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Old 05-13-2013, 11:40 AM
 
733 posts, read 1,046,900 times
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im looking for a cell phone provider with decent 3g network coverage. 4g is good, but coverage is splotchy as fark. i have been with cricket since they took over pocket, and was with pocket before then.

3g coverage is utter crap on cricket now. it used to be decent.

im looking for prepaid alternatives to cricket. national coverage would be great, as most prepaid companies offer it, but it is not necessary as i rarely travel outside of texas.

specifically, im looking for a carrier that 1) offers some type of family plan with a discount (cricket gives 10$ off per line beyond the first on a family plan), 2) good 3g reception and 3) not a deal breaker, but offers a discount for auto bill pay would be nice.

with cricket, its really hard to listen to any internet streams (be it hulu, netflix, or the radio app i use) due to bad signals in some places. is there anything i can do to boost my signal? ive seen those silly stickers that have metal in them that you place behind your battery, but that just looks like snake oil stuff to me.

your thoughts and comments are appreciated!
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Old 05-13-2013, 12:33 PM
 
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cricket uses sprint.
i would look into net10 wireless (t-mobile).
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Old 05-13-2013, 12:53 PM
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Location: Ohio
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$30/month iPhone on Virgin Mobile interest you, OP? No family plans and you can't BYOD, but the service is cheap for a smartphone and the coverage is decent in SA.
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Old 05-13-2013, 01:11 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bo View Post
$30/month iPhone on Virgin Mobile interest you, OP? No family plans and you can't BYOD, but the service is cheap for a smartphone and the coverage is decent in SA.
virgin uses sprint as well, so he would be in the same boat as far as data speeds.
but i would give it a try, i am willing to bet sprint only gives cricket so much data usage before it throttles (network wide cricket users).
so he might have a better shot with virgin
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Old 05-13-2013, 01:12 PM
 
733 posts, read 1,046,900 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bo View Post
$30/month iPhone on Virgin Mobile interest you, OP? No family plans and you can't BYOD, but the service is cheap for a smartphone and the coverage is decent in SA.
well, that would be a lot cheaper than im paying now, so yeah it does interest me. not the iphone though, but ill wager they have a selection of android phones..

off to the google i go.

*edit*

no longer interests me. its sprints network again, which appears to be the issue with cricket as well. thanks though.

Quote:
Originally Posted by fbmakemonies View Post
virgin uses sprint as well, so he would be in the same boat as far as data speeds.
but i would give it a try, i am willing to bet sprint only gives cricket so much data usage before it throttles (network wide cricket users).
so he might have a better shot with virgin
its not speeds, its reception. when i have 3-4 bars, crickets speeds are decent and my streams come in fine.

however, when im on the highways/driving and listening to an internet stream, its choppy the majority of the time.

i dont come close to my 'full data speed limit' on cricket either. i only use the streaming bit when im highway driving, which isnt much.

looking into net10. they seem to have family plans (85/month 2 people) and the speeds are 3g, which is acceptable for what im using. i just have to procure a tmobile phone (ive seen a ton of galaxy sIIIs on craigslist that were tmobile and prices 100+ cheaper than say, a verizon or sprint sIII) and im good.

do you know if its possible to get on a family plan with net10sim, or do you have to go through net10wireless?

Last edited by KM1174; 05-13-2013 at 01:31 PM..
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Old 05-13-2013, 01:21 PM
 
Location: San Antonio, TX
11,495 posts, read 26,859,038 times
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I have Tmobile and their data coverage is spotty all over town. I know they offer a prepaid plan as well, I would guess the data coverage on their prepaid plan is probably equally bad.
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Old 05-13-2013, 01:49 PM
 
733 posts, read 1,046,900 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hedgehog_Mom View Post
I have Tmobile and their data coverage is spotty all over town. I know they offer a prepaid plan as well, I would guess the data coverage on their prepaid plan is probably equally bad.
so, are there any devices you could buy to boost reception in a car? that would be my next step, as i dont really want to switch carriers if i dont have too (though it gives me a good excuse to get a better phone).
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Old 05-13-2013, 01:56 PM
 
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the do make boosters that you can plug into your car. they are around $100+
the are powered by the car and have an external antenna
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Old 05-13-2013, 01:59 PM
 
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Link to car booster

i'm sure you can find more brands
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Old 05-14-2013, 08:13 AM
 
1,175 posts, read 1,437,255 times
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My wife and I use the T-Mobile $30 a month plan and we don't have any issues around town at all. Of course we could be going to different places than Hedgehog Mom, or her phone might not get as good reception.

We live outside 1604 off of Talley and get reception there, we tend to shop at Alamo Ranch and up around the NW side of 1604 and get reception throughout that area.
Our Drs. are up at the Medical Center and we get reception there.
She works at Lackland and gets reception there as well.

If you're interested, it's $30 a month for 100 voice minutes, unlimited text and unlimited data. They have other plans with more minutes as well. I think there's a $60 a month one with unlimited everything.

I buy my refills here as they give a slight discount to return customers, they auto load to the phone so I don't have to deal with pin numbers and I don't have to pay sales tax.

Calling Mart - Wireless Refill Cards
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