Experiences with T-Mobile?

[4DMASTR]

I have T-mo in NorCal and as others have said in big areas it's killer, my GSI smokes AT&T iPhone4. In more rural areas it sucks pretty bad.

[tuolumnejim]

Originally Posted by JDay

I live up in the mountains and I get 4g everywhere. How long ago did you use them?

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

Less than a year ago, I barely had a cell signal and no data at all unless I was in town and it was spotty at that.

[Aidenpeacemaker]

As the op asked what are experiences in his area.. On paper it showed 3g in my area.. But after talking to the tech he said I only get 2g in my area.. I would try and find someone in your area with Tmobile and see how there phone works to compere.. I called them a bunch of times and told me the dont have the towers in my area to provide better service.. Overall great service but I need my data to work as I Am on Calguns 24/7

[njineermike]

I've had T-mobile for a few years now. My wife has been with them for ages, and dragged me in from AT&T and Sprint. My take:

GREAT customer service. Quick to handle issues, and the "4 issues in 90 day" policy means if you have a lousy phone, you get a different one if yours keep failing. That's how I got out of the craptastic LG G2X I had. Unfortunately, the replacement isn't going to be the latest/greatest superphones, it will be one of the cheaper models, but still a smartphone.

Coverage is lacking, but they bought out US Cellular recently and will be adding their towers, and the new LTE system they are implementing is ACTUAL LTE, not revved up 3G. When I travel or go to more remote jobsites, I may or may not have service. I travel to Ft Irwin on occasion, and I get service all the way up to Jackrabbit Pass, then it drops until I get back to higher elevations on base. I get service all over AV I've ever been.

They have an actual truly unlimited data program, unlike Verizon or AT&T. And if you have the limited program, it's still unlimited, they just throttle the speeds down after you hit the limit, so you don't get hit with ridiculous data charges you didn't expect.

Overall, I was pleased enough to stay when the AT&T merger fell through. If it hadn't I was moving to Sprint or going pre-paid (cricket, straight-talk, etc).

[roll2li]

The main plug I have with them (been with Tmobile for 3 years now), is the wireless network dialing technology. Most people have wifi data on their smartphones, but since my Blackberry Curve 8300 (yeah that old), I've been able to dial out on wifi anywhere. Worked in Puerto Rico when no one had service, worked in Rota, Spain too, and most importantly, at my house where no one has service (thank you CMU block walls). Other companies are starting to offer it, but being able to have dialing technology anywhere there's a wireless router is killer.

[ambiguous216]

Lack of minutes...you are on the wrong plan...upgrade your plan and stop being so frugal...metro pcs has unlimited calling, text and web for 35 a month.

Originally Posted by Petra

OTA and WiFi VoIP calling through GrooVe IP and Google Voice is what I'm looking at using to supplement the lack of minutes provided as part of the T-Mobile plans I'm considering.

[JDay]

Originally Posted by ambiguous216

Lack of minutes...you are on the wrong plan...upgrade your plan and stop being so frugal...metro pcs has unlimited calling, text and web for 35 a month.

Their service sucks big time. You can pay pretty much the same with T-Mobile and you get much better service.

[klewan]

OP, that $30 a month no contract is a Walmart special. I don't think T-Mobile offers anything like that, but I might be wrong. The offers come and go at T-M. I've been looking at it, but I want to tether the phone to my laptop. T-M charges $15 a month to tether, but I've seen people claiming work arounds to tether without the fee. Have you bought into T-M? Anybody else know about fee free tethering?

[DVSmith]

Originally Posted by klewan

OP, that $30 a month no contract is a Walmart special. I don't think T-Mobile offers anything like that, but I might be wrong. The offers come and go at T-M. I've been looking at it, but I want to tether the phone to my laptop. T-M charges $15 a month to tether, but I've seen people claiming work arounds to tether without the fee. Have you bought into T-M? Anybody else know about fee free tethering?

I have t-mobile and my phone has WiFi Hotspot capabilities built in. I don't pay the fee and tether just fine. I occasionally get a warning on my phone that my plan doesn't include tethering and if that is what I am doing I need to upgrade. They must send that based on activity or data usage I would guess.

