existenz

join:2014-02-12 existenz Member Needs to be unlimited to stand out Am on Sprint anyway with unlimited, would only switch if GWireless is unlimited, would be great to get best of both networks - especially as both keep expanding 700/800Mhz, which improves coverage - and Sprint is expanding rural LTE partners.

pandora

Premium Member

join:2001-06-01

Outland pandora Premium Member Re: Needs to be unlimited to stand out This weekend Freedompop (a Sprint MVNO) had LTE 4" Android phones on sale for $25. Freedompop has no monthly costs. I don't see much raving about monthly free service on this forum.

smcallah

join:2004-08-05

Home smcallah Member Re: Needs to be unlimited to stand out 200 voice minutes, 500 text, and 500mb for free is alright, but it's nothing to rave about. Especially since this is a forum where people use their technology heavily. That kind of allowance per month isn't exactly for heavy users.

pandora

Premium Member

join:2001-06-01

Outland pandora Premium Member Re: Needs to be unlimited to stand out said by smcallah: 200 voice minutes, 500 text, and 500mb for free is alright, but it's nothing to rave about. Especially since this is a forum where people use their technology heavily. That kind of allowance per month isn't exactly for heavy users.



$0 per month and $25 for a 4" smart phone are tough to beat imo. Getting 1GB of data is easy, also freedompop to freedompop calls and texts are totally free. If you use another cell VOIP service, you can have unlimited calls for free, and 1 GB of data free via Freedompop.$0 per month and $25 for a 4" smart phone are tough to beat imo.



freedomfan

@74.115.237.x freedomfan to smcallah

Anon to smcallah

I disagree. You buy a cheap phone, get the free plane and put the phone your glove box or bug out bag. Your number never changes and you can always buy more. It's a nice CHEAP backup plan in case your normal phone dies, you don't have a charge cable or whatever. Other then the roaming agreements from trac or net10 phones, can't beat the price for an emergency.



kamm

join:2001-02-14

Brooklyn, NY kamm to pandora

Member to pandora

Yeah, I scored some Freedompop USB sticks and wifi AP for $5-25 apiece. They are awesome for lower-end needs, for sure, even their monthly $30 plan is great.



jgkolt

Premium Member

join:2004-02-21

Avon, OH jgkolt to pandora

Premium Member to pandora

I hope FreedomPop does well but when i tried them out the voip quality was very poor over wifi and wimax. facebook, hangouts, google voice, all sounded much better. Republic wireless voip sounded perfect. hopefully the voip quality improved.

ncbill

Premium Member

join:2007-01-23

Winston Salem, NC ncbill to pandora

Premium Member to pandora

Paid a lot more than $25 for both WiMax & LTE Freedompop phones.



Text/data work fine, voice calls are terrible, even on Wi-Fi.



If Google is doing the same "everything runs on the data connection" like Freedompop, I hope the big G can work out the kinks.



SysOp

join:2001-04-18

Atlanta, GA 1 edit SysOp to existenz

Member to existenz

I'd be fine with 500kbps @ less than 100ms latency, unlimited throttle after the cap if the price was right.



Currently paying $19 for unlimited talk/text with 500mb LTE, then 128kpbs throttle from a reseller of Ultra Mobile on ebay.



Only using about 100mb data a month now that I've restricted all background data and added a firewall. I've removed all apps, all google services, keeping only my mobile banking, my home alarm system and google maps for GPS navigation which works fine with out google service enabled. I have all email forward to me as MMS, and I use Firefox with scripts/ads/flash blocked.



It's all here: Phone, Text, MMS, Email, Full Web, Navigation

AmericanMan

Premium Member

join:2013-12-28

united state 1 recommendation AmericanMan Premium Member Re: Needs to be unlimited to stand out



»www.here.com/download/?l ··· ng=en-US If you're trying to save data, don't use Google Maps, use HERE Maps. They allow full offline maps, it's great.



SysOp

join:2001-04-18

Atlanta, GA SysOp Member Re: Needs to be unlimited to stand out Yep. I have an offline map of the USA and it works great. Just prefer Google Maps. Works great even at 128kbps (verified)

OldCableGuy (banned)

join:2014-12-19 OldCableGuy (banned) to AmericanMan

Member to AmericanMan

or osmdroid which uses Open Street maps.



jgkolt

Premium Member

join:2004-02-21

Avon, OH jgkolt to SysOp

Premium Member to SysOp

Sounds like a lot of work and crippled functionality.



