# Help from anyone who switched to GSM using Straight Talk



## tebower (Jul 28, 2011)

Hi all,

I am currently a Verizon GN customer. I am pretty unhappy with the crappy service in my area, both 3G and NO 4G. I took the plunge today and bought the GSM Galaxy Nexus straight from Google. I intend to use it with a Straight Talk AT&T Sim card. I am looking for some help with the steps I should take to port my number from Verizon and activate the ST SIM.

As I understand it, I can purchase the SIM card from the Straight Talk website and they will ship it to me. Upon arrival, then I activate it and port my number to ST? (or AT&T as the SIM provider?)

I'd like to have it all bootloader unlocked and ROMed up with AOKP before I start the activation process.

Can someone give any insights or clarify the steps that will be needed to get this working properly? Will there be settings I will need to configure manually to get data and MMS working properly, and how would I do that?

Thank you so much!


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## HumanXv2 (Jan 5, 2012)

I just change apn to att.mvno.
I don't know about number porting since I didn't.

One piece of advice...leave the proxy field blank

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using RootzWiki


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## untruestory (Jun 12, 2012)

Straight talk tells you the apn settings you need on their site as well as on the packaging for the SIM. Like the other guy said leave the proxy blank. There's an informational thread all about prepaid services for the GN over at xda that talks about ST as well as Tmo's $30/mo plan. Also says how to port your number to Google Voice.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## Mikefrostlpn (Jun 7, 2011)

I really wish I had the conviction to switch to gsm. The ability to sim swap alone would be awesome but im spoiled by lte and the coverage. I'll just silently let them rob me until their voice over LTE comes to pass then they'll have to play by gsm rules

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using RootzWiki


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## Phaze08 (Jun 13, 2011)

Im just too lazy to shell out $400 to buy a GSM Nexus but I think I would like this. A friend of mine has a fascinate on Straight talk (He did some slightly illegal modifications to it.) but he has a pretty good experience with them. There is no 4g in my area but there is supposed to be soon. Either way Ill be leaving Verizon as soon as I can in light of the new plans.


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## codesplice (Oct 21, 2011)

Phaze08 said:


> Im just too lazy to shell out $400 to buy a GSM Nexus but I think I would like this. A friend of mine has a fascinate on Straight talk (He did some slightly illegal modifications to it.) but he has a pretty good experience with them. There is no 4g in my area but there is supposed to be soon. Either way Ill be leaving Verizon as soon as I can in light of the new plans.


When I moved to T-Mobile prepaid from AT&T postpaid, I was able to save about $50 each month. This means you could pay for that $400 phone in just 8 months without going out-of-pocket. Sure, you have to pay for it up front but you soon break even and then start raking in the savings. Just something to think about.


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## tebower (Jul 28, 2011)

I am going to save a ton of cash. In addition to the upfront cost of a Nexus, I am considering paying my wife's ETF because we'd STILL save money over the cost of paying out her contract each month.

Verizon is really making a dumb move here, and I can only hope that people will wise up and make the financially smart decision. It's the only way carriers will ever get it through their greedy heads that their prices are beyond ridiculous. $50 for 1GB? Are people getting this???


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## tebower (Jul 28, 2011)

HumanXv2 said:


> I just change apn to att.mvno.
> I don't know about number porting since I didn't.
> 
> One piece of advice...leave the proxy field blank
> ...


Where is this setting located on the Nexus?


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## codesplice (Oct 21, 2011)

tebower said:


> Where is this setting located on the Nexus?


Settings - Wireless and networks - More - Mobile Network - Access Point Names


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## BradM23 (Jan 12, 2012)

Hows the coverage with talk? What network does it use?


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## codesplice (Oct 21, 2011)

BradM23 said:


> Hows the coverage with talk? What network does it use?


With Straight Talk? Coverage is identical to either AT&T prepaid or T-Mobile prepaid, depending on which SIM you get.


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## blaineevans (Jul 11, 2011)

codesplice said:


> With Straight Talk? Coverage is identical to either AT&T prepaid or T-Mobile prepaid, depending on which SIM you get.


So can one request both sims to test coverage? (Obviously in different months.) Are the data speeds the same as "4G" on either carrier? (Again, obviously not AT&T's LTE.)

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## tebower (Jul 28, 2011)

As far as I know, it can fully use their HSPA+ networks. This article is very informative, and helped me make my decision.

http://gigaom.com/mobile/straight-talk-it-could-let-you-dump-att-or-t-mobile/


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## throwbot (Jan 2, 2012)

BradM23 said:


> Hows the coverage with talk? What network does it use?