[klewan]

Originally Posted by DVSmith

I have t-mobile and my phone has WiFi Hotspot capabilities built in. I don't pay the fee and tether just fine. I occasionally get a warning on my phone that my plan doesn't include tethering and if that is what I am doing I need to upgrade. They must send that based on activity or data usage I would guess.

The warning is something I've read other people mention, but I have seen people claim they were warned and then T-M actually did something, like slow down the download to dial up speeds. What kind of phone? I just looked at the Nexus 4 the OP was mentioning, nice phone. Just that it's about $400 out the door with tax and shipping.

[DVSmith]

My touch 4g - I have never noticed a slow down, but haven't tested for it either.

[klewan]

Originally Posted by DVSmith

My touch 4g - I have never noticed a slow down, but haven't tested for it either.

You won't have to speed test it, dial up is like it's not working....I'll have to look at the MY Touch 4g, thanks.

[Ricky-Ray]

Originally Posted by DVSmith

My touch 4g - I have never noticed a slow down, but haven't tested for it either.

It all depends on what data plan you have with T-Mobile. If you have the unlimited 4g then you don't have to worry about it. There are a few other plans where you get 5gig or 2 gig or something like that of 4g speeds and if you exceed that then it will throttle you down to a slower speed. What the exact speed is I'm not sure but I think it's like being on the 3G network.

[JMP]

Originally Posted by tuolumnejim

If your not in big city your connection will be horrible, I looked at their map and I was supposed to get a signal and it got even worse as time went on. So I cannot recommend them.

Also be aware that with tmobile if you change ANYTHING on your plan that automatically kicks in a contract renewal for two years.

I have had the opposite experience. T-Mobile is awful in Downtown LA, but pretty good elsewhere. AT&T used to be awful in Downtown LA, but they seemed to have FINALLY beefed up the network. Verizon has the best overall coverage. I have both T-Mobile and AT&T, so at least one of my phones usually works.

[DVSmith]

Originally Posted by Ricky-Ray

It all depends on what data plan you have with T-Mobile. If you have the unlimited 4g then you don't have to worry about it. There are a few other plans where you get 5gig or 2 gig or something like that of 4g speeds and if you exceed that then it will throttle you down to a slower speed. What the exact speed is I'm not sure but I think it's like being on the 3G network.

I have the unlimited data.

[2AdNation]

I use to sell cellphones for ATT Verizon TMobile. It really depends on where you live and how your going to use it. If you want all the bells and whistles than you will probably want the best data plan, which at the moment is 4G. Keep in mind you want a phone that is backwards compatible with 3G. Some areas only have 3G, in which case you'll be glad you have a 3G capable phone.

The two most common places you'll use your phone is your home and work. Ask your neighbors and co-workers what they have and how they would rate their service, and look at how many bars they have. Ask them if their signal drops as soon as they walk inside, or into the bathroom. Don't buy a phone/ plan just cause its a good value. Buy something that works! I use to have a T-mobile dealer plan, and an un-locked phone.. I love the phone but the over service was not that great (for my area).

In the Los Angeles area Verizon is the overall best. With that said for where i work and live I use boost mobile and i'm very happy with my service for the price im paying.

[Petra]

Originally Posted by ambiguous216

Lack of minutes...you are on the wrong plan...upgrade your plan and stop being so frugal...metro pcs has unlimited calling, text and web for 35 a month.

From my point of view, I'm not short on minutes at all because I only need the plan minutes for when HSPA+ or WiFi data connections aren't available (and I'm on a WiFi network tied to a 25/25mbps fiber connection 95% of the time). Groove IP integrates fairly seamlessly into the phone.

Originally Posted by klewan

OP, that $30 a month no contract is a Walmart special. I don't think T-Mobile offers anything like that, but I might be wrong. The offers come and go at T-M. I've been looking at it, but I want to tether the phone to my laptop. T-M charges $15 a month to tether, but I've seen people claiming work arounds to tether without the fee. Have you bought into T-M? Anybody else know about fee free tethering?

The plan is available directly through the T-Mobile website for new activations. As for tethering, I haven't given it a shot yet but some poking around online indicated to me that their methods for detecting tethering are somewhat crude. It looks like just connecting to my home VPN server would likely break their tethering detection.

