The Glade 4.0

*Incoming wall of text. First half will be a rant. Second half will be talking about new device and carrier*

I hate Verizon.

That pretty much embodies everything about this post. When I first joined the cell phone world back in 2003, I was on Voicestream. I liked them. Then they were bought by T-Mobile. I had no problem with them. Then I met a woman who I became very serious with (and would eventually become my wife) and wanted to talk to me as much as possible via phone without using minutes, so she convinced me to switch to Verizon. Ultimately, I was put on a 700 minute plan (verizon to verizon doesn't use minutes), 250 texts, and unlimited data.

It wasn't until I got a smart phone as well as a job that requires me to utilize my phone more (both data and minutes) where I began to dislike them. Verizon reeeeeeally hated me being on a grandfathered unlimited plan. They tried extremely hard to get me to sign a new contract any chance they could to get me off that plan. Even to the point of trying to re-neg on an offered deal my wife had with the S3 (get it at a certain timeframe, no contract re-signing) and with us verbally fighting them (along with another pissed off S3 owner next to us). On top of all this, their coverage in my area sucks. And I live and work in the greater Salt Lake area.

Most of my data comes from streaming music via google play. And I can't do that on my drive to and from work (on major highways and streets), because it's all full of 3G holes, and Verizon treats their 3G like a redheaded stepson. I would get 0.2 Mbps, if I was lucky. My wife was no different. She couldn't even connect to the internet on her lunchbreaks at her work. She began conspiracy theorying that her place must have some sort of faraday cage cell phone blocker around the building.

I got the Galaxy Nexus, and was super excited about a Nexus phone coming to Verizon. I wanted a phone that was the "pure Android experience" since Nexus phones do not come with bloatware. They get immediate updates from Google. Well, almost. Verizon still forced two of their apps on the device, but you could at least disable them yourself (but you the customer had to do it manually). The "immediate updates" part never happened. It took my phone 6 months after the release of 4.2 to get updated to that. And I believe it's still waiting on 4.3. Why? Because Verizon has a bunch of red tape and testing it wanted to do for their own CDMA/LTE network and only when Verizon themselves gave the thumbs up, then the software was released. They could cockblock future versions indefinitely if they so wanted to (and it seems like they do).

When the Nexus 4 came out about a year ago, the first thing that was mentioned was that it was not going to be coming out on Verizon. I was not surprised at this at all. I think Verizon pisssed Google off (in fact, I know they did, because Google made available one release for the GNex when they got tired of waiting for Verizon to make it available). I was already pissed off in general, so I began looking to the GSM networks that the Nexus 4 worked on. Nexus 4 wasn't 4G compatible, but 3G isn't terrible... unless your'e Verizon. Some networks can get upwards of 40 Mbps+ on optimized 3G. And for me, as long as I could stream HQ music in my car to and from work, super blazing speeds weren't necessary.

T-Mobile is the one that I felt was going to be the one I was going to jump ship to. I liked their unlimited talk, text, and data. But I just had to wait until both mine and my wife's contracts were up. Mine was up last August. My wife's wasn't up until this coming July. Then the Nexus 5 came out. 4G compatible. Oooh. Shiny. But damn it, still on contract and I didn't want to pay any contract termination fees.

Then T-Mobile recently offered to pay your termination fees if you switched over to them and got new phones. I was already planning on switching. I was already planning on getting a new phone with them (which you'd have to, coming from a CDMA carrier).

Sold.

I have never seen so many angry Verizon customers in one place, outside of that T-Mobile store. It was a brilliant marketing move and one that was obviously working for them. Now, owners of a Nexus 5 and a Samsung S4, here we are on the new network.

What's the difference, in terms of data usage? Well, I get nothing but 10 - 22+ Mbps on my whole drive to and from work. More than plenty for music. Hell, more than plenty for movies. No more 30 second bufferings every 3 seconds. My wife and her faraday caged work? She sent me a pic of a speedtest she ran from her break room: 20 Mbps.

Those two things along were worth the switch. But I am also very happy with my new hardware.

Ahhhh. Pure Android! How I've wanted you, outside of rooting and ROMing. And the speed on this sucker is mind blowing. I have a hard time slowing it down, even when purposefully trying to do so. Apps open exactly when you want. Switching to other apps is instant. I rarely had the desire to ever look up something on the Web when I owned the GNex on Verizon, because it was just so painfully slow (even when on a wireless network). Now I find myself working hard to retrain my brain, and look up stuff all the time.

I even began wanting to play around with the newer Android features. The first thing I did was decide to take a "before" picture of my baby room before completing the painting. But I decided to do it a little differently. It's not perfect, but not bad for a first try. I hope to have a better one on completion. (And if you're wondering, it's going to be a girl's room and the wall color is the upper-right one of the choices you see on the wall, which we'll accent with pink here and there).