SysOp

join:2001-04-18

Atlanta, GA 3 edits SysOp Member Re: Needs to be unlimited to stand out Well, it's all there. Phone, text, MMS, Email, Full Web, Navigation



Oh right, you mean how do I live without Facebook. HAHAHA



Privacy and Security are not easy. You do understand with Google or Facebook you are not their customer, you are their product. They can sell any data collected from your device. I choose to opt out by removing all the google and facebook apps and services from my device.



dib22

join:2002-01-27

Kansas City, MO dib22 Member Re: Needs to be unlimited to stand out said by SysOp: You do understand with Google or Facebook you are not their customer, you are their product. They can sell any data collected from your device.



Check this out:

»www.cbsnews.com/news/dat ··· minutes/ This is true with all large corporations, and was not invented by google or facebook... your credit/bank card issuer and any business you buy products from have done worse with your information since before google and facebook existed.Check this out:



SysOp

join:2001-04-18

Atlanta, GA 1 recommendation SysOp Member Re: Needs to be unlimited to stand out Great info, thanks for the link!



karpodiem

Hail to The Victors

Premium Member

join:2008-05-20

Troy, MI ·WOW Internet and..

·Comcast XFINITY

karpodiem to existenz

Premium Member to existenz

said by existenz: Am on Sprint anyway with unlimited, would only switch if GWireless is unlimited, would be great to get best of both networks - especially as both keep expanding 700/800Mhz, which improves coverage - and Sprint is expanding rural LTE partners.



Remember that VZW looked at this and this was the plan originally in October when they were going to neuter unlimited data. They ultimately backed off of it, because they probably couldn't pull off the software implementation. Agreed - however - here is the $64,000,000,000 question: if the tower is congested, can they throttle at the baseband level without having access to the Sprint/T-Mobile's core network, because neither of those entities is sure as hell going to pay for the enhancements on the core network side to figure that out and transmit it to the device, even if it is within their interest to due so.Remember that VZW looked at this and this was the plan originally in October when they were going to neuter unlimited data. They ultimately backed off of it, because they probably couldn't pull off the software implementation.

existenz

join:2014-02-12 existenz Member Re: Needs to be unlimited to stand out Unlimited with 3Mbps throttle after a high cap would be acceptable enough for me to switch - and give up Sprint's unlimited.



karpodiem

Hail to The Victors

Premium Member

join:2008-05-20

Troy, MI ·WOW Internet and..

·Comcast XFINITY

karpodiem Premium Member Re: Needs to be unlimited to stand out said by existenz: Unlimited with 3Mbps throttle after a high cap would be acceptable enough for me to switch - and give up Sprint's unlimited. I think you'd be surprised at the number of people who would use it as a home internet connection replacement even with a 3Mbit downstroke

AmericanMan

Premium Member

join:2013-12-28

united state AmericanMan Premium Member Re: Needs to be unlimited to stand out said by karpodiem: I think you'd be surprised at the number of people who would use it as a home internet connection replacement even with a 3Mbit downstroke



We're on grandfathered Sprint 3G, can't wait until our tower (which maxes out around 1.2 Mbps) gets upgraded to 4G so it gets more backhaul. I hear that!We're on grandfathered Sprint 3G, can't wait until our tower (which maxes out around 1.2 Mbps) gets upgraded to 4G so it gets more backhaul.

existenz

join:2014-02-12 existenz to karpodiem

Member to karpodiem

Technically even Sprint has a hard cap on official hotspot service, but rooted Android users do exploit it.



buzz_4_20

join:2003-09-20

Biddeford, ME (Software) Sophos UTM Home Edition

Ruckus R310

buzz_4_20 Member Re: Needs to be unlimited to stand out If the device has unlimited than tethering shouldn't matter. The device is just modem no matter where the data is going.

That would be like saying my wifi devices have unlimited data but my wired devices are capped from my ISP... it's all comes from the same device.



w0g

o.O

join:2001-08-30

Springfield, OR w0g to existenz

Member to existenz

I think the FTC or FCC made it illegal some time ago for Sprint to ban tethering through third party methods. So tethering became legal if you can get it to work, including bypassing the up charges on using the official tethering apps/built in hotspot, etc.



T-Mobile has their system set up where they try to read out the HTTP headers to determine what is tethering and not. But you can bypass that by using mobile user agent strings or simply switch to encrypted https. Also ports that are not http aren't monitored at all so enjoy unlimited usage.



