I have unlimited data and never really use all that much. I have Verizon 4G and a Galaxy SIII. Streaming on a smart phone screen with the variable quality of connections in the real world loses its novelty quickly, trust me. It’s very unlikely you will pull all much data once you get bored with squinting at the screen and dealing with data flow hiccups.
Another Tmobile 30$/month plan user here. Over all I recommend it. 5gb if data is plenty, and i’m a power user(although I rarely stream video). Another bonus is that with my Galaxy Nexus I can use the built in mobile hot spot feature even though officially Tmobile says i’m supposed to buy an additional plan upgrade. It works, and I’ve never heard a word from Tmobile about it.
That all said, the only problem is reception can be spotty when compared to Verizon or AT&T. Tmobile works great down here in Los Angeles. Never have a problem, but I always hit dead zones when I was up in the Bay area(mostly around redwood city, the city itself seemed ok). I’d check out Tmobile’s network in your area first before I take the plunge.
Yeah that is a good point. It says it is only 2G in the areas I would want to use video streaming. So I guess T Mobile is out. Virgin mobile does offer 3G coverage in the areas I’d want.
Where do you use your data, if you don’t mind my asking? I ask because I thought about getting an obscene super data plan for my phone, but when I got Onavo data tracker, I found out I was using about 250 MB of data a month! Thing is, I connect to wifi when I’m at home, grandma’s, school, McDonald’s, Starbucks, etc. In an urban area, there’s only so many places you actually need data!
Comparing data speeds between carriers based on their own self-naming (2g, 3g, 4g, LTE, etc.) is folly, at best. There are various helpful articles and websites you can research to get real-world user reports and coverage maps in specific areas, but it’s all pretty haphazard. I can’t know for sure, of course, but I wouldn’t be all that surprised to find that you’d still get higher speeds in your area with Tmobile’s “2g” than with Virgin’s “3g” - there are no real, hard standards. You’d do well to ask family, friends, and coworkers in your area for their experiences.
Regarding Virgin Mobile, it’s actually rebranded Sprint service, but (I think) without any roaming, and (I’m pretty sure) the speeds are capped by Sprint to be well below what you’d get with actual, branded Sprint service. (you get what you pay for) And no offense intended to people here who have and recommend Virgin service, but I’ve heard a lot of bad things.
Also, when and where do you expect to be doing most of this video streaming that you are planning this around? If it’s usually somewhere that you can get a land-based wifi connection, wireless data speeds/limits won’t be so much of an issue. The vast majority of most people’s smartphone data usage winds up being on wifi, unless their smartphone is their only means of internet access.
Have them download a free speedtest app to see some hard data. Make sure they turn off wifi when they do the test, so that you get useful results of actual wireless data speeds.
I highly recommend this plan, but if you talk on your phone on a regular basis it’s not for you. 100 minutes isn’t a lot. But I only hit the 5gig data throttle once, when tethering to play world of warcraft for 2 weeks because my former roommate wasn’t fond of paying bills on time. And then tmobile stopped letting me tether for a while after that. It just pulled up a redirect saying I’d need to pay for tethering from “this device”–aka my computer. Although I was able to successfully tether again since then, at the same location. Maybe it resets every month since I’m not in a contract?
2g?!?!?!?!?! where the hell do you live?
Looking at the map, it seems every city outside of the 10-15 biggest cities in Indiana is 2g. Even the ones with 20-40k people in them. At least according to the Tmobile website.
Well. I guess that makes sense. I swear I thought you were Californian.
In anycase, I can’t imagine virgin is going to be any better coverage wise.
I wish. I spent a few months in San Diego and liked the scenery there, but I’m from Indiana. San Francisco seems nice but unaffordable (plus I’d need a job, etc).
Virgin actually has pretty good data coverage all over Indiana based on their map including lots of small and mid-size towns. TMobile 3G/4G seems to just be limited to the biggest 10-15 cities and everything else is 2G and talk.
I’ll find a Tmobile store and ask them for clarification.
I tested my phone for time and mb the other day.
I listened to radio online for like an hour or so, maybe it was longer.
Used up 60 mb streaming in that time, till phone battery said that’s enough.
So, I would need around 4.5 gb a month to do that everyday at work.
At Verizon Prices, that’s not gonna happen.
I’m looking into something else that would work better. Preferably FREE!
(that was both 3G and 4G depending on my location in the shop area.)