Curious about H20, need advice

[indyrunr89]

I've seen these sim kits at BB. I've looked over this forum and the H20 site. Can I do this: buy a gophone Avail, the sim kit from BB and activate and everything work?

Is this a viable alternative to at&t screwing up their gophone service?

I am most interested in the $25 plan. I think I can scrape by with the 80 megs.

It seems a lot of people complain about h20 cust svc. Once I get up and running should I be ok? I'd appreciate any opinions!

[dmarkson]

Be aware that h2o is throttled. It could be that the different plans have different throttle points but I would tend to doubt it. Currently on GoPhone PAYG (at least for a couple more weeks until I get the shaft) I am getting about 3500 down. On h2o minute plan, same phone, same location, I get about 320. Don't forget you can't disable the balance notifications on h2o, more love courtesy of AT&T.

[GadgetKen]

Also please be aware that because H20 Wireless is a reseller for AT&T, picture messaging and data settings will probably need to be tweaked if you use these 2 features. There are comprehensive directions on the H20 website on how to do this. The Avail is an Android phone and it can be tweaked with an H20 app from the Android MarketPlace. The H20 website also has manual programming directions or settings can be sent over-the-air directly to the phone. To it's credit, H20 welcomes smartphones including Apple iPhones and Android phones. Voice, text messaging and voicemail should work immediately without any modification.

I'm doing something slightly different. I ordered a Blu Rave D230 dual sim 3G Android phone from Expansys. Will put an H20 sim chip with a lot of cheap airtime in one slot and an ekit Simple Calling international call back sim in the other slot(will work on virtually any GSM carrier worldwide). Will probably feed most data domestically via wi-fi from a postpaid AT&T 4G LTE USB modem plugged into a portable CradlePoint cellular wi-fi router. Although the cellular router primarily feeds my MacBook Pro, my father's desktop PC, a Kindle and a Sony Mylo, I never use up the included 5 gb monthly allotment.

[indyrunr89]

Thanks for the info! I did stumble upon the programming instructions on the h20 website. Thought they were pretty comprehensive and looked good. Thanks for mentioning the app, will check out.

[fonezfonz]

H20 does have horrible CS. Their only two plans I recommend at all are the $25 and one year plans. The former looks like it may have rollover. I have a friend on it and he loves it. Any plan with data can be a bear with them.

[GadgetKen]

Actually got a good CSR when I added a $100/1year card to a sim chip. But YMMV. The prior balance of ~$140 was added to it so I should (hopefully) have a full year to use up the ~$240 balance at a nickel a domestic minute or text message. I'm using up my Jolt 15 cents a minute sim chip(includes international long distance but so does H2O to some destinations) and will switch over to the new sim chip within the next week or two.

Couldn't buy the $100 card off the web or through their automated refill system, so wound up being transferred to the CSR who handled the refill. Agree the $100 card is a good idea because it means I don't have to do a refill for a whole year.

[jimxx200]

I have a iphone 3gs and running on T-Mo prepaid with all features working fine, including MMS. However, I'm down to Edge speed..not a deal breaker at all as I never stream youtube, music, etc. and run wifi at home. Can anyone confirm 3g speeds with H20? Thanks

[lisaco1]

I have a iphone 3gs and running on T-Mo prepaid with all features working fine, including MMS. However, I'm down to Edge speed..not a deal breaker at all as I never stream youtube, music, etc. and run wifi at home. Can anyone confirm 3g speeds with H20? Thanks

What monthly plan you got with Tmo ?

Sent from my LG-P509 using HowardForums

[GadgetKen]

I have a iphone 3gs and running on T-Mo prepaid with all features working fine, including MMS. However, I'm down to Edge speed..not a deal breaker at all as I never stream youtube, music, etc. and run wifi at home. Can anyone confirm 3g speeds with H20? Thanks

Definitely 3G on H20...the service indicator is 3G on my Blu Rave dual sim android phone (although I prefer to use H20 for the cheap voice and SMS piece and get data elsewhere).

Please note T-Mobile is rolling out 1900 mhz 3G service, but it will take a while....T-Mo got spectrum from AT&T as part of the failed AT&T/T-Mo merger. You could either wait until you get 3G service through T-Mo or switch to an AT&T reseller that supports the iphone like Straight Talk, H20 or Red Pocket.

[a1-linuxman]

Don't forget you can't disable the balance notifications on h2o, more love courtesy of AT&T.

The notifications are so annoying that makes my reason of switching to PagePlus. At least, any gentlemen who

know how to deactivate it?

[silentjudge]

Theres an app available for Android phones that can essentially mute those balance notifications.
http://www.xda-developers.com/androi...-ussd-blocker/

HTH someone

[cust.serv_h2o]

You should not have any issues with the activation of your phone as long as it is a unlockes GSM handset. As for the data we can always help with the configuration and that should be all you need.