Carrier T-Mobile $30 Prepaid plan (100 min, unlimited text, 5GB of 4G LTE data)

AutoUnion39 said:

This is false. Their network is still predominantly 2G.

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No it's actually hspa+ in most areas. In rural areas its mostly 2G. If it were mostly 2G they legally wouldn't be able to advertise that 4G reaches 250 million people.

Mr Hill said:

No it's actually hspa+ in most areas.

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Not really no... Go look at a coverage map.

The entire state of CT is blanketed with AT&T HSPA+/LTE. T-Mobile? Nope.

Same with Rhode Island. Huge areas covered with EDGE, whereas AT&T is HSPA/LTE.

T-Mobile is 4G in "most areas" only if most areas = major cities and areas adjacent to them.

I can drive from Maine to Washington, DC and basically almost always have LTE with ATT/VZW, but with T-Mobile? Major highways still are EDGE on the East Coast.

T-Mobile only makes sense for people who never leave the top metro areas. If you travel, even a little, StraightTalk is superior.

AutoUnion39 said:

Not really no... Go look at a coverage map.

The entire state of CT is blanketed with AT&T HSPA+/LTE. T-Mobile? Nope.

Same with Rhode Island. Huge areas covered with EDGE, whereas AT&T is HSPA/LTE.

T-Mobile is 4G in "most areas" only if most areas = major cities and areas adjacent to them.

I can drive from Maine to Washington, DC and basically almost always have LTE with ATT/VZW, but with T-Mobile? Major highways still are EDGE on the East Coast.

T-Mobile only makes sense for people who never leave the top metro areas. If you travel, even a little, StraightTalk is superior.

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Well my state, NJ has 4g coverage in pretty much the entire state.

EbookReader said:

http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/30/blackberry-z10-iphone-5-nexus-4-lumia-920/
Engadget: Blackberry Z10 vs. iPhone 5 vs. Nexus 4 vs. Nokia Lumia 920. FIGHT!




can't make the chart look "readable" in the forum so you have to click on the link if you want to see the FIGHT specs between the "flagships" of each operating system.








Best deal in the USA if you don't use a lot of minutes

Buy the Nexus 4 unlocked for $299 or $349 (its specs are on par with Blackberry Z10, iphone 5, Nokia Lumia 920)

Sign up for T-Mobile $30 prepaid plan for 100 minutes, unlimited text and 5GB of 4G data

$30 a month x 24 months = $720
+ $299 for the 8GB Nexus 4
+ $0.99 for the SIM card

total cost over 2 years = $1019.99

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Very tempted.....but tmobile has poor signal at my work place

Been running this plan with my iPhone5 and Talkatone with a Google Voice number. Have not even gotten close to using 100 minutes. 3G speeds get better everyday it seems.

Once T-Mobile gets consistent 3G signal for iPhones in my area I'll be breaking my Verizon contract.

will this work on iPhone 5?

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SoLongAndroid said:

Been running this plan with my iPhone5 and Talkatone with a Google Voice number. Have not even gotten close to using 100 minutes. 3G speeds get better everyday it seems.

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how's the data speed on iPhone 5? Cause I heard T mobile said it only provide 2G for iPhones

jackwills said:

will this work on iPhone 5?

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how's the data speed on iPhone 5? Cause I heard T mobile said it only provide 2G for iPhones

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I haven't ran a speed test on it, but the 3G speeds let me use VOIP through Talkatone so I don't use the minutes. I have forum apps that I can run/read and load pictures over 3G. Sometimes even the EDGE speeds are fast enough to all that besides Talkatone.

Has there been any word on the state of the $30 pre-paid plan (100 min, unlimited txt, 5 GB of 4G data) after this week's T-Mobile announcement of officially supporting the iPhone?

Is it still possible to buy an unlocked iPhone from Apple and bring it to T-Mo and get it on this plan?

Even better would be if T-Mo would let you do the $100 down / $20x24 months deal, so you could pay $100 up-front and have the $30 plan for $50/month.

I simply do not talk on the phone enough to justify the preposterous monthly charges from these cell carriers, however, this plan would work perfectly, if only it was possible to get in conjunction with the iPhone.

Also, does anyone know what kind of speeds you would get if your area doesn't have the T-Mo 1900 MHz LTE yet? Do you get 3G or does it drop to 2G speed?

