Straight Talk Data Network Speed in San Jose

[salilsurendran]

Metro PCS doesn't have a bring your own phone plan and hence you are pretty much stuck with the phones they offer. I was thinking that I could buy the Samsung International Version and finish my contract with Verizon and then switch over to a prepaid provider like Straight Talk or Page Plus? Does the Samsung Galaxy Note II international version support both CDMA and GSM?

[marcopolo666]

Doing some reading on the web about the proposed merger, the MetroPCS network is going to disappear in favor of T-mobile's network (since T-mobile has a *much* larger installed network). Although they claim that MetroPCS customers won't have to change a thing (same plans, same phones, etc.) they also hint that MetroPCS customers will need a new phone after a couple of years.

It looks like MetroPCS is now no longer an option for me.

[marcopolo666]

The MetroPCS/T-Mobile merger still hasn't been voted on. The terms from T-Mobile (Deutsche Telekom) have been sweetened :

MetroPCS vote on T-Mobile merger postponed as Deutsche Telekom sweetens the deal | The Verge



Also, Dish Network is sniffing around and may wish to buy T-Mobile :

Dish reportedly seeks merger with T-Mobile | Mobile - CNET News


Altho the above may not be true, as it has also been reported that Dish made an offer for Sprint :
Dish Offers to Buy Sprint, Joining Phone to TV Service - NYTimes.com

[abqcd]

Originally Posted by shadowyman

But AFAIK, ST uses AT&T and T Mobile. So you'll get the same speeds as what other ATT and Tmobile users get.

No, this is certainly not true. ATT and T-Mobile both prioritize their own contract customers over their own pre-paid customers and over the customers of their pre-paid resellers. As a result, if there is some network congestion, the data service can be at a stand-still. It is very annoying, and I may need to switch to T-mobile or ATT pre-paid as a result.

[gone down south]

Originally Posted by abqcd

No, this is certainly not true. ATT and T-Mobile both prioritize their own contract customers over their own pre-paid customers and over the customers of their pre-paid resellers. As a result, if there is some network congestion, the data service can be at a stand-still. It is very annoying, and I may need to switch to T-mobile or ATT pre-paid as a result.

Both TMob and AT&T have annoying periods of data drop-out and slowdown even for their own customers. I doubt you would notice any difference in coverage between those companies and their MVNOs.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by abqcd

No, this is certainly not true. ATT and T-Mobile both prioritize their own contract customers over their own pre-paid customers and over the customers of their pre-paid resellers. As a result, if there is some network congestion, the data service can be at a stand-still. It is very annoying, and I may need to switch to T-mobile or ATT pre-paid as a result.

Another easy solution: leave the the proxy field blank in the APN settings.

[abqcd]

Originally Posted by Drover

Another easy solution: leave the the proxy field blank in the APN settings.

That's not a solution. The proxy field is left blank by default for ATT SIMs for my NET10 service. Granted, I'm not in the cell phone business, but I'm willing to bet they do routing based on the ESN or some other identifier.