Sprint's method involves a custom hotspot app on the phone which switches the phones data connection from an unlimited one to a metered one even for phone data. The only way to bypass it is a third party app or rooting/custom ROM which disables that BS functionality. At which point your data connection will sit on the unlimited one all the time. You can try Foxfi and ClockworkMod USB tethering apps, or whatever you like, the goal is that they work. xda-developers will have custom ROMs and root tools to attempt to fix the built in tethering tools/apps, taking them off Sprint's hotspot for pay system.

elefante72

join:2010-12-03

East Amherst, NY elefante72 to karpodiem

Member to karpodiem

I saw a deck on that. They were introducing new CoS and after a specified threshold you would get put in that CoS for a month and limit DL slots. It must be in place because now they have launched LTE on MVNO.



And from what I remember the tower didn't need to be congested for you to get throttled. It was a little more sly than AT&T but almost as insidious.

existenz

join:2014-02-12 existenz Member Support to be modeled after Google Fiber Google Fiber phone/instant chat support is surprisingly pretty good. The reps have problem solving skills and able to do deductive reasoning, no apparent script reading. The forum support usually has response by next biz day or sooner.



But will be interesting to see how they handle things they can't control - Sprint and TMO.



Darknessfall

Premium Member

join:2012-08-17 Darknessfall Premium Member Re: Support to be modeled after Google Fiber You have to understand that Google Fiber has a pretty small customer base compared to other ISPs at the moment. It's a whole lot easier to train and monitor a smaller worker base than one, say, the size of Comcast's.

existenz

join:2014-02-12 1 edit existenz Member Re: Support to be modeled after Google Fiber Yeah, that's a factor. The original rumor on GWireless was that it would first start a pilot with existing GF users and then grow it a rate they can handle. They may not be able to suddenly take potentially 10M+ hitting its support first year.



SysOp

join:2001-04-18

Atlanta, GA SysOp Member Re: Support to be modeled after Google Fiber Clear Wireless grew at a rate they couldn't handle. The Clear marketing team had no clue that gaining subscribers faster than they could build out the network oversubscribing the towers would cause so much public backlash that once the dust settled, customers left never to return.



All clear had to do was slow down the PR monster or have customers join a waiting list. Once the tower was full, simply stop taking new customers for that tower until you put up more antennas. Or build out another area and gain subscribers there.

existenz

join:2014-02-12 1 recommendation existenz Member Re: Support to be modeled after Google Fiber Yeah, GWireless will need to be careful with how they handle a possible instant influx. If they offer a better deal than TMO/Sprint and their MVNOs (100M+ users), is realistic 10% or more will jump to GWireless when available, in addition to attracting some Droid users on other carriers - support probably couldn't handle that at once.



Could see them starting with Google Fiber users (they already have accounts setup - it's essentially Google Wallet accts), then maybe invite Android power users, like those that already have Google Wallet accounts before certain date and/or allow those not currently Sprint/TMO or extended customers. I imagine Sprint/TMO would like to see the latter initially.



MovieLover76

join:2009-09-11

Cherry Hill, NJ ·Verizon FiOS

(Software) pfSense

Asus RT-AC68

Asus RT-AC66

MovieLover76 Member Re: Support to be modeled after Google Fiber I think it's insane to hear all this speculation on how many users will switch and people who say they are in when all we have is a few scant details. No announcement of the service has been made.



We don't know what phones it will support

We don't know how much it will cost

No idea if they will offer the unlimited data many Sprint and T-mobile users love.

We have only the vaguest idea of how the technology works.

They already said their goal isn't to bring down pricing



Honestly, no goal of bringing down costs, the jumping between sprint, t-mobile and wifi sounds like it will only support a limited number of phones. So far I'm not hearing anything that makes me want to instantly jump.



I think people have been wishing that Google would become a carrier for so long that they are jumping the gun for whatever google attempts

It doesn't sound like a winner to me yet, but I'll reserve judgement for when we get real details on the service.

existenz

join:2014-02-12 existenz Member Re: Support to be modeled after Google Fiber Yep, all speculation, which is why I said 'if'. Nothing wrong with discussing possibilities.



KennyWest

@sbcglobal.net -1 recommendation KennyWest to MovieLover76

Anon to MovieLover76

You are right- but many DSLR users- including existenz would jump in a heart beat just because it works with his GF and he's the die hard google fanboi.

