own phones.

delawaresace said:
from there website:
Thats not bad AT ALL! of course i don't have the $200 for a new phone, but I do have a sprint branded lg optumus. I hope there is going to be a way to flash over our own phones.
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You pay a hundred if you emailed them before today! I did
Sent from my LG-VM670 using xda premium

I'm thinking about getting this for a friend who's going to be more broke than a LMAFO record.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC

Couldn't you do this same thing with GrooVeIP, and a cheap pay as you go Boost Mobile plan?

tekkguy said:
Couldn't you do this same thing with GrooVeIP, and a cheap pay as you go Boost Mobile plan?
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$19 vs $55 a month. Maybe by a pay per day plan and some minutes with a few megs of data.

nosit1 said:
$19 vs $55 a month. Maybe by a pay per day plan and some minutes with a few megs of data.
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The pay as you go plan is 50 cents/day for unlimited web, only on the days you use it. It's 20 cents per minute for voice calls, but if you froze the dialer (or never used it) and didn't give out the Boost number, voice would never get used.
Since GrooVeIP will work over 3G or Wifi, your max cost per month (after phone and GrooVeIP) would be $15.50.

tekkguy said:
The pay as you go plan is 50 cents/day for unlimited web, only on the days you use it. It's 20 cents per minute for voice calls, but if you froze the dialer (or never used it) and didn't give out the Boost number, voice would never get used.
Since GrooVeIP will work over 3G or Wifi, your max cost per month (after phone and GrooVeIP) would be $15.50.
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Sounds like a pain in the ass compared to Republic Wireless's option just to save $3.50 a month. Why do people love there iphone so much? It's easy.
The current phone offering and Sprint network is a deal breaker for me, however.

schoeds said:
Sounds like a pain in the ass compared to Republic Wireless's option just to save $3.50 a month. Why do people love there iphone so much? It's easy.
The current phone offering and Sprint network is a deal breaker for me, however.
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The irony is that Boost uses Sprint too.

schoeds said:
Sounds like a pain in the ass compared to Republic Wireless's option just to save $3.50 a month. Why do people love there iphone so much? It's easy.
The current phone offering and Sprint network is a deal breaker for me, however.
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Yeah it's a pain ... I'm just saying the idea isn't new. Only the implementation is.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App

Listening to tnt yesterday Tom said data is unlimited as long as you don't use more than 300MB per month.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using xda premium

shadow65781 said:
Listening to tnt yesterday Tom said data is unlimited as long as you don't use more than 300MB per month.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using xda premium
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Limited unlimited?

solarpolitiks said:
Limited unlimited?
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Yup and if you go over and don't get back to their allowed usage within a certain time frame, you get dropped.

T-Mobile monthly 4g vs contract

So I usually buy my phones full retail anyway and I use a lot of data. We all know how T-Mobile $70 plan has unlimited everything other than data, 5gb. I dropped by T-Mobile store and their new plan, has unlimited data! Same price, before 15% discount! Problem? Contract... I have 14 days to cancel and just go month to month, but lose unlimited data... What do you guys think?
I've had monthly 4g before and loved speeds, the fact that it wasn't unlimited though...
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

Get the $30 plan, use WiFi as much as possible and get SIPDroid

air2k57 said:
So I usually buy my phones full retail anyway and I use a lot of data. We all know how T-Mobile $70 plan has unlimited everything other than data, 5gb. I dropped by T-Mobile store and their new plan, has unlimited data! Same price, before 15% discount! Problem? Contract... I have 14 days to cancel and just go month to month, but lose unlimited data... What do you guys think?
I've had monthly 4g before and loved speeds, the fact that it wasn't unlimited though...
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
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Yeah, the Value Plan? I was considering that too, maybe the 500 minute plan with unlimited data for $60 too depending on how much you talk on your phone.
So far I ordered the prepaid sim and going to activate the $30 plan, if I don't like it I can just go to the Value Plan.

