T-Mobile new plans. What do we think?

[itguy08]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Hopefully T-mobile will prove to be a viable competitor to keep costs down overall!


Competition almost never results in lowered prices. But it sure makes us feel good.

That being said when I checked the plans they were no cheaper than what I pay Verizon with our corporate discount. So there is no incentive to switch.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Vikas
Of all the people here, I thought you would be the last person to moan about "needing a new phone every two years"! I get the feeling that somebody else had uttered those words (aka Nick) you would be on his case in no time, right???



Im not moaning about it. I did fill up one phone to the point that I needed to get another with more memory. If I can avoid replacement phones, great. Ours are both at two years and running perfect - no crashing, locking, battery problems, etc. Im sure they will last for years.

But it still is fun to get a new phone. Part of the issue is that in the subsidized plans, you almost have to in order for the cost to be worth it, since youre paying for it. If you sell the old phone, you cn recoup a lot of the cost, so you can nearly come out ahead.

And if I am debt free, have the cash, and can afford it, I'm not against much.

Of course no phone cost so minimal monthly cost is the beauty of the cost structure of TM...but it is always fun to get something new...

FWIW, my original iphone 3 is still working perfectly without issues, and will probably become our home phone interface when we take the line over.

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

T-Mobile does indeed throttle back a person's internet speed. For example, on the 'unlimited' plan, it's at a 10GB cap if using tethering.

These new plans look nice, but don't save enough in many cases to warrant any changes.

I like Ting.com, they use Sprint's networks. You buy the phone, you only pay for what you use, the usage varies monthly, so does your bill, you're not locked in. VERY nice. Ran the numbers with my sister's phone, she's with Verizon, pays around $90or so per month. Add up all the costs, Ting.com would save her more than $1,000 for the 24 month period. That's WITH purchasing a new Samsung Note II from Ting.com.

Wish I saw this company last year before I upgraded all our phones.

 

[Bill in Utah]

Sprint here is close to useless. I had them with Virgin Mobile and as long as you were near I-15 they worked well.

The last 2-3 years Sprint has dropped their service quite a bit. There are states here where there is no service.

 

[JHZR2]

Bill, are you on t-mobile yet?

We're strongly considering changing. I calculate for us no savings if/when we buy new phones, but when we do not change phones for more than 24 months we are going to come out ahead. I'll add a $10 line and use my old iPhone 3 for our home service via a device like your cobra unit, and we will save $15ish in taxes and fees there!

Seems like the smart approach. We probably will do it this summer.

 

[Bill in Utah]

No still with Straight Talk (but two of our 4 lines are on T-Mobile via ST)

I'm going to wait till I get all 4 within 2 weeks to port them over to T-Mobile. I also think I'm just going to stick with the 500mb of high speed then down to 2g speeds for the rest of the month per line and IF it becomes an issue then bump up the line(s) that NEED the 2 gig or more.

Same time frame as you. Just spending time looking at different forums and seeing what the folks who are spending their $$ and how they are doing.

 

[Bill in Utah]

Well spending sometime with the internet I'm concenred with the following;

1. taxes and fees (until I get a HARD number of those fees I'm sticking put)

2. Roaming charges (You talk to one or two customer service folks and there are none but go onto their web site and they allow you 10mb of data roaming per month. I don't know if that is their old plan or new but I don't roam that much but one of the MAJOR reasons why I don't do contracts or post-paid is I WANT to know the total $$ and not a surprise of a single cent more.)

Still investigating but I do think if the roaming is acceptable and fees/taxes known it would still be a cheaper setup with t-mobile.

Of course rumor has it that Straight Talk is getting ready for $30 for a 30 day period which incl unlimited talk/text and 1.5 gig of data TOTAL prepaid.

Competition is a good thing!

 

[yesthatsteve]

Originally Posted By: Bill in Utah


Of course rumor has it that Straight Talk is getting ready for $30 for a 30 day period which incl unlimited talk/text and 1.5 gig of data TOTAL prepaid.

Competition is a good thing!


If the rumor turns out to be true, that's an amazing plan.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: yesthatsteve
Originally Posted By: Bill in Utah


Of course rumor has it that Straight Talk is getting ready for $30 for a 30 day period which incl unlimited talk/text and 1.5 gig of data TOTAL prepaid.

Competition is a good thing!


If the rumor turns out to be true, that's an amazing plan.


+1, assuming the data works well in populated areas.

The t-mobile site seems to need some refresh and clarification. Some areas that are important to us still show a service partner being used, though t-mobile took over other small cell companies to have a presence.

I can't say I've ever hot a roaming spot with AT&T. I have once or twice with my work Verizon stuff.

It will be interesting to see the taxes and fees for t mobile.

