Can I Use a Straight Talk SIM Card in my T-Mobile Google Nexus 5 Phone?

A couple of months ago, I simultaneously dropped my Verizon cell phone in the toilet and shattered the screen at the same time. It sucked. This incident, however, put me in the market for a new smartphone. If you know anything about me, you know that I'm REALLY into my electronic gadgets and I'm always up-to-date on the latest phones, so I pretty much immediately knew that I wanted to get the Google Nexus 5 Android smartphone.

The Nexus 5 is the latest in Google's smartphone lineup, and you can buy it unlocked directly from the Google Play Store for $349. A good deal, but more money than I could afford to shell out at one time. I decided to search to see if I could get the Google Nexus 5 directly from one of the major cell phone carriers in order to get a subsidized price, and I settled on T-Mobile.

T-Mobile sent me the Google Nexus 5 with no money down, and a small monthly payment would be added to my regular cell phone bill until I paid off the phone and owned it outright. I will wait to get into the whole story in another blog post, but let's just say T-Mobile ROYALLY screwed up my account from the get-go, and after hours upon hours upon hours of trying to fix the issue on the phone with customer service, I finally ended up getting a credit for the purchase price of my phone and cancelled my T-Mobile service.

So now, I was left with a perfectly good Google Nexus 5 phone from T-Mobile without any service. I needed to find a SIM card in order to get my data and voice services working again. At first, I thought I would be locked into getting a SIM card compatible with the T-Mobile network, but after doing some internet research, I found out that ALL Google Nexus 5 phones are unlocked regardless of who you purchase them from, so now I could get a T-Mobile SIM card or an AT&T SIM card...either one would work in my Nexus 5.

Ultimately, I went to Walmart and bought an AT&T-compatible SIM card from Straight Talk wireless. I've found that, in my area, the AT&T network is MUCH better than the T-Mobile network, and I was happy that my Nexus 5 could accept a SIM card for either carrier. My Straight Talk wireless SIM card works absolutely perfectly in my Google Nexus 5, and I am able to get data, voice, texting, and even picture messaging on my Nexus phone with no issues. At $45 for an unlimited Straight Talk plan, I am literally paying half of what I was with Verizon, and I have an awesome phone that I love. Even though my experience with T-Mobile was abysmal, in the end, all is well that ends well I suppose.

New Phone, New Post

Those of you who know me personally know I have had a lot of phones over the past several years.  Between bad service and breaking a couple of phones, I've ended up switching devices like 10 times in 4 years.

The most recent round of this was last week when my prepaid wireless provider decided to disconnect my service for "excessive data use"....which was actually like 600mb in a month and not at all excessive, but I digress.  After that happened, I decided that I was pretty much fed up with the whole prepaid cell phone thing.  I know they "run on the same networks", but the customer service is shitty....I just want a phone that works all the time, and a knowledgeable, easy-to-understand customer service rep to help me out when there's a problem.

With all that in mind, I decided I would try to get a new cell phone account with one of the "big four" carriers.  I had been previously rejected for a cell phone account thru Verizon Wireless due to my credit, but since my credit score has been improving, I decided it was worth a shot to put in another application.  This time, I was approved instantly for a Verizon Wireless account with no security deposit needed!

I was thrilled.  Previously, I had been somewhat limited in my phone choices, since prepaid cell phone carriers tend not to have the best and latest devices available.  I looked through Verizon's selection of phones with two criteria in mind....it had to be an Android phone, and it had to have a physical keyboard.  That pretty much limited my selection to two choices: the Motorola Droid 4 or the Samsung Stratosphere II.  I liked the specs on the Samsung phone better, so I picked that one. 

Better still, Verizon was selling the phone for $100, but I discovered wirefly.com was offering the same phone for free, so I placed my order through them.  My out of pocket cost for a brand new, kick ass phone was literally zero dollars!

So I'm excited.  I got a real, "grown-up" phone. And I love it.  The phone is awesome and the service works great.  It is definitely more expensive than the Straight Talk wireless service I had before, but the service is so much better and its so much less hassle that I feel the extra money is worth it.  I'm glad my credit improved enough to get a cell phone from Verizon.  Now I just have to improve it enough to get a car loan.