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New to the USA (NYC) - need a cell phone provider - 4GB or more, reasonable cost

396 18 August 18, 2016 at 06:24 AM
I am new to the US (living in NYC) from Toronto. I need a reliable cell phone carrier. I have a Nexus 6 and so purchasing a device isn't required.

My company provides me with a corporate discount (~22%) on plans from Verizon, AT&T and Sprint. From my understanding Sprint has much more limited coverage out of the big cities.

I have also been reading about the $35/month plan from Total Wireless for 5GB of data and unlimited nationwide talk/text. This seems like a good deal however getting Total Wireless to send me a sim has been painful, and I am concerned the experience going forward even if I manage to get setup will be painful.

Any other suggestions?

In Canada I paid $50 CDN for a 6GB / unlimited nation-wide talk/text plan and I am hoping not to spend more than $50US for something similar.
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paradigmGT
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Joined Sep 2003
Rotten Apple
> bubble2 30,883 Posts
appleyum
08-18-2016 at 07:21 AM.
08-18-2016 at 07:21 AM.
Well it would largely depends on what you would do on your phone and how close you are to a Wi-Fi (and whether you signed up with an ISP that comes with free Wi-Fi). NYC tend to have a lot of free Wi-Fi so you could look into cheaper phone plan that mainly use Wi-Fi for connectivity and cell tower as back-up.

Google Project-Fi (Sprint/Tmobile) and Republic Wireless (Sprint /Tmobile)

If you travel outside NYC quite a bit you may want to stick to more traditional plans.

Here is quick comparison on pricing (scroll down)
http://www.cnet.com/news/comparin...-plans-us/

If you have coverage concern you may want go to your local carrier store and ask them if they have coverage trial or coverage guarantee i.e. not happy with coverage with 7-day to 30 days you can back out and a refund

Something similar to this
http://explore.t-mobile.com/coverage-guarantee
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Last edited by appleyum August 18, 2016 at 07:40 AM.
Joined May 2006
Keeper of the Trophy
> bubble2 118,456 Posts
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implode
08-18-2016 at 09:04 AM.
08-18-2016 at 09:04 AM.
I've used AT&T for years---good coverage, fast LTE signal, few dropped calls. But I live in the midwest, and opinions I guess are gonna have location bias. A farm in kansas, isn't the same as a big city like NYC. A small city of 125,000 isn't the same either.

Disagree with public wifi, those free networks risk your data with snooping/viruses. For me the security of my data is extremely important, so want to avoid public wifi. I read AT&T is starting new program--you pay for your data, then if you go over they are capping/throttling your speed instead of charging overages. Though you can purchase more data at the higher speed by logging into your account if need be.
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Joined Aug 2003
(o)(o)
> bubble2 9,556 Posts
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ikonoklast
08-18-2016 at 11:25 AM.
08-18-2016 at 11:25 AM.
Cingular has the best service and value and not only that, their minutes roll over!
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Joined Jul 2014
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> bubble2 5,682 Posts
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FHRITP
08-18-2016 at 11:52 AM.
08-18-2016 at 11:52 AM.
if you can limit your data usage go with project fi. my last 2 bills were $29 and $29...unliminted talk/text and $10 for every 1gb of data. Needless to say I only used 100mb or less each month. thank you hotspots.
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Joined Dec 2008
The Po-Po is here.
> bubble2 3,398 Posts
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genghiskhan
08-18-2016 at 07:38 PM.
08-18-2016 at 07:38 PM.
Quote from ikonoklast :
Cingular has the best service and value and not only that, their minutes roll over!

I prefer Nextel
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Joined Jul 2013
Conservative with a gun
> bubble2 3,749 Posts
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Novakingwai
08-18-2016 at 09:31 PM.
08-18-2016 at 09:31 PM.
Sorry to say but NYC isn't considered part of the US.
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Joined Aug 2003
(o)(o)
> bubble2 9,556 Posts
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ikonoklast
08-19-2016 at 06:30 AM.
08-19-2016 at 06:30 AM.
Quote from FHRITP :
if you can limit your data usage go with project fi. my last 2 bills were $29 and $29...unliminted talk/text and $10 for every 1gb of data. Needless to say I only used 100mb or less each month. thank you hotspots.
$29 with taxes correct? I thought it was $20 for talk/text and $10/GB of data. Is your data charge <$1/month since you are getting most of $ back?

NYC would a good place for Project Fi for sure. Only catch is you have to use Nexus phones but they are decent phones IMO.
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Joined Jan 2011
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> bubble2 396 Posts
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Original Poster
paradigmGT
08-19-2016 at 09:29 AM.
08-19-2016 at 09:29 AM.
Thanks for the suggestions guys.

I ended up with Total Wireless for the short term. At $33.75/month (when going with the auto-enroll option) for 5GB + unlimited nationwide talk/text on the Verizon network, it seemed like the best way to go for me, because I do plan on travelling outside of the city frequently.

I do want to look at these Project Fi type plans in more depth however.
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