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I'm getting ready to convert from Verizon to straight talk (ATT) and I have a few questions. This is my first time going to prepaid GSM and upon a lot research many ppl have said straight talk (ATT) was the best. Anyone with a N4 using straight talk can confirm? Also with straight talk will I be getting "4G"? Also since the phone is unlocked all I have to do is pop my Sim card in the phone? And it is micro Sim? Thanks.
magicriggs said:
I'm getting ready to convert from Verizon to straight talk (ATT) and I have a few questions. This is my first time going to prepaid GSM and upon a lot research many ppl have said straight talk (ATT) was the best. Anyone with a N4 using straight talk can confirm? Also with straight talk will I be getting "4G"? Also since the phone is unlocked all I have to do is pop my Sim card in the phone? And it is micro Sim? Thanks.
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I have Straight Talk AT&T, and so far my experience has been mixed. Sometimes I get full reception and generally awesome speeds (coming from Sprint's slow ass network), other times I get absolutely no service, sometimes it randomly jumps into roaming and i can't get data.. and it stays 'stuck' in roaming mode.. I have to turn airplane mode on/off to fix it. This all happens without my leaving my desk.
It is microsim, straight talk Tmobile isn't
ST customer service, I can't comment on, because I was on hold for 20+ minutes without reaching someone, before I had to go to work.
strobex said:
I have Straight Talk AT&T, and so far my experience has been mixed. Sometimes I get full reception and generally awesome speeds (coming from Sprint's slow ass network), other times I get absolutely no service, sometimes it randomly jumps into roaming and i can't get data.. and it stays 'stuck' in roaming mode.. I have to turn airplane mode on/off to fix it. This all happens without my leaving my desk.
It is microsim, straight talk Tmobile isn't
ST customer service, I can't comment on, because I was on hold for 20+ minutes without reaching someone, before I had to go to work.
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In my area I get pretty decent reception, hspa+ just about everywhere I go. Decent speeds. Nice price! If you wanted to go with s T-Mobile sim you could just cut it down to micro Sim size.
I also have had some problems with customer service, never being able to get around talking to anybody, but it was only one question I had and found the answer on their website.
I came from at&t and haven't looked back.
Sent from my SGH-I997 using xda app-developers app
I plan on switching from AT&T to Straight Talk. Right now, AT&T provides good reception here. TracFones have terrible reception here. Will Straight Talk also have bad reception here?
Straight Talk uses AT&T towers so you'll get whatever signal AT&T does (well 1/2 of them do - the other half uses TMobile so make sure to choose when signing up).
Oddly enough, Tracfone does use AT&T as well and is also part of the same company as Straight Talk, all owned by Carlos Slim - Richest man in the world, so even Tracfone should get the same signal as Straight talk. The good thing is that there is no contract so you can try out ALL of them and see what works best for you.
(actually more like 1/3 since they use Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile depending on your plan - so you might be comparing Tracfone on T-Mobile to a normal AT&T phone).
xda6969 said:
I plan on switching from AT&T to Straight Talk. Right now, AT&T provides good reception here. TracFones have terrible reception here. Will Straight Talk also have bad reception here?
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The other thing is TracFones are low quality devices and poor reception could have a lot to do with that. The settings in your APN (which are different between the two) will not affect signal strength but will affect data speed. You should get as strong a signal as anyone else on ATT. Data speed may be lower because of the N4 and 4g.
shotta35 said:
Straight Talk uses AT&T towers so you'll get whatever signal AT&T does (well 1/2 of them do - the other half uses TMobile so make sure to choose when signing up).
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The Straight Talk site is leaving me with some questions. I want to transfer my AT&T number. Once I get the phone, I'm sure I need to go to Activate/Reactivate-Transfer Number. The next screen requires that I give them the Phone IMEI and some other info. Will I get the option to select AT&T towers on a later screen?
Tracfone has cdma and gsm (att/tmo) services, so 3 things could be going on.
1) Tracfone is cdma so straight talk ATT is fine in your area.