One very bad thing about T-Mobile is that any changes you make to your plan, it renews/resets the contract to the current date.
Be very careful with T-Mobile contracts.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

Yes I don't like the idea of a contract,specially since I didn't even get a phone through them...
I was considering $30 a month plan, problem is... I also free lance, at times I use a phone a lot while on the go and VoIP is too unreliable for that in this area. There are spots with very poor T-Mobile data coverage here. So I'm stuck with either unlimited +5gb, or unlimited + contract.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

Its all up to ur usage....
Do u really need unlimited??? On average I use about 1 GB. And a while back when I tried to use as much data as a I can...I only maxed at out about 3 GB. (Bascially Pandora every time I listen to music...which is about 2-3 hours a day total???)
If you tether a lot then its very worth it.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

Do you really use more than 5gb? I think that would REALLY be a challenge for anyone. Keep in mind that unlimited account are generally always monitored for tethering (especially if Tmobile does have a tethering add-on)
I consider myself a very heavy user as I charge my GSM GN 3-4 times a day, cause I always have something running on it (streaming) . The only exception to bring up, is that I use WIFI when I'm home. I've never passed the 3gb mark
Sent from gsm GN running AOKP on the ST network, just while I wait till I my N4 comes

wirelessFREAK said:
Do you really use more than 5gb? I think that would REALLY be a challenge for anyone. Keep in mind that unlimited account are generally always monitored for tethering (especially if Tmobile does have a tethering add-on)
I consider myself a very heavy user as I charge my GSM GN 3-4 times a day, cause I always have something running on it (streaming) . The only exception to bring up, is that I use WIFI when I'm home. I've never passed the 3gb mark
Sent from gsm GN running AOKP on the ST network, just while I wait till I my N4 comes
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I've had my Nexus 4 for about a day and I've already racked up about 1GB pretty easily. I'd recommend one of their value plans. For 69.99 you get truly unlimited, no 5GB throttle point. They require a 2 year contract but if you're sticking with T-Mobile for a while that doesn't really matter. Canceling the contract early is $200 ETF. Without it you'd spend $89.99 for the same plan, so it seems pretty worth it to me. Attached a screenshot of my 1 day usage...

Be a small business owner like me and pay $55 a month for 1000 minutes, unlimited text/4G with no throttling

thrab said:
I've had my Nexus 4 for about a day and I've already racked up about 1GB pretty easily. I'd recommend one of their value plans. For 69.99 you get truly unlimited, no 5GB throttle point. They require a 2 year contract but if you're sticking with T-Mobile for a while that doesn't really matter. Canceling the contract early is $200 ETF. Without it you'd spend $89.99 for the same plan, so it seems pretty worth it to me. Attached a screenshot of my 1 day usage...
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You're probably in the minority here. I'm pretty sure most people aren't spending a majority of their day watching TwitchTV on 4G and tethering....and WiFi is not that hard to come by these days (home/work).
Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2

wirelessFREAK said:
Do you really use more than 5gb? I think that would REALLY be a challenge for anyone. Keep in mind that unlimited account are generally always monitored for tethering (especially if Tmobile does have a tethering add-on)
I consider myself a very heavy user as I charge my GSM GN 3-4 times a day, cause I always have something running on it (streaming) . The only exception to bring up, is that I use WIFI when I'm home. I've never passed the 3gb mark
Sent from gsm GN running AOKP on the ST network, just while I wait till I my N4 comes
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All accounts are monitored for tethering. It isn't hard to use more than 5GB.. Hell ROMs are 200mb each, some of the newer games are up to a GB , plus streaming spotify it's really rather easy for some of us.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

joshnichols189 said:
All accounts are monitored for tethering. It isn't hard to use more than 5GB.. Hell ROMs are 200mb each, some of the newer games are up to a GB , plus streaming spotify it's really rather easy for some of us.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
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You have to remember though... if you are going to download a large file, are you going to use WiFi, which is way faster than HSPA+, or are you actually going to download a 200mb ROM over data?
Sent from my DROID2 using xda premium

arich said:
Be a small business owner like me and pay $55 a month for 1000 minutes, unlimited text/4G with no throttling
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That sounds like a good plan.
F0rgiven said:
You're probably in the minority here. I'm pretty sure most people aren't spending a majority of their day watching TwitchTV on 4G and tethering....and WiFi is not that hard to come by these days (home/work).
Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2
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Was only maybe a bit over an hour of Twitch (720p stream) while in the car and about 30 minutes tethering while I VPN'd into work on the go. OP had already stated he used a lot of data and is likely to hit the 5GB cap. So while you say "most people", the OP is not most people.

