Experience with alternate cell phone carriers?

Zach Hill · **Posted:** Wed Dec 11, 2013 11:24 am

Les Davis wrote:

One question, and I'm sure I could find this out myself but perhaps you know. My current phone Motorola Razr MAXX HD has a GSM radio in it as well as the CDMA and a SIM card slot, can I just get it unlocked and use a on any network even though it is a "Verizon" phone?

I don't really have an answer for that. My GSM phone lists 'CDMA' (actually 'WCDMA', whatever that is) as a connection option too deep in the debug menus, but I know for a fact it will never work on Verizon or Sprint. I may be using the terms "GSM" and "CDMA" incorrectly from a technical standpoint. As far as I know, your Verizon phone will never work on any other network, but if you get it to work please let us know.

MikeWhitney wrote:

Zach, nice writeup. One question -- why are you on ATT prepaid instead of an MVNO? Seems to be $10-15 more per month on the same network (with a "different" cap). Just wondering what your motivation was. (I can think of several, but I'd like to hear from you!)

Couple reasons. First being Kolu has had an AT&T account for ages and it was easy to add a second line for me when we needed to test and see if their service would be good enough at our new house. Second, we purchased a MicroCell (small device that you plug into your broadband internet and it broadcasts a cellular network) to get signal inside our brick house, and I'm not sure if MVNOs will work with those, but it may be possible. And thirdly, Kolu and I both use about 5GB each per month, and I know that Straight Talk's "unlimited" plan is actually only 2GB, so that wouldn't work for us.

Maybe there is an MVNO option for us, but I actually just yesterday moved us to AT&T's new Mobile Share Value Plan without contract, so we're paying $126/month ($100 for 10GB - 24% Duke employee discount, +$25 for each line) for two lines, unlimited talk+text, and 10GB shared data. Considering the coverage, I think it's pretty reasonable. If there's an MVNO that can beat that price for that service, and will work with the MicroCell, I'd definitely look into it.

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Wed Dec 11, 2013 1:46 pm

Les Davis wrote:

One question, and I'm sure I could find this out myself but perhaps you know. My current phone Motorola Razr MAXX HD has a GSM radio in it as well as the CDMA and a SIM card slot, can I just get it unlocked and use a on any network even though it is a "Verizon" phone?

This likely doesn't help, but I think the answer is "maybe". Prior to moving to ST, I was on Sprint and had an "international" Sprint phone. It had radios for both CDMA and GSM, but it primarily was a CDMA phone. It was still locked to Sprint, so I couldn't just fly to Europe and drop in a SIM from a vending machine and use European GSM networks. I think it actually had a Sprint GSM SIM in it, and if I wanted to use that phone, in Europe, that I would have had to have Sprint setup an international plan for the GSM side. I assume, but don't know for sure that if you own the phone free and clear that you might be able to unlock both the CDMA and GSM parts of the phone that you could potentially use a GSM MNVO. Ultimately when I moved to ST, I also switched phones, so I never tried to get that phone unlocked (the phone sort of sucked so I didn't want to keep it).

Richard

noahfleming · **Posted:** Wed Dec 11, 2013 5:46 pm

Andrew Jonell wrote:

Just a quick detail about T-Mobile's HSPA+, they have rolled out HSPA+42 (one of the areas is in the Triangle) which is 42Mbit service and gives LTE a run for it's money. But, limited coverage and has a higher latency than LTE.

Also it has less range, but the technology is great in terms of throughput, especially upload throughput from the device to the tower.

MarekRozanski · **Posted:** Wed Dec 11, 2013 9:17 pm

Zach Hill wrote:

Okay, I'll chime in...

Zach, you need to post this on a blog somewhere. It's the best writeup on the differences between networks and carriers I think I've ever read.

Also, I completely agree with your sentiments on CDMA lock-in. Being able to pop out my GSM SIM card and stick it in another device at whim is a great feeling. Being able to stick an Orange card in my own phone while traveling in Europe... priceless.