2) Tracfone is tmo gsm so straight talk ATT is fine in your area.
3) Tracfone is att gsm so straight talk may not work for you and the reason att gets a solid signal is because it's roaming.
xda6969 said:
The Straight Talk site is leaving me with some questions. I want to transfer my AT&T number. Once I get the phone, I'm sure I need to go to Activate/Reactivate-Transfer Number. The next screen requires that I give them the Phone IMEI and some other info. Will I get the option to select AT&T towers on a later screen?
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If you are activating from the site then it probably checks your IMEI to see what phone it is then puts you on the correct track. By choosing SIM Plan you choose CDMA, 850Mhz (AT&T) or TMobile which then gives you the right SIM (or none).
If you use a nexus 4 i hear they don't know that IMEI so you'll just have to find that one they suggest or call them or whatever.
threeclaws said:
Tracfone has cdma and gsm (att/tmo) services, so 3 things could be going on.
1) Tracfone is cdma so straight talk ATT is fine in your area.
2) Tracfone is tmo gsm so straight talk ATT is fine in your area.
3) Tracfone is att gsm so straight talk may not work for you and the reason att gets a solid signal is because it's roaming.
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I just got off the phone with TracFone/Straight Talk (after a 45 min wait) and they verified the 2 TracFones here are using AT&T's network. I hope the problem with the TracFone signals here are the cheap phones and the Nexus 4 will prove to be better. I don't think I am roaming with my phone. I don't have the Nexus 4 yet. I am using the Nokia N85. I don't see a roaming icon on it although I am not sure it even has one. I can't order the SIM now because the N85 takes a standard SIM and I beleive the Nexus 4 takes a micro SIM. If I order the Straght Talk SIM and transfer my number to it, I don't think I can put it in the N85 to use while I wait for the Nexus 4 to return to stock.
The N85 has a spring loaded slot? In any case, the MicroSIMs come in a SIM card cut out which includes a MINISIM which you then break the MicroSIM out of. To use it on a normal phone you just slide it back into the MiniSIM cutout (adapter) and then slide it into your N85. Once the N4 comes you can then take out it's adapter and slide just the MicroSIM into the Nexus 4.
xda6969 said:
I just got off the phone with TracFone/Straight Talk (after a 45 min wait) and they verified the 2 TracFones here are using AT&T's network. I hope the problem with the TracFone signals here are the cheap phones and the Nexus 4 will prove to be better. I don't think I am roaming with my phone. I don't have the Nexus 4 yet. I am using the Nokia N85. I don't see a roaming icon on it although I am not sure it even has one. I can't order the SIM now because the N85 takes a standard SIM and I beleive the Nexus 4 takes a micro SIM. If I order the Straght Talk SIM and transfer my number to it, I don't think I can put it in the N85 to use while I wait for the Nexus 4 to return to stock.
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Yeah I have no idea how to check for roaming on an n85, I wish you luck though although in my experience cheap dumb phones have gotten better reception that my smartphones
shotta35 said:
The N85 has a spring loaded slot? In any case, the MicroSIMs come in a SIM card cut out which includes a MINISIM which you then break the MicroSIM out of. To use it on a normal phone you just slide it back into the MiniSIM cutout (adapter) and then slide it into your N85. Once the N4 comes you can then take out it's adapter and slide just the MicroSIM into the Nexus 4.
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My ST MicroSIM didn't come with any kind of adapter.
threeclaws said:
Yeah I have no idea how to check for roaming on an n85, I wish you luck though although in my experience cheap dumb phones have gotten better reception that my smartphones
My ST MicroSIM didn't come with any kind of adapter.
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I was just going to ask this question next. Perhaps ST doesn't do the cut-out/adaptor with their SIMs. Darn. It would have been nice to get started and compare it vs AT&T on the N85. The N85 does have a spring-loaded slot. Here is an excellent article about SIM adaptors and possible damage from using them.
http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/features/item/14444_The_Curse_of_Micro_SIM_Adapter.php
As I thought, the ST AT&T sim doesn't give me strong signal strength on the Nexus 4 like the genuine AT&T sim does on the Nokia N85. I do not know how to check the actual db on the Nokia so I can't get the actual numbers. I suspect AT&T assigns the lowest priority to third parties leasing their lines...or someting to that effect. I can get stronger signal by selecting 2G speed only on the Nexus 4 but it sucks to have to do that.