3 v giffgaff

My 3 contact is about to expire and I'm seriously considering using giffgaff. £12/month gets you 250 mins, unlimited Web and texts. 3 is good and very fast but the cover is non existent in a few places. Just asking for people's opinion on gifgaff and if it's worth a look.
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Me personally would go with giffgaff great value plus chance to earn credit
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app

I did this swap 3 months ago and it has been great to be able to get signal everywhere again I would definitely recommend switching to giffgaff.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app

Thanks guys, do you mainly get a 3G signal? How is coverage compared to three? Is 2G usable?
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I'm on giffgaff, and yeah, the prices are phenomenal. But if your not happy with 3s reception, you won't be best pleased if you switch. As you probably know, giffgaff uses O2, and they (along with Vodafone) are the worst provider for signal. I hardly ever manage to make a phone call while out and about without it cutting out. Id study o2's coverage map to make sure your area has coverage before making the jump.
EE or Virgin are your best bet signal wise. Im in the haggeling stages with Virgin atm, and so far, I've got them down to £8 for a 30 day contract, unlimited texts, unlimited data, and 1200 minutes.
As I say, check different networks coverage, then ring round making demands. You'll be surprised what you get if you ask!!
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 using Tapatalk

Suck it and see buy a tenners worth of credit and see how you get on .
As GiffGaff are O2 it is something i would check first via the coverage maps for O2 network just in case of blackspot where you use the phone .
jje

When my Contract ended with T-mobile last year, I switched to Giffgaff & tbh couldn't be happier.
O2's Signal in my area is brilliant 5 bars H+ 98% of the time, even when i was in the remote part of the Lake District i still got a good signal.
I pay £15 per month for 400mins unlimited text & internet, all my smartphones from now on are bought Sim Free, already have the money stashed away for the Galaxy S IV next year. :good:

Great feedback dudes, I've ordered a free GG simcard, can I realistically use this to determine the strength of the signal as a test before I think about moving (I don't trust coverage maps that much - bad experiences)
Sent via TCP/IP

Yes you can. Please put me as reference so I can earn some points. My user name is a675432100
Thank you
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium

I have gone from giffgaff to 3 and i have no regrets!! I got sick of outages and poor internet speed
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium

Yep, try Giffgaff and see what the signal is like. Three have been excellent for me though, £24 a month for unlimited texts and internet plus 900 mins anytime minutes and 5000 three to three minutes, got my galaxy s2 with it for free as well. Sold it when the S3 came out.

GiffGaff is awesome Everytime my contract runs out i use giffgaff for awhile, This gives me time till a new device comes out or is released. And the best part is there is no contract to sign. You top it up every month on your own term. So if you don't top up then no minutes which is fine with me.
Best part is you always get Unlimited data. But be aware that they do not take kindly if you tether and download torrents and etc. You will have you sim suspended and ordering another one to your address is hard. Unless of course you email them an apology letter and say you will never do it again. Then they will give you a second chance.
Lol why do i know this because i was the one who tethered all day and downloaded 129.9GB worth of data LMAO!!
Other then that their price plans are awesome ranging from 5 to 20quid i prefer the £20 one as i need the minutes..
Signal is awesome for me no drops we always get full bars here in UK/London or east London where i live. Never had an issue with signal..