KennyWest -2 recommendations KennyWest to existenz

Anon to existenz

Only marketing to GF customers? How many are there? They only have 2 actual Metro areas. They're can't be more than roughly 10,000 at most at this point and that's being very generous to them. Also I don't see them adding too many customers to either service any time soon. Austin is behind, Many cities that have contracts don't have service or even started and yet more cities are announced. Google needs to stop promising and put their money where their mouth is at and lets see some action. Oh wait! They're not an ISP and have no plans on being one- aka- the networks will be shut down and 90% will never be built.

JasonBourne

join:2000-05-22

Kansas City, MO JasonBourne Member Re: Support to be modeled after Google Fiber And yet they were the first in my service area to offer me FTTH (at&t only offered up to 6MB DSL until about 2 years ago when they finally replaced a rotted out neighborhood feeder line that was causing dropped connections right and left, the other alternative was Comcast with their up to 50MB connections with high latencies and higher prices.)



I'm paying significantly less now for 1GB internet and tv $128, than I was to at&t for voice/dish/internet $199 (don't need a voice line we all have cell phones anyways.) Greater storage capacity, record 8 shows at once instead of 2, heavy rain/thunderheads can't wash out the signal when they go by. It's way more stable then the DSL I had.



If this is what service from a non-ISP looks like; I'll happily accept it and pay for it.



And I think you way underestimate the subscriber #'s just in my city we have ~31k, so average 4 people per home, that leaves 7,750 homes, 74 of 76 fiberhoods qualified here so that leaves 7,546 homes, now they needed ~35% take rate to qualify, so let's just use 30%.



That's 2,263 homes in my one albeit small town, KCMO itself has a population of ~400k, now include all the other communities that GF has reached here. They are well over 10k in just KC metro alone.



From where I sit, they aren't promising they are doing, and they have put their money where their mouth is, and they have acted.



Oh, and FYI a large amount of the in neighborhood fiber is all underground. They did an immense amount of directional boring, likely partially to avoid pole fees, but in many cases to reduce the fiber cable length.

existenz

join:2014-02-12 1 edit existenz Member Re: Support to be modeled after Google Fiber



»fiber.google.com/cities/ ··· rtments/ About 600 apts/condo buildings in KC have completed or nearly completed GF so far. If avg 50 units/building, that's around 30K alone that are hooked up (though not necessarily subscribed).

smcallah

join:2004-08-05

Home smcallah to existenz

Member to existenz

They'd obviously have control over Sprint or T-Mobile as a large paying customer of them. It's not like Google is going to use the networks without Sprint or T-Mobile knowing. If there is an actual problem with either, Google as a paying wholesale customer will work it out.



KennyWest

@sbcglobal.net KennyWest Anon Re: Support to be modeled after Google Fiber hardly. TracFone is the largest MVNO in the USA and they have very little leverage. Google will have no more than what TracFone and Carlos Sims has.



HandsOff

@comcast.net HandsOff to existenz

Anon to existenz

said by existenz: Google Fiber phone/instant chat support is surprisingly pretty good. The reps have problem solving skills and able to do deductive reasoning, no apparent script reading. The forum support usually has response by next biz day or sooner.



But will be interesting to see how they handle things they can't control - Sprint and TMO. Google is notorious for poor support of their products. They depend on customers helping each other in customer forums to provide 99% of their support. Phone support barely exists and Google does its best to make sure users can't find phone numbers to call?



gigahurtz

Premium Member

join:2001-10-20

USA gigahurtz Premium Member One bad network to another, no thanks. I have no interest in this service and I love Google. This is extremely disappointing but was to be expected.



SysOp

join:2001-04-18

Atlanta, GA SysOp Member Just imagin if American Mobile did this American Mobile is a MVNO with all 4 top tier providers.



(Page Plus, Straight Talk, Net10, Tracphone, Simple Mobile are all owned by AM)



All they need is to figure out the hardware/software side.



1 provider to rule them all

John28

join:2012-08-10

Louisville, KY 1 recommendation John28 Member google cloud With the added feature if you forget your phone conversation it will stored on the Cloud.



HandOffs

@comcast.net HandOffs Anon Hard part - hand offs for users on the move The hard part of their tech plan will be the hand offs between TMO, Sprint, & Wifi for a user on the move(like in a car). Hand offs from tower to tower inside 1 provider(say Sprint) are already somewhat shaky. Handoffs between vendors and WiFi potentially is even messier. Interested on how that will work out.

existenz

join:2014-02-12 existenz Member Re: Hard part - hand offs for users on the move They may choose a specific carrier for a single call or data session, but may switch carriers between calls or data sessions - so not switch carriers during a call. Or they may pick a carrier based on pre-defined locations known to have better service at the spot.