The battery life isn't as great as some other devices out there, but I installed an app called BatteryGuru for Snapdragon CPUs and between and enabling ART, my battery is doing much better. I'm sitting at a 70% charge with 7h48m on my battery, and 1h25 minutes of screen time.

But, battery isn't what I wanted out of a phone. I wanted a Nexus, and I got it. So I'm quite happy. I'm quite happy with my new carrier.

Verizon, you tried so very hard to push me off of your unlimited data plan. Well, I guess you eventually got what you wanted.


TLDR: Verizon can suck my ***. T-Mobile is great (for me and my wfe). Nexus 5 is awesome.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

T-Mobile is awesome. I'm quite sad I had to switch off of them recently. But I'm picking up a Nexus 7 LTE tablet, and I just can't justify living with living and working on Edge anymore. It's 10 year old technology, and I just live about 3 miles outside of their 3G/LTE radius.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

P.S. All service providers test software updates for all of their supported devices. The 'normal' OTA updates come from your providers OTA servers. With the Galaxy/Nexus devices, you can sometimes get the core kernel and apply it yourself, but the downside to doing this is it *may* affect your warranty and trade-in eligibility.

How fast they get turn around depends on a lot of variables (OS vendor support being the main factor).

There is very little motivation for either service providers or the hardware vendors to give you a software update. It's expensive (for both) to develop and test them, and the only return they get is customer satisfaction, which by most metrics is not significant affected either way. Security fixes are the biggest motivation to put out patches. Those are the most difficult to test, and take the longest to validate and deploy.

Both would much rather sell you a new handset.

P.P.S. Unless the FCC/DOJ get in the way, you will probably be a Sprint customer at some point in the future

T-Mob is fine if you have coverage.

Here, VZ has the best coverage of the big 3. Not to mention their 4g implementation sucks here. But eh. You're in a different market.

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Holy shitsnacks!

Wait, what? How does that even work? Sprint's not GSM.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Well, technologically speaking the networks aren't compatible.

If Sprint were to purchase T-Mobile, as Softbank is currently trying to negotiate, it is unknown which technology would survive.

Whichever network loses out, would be gutted for their spectrum and real estate.

Edit:
The current thinking here is that Legere was hired to boost T-Mobile value, which by all accounts he's done a fantastic job of (stock value as doubled since TMO went public in June)... then sell it off to Sprint (in this case Softbank). I would be *very* surprised if he didn't have very large bonuses in his contract for executing this.

At this point, the only thing likely to prevent the two from becoming one would be for the DOJ or FCC to block the move like they did with the AT&T attempted acquisition.

Ironically, the $3 Billion in Spectrum and $4 Billion in cash that AT&T paid Deutsch Telekom for the failed merger compensation is what TMO is currently using to build out its LTE network (which is technically far superior to what Sprint has yet to deploy). Softbank has already said they will not be able to pay a breakup fee like AT&T did, which means they would have to offer more up front. The initial rumor was that they were offering $20bn to Deutsch Telekom for the 67% or so of T-Mobile Stock they currently hold. That is below current market value, and likely to have to go up before DT would give the go ahead.

Legere has become quite the media darling with his new found mastery of social media, and his consumer friendly disruption of the wireless industry, but don't be fooled. He's not doing this stuff because he's a nice guy.

Take a look at how he handled his last gig (breakup of Global Crossing)
http://articles.latimes.com/2003/oct/12 ... i-legere12

Yeah, I understand about the whole third party carrier and manufacturer testing their own stuff for compatibility for phones. Which is why I like the Nexus line. There isn't (supposed to be) any carrier or manufacturer extra testing that goes along with it. Google posts an update, Nexus phones install it. Unless you're a Nexus phone on Verizon (and likely Sprint).

I did root/ROM my GNex now and then. But, it was a pain. And ROMs should always be treated as beta software.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

Wow. I have friends that worked for GX. That's super shitty how he handled it. No wonder they lost their jobs.

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Holy shitsnacks!

This isn't really true (I didn't express it well earlier). If your phone is connected to T-Mobile's network, you get your updates from an Over The Air update server that t-mobile owns. If T-Mobile sells the Nexus 5, I can assure you that they are testing/reviewing/approving software updates from Google and their hardware providers.

Now it is true that patches get through that process much faster for the Nexus devices because there is so little vendor specific code on them (there is almost always *some*). The fact that the Nexus devices, for the most part, are Google's development platforms (or very very close to them) makes software updates come more quickly than other devices. Patches/updates still have to be tested and approved by the hardware manufacturer, and then the service provider before you get them sent to your phone. The only way around this is to side load updates directly from google.