Actually it depends on where you live. Where I live in southwest Virginia its all on Verizon's network. So buying a GSM nexus wouldn't work for me on straight talk.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## blaineevans (Jul 11, 2011)

tebower said:


> As far as I know, it can fully use their HSPA+ networks. This article is very informative, and helped me make my decision.
> 
> http://gigaom.com/mobile/straight-talk-it-could-let-you-dump-att-or-t-mobile/


Everything I read makes me want to go GSM. Thanks for that though, good breakdown.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## DeadmanIncJS (Nov 24, 2011)

@tebower - I did switch from VZW to StraightTalk. I LOVE IT!!! Coverage is just as good as (if not better) than Verizon. Speeds are good, the battery life is superb!!! When you go to www.straighttalksim.com order the UNLOCKED GSM SIM card. Ultimately they will send you an AT&T SIM (at least they did for me). When you get your phone rooted/unlocked and ready to go, call StraightTalk and tell them you want to port your current # to StraightTalk. Pretty painless process. They will give you instructions on what to put in for the Access Point Names (APN). For $45/month unlimited everything I can't bitch. Saving myself about $40/month now.


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## codesplice (Oct 21, 2011)

DeadmanIncJS said:


> Ultimately they will send you an AT&T SIM (at least they did for me).


When you choose the "unlocked GSM SIM" option, they send you a SIM for whichever network has the best coverage in your area. Yes, this will usually be AT&T, but perhaps not all the time.


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## BennyJr (Jun 26, 2011)

I want to go gsm because im not a big data user, But then again ST is unlimited. Maybe i just want better battery life for once..


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## codesplice (Oct 21, 2011)

BennyJr said:


> I want to go gsm because im not a big data user, But then again ST is unlimited. Maybe i just want better battery life for once..


"unlimited" means you have to keep it below 2GB/mo / 100MB/day or risk harassment.


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## BennyJr (Jun 26, 2011)

codesplice said:


> "unlimited" means you have to keep it below 2GB/mo / 100MB/day or risk harassment.


I hardly use 1gb i think ill be fine


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## samsuck (Jul 5, 2011)

codesplice said:


> When you choose the "unlocked GSM SIM" option, they send you a SIM for whichever network has the best coverage in your area. Yes, this will usually be AT&T, but perhaps not all the time.


Incorrect.
Most unlocked phones won't support T-Mobiles data frequencies.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using RootzWiki


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## codesplice (Oct 21, 2011)

samsuck said:


> Incorrect.
> Most unlocked phones won't support T-Mobiles data frequencies.
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using RootzWiki


Ordinarily you might be correct, but not as the term is used with StraightTalk.










You choose whether your phone is compatible with AT&T, T-Mobile, or choose "Unlocked GSM Phone" if it works on both networks.


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## Phaze08 (Jun 13, 2011)

Does gsm rally get better battery than lte? How? Why?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using RootzWiki


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## blaineevans (Jul 11, 2011)

Phaze08 said:


> Does gsm rally get better battery than lte? How? Why?
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using RootzWiki


Idk if it's true or not, but it has to do with the radio. The LTE radio uses more energy than your traditional CDMA/GSM.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## DeadmanIncJS (Nov 24, 2011)

yes, GSM gets TONS BETTER battery life. i can get on average 3hrs of screen on time w/my GSM compared to MAYBE 1.5hrs on my LTE i had. and that was even after some custom settings.


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## blaineevans (Jul 11, 2011)

DeadmanIncJS said:


> yes, GSM gets TONS BETTER battery life. i can get on average 3hrs of screen on time w/my GSM compared to MAYBE 1.5hrs on my LTE i had. and that was even after some custom settings.


I get 3 hours of screen on time on my LTE without issue?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## icanhazdroid (Jun 24, 2011)

Considering this... How is HSPA+ compared to LTE on Verizon? Also is there a way to port my number over without using Google Voice? I wouldn't mind this route but the issue is getting the number back if I decide to switch to another carrier later on down the line. I don't think Google will transfer it to a regular carrier

Edit: Google is your friend, in more ways than one...http://support.google.com/voice/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1316844


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## icanhazdroid (Jun 24, 2011)

blaineevans said:


> Idk if it's true or not, but it has to do with the radio. The LTE radio uses more energy than your traditional CDMA/GSM.
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


Technically it's at a lower frequency so it SHOULD get better battery. But of course it doesn't


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## execute.method (Sep 7, 2011)

throwbot said:


> Actually it depends on where you live. Where I live in southwest Virginia its all on Verizon's network. So buying a GSM nexus wouldn't work for me on straight talk.
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


Not necessarily. I too live in swva and know multiple people who have at&t straight talk sims. The only problem is that 3g coverage is spotty. Voice is good though.

That said, Verizon has much better coverage here. I believe I will be going straight talk anyway, when my contract is up.

I will only buy nexus devices from here on. Unless there is a major shift in the industry, which is not likely. I won't be on Verizon because it doesn't appear that there will be anymore cdma nexus devices.

Sent from my sourcerized 'nixNex using Tapafux.