But if they pursue switching carriers during voice calls, will be interesting to see if they use Google Voice in front of Sprint/TMO. They'd have to have integration to the Sprint/TMO voice systems to switch carriers during a call, but I'd be surprised if Google goes that far.



Archillies

@qwest.net Archillies to HandOffs

Anon to HandOffs

I'm with Republic right now, handoffs between Sprint and Verizon don't seem to be a problem at all.



amarryat

Verizon FiOS

join:2005-05-02

Marshfield, MA amarryat Member what happens when... Google decides to shutter this service. It's happened before.



NOCMan

MadMacHatter

Premium Member

join:2004-09-30

Colorado Springs, CO NOCMan Premium Member Google Testing Which Carrier it wants to buy.



If they were ever going to make a move in the mobile market, buying Sprint or T-Mobile is a logical choice. I'm sure they're just figuring out which one they want.

tmc8080

join:2004-04-24

Brooklyn, NY tmc8080 Member incompatible much? wasn't a previous justification for Sprint not merging with Tmobile after ATT tried that the networks are incompatible (gsm / cdma)??



if they're going to make a universal octa band gsm/cdma handset... then have at it..

can't say that handsets like this would be cheap.



Google is going to have quite an experience trying to be a wireless carrier.

BiggA

Premium Member

join:2005-11-23

Central CT ·Cox HSI

ARRIS SB6141

Asus RT-AC68

BiggA Premium Member Great, two crappy networks put together AT&T or Verizon wouldn't allow this type of thing. So it's not really going to shake things up, considering they won't have the coverage. Even if they can manage to piggyback on Sprint's roaming agreement, that puts them with 1xRTT data in like half of the country.



David

Premium Member

join:2002-05-30

Granite City, IL David Premium Member Lessons learned?



»Nexus One Users Complain About Poor Support [40] comments



Taken from article above.

"Google appears to be only accepting e-mail customer queries, to which it pledges to reply in one to two daysfar too long, say most people who are complaining online. Many people are also turning to T-Mobile and HTC, but getting little help there. T-Mobile is often referring people back to either Google or HTC for answers to questions. HTC is often referring people back to T-Mobile, according to complaints online."



Let's hope they do better with support this time around, better than 1-2 days and you can only email them. Hopefully they have learned something since 2010.Taken from article above.Let's hope they do better with support this time around, better than 1-2 days and you can only email them.



JE

JE 's BACK BABY

Premium Member

join:2000-12-15

Charlotte, NC JE Premium Member G-Mobile or G-Wireless? GOOGLE RUNS THIS! Which name fits better? I guarantee you that T-Mobile will be bought out by Google after their Fiber launches are complete. Once they have all their customers in place and have made an instant profit off of their $100/Mo 1Gbps offering. It's inevitable.



Google has carefully & strategically executed their plan. They took over the email space 11 years ago, by launching a 1GB email service. Essentially putting all the other large email players out of business. No one else wanted to offer a 1GB free email service. G did it. We *trust* Google.



Look how long it has taken them to get this far? People as a whole still *trust* Google.

They took over Grand Central about 5 years after the email take over, to create Google Voice. We still trust Google. While other Corporate eggheads had their heads up their asses, figuring out how they could screw over customers, Google was all along carefully planning...



Now, Google is aiming to take over the Internet market, by developing a huge Fiber service...Pure Fiber! 1Gbps/1Gbps for $100 A MONTH! A FREE 5Mbps/5mbps connection with a $300 install fee. Much better than Verizon Fios could offer. Google is the shyt! REAL HD TV service. A direct hit to Verizon, Cable and Satellite. We all know Cable's horrible compressed imitation of HD is not even close to real HD. Cable's compression is in no way remotely comparable to REAL Uncompressed HD! Verizon, Satellite and Google WILL run this! I will gladly give Google my $$$$$$$$$$.



Now they are going to become an MVNO of Americas Maverick, T-Mo and the engine that could, Sprint.

That's an Instant GAIN/Acquisition of customers for T-Mobile and Sprint from Verizon and AT&T. For the right price, EVERYONE is for sale! And Google and John Legere will make it happen. I'm telling you, this is all carefully planned and strategized. Makes me wonder if the T-Mobile and Sprint merger was just a smoke screen.

It's all coming together nicely for Google. Look at their profile and suite of services, which most are FREE or low cost for the end user. I trust Google. They are the lesser of two evils.