Meemo23 said:
GiffGaff is awesome Everytime my contract runs out i use giffgaff for awhile, This gives me time till a new device comes out or is released. And the best part is there is no contract to sign. You top it up every month on your own term. So if you don't top up then no minutes which is fine with me.
Best part is you always get Unlimited data. But be aware that they do not take kindly if you tether and download torrents and etc. You will have you sim suspended and ordering another one to your address is hard. Unless of course you email them an apology letter and say you will never do it again. Then they will give you a second chance.
Lol why do i know this because i was the one who tethered all day and downloaded 129.9GB worth of data LMAO!!
Other then that their price plans are awesome ranging from 5 to 20quid i prefer the £20 one as i need the minutes..
Signal is awesome for me no drops we always get full bars here in UK/London or east London where i live. Never had an issue with signal..
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I don't think I could go with GiffGaff after this, but £20 and a fair usage policy and no tethering?
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium

delsus said:
I don't think I could go with GiffGaff after this, but £20 and a fair usage policy and no tethering?
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
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Nope you can tether but if you do too much they will send you a horrible email lol.. Then your sim gets blocked out. You can download 30gb they won't say anything i do that all the time but after 30gb i think they get suspicious.. But it is my fault at that time i didn't have net at home i was waiting for my bt package to arrive. And i watch alot of films and tv shows plus i upload 24/7.. Seeing it was unlimited i took advantage. So you can't really blame giffgaff. They do not offer you a service for you to connect to your pc and use it like normal internet. You're slowing everyone down. Well at least that is what they told me..

Meemo23 said:
Nope you can tether but if you do too much they will send you a horrible email lol.. Then your sim gets blocked out. You can download 30gb they won't say anything i do that all the time but after 30gb i think they get suspicious.. But it is my fault at that time i didn't have net at home i was waiting for my bt package to arrive. And i watch alot of films and tv shows plus i upload 24/7.. Seeing it was unlimited i took advantage. So you can't really blame giffgaff. They do not offer you a service for you to connect to your pc and use it like normal internet. You're slowing everyone down. Well at least that is what they told me..
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But if they cut your sim off at all its not an unlimited connection, I'm actually surprised they are allowed to do that. If your gonna call it unlimited make sure it's unlimited no charges, cut off or throttle if your gonna do any of the above its actually limited even if it's 30GB its still a limit.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium

delsus said:
But if they cut your sim off at all its not an unlimited connection, I'm actually surprised they are allowed to do that. If your gonna call it unlimited make sure it's unlimited no charges, cut off or throttle if your gonna do any of the above its actually limited even if it's 30GB its still a limit.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
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Very true i was surprised my self when i got the email and my sim was blocked. They did unblock it after i apologized. To be honest i cannot be bothered to argue with them. As i know i won't be right. Unlimited means unlimited period no point restricting it then calling it UNLIMITED makes no sense..

To be fair to giffgaff it does say 'unlimited mobile web' that means it's unlimited data for use on your phone. It then says tethering is not allowed.
Dont think that they are hiding anything
Sent from my Samsung Note II.

Tomo1971 said:
To be fair to giffgaff it does say 'unlimited mobile web' that means it's unlimited data for use on your phone. It then says tethering is not allowed.
Dont think that they are hiding anything
Sent from my Samsung Note II.
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Fair enough..

Can I topup with say £10 and try it out, then if happy, transfer my current phone number and goto a monthly contract?
Sent via TCP/IP

gsw5700 said:
Can I topup with say £10 and try it out, then if happy, transfer my current phone number and goto a monthly contract?
Sent via TCP/IP
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You can transfer your number no problems, but giffgaff are pay as you go only. Although, I top up via direct debit on the 1st of every month, so it works kind of like a 30 rolling contract.
Giffgaff have been quite lenient with me. I've taken the piss on many occations, but as long as its not constant, I don't think they really care. I've never had a snotty email, even though I've used stupid amounts of data. Exceeding the limited day after day is bound to raise eyebrows regardless of network. Even 3's all you can eat data plan has a fair usage cap, and speeds are significantly reduced if you go over board too often.
sent from my Samsung Galaxy SIII using Tapatalk

High data contract deals on the One (UK)