I don't believe that for a second. signal bars between different phones are not standardized at all.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
I would like to find out the actual signal in db on the N85. Then I have actual number to compare. I do know that my first call yesterday with ST dropped within a minute. I don't have that issue with the genuine AT&T service phone.
I recently received my Nexus 4 phone and went with a T-Mobile no contract plan. I noticed that I am only getting 2g service. Next to my connectivity bars it shows a G. My data reception is very slow. Is there a way to get faster data speeds by tweaking some settings or am I stuck with the slow 2G speeds? Where I live I am limited to Verizon or us cellular. In order to get a no contract with one of these companies I would have had to get one of their no contract phones. Had to travel about an hour to get to T-Mobile store. Is AT&T any better? Thanks.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD
Do you live in an area with T-Mobile 4g coverage? If not, you are borked. If you should have 4g coverage, make sure your APN settings are all entered correctly. They have to be exactly right.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
After doing some research I believe the data service is only going to be 2G. What a bummer! Such a great phone and I can't use it to it's full potential. Only had it a week and looks like I'm going to have to get rid of it already. Thanks for the the info. Guess I'll have to go back to the money sucking Verizon.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD
Sounds like you are out in the boonies so chances are tmo is not a good choice for you (ATT is probably lousy too) you don't necessarily have to go back to verizon proper though, pageplus is a viable option and could be much cheaper ($55/mo for unl talk/text + 1gb data) depending on your usage. You won't be able to use the n4 on pageplus but you could always "downgrade" to a galaxy nexus.
edit - Looks like pageplus has some updated plans, the $55 plan now has 2gb of data and they've added a $70 plan that has 5gb of data.
I don't really live in the boonies, but where I live there is basically verizon or us cellular to choose from. Can not use the nexus4 on their networks because they do not support the nexus 4 technology. I only get 2G with t mobile or att and the data speed is horrible. Believe I will be looking for a galaxy nexus 4g phone. At least I can use that on verizons network. Again, thanks for your info.
I received my Nexus 4 form T mobile and didn't really buy in to the whole death grip issue but noticed the cell antenna signal was really jumpy - i first thought it was software related. In my area i have my ime attached to my optimum wifi to pickup a signal which is heavily available on long island, ny. Switching form the iphone and sprint which i always put 3rd behind verizon, att. I assumed t mobile would be an issue but did not expect the poor coverage i got. The iphone on sprint never showed no signal, i actually cant remember one time with my evo 4g, nexus 3, iphone 4, 4s and 5 where i was anywhere saying dam no signal or dropped call while on sprint. tmobile on the nexus 4 would show an empty triangle as soon as i walked inside a building and was non existent in my home. I assumed software because with wifi off it would hold a signal longer, I'm ok with it dropping cell data on wifi and even tried to not use wifi on weak signal but still had issues.
The phone never went to edge, which i would have been ok with becasue it meant i could make a call, nothign worse than no signal at all. my friend had tmobile sg3 and in my house it would auto switch to full edge in my house, my nexus would show one H bar and then go empty until i switched to 2g or turned off wifie to kill my battery while struggling for one H bar.
I actually got tmobile to drop my contract becasue they could not supply a signal boost. i went to straight talk att sim and had issues, better but still issues. Moved on to gophone, while gophone att is the best signal i noticed since getting the phone i have an open support case with LG to send it in and but am waiting until i have my new nexus 4 form google play which is coming monday. I plan to test the new one, non tmobile while i send in the tmobile one to LG and will resell the LG resend if all goes well. im hoping i received a lemon and all my signal issues go away but have been really frustrated to date.
Especially with APN and prepaid settings, at least straightalk att sim had settigns included, the att gogphone is really secredt about what to give me, multiple reps give different info and advise i need different gophone plans.
