AT&T or Verizon?

If you read his post again,it says it depends on what phone you get as to which towers you it uses.
I have thought pretty seriously about switching to the straight talk plan from wal mart but have been concerned about getting somewhere & it not working when needed.

 

oh thanks kw my bad hes correct. but I still always believe prepaid services don't give you the same quality as a regular contract service do. you gotta account for especially if your paying a higher price under contract. I would like to see somebody going I-80west on video in Wyoming proving me wrong

 

Not at the same time, but a Nexus 5 can be used on all carriers. It has both gsm and CDMA radios.

 

cowboy looking at the details in the phone its not listed that it has both CDMA & GSM. correct me if im wrong but wouldn't it require SIM if its GSM as well.

 

That's because the carrier there is a small independent company. I can't get data on my AT&T phone when I'm in their (the independent's) coverage area.

The reason you are paying more under contract is because you are paying off the phone. That iPhone 5S doesn't cost $199; it costs $849. The phone company is making up the difference in the higher rate.

The Nexus 5 will work with all 4 national carriers. Verizon, for their own reasons, will not let you put one on a prepaid account, but the Verizon MVNOs (resellers) can.

 

It does have a SIM slot and is unlocked.

 

I have driven all the way through Wyoming on I-80 and had service with only a couple small dead spots. I'm on T-Mobile, but in Wyoming, I'm roaming on Union Telephone (they are the local carrier for the majority of the state). Between Rawlings and Riverton Sprint and Verizon has no service, but UT does the entire way.

 

ms.jamie this is wwaayyy before the whole paying monthly installations. I don't even know if Verizon do that I know at&t jump on it. but before those so called *non contracts* came into play. the phone companies been made there money before T-Mobile came up with this plan & every carrier just decided to use the idea & run with it. imma do more research on that nexus 5 im just wondering if the nexus 5 does this there shouldn't be no reason a nexus 5 customer should lose connection

 

The carrier will always determine your coverage per their roaming agreements with other carriers. The only thing the Nexus will give you is not being locked to a carrier. If one provider does not meet your needs, you can change without having to get a new phone ( except if you want to use Verizon). Google does not allow carrier add-ons to the Nexus line. Verizon loves adding their boat to phones. The iPhone gets away from Verizon bloat because of the pull Apple has.

The iPhone is also a multi carrier phone, so in theory if you bought a Verizon iPhone, you could switch to any carrier. And because the phone was registered on the Verizon network, it can go back if needed.

 

You may be confusing the capabilities of the phone with that of the network.

The Nexus 5 will work fine on all 4 carriers, but not at the same time. If you get a N5 and put it on AT&T, you only have service where AT&T provides service, or has an arrangement with a local carrier. The other three carriers can have full scale signals, but that doesn't help you.

On a side note...

One thing I have noticed is that AT&T and T-Mobile have reciprocal roaming agreements in a lot of places. I'm on AT&T, but my phone will indicate T-Mobile, and I can get voice service with no roaming charges. No data, though. I have no idea if Sprint and Verizon have a similar arrangement.