Now for phones that T-Mobile doesn't sell/support, the process is slightly different. If it's a popular phone, T-Mobile might very well post an untested vendor update on their OTA server, but it's far more likely that you just won't every get an update over-the-air. You will have to live with side-loads to get your OS updates done.

As an example, there was a period of time, before TMO sold iPhones, that you could cut down a T-Mobile SIM and use certain devices on T-Mobiles service (only getting Edge mind you). I can assure you 100% that you would not ever get an iOS update over-the-air on these devices under these circumstances.

Once T-Mobile started selling the iPhone, things changed, and the TMO validation group started working with Apple to test and deploy the udpates for the devices they sell.

Here is an article at bloomberg discussing the possibility of a 'merger'.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-1 ... sured.html

So the takeaway from this, regarding the original post, and you may be blind to this fact, is that it was all your wife's fault.

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What's wrong with Sprint? Ive had Sprint for 10+ years and never had a problem with them except for about 6 months they were REALLY pushy with trying to sell me an extra line...

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I didn't choose Sprint because of their cdma network, and I wanted gsm. I hear their coverage isn't the best in Utah, as well. Otherwise I don't mind them one way or another.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

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Holy shitsnacks!

Curious how that can be...

Nexus devices here are all sold in the same packaging, unopened by the vendor. The same google software is on every one of them, and they update from Google's servers, not your provider's, as if you bought it directly on the Google Play store. They are not provider locked either - you can swap providers as easily as switching the microsim. (I actually have a Koodo (Telus) Microsim and a T-Mobile Microsim I activate for a month when I cross the border on vacation so I don't have to deal with international roaming fees - no root required..) Every single device is the same as if you bought it without a data plan directly from Google and went to Walmart and just grabbed a microsim for it...

Edit: Google's website seems to support this.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

That's only if you buy your Nexi of the Google Play store, Taly. If you buy in person at a carrier's brick and mortar, they have usually loaded a couple apps (like their voice mail app), and have configured it to get updates from their servers.

_________________
"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

It was my understanding that Google played hardball and does not allow providers to do that. All nexus devices sold are the same, nothing customized. If you alter it, you do not have their permission to retail it.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

The only thing that says t mobile on this phone is small text at the bottom of the lock screen, denoting my carrier. Everything else is stock.

I have done a thorough search of the apps and processes.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

Yes. That text changes (on my nexus 4) with the microsim. If I stick a Koodo sim in it (my usual provider), it says Koodo in the small text on the lock screen. When I swap it for my T-Mobile sim, it identifies that, too, so I don't think that's an issue of something that isn't "stock." They didn't even install the sim until I bought the phone, and then they unsealed the phone from its original google packaging right in front of me.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

Well, that's why Google doesn't deal with Verizon anymore.

_________________
"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

There is a lot more to vendor specific code than the stuff you see on the screen.

Yes, there are some settings are stored on the SIM card, which is why it changes when you change SIM's. The SIM is configured the first time you connect and your device is provisioned. But there is a lot more that goes into making your phone function on a providers network than just what frequency it operates on.

I worked extensively with Google and Apple when we were validating their devices on our IPv6 network. It's not the same for every device. I can't go into a lot of detail, but I can assure you that there is proprietary network specific code (custom protocol stacks for example) on all of these devices... Some of it is to accommodate unique network requirements, some of it is for *other* business purposes...

Sorry for being intentionally vague, but I really can't talk about this stuff in any detail.

That's nefarious enough sounding that it almost serves as a "Always wipe your phone to factory, or buy it from Google Play directly" warning.

Fortunately, I'm fairly positive they do not do that here. The devices are still sealed in the original google packaging when you get it, and DEFINITELY get their updates directly from Google, not local providers. (The same cannot be said for non-Nexus devices, however.)

_________________
Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

I think you're missing the point, Taly. I'm pretty sure that what Midgen just said is that TMO, ATT, and Sprint (and, presumably, the respective carriers in non-US markets) are all working with Google to put the appropriate carrier-specific protocol stacks on the Nexus devices' factory defaults, so that the unlocked phones will work on their networks.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

In some cases, for sure, but more to the point, if there is a provider specific bug fix, or security fix needed for your device, how do you think those get installed?

You would be shocked if you could see the results of network validation testing, and how poorly any device works without provider specific tweaks.

The first Apple device we tested had a battery life of ~ 3 hours because of ... well.. crappy 'keepalive' coding, among other things... (P.S. This is a big reason why

I really need to stop responding to this thread. I kinda like my job.

Verizon won't fix Motorola phones they sold you now that Google owns Motorola. Go figure.

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