Its killing the nexus 4, i even tried the t mobile $60 or $65 plan and could not get a signal in my home or get it to switch to 2g automatically.
So my 2 year contract through Verizon finally ended thank God, and I decided to switch to Straight Talk through their BYOP Activation Kit at Walmart. I followed all the steps through the kit and found on the Web just to be safe and got it running on the T-Mobile sim. My only problem is that I cannot get 4G LTE. I get 3G but it will not let me do anything on 3G and when I try to do something involving data or messaging it switches to H+ just long enough to do these things. I have rooted the phone and ensured that Band 4 is activated through the Service Mode on my phone and still nothing. I have even tried multiple APNs. Is it maybe just that there is little to no T-Mobile 4G around here? Running Android 4.4.2 by the way.
Sent from my SM-N900V
Bukimari said:
So my 2 year contract through Verizon finally ended thank God, and I decided to switch to Straight Talk through their BYOP Activation Kit at Walmart. I followed all the steps through the kit and found on the Web just to be safe and got it running on the T-Mobile sim. My only problem is that I cannot get 4G LTE. I get 3G but it will not let me do anything on 3G and when I try to do something involving data or messaging it switches to H+ just long enough to do these things. I have rooted the phone and ensured that Band 4 is activated through the Service Mode on my phone and still nothing. I have even tried multiple APNs. Is it maybe just that there is little to no T-Mobile 4G around here? Running Android 4.4.2 by the way.
Sent from my SM-N900V
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Try this Apn setting :
Switch to Global
Name : TmobileMMs
Apn. : fast.t-mobile.com
And leave everything else empty had a friend said it worked for him.
Just tried this, nothing works at all. Had to switch back to the Straight Talk APN. Oh I guess posting my APN might help.
Name: STRAIGHT_TALK
APN: wap.tracfone
MMSC: (http)://mms(.)tracfone(.)com
**remove the parentheses, being a new user I cannot post links.**
MMC: 310
MNC: 260
APN Type: default,mms,supl,hipri
*All other fields are blank or default.
Sent from my SM-N900V
I am having a similar issue. It's the Verizon Note 3 on Straight Talk AT&T sim. I get H+ but no LTE. I am running stock 4.4.2 not rooted. I really like this phone but if I can't get my 4G LTE working on it I will sell or trade for a AT&T branded note 3 unlocked. I know what part of the problem is. It's the way Verizon sets up their phones. They are LTE capable yes, but Vzw makes sure those capable bands are with their sim cards and frequencies.
I'll have to do some searching on XDA but I think I remember seeing something about rooting the phone, getting into the hidden menu, and changing the bands to the st att sim will get 4G LTE. If someone could chime in here to verify this and point me in that direction it would be great.
On mine with root access I can get into Service mode and apparently by default since one of the latest updates from Verizon their Note 3 has Band 4 enabled. I know if you have AT&T you can select different bands through service mode as well however with my T-Mobile sim changing this simply makes it not work. Could that be what you're referring to?
Sent from my SM-N900V
Yes but it's not working for me. I found out the ONLY way to get the Verizon note 3 to work on Straight Talk AND get LTE is to use the cmda part of the phone, I:E call ST, give them a cdma activation code, and have them switch your service over to the cdma part of the phone.
Well it looks like that's what I'll be doing then because H+ just isn't cutting it. Although it is better than Verizon 3G, considering I hardly got 4G through Verizon anyway.
Sent from my SM-N900V
yeah I hear ya. H+ is ok, but 4G LTE it is NOT!....lol. Keep in mind Straight Talk still doesn't "Guaranty" 4G LTE service. Like most people, I have found that Straight Talk LOVES to quid pro quo themselves out of any responsibility for their service faults. They will blame it on your phone, your area, heck, they will even blame your lack of signal on you when they can saying you did something to your phone to make it not work.
