Comment by freehunter | Hacker News Reader

Comment by freehunter | Hacker News Reader

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I'm still trying to find my pre-paid provider. I have two AT&T phones, a Lumia 920 and a Nexus 4. On both phones with Net10/AT&T, I ran into an issue where, like you had mentioned, MMS was flaky to non-existent. Also, a 1.5GB cap on data for AT&T.

I switched to T-Mobile prepaid on their 5GB "unlimited" plan, but there are even worse drawbacks there. For one, I struggle to get service. My apartment is half underground, and neither VZW or TMo have coverage, even though I'm in the city. AT&T does, but they don't deserve my money. The second issue is that it only comes with 100 minutes, and I can't figure out how to activate the 10c per minute overage (my phone just tells me I'm out of minutes and I should upgrade the plan).

My SO gets frustrated when I'm out of contact, and is seriously pushing for me to get back on a contract. Maybe Google Voice and a SIP gateway would be a better option? I really don't know.

The Net10/Straight Talk data cap on AT&T SIM cards has actually been lifted,[0] now it's just 2.5GB at full speed and then throttled until the month is over.

I find that the BYOP offerings of Net10 and Straight Talk don't differ that much: both offer LTE, similar APN settings, same throttling limits, etc., as both companies are owned by TracFone. The only difference is that Straight Talk costs $45/month while Net10 costs $50/month, although if one sets up recurring payments on Net10's website the cost will be reduced to $45/month as well.

[0]: http://androidforums.com/net10/763501-net10-t-sim-card-data-...

T-Mobile has calls over wifi. It's active on the my touch line and there are packages for the CyanogenMod versions I've installed. It might still not be up to par for you but T-Mobile is good in my area so I really like it.

If you have wireless network in your apartment get a google voice number. That is what I had to use for 2 years in my apartment. Forward your Google voice number to your cell phone so that it will ring on your phone, through wireless, just like a normal phone. The only reason I ever used my minutes was when I wasn't within a wireless network.

TMo will (or at least used to) give you a range extender for free if you wouldn't get service in your residence. Probably not for prepaid though.

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