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## mbh87 (Jun 14, 2011)

icanhazdroid said:


> Considering this... How is HSPA+ compared to LTE on Verizon? Also is there a way to port my number over without using Google Voice? I wouldn't mind this route but the issue is getting the number back if I decide to switch to another carrier later on down the line. I don't think Google will transfer it to a regular carrier
> 
> Edit: Google is your friend, in more ways than one...http://support.googl...&answer=1316844


When going to Straight Talk you might want to consider porting to GV instead. If for someone reason they feel that you are using too much data or are streaming, which you aren't suppose to do, then they can just cancel you and you will be out your number.

I made the switch about a month ago and I don't regret it at all. All my data usage is just browsing and no streaming anyways. I went from 1mb 3G speeds on VZW to 7mb HSPA+ on ST with the AT&T SIM. Not to mention paying $45 a month sure beats paying $100+ for a single line.

Luckily I had unlimited on my line and a lot of people are willing to take them over so I AOL'd the line and got out without even having to pay the ETF. Was a win, win situation for me.


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## tebower (Jul 28, 2011)

Follow up to my original post starting this thread:

I have just activated my service with Straight Talk. The number porting process took about 30 seconds, I was amazed! Data download speeds in my house are approximately 5mbps compared to less than 1mbps on Verizon. I couldn't be happier. Getting 500% stronger signal in my house and saving half of the bill I was paying before has me elated.

I hope others will learn from this and want to regain control from a contract as well. Good riddance, Verizon. I'm not drinking the kool-aid anymore.


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## codesplice (Oct 21, 2011)

I'm happy to see another pleased prepaid convert. Welcome to the club!


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## DeadmanIncJS (Nov 24, 2011)

im glad i switched last month too. don't see myself going back to a contract based service anytime soon


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## tebower (Jul 28, 2011)

DeadmanIncJS said:


> im glad i switched last month too. don't see myself going back to a contract based service anytime soon


Ever. Unless the universe shifts its axis and somehow post-paid becomes a better deal with more inherent value for less money...then never ever.

Also, since many people defend the value of Verizon because of their 4G network, I can't imagine that streaming music at 6MBps vs 15MBps is actually perceivable to the end user. The same can be said of video. You're still only watching one frame at a time.


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## adrman (Jun 11, 2012)

Might as well make this my first Rootzwiki post. I switched to ST on my Galaxy Nexus about 4 months ago. In the NYC area, you'll get an ATT sim. The service and coverage has been excellent so far, although I'm not a heavy data user when off wifi. Their customer service gets a bad rap, but in the one experience I had with them, (for some reason, I lost data capability on my phone for a day) they corrected the problem in a few minutes. Like others in this thread, I ported my number to Google Voice first and then just got a new number from ST, so I could test and cancel if I wanted.


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## mikeymop (Jun 28, 2011)

mbh87 said:


> When going to Straight Talk you might want to consider porting to GV instead. If for someone reason they feel that you are using too much data or are streaming, which you aren't suppose to do, then they can just cancel you and you will be out your number.
> 
> I made the switch about a month ago and I don't regret it at all. All my data usage is just browsing and no streaming anyways. I went from 1mb 3G speeds on VZW to 7mb HSPA+ on ST with the AT&T SIM. Not to mention paying $45 a month sure beats paying $100+ for a single line.
> 
> Luckily I had unlimited on my line and a lot of people are willing to take them over so I AOL'd the line and got out without even having to pay the ETF. Was a win, win situation for me.


I've been trying to find someone AOL my nexus, unlimited dates and accespries. Do you have any advice on how you achieved this?
Sent from my GT-P1000 using Tapatalk 2


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## mbh87 (Jun 14, 2011)

mikeymop said:


> I've been trying to find someone AOL my nexus, unlimited dates and accespries. Do you have any advice on how you achieved this?
> Sent from my GT-P1000 using Tapatalk 2


Before the shared data plans were announced unlimited lines were a hot commodity. People might still be interested in them though. I sold my GNex and someone took over just the line. All I did was make a thread on XDA and it was gone before the day was up.


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## Mr. Steve (Jan 19, 2012)

tebower said:


> Follow up to my original post starting this thread:
> 
> I have just activated my service with Straight Talk. The number porting process took about 30 seconds, I was amazed! Data download speeds in my house are approximately 5mbps compared to less than 1mbps on Verizon. I couldn't be happier. Getting 500% stronger signal in my house and saving half of the bill I was paying before has me elated.
> 
> I hope others will learn from this and want to regain control from a contract as well. Good riddance, Verizon. I'm not drinking the kool-aid anymore.


Just curious, are you using an AT&T or a T-Mobile SIM?


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## gwhiz377 (Apr 26, 2012)

Really wish I would have looked into this more before I got my Nexus. The 4g(which I don't even get at my house) was very appealing at the time.


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