Hey all, yes I have searched through the various threads and used search but not finding very much posted about this anywhere so please don't all jump on me at once for creating another contracts thread...I want one specifically for high data users that will be buying or already own the 'One'.
I specifically use a fairly large amount of data, Usually around the 2.5gb mark each month. Sometimes bordering on 3gb....
Anyone else use this sort of data? If so who have you got a contract with?
Or if I'm the only one that has such a large data usage, how the hell do you all keep yours so low? I use wifi at home as well so in the mornings and evenings and most of the weekends I'm using that rather than my mobile data. But still somehow using lots of data (and no I'm not tethering. Have done once, but it's not regularly part of my usage)
So yeh, basically. Any tips on good deals with high data, low calls and texts, or tips on how to keep data usage down??
And although this could have been posted as a question, I would assume that there are other high data users that will be interested in the info posted here.

Re: High data contract deals UK
I've went with 3 as they're the only company that do Unlimited data as far as i know.

The War Horse said:
Hey all, yes I have searched through the various threads and used search but not finding very much posted about this anywhere so please don't all jump on me at once for creating another contracts thread...I want one specifically for high data users.
I specifically use a fairly large amount of data, Usually around the 2.5gb mark each month. Sometimes bordering on 3gb....
Anyone else use this sort of data? If so who have you got a contract with?
Or if I'm the only one that has such a large data usage, how the hell do you all keep yours so low? I use wifi at home as well so in the mornings and evenings and most of the weekends I'm using that rather than my mobile data. But still somehow using lots of data (and no I'm not tethering. Have done once, but it's not regularly part of my usage)
So yeh, basically. Any tips on good deals with high data, low calls and texts, or tips on how to keep data usage down??
And although this could have been posted as a question, I would assume that there are other high data users that will be interested in the info posted here.
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There are only three options for contracts for high (>1GB) data users. The best choice is the One plan from Three which gives you truly unlimited data including tethering and generally has good coverage IMHO. You can get a HTC One on the One Plan for £36/month on a 24 month plan.
The other option is the Full Monty plan from T-Mobile. Also a relatively expensive option vs. the very cheap Orange 1GB deals on dial-a-phone for example but it does give you unlimited data. I think is also £36/month but with £70 up front.
Alternatively you could get a 3 or 5 GB 4G plan from EE but that is the most expensive option and not unlimited but does give you high usage options and is 4G. (3GB is £46/month and 5GB £51/month)

Re: High data contract deals UK
My ee contract is £33.50 a month for 1000 mins 2000 texts and 4gb of data .
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2

Razwaz said:
I've went with 3 as they're the only company that do Unlimited data as far as i know.
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They are amazing for data but are totally crap as far as CS goes so it'll be good to see any other possible options as I too am only aware of them as being good for high data users
tdingene said:
There are only three options for contracts for high (>1GB) data users. The best choice is the One plan from Three which gives you truly unlimited data including tethering and generally has good coverage IMHO. You can get a HTC One on the One Plan for £36/month on a 24 month plan.
The other option is the Full Monty plan from T-Mobile. Also a relatively expensive option vs. the very cheap Orange 1GB deals on dial-a-phone for example but it does give you unlimited data. I think is also £36/month but with £70 up front.
Alternatively you could get a 3 or 5 GB 4G plan from EE but that is the most expensive option and not unlimited but does give you high usage options and is 4G. (3GB is £46/month and 5GB £51/month)
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I think T-Mobiles 'Unlimited' data is in-fact really quite limited. Something like 1.5gb data I think, but I could be wrong
allmine1976 said:
My ee contract is £33.50 a month for 1000 mins 2000 texts and 4gb of data .
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
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Where did you get this deal? And was it an upgrade?

