Category: Straight Talk

Need ideas on the next Unlocked Phone? Switching Carriers!

Paul

Androids And Friend — Flickr

I’ve Pretty Much Decided!

I’m going to probably go buy an Unlocked Cell phone from Amazon.  They have some Great selections of phones unlocked Cell Phones for under $200 (Amazon Affiliate Link).   I still have my old AT&T straight Talk sim that was used for the HTC Inspire 4g Phone.   Even though the LG Optimus F3 is not a bad phone, I was tempted to unlock it fully to use with Straight Talk.   I honestly thought it was better to go buy an unlocked phone that can be used for any carrier that I choose to use it with.

I’ve loved Android phones since, I started using them and will continue to use them but I have yet to enjoy the idea of Virgin Mobile US reducing my speed by a half to 2g speeds.   I’m really not happy with the idea of reducing my speed to that extent and I’ve been one of those that love Unlocked Cell Phones and no contract plans.   If the Sim from the HTC inspire can’t be used, at least Straight Talk still has options available to buy new sim cards for!!

Which Phone!

I’m calling all readers on which phone I should buy under a 200$ and I’m really interested in which one you want me to review on this site!   Please leave a comment and tell me what you want to see me review.   I’m like the Motorola Moto G that is nice!  I am up in the air on this but I will have to decide soon! 😉

Virgin Mobile Did what to my Data Speeds?

Paul

Got this text Message!

VMFreeMsg: Starting 5/6/14, if you use over 2.5GB of data during your mo. plan cycle, data speeds will now be reduced to 2G speeds. Info at http://msg4u.us/vwae

I don’t know about anyone else but when I first got this text message, I was like so How fast is 2g speeds verses 3g speeds on Google Now!  So Here’s is the breakdown of this:

Speeds

 

  • 2g is on average about 115 kilobytes per second  (A little faster than voice calling people)
  • 3g is on average about 614 Kilobytes per second (Good for some streaming media)
  • 4g is on average about 20 Megabytes per Secong (On average it varies from phone to phone)

 

As you can see this doesn’t really explain it very well but let’s try to make it easier to understand this:

1 byte is 8 bits, so 1000 kilobytes(1,024 bytes which is 8192 bits) and you need 65536 kilobytes to make 1 Megabyte of data.   So you can see that the larger the file or anything you do on the phone will be drastically slowed down on the phone.   If yo do the math or at least think about it, you can go to a free wifi hotspot to get better speeds than this.   

Virgin Mobile and Boost is screwing you!

Virgin mobile seems to want you to go to another prepaid service.   Even with Straight Talk, they do something like this on their networks.   They do limit there speeds but I am unsure as to what the speeds are lately but they aren’t unlimited either.

It looks like I have a few options, Straight Talk although they do the same thing but not as bad, T-mobile Which looks to be comparable to Virgin Mobile or Boost.   You could try MetroPCS but I can’t seem to verify that it is truly unlimited and that is what I am looking for.   I am asking for help to find something that isn’t as restrictive as what Virgin Mobile is doing.   I might buy a data plan for my home now.   So I am going to look into this some more but if you know of a prepaid plan that is truly unlimited, please leave a comment and let everyone know!

My Reasons Why I use Prepaid Cellular Service and avoid contracts!

Paul

Prepaid phones

Prepaid Service is Better!

My sister called me wanting to know about prepaid cellular services.   She is getting tired of paying for contracts and all those really high fees for unlimited everything.  She wanted me to research this and tell her which service is best for her whether it be Straight Talk, Virgin Mobile, T-mobile, and Cricket Wireless. I know I’ve talked about some of these services and ideas in the past and  they have been nothing but a way to keep my bills from to high and they actually help me save money in the long run.  I will talk about some of these and hopefully they will make it easier for you to decide.

Lower Payments!

I know this might sound like everyone else but I have found, that since I have yet to buy a contract.  I’ve have keep my fees really know.   Like this Virgin Mobile USA phone the Kyocera rise, I have yet to pay anymore than 36$ a month on services.  I’m paying for 200 minutes an unlimited text and Data. I have been using Google Voice, as my VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) provider and only had to pay $10 for the phone number.  So I am basically using the unlimited Data to do all I need and rarely use my minutes.

On a side note, you basically pay more for your contract services because you are paying for the Phone you buy and buying an Iphone can cost anywhere from $800 to $1,000.  So they add that on to your bill in small amounts but you they don’t pay for it but you do in one way or another.

Unlimited Data!

Something seems to be happening in the Phone industry where all contract providers are giving you limits.  So you can avoid those limits and tell them you don’t want to have limits.  I am seeing Virgin Mobile USA, Straight Talk, and T-mobile all have unlimited data even though they throttle your data you still can use it after you go beyond the limit.   AT&T and Verizon Wireless charges you for more data services.  So you have to be careful and not go over your limit.