Thanks.

my verizon contract is up at the end of this week, and i decided to give this t-mobile plan a try almost two months ago on an unlocked nexus 4. hspa+ is better than i expected, and even cell reception isn't as bad as i remember (except at home, where i can't get anything). it's really tempting to move to this plan considering the $45/mo savings. now do i stick with the nexus 4, use my verizon iphone 5, or try to sell that and buy a t-mobile iphone 5?

F123D said:

I think its an excellent plan for people who don't talk much. Unfortunately, 100 minutes isn't enough for me.

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Just to respond to the not enough minutes in general, 5Gb of data plan is impressive, we have eight people current using data plan on 4G with Verizon, we barely break 5Gb every month, and of course we don't purposely try to abuse it. To address the issue of not enough minutes, unless you are constantly on the road, which I don't think most people are. You are probably covered by wifi, either that or you are covered by the 4G. So in that case, you can go with Skype, which charges around $3 dollars per month for their unlimited USA calling, or you can go with Vonage (free up to 3000 minutes per month). Both of which have very good quality. I do a lot of international calling using Skype. So I think this plan is excellent.

Ok so i had a few questions about this, I currently have an iphone 5 with verizon service.

- will the iphone 5 work fine with this plan?
-Can i use the same phone number i currently have with verizon?
-What are the data speeds like (im in Los Angeles)?
- Will you get 4g at all with this plan?
- Can i just use one of those apps that use data to make phone calls?
- If i do use those phone apps will it show my phone number or a different number when making phone calls?
-is there anyway to test the plan before hand? like just buy a cheaper phone activate and use it. then if i like activate my iphone and change the phone number on the account? or can i only transfer the number over when i first make the account?

Thanks in advance!

K1ngkev1n1 said:

Ok so i had a few questions about this, I currently have an iphone 5 with verizon service.

- will the iphone 5 work fine with this plan?

yes, but you will only get 3g speeds if t-mobile's refarmed their network in your area. your phone, like the at&t iphone 5, won't be able to access the aws 3g that the t-mobile version (or the new unlocked version) will be able to get. around my area, i see edge speeds almost half the time. however, when i do see 3g, the speeds are pretty solid, in the neighborhood of 8mb/s up and 2mb/s down.

-Can i use the same phone number i currently have with verizon?

yes, when you sign up, there's an option to port your number in.


- Will you get 4g at all with this plan?

if you mean lte, no. you will not.

- Can i just use one of those apps that use data to make phone calls?

yes.

- If i do use those phone apps will it show my phone number or a different number when making phone calls?

you can use skype, and they have an option to show your cell phone caller id. otherwise, if you're using a service like google voice and tapatalk, you'll have to use that other number.


-is there anyway to test the plan before hand? like just buy a cheaper phone
activate and use it. then if i like activate my iphone and change the phone number on the account? or can i only transfer the number over when i first make the account?

the best way i can think of is to just buy a t-mobile sim and try it out on your phone. you don't have to get the $30 plan. you can try the unlimited $3/day to see how the network holds up in your area. you shouldn't even need to port your number for this if you're just experimenting. and if you like it, you can get another sim card and go on the $30 100 minute plan.

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K1ngkev1n1 said:

Ok so i had a few questions about this, I currently have an iphone 5 with verizon service.

- will the iphone 5 work fine with this plan?
-Can i use the same phone number i currently have with verizon?
-What are the data speeds like (im in Los Angeles)?
- Will you get 4g at all with this plan?
- Can i just use one of those apps that use data to make phone calls?
- If i do use those phone apps will it show my phone number or a different number when making phone calls?
-is there anyway to test the plan before hand? like just buy a cheaper phone activate and use it. then if i like activate my iphone and change the phone number on the account? or can i only transfer the number over when i first make the account?

Thanks in advance!