Just out of interest, I've added a poll because I would really be interested in knowing what the data plans people have bought their one with......It seems not many have super high usage so I'd like to see what the rough figures were so far.....Are heavy users really as rare as they seem?

anything less than 1GB seems odd

ant78 said:
anything less than 1GB seems odd
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You never know. Lots of people I know use about 500 so maybe I'm just a madman for using almost 3gb lol.
Sent from my HTC Desire HD A9191 using xda app-developers app

I decided to buy the handset SIM-free and then put a GiffGaff SIM in it. For £12 a month I get 250 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited data, and I can cancel that any time I like, even just a single day before my next payment is taken.
Virgin has some quite good SIM-only deals too; if you don't mind being limited to 300 free texts a month, you can get unlimited data for £10 a month top-up.
My thinking was that, right now, I really don't want to get locked into a long contract because it's not at all clear what the different providers' 4G services are going to be like.

Shasarak said:
I decided to buy the handset SIM-free and then put a GiffGaff SIM in it. For £12 a month I get 250 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited data, and I can cancel that any time I like, even just a single day before my next payment is taken.
Virgin has some quite good SIM-only deals too; if you don't mind being limited to 300 free texts a month, you can get unlimited data for £10 a month top-up.
My thinking was that, right now, I really don't want to get locked into a long contract because it's not at all clear what the different providers' 4G services are going to be like.
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I tried GiffGaff for a while last year but found they do very heavy image compression on their network which makes using the internet and any apps with images really really ugly with pixellated images. There was no way to turn this off. I don't know if this has since changed though.

one of 3's All you can eat plans all the way due to free upgrade to 4G at no extra cost when launched in the Summer

Yes 3 do definitely the best all you can eat packages. But its annoying how they know you don't really have any other option hence they.don't bend on price at all!
Sent from my HTC Desire HD A9191 using xda app-developers app

I am in the same boat . I use anywhere from 6GB to 9GB per month as I haven't got BB so do everything on my mobile lol. It seems we are just limited to 3 atm?

brainimpact said:
one of 3's All you can eat plans all the way due to free upgrade to 4G at no extra cost when launched in the Summer
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Hope thats true, where did you hear about the summer upgrade?

allmine1976 said:
My ee contract is £33.50 a month for 1000 mins 2000 texts and 4gb of data .
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
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24 Month Contract?
Upgrade?
Fee upfront for phone?

I spent over 9 years on 3 paying for their premium contract (and a data allowance I never came near to scratching.)
Eventually though their CS got to be beyond a joke. Their refusal to offer even a free phone to keep me on their One plan and total inability to hire anyone to man the call centers that could actually speak English drove me away.
I have since been blown away by the difference on Orange. My 3 contract is still in it's final days and that phone manages an astounding 225Kb/s compared to the 19.7Mb/s I get on Orange (both phones show H data connection although the Orange connection spends a lot of time trying to actually hang onto 3G instead.)
Read into this what you wish but it will take wild horses to drag me back to 3.
Sent from my Tricked out HTC One via xda-developers application

Hey I just wanted to chime in here with a bit of info I came across via a friend. Staples do a weird membership plan thing that might interest some people. I've been looking in to it and it seems interesting but I'm not sure if it's really for me as the monthly cost seems to stand above average as far as I can see. They also don't have availability of the One yet but have told me that it should be coming to them soon.
Essentially you are not tied in to a contract and can swap your phone at any time, change you plan at any time or leave at any time and all you have to do is give 30 days notice. They claim that should you wish to leave you would only have to return the phone. No buyouts or extra costs unless you wanted to buy the phone from them which you could do should you wish to. Also you can essentially build your own package to suit your needs and choose any network except for 3 to have the selected package on. And should yo go over your allowance there are NO charges...Though on talking to him he said they gave you a 20% buffer to go over and if you kept going over they'd be in touch and saying to tweak your package a bit, but of course again this can be done at any time. Essentially it's a totally fixed price per month with no nasty surprises.
The guy also claimed that there were other membership benefits such as up to 6p off a litre of fuel every time you fill up and insurance discounts etc...But again I'm not sure how much these pro's outweigh the costs...And of course it's only up to 6p off so for the next 2 years it could only be 1p off per litre....You see what I'm saying anyway...
So obviously as he couldn't accurately quote on the One because he didn't have it yet I asked for some quotes on similar priced phones (I shant name them as this post is about the One, I just did what I needed to to get a picture of potential costs)
For a membership plan with
250 mins
500 mins
2GB Data
Approximately £60 a month
If you lose some data and go for 1GB it drops a bit to £50ish
I looked at 2 plans specifically for me which were
250 mins
250 texts
2gb data or 5gb data
and the quotes were £52 and £58
You also have to pay the first 3 months upfront, though should you wish to leave after a month you get 2 months back of course.
So you see they're much much more expensive then you're average contract but then again for that price you can get a new phone every single month should you wish....I dunno. I'm still haggling with him so I'll let you know how I get on. But it's work looking in to really, especially for people who use a lot of data at times as the odd month you use more and maybe go over you wont be hammered for it.
Anyway here's a link to the site should anyone want to check it out/enquire.....http://www.staples.co.uk/connect_home_subsite