Unlocked Cell Phones

Having seen this in the past with my HTC Inspire, I can take my phone with me when I want to and switch my service and possibly get even better signal strength but it isn’t always the case because some prepaid cell providers will not have SIM Cards to use with your unlocked cell phone.   So it will just depend be a smaller amount of places like Straight Talk and and T-Mobile who will carry sims that you can buy to use with their services.   Others are starting to sell sims but it will take time for other providers to have them and sell them.

Better Customer Service

With smaller companies you get to be a little more personal with customer service.   The Bigger the company the harder it is to get anything done.   It seems they like to build more red tape and keep you frustrated.  I have found the smaller companies want to keep you as a customer and will do almost anything to keep you with them.   If they have to give you a discount to keep you they will over look small stuff and not penalize you for it.  So you can save money from time to time by talking with them and you could even get a free month of service if you do it right.

I am sure these are just a few but these are why I will always go with No Contract Cellular services and not be bound down by a contract.   I can save so much money this way that I will not even consider using anything else but no contract providers.

Paul Sylvester

The Story of my failing battery and why it happens!

Paul

Batteries

It’s been a while!

Having had my HTC Inspire for over a few months, it was a brand new inspire.   It was actually a used one from my sister. So I got what I wanted to get an actually android working on the Straight Talk Network and all life is good!  Until recently, I’ve started to notice a few things with my phone that I wanted to share with everyone else in case you’ve had the same problem I had!  If you’ve not had this problem before you might have it later on! 

Phone just Shuts off while unplugged!

As you know this might not be the only time it shuts off but it will be a good indication that something is wrong with the battery!  There is a great explanation on how batteries work over at HowStuffWorks, I won’t go into detail about this but I will explain some of what is happening.   The rest after all should fall in place when you read the article!  Over the past 2 months or so, I’ve had the phone just randomly shut down but it didn’t start doing it like it did yesterday and today.  

Why Does it Shut down!

Basically the cell phone thinks it has more power than what the battery pack is telling it.  You see batteries that are stored in this fashion or even used can only be charged and discharged to a certain extent and thus once you hit that no power threshold in that cell batter then it can’t be charged due to fact that you might just blow up the cell.   While on the subject, what is a battery cell?  A battery cell is typically more than one battery but can also be one battery.   It is used in either parallel or sequential series, you can find out more about that by reading that article also.   This is all fascinating but what does this have to do with the battery?  You’re probably asking yourself this question.

Each battery cell has a circuit where you once it hits the charge limit it just shuts the that cell down and you can no longer access it or use it.   So when your cell phone thinks it has a full and you loose power quickly then that is basically the reason.   The battery knows how much it can send to your phone but your phone is only learning this over time.   It is definetly a process that just is crazy.  


How does this help me?

It basically is a good indication that your battery is get old in age and needs to be replaced.  If it happens to you at least once a few weeks it is probably a good idea to replace the battery.   Now I must comment, sometimes it isn’t the battery but the software.  I thought so, and I put my old Froyo OEM version of Android back on my phone and it still did it.  So if you don’t want to have to send off for that battery and pay extra to over night it, it is probably a good idea to have one who two batteries ready once you start seeing symptoms like this.   I sure learned my lesson for next time this happens.

Paul Sylvester

My Amazon Link

Getting you Picture Messages and Multimedia Messages to work on Straight Talk AT&T!

Paul

The Need to Update your APN!

I’ve found an updated APN that can be used to give you access to Multimedia Text message, in essence picture messages for some of you who are on the Straight Talk AT&T Network!  This APN setting will only work for any that have #89014 on their sim.  If you don’t then you might try looking elsewhere or maybe consider contacting me, and I’ll do the hard work and find the right APN for your situation!  This also will only work if you have an Unlocked Phone [Affiliate Link]!

Before you do this though, It is time to do a APN Backup of your settings.   You wouldn’t want to have to look for those APN Settings that are working all over again.   This might work for you but then again it might not.  It seems to work for me and Another reader on our HTC Inspire 4G Unlocked Cell phones [Amazon Affiliate Link].   So I’m not entirely certain that it will work 100%.

Delete all existing APNS and enter these APNS!

Name: HOME

APN: att.mvno Leave everything else alone

EXCEPT the bottom selection that says:

APN type: default,supl

Then save, next choose to add another APN

Name: MMS

APN: att.mvno

MMSC: http://mmsc.cingular.com

MMS proxy: proxy.mvno.tracfone.com

MMS port: 80

APN type: mms 

THEN SAVE You will see that only one APN has the option to be chosen, that is ok, Just choose the one that is able to be chosen. Now go back to Homescreen and then reboot your phone.  If this doesn’t work you can always restore you APN’s and no harm no fowl.   I just know that some of you are wanting to recieve the Pictures messages on Straight Talk AT&T.   I encourage you to contact me if you need help finding the APN for your Straight Talk Phone.  Please remember to support my blog, because it is only with your help I can keep this site running.  

Paul Sylvester

My Amazon Affiliate Link