[diceshoota]

I recently used T-Mobile for my 4g mobile broadband, and the service was pretty great. Los Angeles area

[njineermike]

Originally Posted by klewan

The warning is something I've read other people mention, but I have seen people claim they were warned and then T-M actually did something, like slow down the download to dial up speeds. What kind of phone? I just looked at the Nexus 4 the OP was mentioning, nice phone. Just that it's about $400 out the door with tax and shipping.

I thether a lot and they never said jack to me. I also use PDANet or FoxFi instead of the built-in tethering because it doesn't report back to T-Mobile. And neither one requires root access to run.

[Spyder]

I've been using them for about 8 years, and am going to drop them when my contract expires in 7 months.

I got a new phone last year, with a new unlimited 4G data plan that is slowed down to 2G speeds after 2gigs. I rarely even use 1 gig. The main reason I went with this plan was because it had the free ability to use your phone as a free WiFi hotspot.
About two months ago, they took this ability away, wanted to charge me an extra $15/month to use it as a hotspot, and said I had to "upgrade" to the 5gig/month NONunlimited plan, which cost more. So not only were they wanting to charge me 30% more than I had signed on for, they were cutting back my data usage availability.

The free WiFi hotspot ability was written into my service plan, as was the unlimited data. They refused to honor both and just turned off the WiFi ability on me, and said I could sue them for WiFi rights if I wanted.

**** 'em. They lied, and changed my contract without my consent.

[klewan]

Originally Posted by Spyder

I've been using them for about 8 years, and am going to drop them when my contract expires in 7 months.

I got a new phone last year, with a new unlimited 4G data plan that is slowed down to 2G speeds after 2gigs. I rarely even use 1 gig. The main reason I went with this plan was because it had the free ability to use your phone as a free WiFi hotspot.
About two months ago, they took this ability away, wanted to charge me an extra $15/month to use it as a hotspot, and said I had to "upgrade" to the 5gig/month NONunlimited plan, which cost more. So not only were they wanting to charge me 30% more than I had signed on for, they were cutting back my data usage availability.

The free WiFi hotspot ability was written into my service plan, as was the unlimited data. They refused to honor both and just turned off the WiFi ability on me, and said I could sue them for WiFi rights if I wanted.

**** 'em. They lied, and changed my contract without my consent.

This is what I was asking about, extra $15 for tethering. I don't know why some people get slammed and others skate. When I google about this, doesn't seem to be any reason why some get whacked and others no change.

[Cannon-Arms]

Been with T-Mob. over a decade. I just moved to their no contract deal and lowered my monthly by over $20.00. Bring my own phone, picked up a Galaxy note II.

I pay $80.00 and get unlimited minutes, unlimited data, unlimited text, free calls to land lines to the U.K. (other countries as well) and free unlimited text to Europe (have family in the U.K.)

I tether my phone at no extra cost as well when I want, but I have rooted and ROMed it. They detect you tethering through your user id on your desktop/laptop browser. I use a user id switcher in Firefox or chromium to bypass that.

They gladly unlock my phone when I travel so I can use in country sims if I desire (use my older T-Mob. phones for this). I use the WiFi calling from the U.K. and have my phone available.

My best speed test using crappy 4G HSPDA is 16.69Mbps down/2.14Mbps up with 33ms pings in the Ontario area.
In Victorville on 4g HSPDA I just got 4.44Mbpsdown/0.18Mbps up with a 136ms ping

Customer service has been fantastic for me. My Sister and Brother in law on pay as you go were treated like crap just before the AT&T merger.

I have worked extensively around the Palmdale/Lancaster area for a year 2009/2010. I had great service for voice and data in all city areas/ around the 14 freeway. Within a mile out of the city heading east along ave. J towards Edwards AFB data would drop precipitously, never had a problem ever with voice or text.


http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-575...ct-model-soon/

[Cannon-Arms]

Originally Posted by klewan

This is what I was asking about, extra $15 for tethering. I don't know why some people get slammed and others skate. When I Google about this, doesn't seem to be any reason why some get whacked and others no change.

If you have unlimited data (not throttled at 2gig ect., true unlimited) They'll kinda not pay attention, you can already slam them downloading YouTube and other stuff. I do it all the time when in Ontario as my data connection is faster than home. I'll d/l music and other stuff then download it to the home comp. when I get home.