Donnie Barnes · **Posted:** Wed Dec 11, 2013 9:57 pm

It just sucks that those of us who spend a lot of time in rural places really have no decent choice other than Verizon because there's just no good GSM coverage in the boonies. *sigh*

--Donnie

DickRasmussen · **Posted:** Thu Dec 12, 2013 9:55 am

MarekRozanski wrote:

Zach Hill wrote:

Okay, I'll chime in...

Zach, you need to post this on a blog somewhere. It's the best writeup on the differences between networks and carriers I think I've ever read.

Also, I completely agree with your sentiments on CDMA lock-in. Being able to pop out my GSM SIM card and stick it in another device at whim is a great feeling. Being able to stick an Orange card in my own phone while traveling in Europe... priceless.

What about Verizon Global Ready phones? Here is what Verizon says. What does it really mean? Is there a way to use the Global Ready capability in the US also?

Quote:

Global Roaming FAQs
Can I unlock my Global Ready™ device while traveling overseas to use local service?

Yes, you can unlock your device to use local service. The steps required to unlock your device vary by the type of device you have:

4G Global Ready devices - 4G Global Ready devices are unlocked by default. You don't need to do anything to unlock it.
3G Global Ready devices - If you have a 3G device, call Customer Service at *611 from your mobile phone or (800) 922-0204. For the unlock request to be processed, you must have an active Verizon Wireless account for at least 60 days in good standing.
Notes:

When using a local SIM card, you’ll be using a different (local) number. We can’t troubleshoot network issues when a local SIM card is being used.
SIM cards come in different sizes. Be sure to find the proper SIM card size before inserting into your device.
Remember, if you use a local SIM card/service, you’re receiving service from the carrier that supplied the SIM card and not from Verizon Wireless. Therefore, you’ll be billed by the carrier supplying your service and not Verizon Wireless.

http://support.verizonwireless.com/supp ... l%20ready*

Ryan Holton · **Posted:** Thu Dec 12, 2013 9:59 am

Donnie Barnes wrote:

It just sucks that those of us who spend a lot of time in rural places really have no decent choice other than Verizon because there's just no good GSM coverage in the boonies. *sigh*

--Donnie

^this^

Full Big Red 4G awesomeness, no muss, no fuss.

Karl Shultz · **Posted:** Mon Dec 23, 2013 12:06 pm

Hey Zach, I keep meaning to say thanks for posting that excellent writeup. Very well done and very helpful.

I think my conclusion is that I'm sticking with Verizon. A few reasons:

- Family in Catawba means Sprint based devices are probably a non-starter
- Same for the occasional trip to the mountains, or to wherever.

I've been cross shopping AT&T as well, and best i can tell, the plan costs are identical, down to the dollar. For the theoretical setup of my wife and I both having an iPhone 5S, with 4GB to share between the two of us (which is well more than we use), both of them are $150/month according to their websites as of today.

In fact, my wife's phone seems to be on its deathbed, so I'll probably pull the trigger today. We're going to have to give up our unlimited data to do it, but my sense is that I'm stuck giving that up no matter what we do.

Zach Hill · **Posted:** Mon Dec 23, 2013 12:19 pm

I'm glad my writeup has been helpful. :thumbsup:

JamesMilko · **Posted:** Tue Mar 18, 2014 11:25 am

Bringing this one back from the dead, but if anyone has Republic Wireless let me know before ~5pm tomorrow. I can get you a lifetime 20% off.

I can do this on new accounts as well.

Chris Halweg · **Posted:** Tue Mar 18, 2014 11:53 am

JamesMilko wrote:

Bringing this one back from the dead, but if anyone has Republic Wireless let me know before ~5pm tomorrow. I can get you a lifetime 20% off.

I can do this on new accounts as well.

I do. Right now I have 10% off since I did the Beta. What do you need to know?

JamesMilko · **Posted:** Tue Mar 18, 2014 3:23 pm

I just need the e-mail address and name on the account.

Chris Halweg · **Posted:** Tue Mar 18, 2014 3:33 pm

JamesMilko wrote:

I just need the e-mail address and name on the account.

PM Sent.

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Experience with alternate cell phone carriers?

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