Which MVNOs will Nextbit Robin work on?
And would you consider the Robin a good buy now?
Posted Aug 20, 2017, 1:15 AM UTC
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If you can get it for a good price and understand that it won't have official support, I think that it can be a good purchase for a tinkerer or someone that doesn't mind those constraints.
As for services, I think they only sell one model and it's advertised as the "GSM" one. That means that in the US, you'll have to use it with an AT&T or T-Mobile-based MVNO - the LTE bands that are supported are the popular ones for both carriers (2, 4, 5, 12/17 on AT&T; 2, 4, 12 for T-Mobile).
Keep in mind that it will most likely not get VoLTE support for the near-future on any AT&T MVNO, and I can't speak for T-Mobile.
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Unfortunately I live in WV, which is a T-Mobile wasteland. AT&T is pretty good here though.
So the unofficial mod community is a pretty good one?
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No idea about the mod situation, so that's a YMMV call…I just remember that Razer (who took over) ended official support as of 8/1/17. It looks like you may not have warranty support either. Obviously, if you get a great price, it could be a good phone.
As for AT&T coverage, if it's pretty good, then you'd want to look at one of these services (and I'll probably forget one):
- AT&T Prepaid (formerly GoPhone)
- Cricket
- Tracfone (with their AT&T SIM)
- Straight Talk (with their AT&T SIM)
- H2O
- Consumer Cellular
- FreedomPop (make sure it's the AT&T service, not Sprint)
- AirVoice
- Net10 (with their AT&T SIM)
- Red Pocket
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I heard Consumer Cellular has been giving out T-mobile SIMs automatically so you may need to request an ATT one.
There is also Pure Talk USA
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Ebay has them for $109, seems like a not-bad deal.
Thanks for the list of MVNOs, that's more than I thought were available.
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Yep - if you go with any of the América Móvil ones (TracFone, Net10, StraightTalk), you'll want to make sure you get the AT&T-based option since they offer service on all carriers. I think the subtle way they indicate this is with a blue map.
As for the others, you should be able to snag a SIM from some of the more popular ones (AT&T Prepaid, Cricket, H2O) at Best Buy, Target, and most Walmarts.
Good luck!
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Unofficial mod community is pretty stable, yeah. I'm still trying to decide between Omni, CarbonRom, and Paranoid Android for the Robin. At least half of the Paranoid Android team is employed by Razer, so you'd assume that Paranoid Android would be the most supported, but audio stuttering happens when the CPU is being heavily loaded, at least on 7.2.3, while Omni and Carbon don't have that issue. Trying to test battery life with Paranoid Android at the moment.
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I bought the nextbit Robin when it dropped to $130 I have zero regrets. By far the best budget phone I've used and I still take around with me when I go on adventurous stuff and don't want to possibly break my s8. Does it have some flaws? Yes of course, but for around $100 I truly dont belive you can get a better phone. Even though it's no longer supported its rumored to still get the updates to 2018 and possibly Android O. I'd say go for it just make sure to get a t-mobile or AT&T mvno.
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Thanks, I appreciate your input! I can't do T-Mobile because there's no service around here, but AT&T is definitely a go. If the Android O thing is true I'd jump on the Robin in a heartbeat.
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Don't count on Robin getting O. Security patches until February but I highly doubt we will get O
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Android updates always have such an uncertainty.
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That is true but since Nextbit doesn't really exist anymore (it's part of Razer now), it's much more unlikely then say Motorola or ZTE
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It will work with any GSM based MVNO.
So Sprint and the like, then. Thanks for the answer!
Nope, Sprint and Verizon are CDMA and LTE. You'd need something AT&T or T-Mobile-based, as those as GSM (well, AT&T turned theirs off), UTMS/HSPA, and LTE-based.
I'm dumb, thanks for the clarification.
No worries, with all the carriers rolling out LTE and using SIM cards, things have been a bit muddied compared to a few years ago. :-)
Sprint uses CDMA
Yep, I got mixed up. Thanks!