Get a user id changer for your home comps. browser and set it to I-phone, or a tablet or something, then they can't tell that your not on a phone or Tablet and not your home computer, if that makes sense?

[Petra]

Originally Posted by Cannon-Arms

Get a user id changer for your home comps. browser and set it to I-phone, or a tablet or something, then they can't tell that your not on a phone or Tablet and not your home computer, if that makes sense?

This is also why VPN should work (the data is encrypted, so they can't snoop... and I doubt that they would interfere with VPN traffic since you can also run Open VPN through Android.

[Aidenpeacemaker]

Just made the swicth from tmobile to at&t. And let me tell you.. my phone can now stream hd youtube vids without a hiccup. . Way faster than verizon or sprint and tmobile... I am comparing service in the barstow area.. I live in Victorville and it works ten times. Better than tmobile..as far as data goes....I wouldnt swicth to tmobile even if its cheaper. I need my phone to work when I need it most

[Cannon-Arms]

I'll never go back to AT&T plainly because of customer service. Back before PacBell bought them they were bad, got worse after PacBell purchased them. I have friends in O.C. with AT&T and they still hate them because of cust.Serv. but stick with them due to iPhone, that's going to change soon.

Odd your having problems with data in Victorville. One other thing I've done is switch my data from gsm/hspda auto to HSPDA only, forcing 4g and not giving the phone the option of a stronger gsm signal.
I've found even a weak 4g HSPDA is way faster than a strong GSM.

Of course YMMV as to any of the above comments applying to your situation.

[Jason95357]

Originally Posted by Baconator

I have t-mobile. My wife and I are on the "value plan." Less than $90 a month for two phones, 2 gb of data each (it's unlimited but throttled at 2gb), unlimited text, and like 1,000 minutes of talk I think.

I get great service everywhere I have been, so I am pretty happy. I have a GNex.

Sounds like what we have, but we have unlimited minutes, plus we have the kids with $10/mo. 500 minute dumb-phones. T-Mobile works well enough, but not as good as AT&T or VZN. However, I have wifi at home, work, church, so I really don't have to use T-Mobiles data services that much (like 100-200mb/mo).

I'm happy enough that I'm not looking to switch when our contract is up in a year.

[JonL87]

T MOBILE SUCKS IN SF get VERIZON wireless a lil more money per month but its nice to have a phone that works

[hcbr]

I'm happy with them, I switched over since the wife had T-Mo, and we're now on an unlimited everything plan.

Although i won't lie, they can be a bit out of range when indoors in some area's, but for the most part, been working great everywhere i go.

[Cannon-Arms]

Originally Posted by hcbr

Although i won't lie, they can be a bit out of range when indoors in some area's, but for the most part, been working great everywhere i go.

They don't advertise it, but Tmob offers a indoor booster for free. Just don't tell them your in a apartment if you are.
You place the receiver wherever you get the strongest signal in the house, then place the transmitter centered *** best you can in the house.

Or just use the WiFi calling feature.

[Spyder]

The booster doesn't work unless you get 3g signal. Even if you only get a half a bar of 3g, it'll work, but if you have a billion bars of 2g, you're still screwed.

But it IS free, if you call and complain to them!

[Edwood]

If you stay mostly in SoCal, T-Mobile is great. If you go into more rural areas, NorCal, and especially Sierra mountain areas, then I'd stick with Verizon.

FWIW, the cheap $30 4G prepaid plan includes roaming. While spending time in Southern Utah, Northern Arizona, Nevada, I was able to roam, so I could call and text, but no Data until I hit major cities. I was really surprised how much I coverage I actually had in the middle of nowhere.

[Edwood]

Originally Posted by JonL87

T MOBILE SUCKS IN SF get VERIZON wireless a lil more money per month but its nice to have a phone that works

Where in San Francisco, exactly? I was there recently, in and around all over and had excellent 4G HSPA+ Signals most everywhere with my Nexus 4. I was surprised that I even had decent 4G in most parts of Marin County, but once up in the Mt Tam area, it was really spotty and non-existent, but that's no different in SoCal, like Angeles Nat'l Forest and San Antonio