Their customer service is their biggest downfall. But like most companies that have truck loads of money they can afford to not really care.
straight talk lte
Bukimari said:
So my 2 year contract through Verizon finally ended thank God, and I decided to switch to Straight Talk through their BYOP Activation Kit at Walmart. I followed all the steps through the kit and found on the Web just to be safe and got it running on the T-Mobile sim. My only problem is that I cannot get 4G LTE. I get 3G but it will not let me do anything on 3G and when I try to do something involving data or messaging it switches to H+ just long enough to do these things. I have rooted the phone and ensured that Band 4 is activated through the Service Mode on my phone and still nothing. I have even tried multiple APNs. Is it maybe just that there is little to no T-Mobile 4G around here? Running Android 4.4.2 by the way.
Sent from my SM-N900V
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Straight talk now has Verizon LTE Sim cards. Switch to the Straight Talk Verizon network and purchase their LTE Sim card and you will get a better Verizon coverage and get LTE working.
patrickpingpong said:
Straight talk now has Verizon LTE Sim cards. Switch to the Straight Talk Verizon network and purchase their LTE Sim card and you will get a better Verizon coverage and get LTE working.
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Well that's good to know. I ended up calling ST after making this thread and when I told them it was a Verizon phone they acted like it was impossible to activate 4G even after I explained it was a world phone. Once I requested to speak to a supervisor they told me they would "work on it and give me a call back". A few days later my phone mysteriously started getting 4G LTE haha.
Sent from my SM-N900V
I understand that volte is not supported on the 6p when it comes to using at&t.
How is the quality of calls when it comes to being dropped to 3g or h+? Right now I have T-Mobile and I like them but their coverage is struggle in my area especially at work and I'm extremely thinking about switching to at&t. The only thing holding me back is volte which sucks. I dont care much about wifi calling as I don't even use it currently with T-Mobile. Can you at least surf the web while on a call? Obviously not over LTE but over 3g/h± ? Thanks
1. Calls are no different in quality for me. I had a AT&T branded note 4 with volte.
2. Yes i can surf the web while on a phone call on 3g/H/H+. The only ones that can't are cdma carriers. Verizon/sprint and any of their mvno's.
chevanlol360 said:
I understand that volte is not supported on the 6p when it comes to using at&t.
How is the quality of calls when it comes to being dropped to 3g or h+? Right now I have T-Mobile and I like them but their coverage is struggle in my area especially at work and I'm extremely thinking about switching to at&t. The only thing holding me back is volte which sucks. I dont care much about wifi calling as I don't even use it currently with T-Mobile. Can you at least surf the web while on a call? Obviously not over LTE but over 3g/h± ? Thanks
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I'm not sure about how it works on at&t but on Verizon volte works great. I can be on a phone call and surf the web over LTE. If you're not in a good service area it can be annoying because it will drop calls when you lose LTE service and go to 3g and obviously volte doesn't work on 3g. I live in a major city so this really isn't an issue for me for the most part.
I also came from a ATT branded Note 4 on ATT. VOLTE stopped the second the 6p booted with the ATT SImcard. I had no issues with non-volte voice quality, And Voice+data has always worked with ATT's GSM network. I did end up switching to Verizon simply for VOLTE. Along with the other VOLTE features. Like the faster dialing..etc.
NickOlsen8390 said:
I also came from a ATT branded Note 4 on ATT. VOLTE stopped the second the 6p booted with the ATT SImcard. I had no issues with non-volte voice quality, And Voice+data has always worked with ATT's GSM network. I did end up switching to Verizon simply for VOLTE. Along with the other VOLTE features. Like the faster dialing..etc.
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You swapped to VZW just for VoLTE?
pejhod said:
You swapped to VZW just for VoLTE?
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Honestly, It was the faster dialing. (From the time you hit dial to the time it's actually ringing)
I'm an engineer for an Internet/Phone provider. And do a lot of test dials from my cell phone. Waiting ~10 seconds for the call to actually reach 180 progress was bugging me. ATT's HD voice switch did the same call in ~1sec, Just as VZW does. Sounds petty, I know. But it was driving me crazy.
So anyone know how to enable wifi calling and hd voice using 6P on AT&T?