You can buy a lot of coffee for £60 a month and you can rinse a lot of free wi-fi while you're at it.
Trust me, blagging free wi-fi is easier and cheaper than an expensive data plan.

compact_bijou said:
You can buy a lot of coffee for £60 a month and you can rinse a lot of free wi-fi while you're at it.
Trust me, blagging free wi-fi is easier and cheaper than an expensive data plan.
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This is true....The only real benefit I can see by going this route is being able to potentially have an iPhone one month then maybe try out the S4 then go back to the One, then try out the new Nexus 5 when it comes....etc etc...I mean it would be cool to have the flexibility but it's such a lot of money....I have emailed back this morning stating that if I was to keep the phone for the full 2 years I would end up paying approximately £600 more over the course of 2 years compared to the highest data contract available on the phone! Which is MENTAL considering the phone is available to buy sim free for less then £500 atm! And that's not taking in to account depreciation etc....So anyway I'll see what he comes back with and let everyone know....
Oh and I also asked if the monthly cost includes insurance or anything, which of course would make it almost seem a bit more worth the price, but it's still high....

I came from Vodafone to 3 as they don't offer unlimited data.
Its 12.90 a month (rolling contract) 200 mins, either 1000 or unlimited text (can't remember) and unlimited data. The difference was phenomenal compared to Vodafone.
I think it matters where you live really. I can drive round most of Bristol and beyond streaming Di radio to my stereo (aux) with hardly any buffering. I can also watch catchup TV almost anywhere.
I have no issues with calls either.
Why not try it, if you don't get on after a month just cancel it.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium

[Q] international move...purchase an N4?

All,
I'm moving from the US to the UK in a couple weeks. I currently have a Sprint S3 so I have to get a new phone when I move. I am leaning heavily toward the N4, HTC One, and S4, in this order. The N4 is about $100 cheaper to purchase in the US (about $350) then take it to the UK (about $480). Does anyone know if this would work, or must I buy the phone in the UK?
Also, for those here who live in the UK, what are your thoughts about a sim-only O2 plan? I don't really know anything about the UK providers but my future colleagues tell me O2 has pretty good service where I am moving. What US provider is O2 comparable in terms of service, support, and phones?
Given the price of the N4, it seems hands-down better than the others considering I would just wipe my brand new phone and install an AOSP rom anyways. Which brings me to my next question. I haven't spent a ton of time around the N4 forums, but how do the N4 roms compare to non-Nexus phone roms in terms of driver support and bugs? I had an Evo4G and now and S3, and also I'm happy with the AOSP roms I use, they have a lot of bugs. The GPS and camera, for instance, can easily bugout from one rom update to the next. I assume this would be less likely on a Nexus device.
Any other useful info going from the US to the UK, or an S3 to N4?
Thanks!