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-Yes, a Verizon iP5 is factory sim unlocked and a T-mobile sim will work.
-Yes, you can even sign up and get a new number to test the service. Once you are happy that it works you can call T-mobile and ask to port your VZ number over. I think you have 30 days to do this....I know it worked for me after 2 days. You may have to pay an ETF from Verizon if you aren't satisfying your contract with them.
-I don't know about LA speeds, but you can check it out with your trial number before committing to change.
-You will get what T-mobile 4G in any place they have refarmed their HSPA+ network to 1900MHz. This is within most metro areas, but there are still some holes in the service. Note this is not LTE and your VZ iP5 won't work on T-mobiles LTE service. So basically you may get good enough speeds, but when you drop out, you will drop all of the way back to 2G. A new T-mobile enabled iP5 which is released Friday would get the faster 4G speeds even where they haven't changed to 1900MHz and would work on LTE once it's enabled. You might want to sell your VZ iP5 and buy a new T-mobile iP5.
-You can use VOIP apps to call. They work well where you have a good data connection.
-Yes, it would show a different number. One way around this....Get a new number from T-mobile, then port your VZ number to Google Voice instead. Use Google Voice to direct calls to your new T-mobile number or to the number you are assigned by the VOIP provider. Don't give out your newly assigned numbers to anyone. Using an app like GV Mobile+ can help you place calls that will appear to come from your Google Voice (your old VZ) number, but it will direct them through to either your T-mobile or VOIP number.
-Yes, you can test as described above. Just get a nano SIM from T-mobile...it might be easier to get a full size one by ordering it online. Then use a cutter to cut down to nano size. Then go to T-mobile's website and sign up for the plan. You can only get the $30 plan you described by signing up online and by making it your initial selection....you can never change to this plan from any other plan. You can then test the plan with your current iP5 just by swapping the SIM card.

Thank you for the fast responses guys! Looks like I will probably make the switch. Now if I do get a tmobile iPhone is there any option to just activate with the 30$ plan? Or do I just need to buy the phone by itself and go buy the 30$ activation card thing.

Curious if you guys know anything about simple mobile as well and their speeds with the iPhone 5 Verizon version I saw they had a plan for 40$ a month unlimited everything.

I also read some where the at&t iphone 5 can utilize tmobile LTE and 4g network while verizon iphone 5 cannot. is this true? I'm so tempted by this plan, but tough to leave these speeds with Verizon.

K1ngkev1n1 said:

I also read some where the at&t iphone 5 can utilize tmobile LTE and 4g network while verizon iphone 5 cannot. is this true? I'm so tempted by this plan, but tough to leave these speeds with Verizon. View attachment 407238

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That's pretty slow for LTE. It all depends on your area, but with T-Mobile I can easily get around 15-20mbps down on their "4G" network. It would probably be closer to around 7-10mbps though if you're using T-Mobile on the Verizon iPhone model because it cannot use the HSPA+42 over the AWS bands.

I think it should be 5 cents

CEmajr said:

That's pretty slow for LTE. It all depends on your area, but with T-Mobile I can easily get around 15-20mbps down on their "4G" network. It would probably be closer to around 7-10mbps though if you're using T-Mobile on the Verizon iPhone model because it cannot use the HSPA+42 over the AWS bands.

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Yea it may be the area I am in. When I'm at work in the office the coverage isn't the greatest. But I can only imagine how tmobile coverage would be in the same area. I'm just afraid of loosing the reliability. I've never used tmobile before. Don't want constant dropped calls and inconsistent data esp if I'm going to be using google talk or Skype to make phone calls.

K1ngkev1n1 said:

Thank you for the fast responses guys! Looks like I will probably make the switch. Now if I do get a tmobile iPhone is there any option to just activate with the 30$ plan? Or do I just need to buy the phone by itself and go buy the 30$ activation card thing.

Curious if you guys know anything about simple mobile as well and their speeds with the iPhone 5 Verizon version I saw they had a plan for 40$ a month unlimited everything.

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The $30 plan is prepaid and the activations that come with buying an iPhone from T-mobile are all postpaid. You can't get the $30 plan at a T-mobile store, only from T-mobile online. First step is to get a SIM card.

http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/phone-sim-card

They only offer full size and micro (not nano) SIMs for prepaid. I got a full size and bought a cutter from eBay. You can cut without a cutter, but I didn't want to take a chance.

Then go here to activate:

http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans

Click the Activate button on the upper right side of this page. Notice that the $30 plan receives little fanfare at the bottom of the page. And, in fact, there are two $30 plans, so make sure you select the right one. If you select the other one, you can't ever change to the one you want. If you tried to activate in a store they will give you the other plan as well as it is the only $30 plan they can give you. You can get the 5GB 100minute plan only online this way.

If you buy a new iPhone and want hotspot, you will have to also select the $15 hotspot option. If you use an older iPhone without the new carrier update you will likely get hotspot free. This you can select later if you want to wait.

Your initial SIM will have $3.34 in credit on it, so you will have to recharge with at least $26.66 to activate your plan for the first month. Again, I'd recommend choosing to get a new number to try it out. Once you are happy you can call T-Mobile customer service and port your VZ number over. When I did it it happened instantly...I was on the phone with T-mobile from my ATT number and it dropped the call (as ATT service was cut immediately) while I was speaking to customer service! I popped in my T-mobile SIM and got a text that my number had changed.