 

[Bill in Utah]

Just got back from T-mobile and signed up all phones in the family. So for $100 plus 8% fees/taxes minus 15% for employer discount $91.80 for 4 phones. $22.95 total per phone/month is something I like.

Unlimited voice, text and data (500 mb high speed, rest edge) while in ANY T-mobile area. Tethering is incl for 500 mb. IF I need more data then $10 more for 2 gig per line (and you can add it mid month and only for which line needs it. $20 for unlimited high speed)

Unlimited voice, text and 50 mb data IF in a roaming area.

They let me take one of their phones out for a few hours (a Nexus 4 like I own) and play with it. Data speed was very good and time to react to commands better than the ATT (via Straight talk) I have now. I had my phone side by side and called a few folks and everything was as good and in 2 places better with the T-mobile setup.

Them allowing me to A-B got me sold. I'll keep you informed on progress and service.

One thing is part of the contact does show a termination fee and contact of 2 years but the form that shows contract start date /end date shows today as the start and NA for the end. They said that the forms need to be updated. I called T-Mobile service and they said the same.

Also unlimited minutes/text is NOT unlimited. Here is what the contact says;

Whenever : 9999999;
Nights : 9999999;
Weekend : 9999999;
M to M : 9999999;
SMS : 9999999;
MMS

So you have only 6944.75 days of talk per month...

Take care, Bill

PS: Oh, forgot that I did have to pay for $10 per line "starter kit" which was a sheet and sim card.

 

[Bill in Utah]

Update after 2+ months and a little traveling..

Ended up selling a few of our old phones and picked up a couple of Samsung phones for Wi-Fi calling (which works excellent) in the house/basement.

When out and about the 4g is excellent, when going up to Montana once I left Idaho Falls spent quite a bit of time on Cellular One and ATT. There were times that I was on T-Mobile but the others more.

Going down to Las Vegas on T-Mobile all the time. Once I was out of the bigger towns I get Edge for data while going south.

In California T-mobile 4g most of the time with excellent voice.

I've called Customer Service a few times and each time I spoke with someone who could answer my question with no communication problems since they were in the midwest.

For the cost I'm very happy. I'll never go to a contract service and never have.

Bill

 

[JHZR2]

Good to know. I went to a TM store (mind you I live in a highly populated state, in a suburban area, near one of the biggest cities in the country), and the area over my house was a different shade than the 4G coloration.

He outright told me that I wouldnt be happy and shouldnt swtich.

It wasnt EDGE or some 2G thing - but he still made the recommendation not to come over.

ATT will still unlock our phones free, and so I might just pick up a sim for a month to give it a whirl in some relevant areas on another phone number.

But apparently he also claimed (dont know if this is true) that true 4G speeds cant be obtained from unlocked phones from other vendors...

Not sure how true this is though... Either thing...

 

[Donald]

I am getting rid of T-Mobile as they just have poor service where I live. I like the plans, but their coverage is not up to my needs.

From their ads on TV, it looks like they are concentrating on rolling out 4G rather than expanding total coverage.

 

[JHZR2]

Yeah but are they rolling out 4G in more locations???

 

[CarbonSteel]

We just completed an RFP with Sprint, TM, Vz, and AT&T and tested phones from all 4 carriers domestically and internationally. TM is at the bottom of the pile and can in no way compete with Vz or AT&T. I could not make the TM phones work in London, Amsterdam, or Oslo. They also had very poor 4G LTE coverage in LA, SFO, NOL, DFW, HOU, PHL, BOS, SEA, and CLO. These are "major" cities in my opinion and the phone should have worked quite well (these were an iPhone 5 and a Samsung S4) . I definitely would not switch based upon my experience with them.

Sprint is quite interesting because in a year or so (at the rate they are pushing out 4G LTE service) when combined with their overall customer service (if they do not change anything) they will be a good contender. Their customer service and the attitude was nothing short of a fantastic breath of fresh air as compared to the other three.

Both AT&T and Vz are the heavyweights and their networks are quite mature, but it comes at a cost (monthly cost that is). We have about 400 offices globally and need these phones to work in most of them and AT&T and Vz are the only two carriers that consistently perform. We have about 1500 mobile phones in the US (2500 in 2014) and I am sure the choice will come down to either AT&T or Vz and the overall cost/offered service.

I hope this helps!

 

[JHZR2]

Bummer thats the case. I had t mobile until I decided to go smartphone, and it was very good throughout the country. But voice and data are two different things.

Honestly, 3G is more than fast enough for me for most anything I do, and Id be happy if I had good assurance that we could get good 3G performance with TM (we would likely just unlock our phones and use them anyway, so wouldnt have LTE capability). Alas, the TM folks at the local store couldnt assure us of that.

To not be able to reliably have 3G is kind of weak. I dont care about 4G, and hopefully Im wrong about 3G, but havent gotten a straight answer from them...