The N4 is the same model worldwide, so you will have no problem bringing a US N4 to the UK. It will work perfectly, your only minor issue will be that the US mains charger has the wrong pins for the UK (which can be fixed by a travel adapter or simply buying another charger).
I am not on O2 so can't comment on that.
You will find that pretty much all the N4 AOSP ROMs are very stable because of the fact that we have AOSP source/drivers for everything for our phone. No need to do nasty hacky stuff which results in major features not working. That's the beauty of Nexus.
Sent from my Nexus 4

I would buy the N4, though I have one so obviously I am a little biased. CM has been stable for me, but stock is more than enough if stable is a massive priority for you. I would land in England and go buy a quick pre-paid sim from anyone. When I visited in September I spent 10 pounds on a Vodaphone Sim I used for 2 weeks with no problems. If you got something like that it would give you a chance to figure out who has good coverage and good prices before finding a more permanent solution. England has a verry competitive market, but you might find their speeds slower then America. There is only 1 provider with LTE right now as far as I know.

Steviewevie has pretty much summed it up nicely. What I can add is go for a Giffgaff £10/month deal where you get 250 mins, unlimited texts and 1GB of data. Giffgaff is an o2 owned network so you're getting the same coverage as o2 customers (which is very good) for a very low price. Even if you want a different deal I'd recommend sticking to Giffgaff for the most part. The main reason you should possibly consider going for something else is if you find data speeds to be very important because the most I get in my area is 6 mbps whilst my Dad on Three gets 15-20.

Giff Gaff or Three would be the ones to go for as you can get SIM only deals for less than £15 a month with unlimited data
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium

Wow, thanks for all of these awesome comments!!!!! This is better than I even imagined!!
Ok, so I am relocating to the Sheffield area. I will probably move the city centre area. Are O2, Three, and giffgaff reliable with good coverage in this area? How do the PayGo vs other sim-only plans differ? I would get the most minutes/text, and data possible so I'm looking at about 20-27 per month on each, the 20 is on Three with a 12-month contract.

Everything I was going to say had been covered.
+1 for giffgaff though

dhawk312 said:
Wow, thanks for all of these awesome comments!!!!! This is better than I even imagined!!
Ok, so I am relocating to the Sheffield area. I will probably move the city centre area. Are O2, Three, and giffgaff reliable with good coverage in this area? How do the PayGo vs other sim-only plans differ? I would get the most minutes/text, and data possible so I'm looking at about 20-27 per month on each, the 20 is on Three with a 12-month contract.
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How many minutes do you need? Giffgaff seems not to be that good with the number of minutes but everything else is great.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

Not sure about the number of minutes yet. I'll probably keep the number of minutes around 500-1000 to check the quality of the services.
I'm really more interested in tethering and data speeds. I have LTE service currently and use about 2GB per month on average.

dhawk312 said:
Not sure about the number of minutes yet. I'll probably keep the number of minutes around 500-1000 to check the quality of the services.
I'm really more interested in tethering and data speeds. I have LTE service currently and use about 2GB per month on average.
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You can check their coverage on their sites to see what sort of speeds you'll get. Not sure what the costs are with regards to tethering tho so best look that up
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium

Three's one plan comes at £25 per month.
That nets you 2000 mins
5000 SMS
Unlimited data and tethering included
Though personally I'm OK the ultimate internet 300 plan as I don't use many minutes
That is £13 per month (12 month contract) or £15 for monthly
It gets me 300 minutes
5000 SMS
Unlimited data
It doesn't include tethering however I still use it for tethering and after a year and a half. Nothing has been said.
If I have to make any international calls I just use Skype
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

If your going to be ringing back home a lot and use Skype go with three as they don't block VoIP access.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

Alex240188 said:
Three's one plan comes at £25 per month.
That nets you 2000 mins
5000 SMS
Unlimited data and tethering included
Though personally I'm OK the ultimate internet 300 plan as I don't use many minutes
That is £13 per month (12 month contract) or £15 for monthly
It gets me 300 minutes
5000 SMS
Unlimited data
It doesn't include tethering however I still use it for tethering and after a year and a half. Nothing has been said.
If I have to make any international calls I just use Skype
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
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So, why go with Three over giffgaff? Seems much cheap to go with them over O2 or Three.