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GoCubsGo

macrumors Nehalem
Feb 19, 2005
35,742
153
Still a good deal if you can handle T-Mo's network IMO.....

And given they sold a boatload of iP5's this past month, I'd reckon it makes sense for them to up the price and see if they can't make a little extra money.
It is but it would have been nice to know it was a promo.
Tmobile's network is just as good as any other.

I'm sure this is a deal they had with apple, its beyond their control.
You're sure? How?
 
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ladeer

macrumors 6502
Feb 15, 2007
391
10
is the iphone tmobile sells factory unlocked? it should be right since you are financing the cost for the entire phone? it should also be unlocked on day 1 since you agree to pay for the financing for the whole term?
 

xkmxkmxlmx

macrumors 6502a
Apr 28, 2011
885
113
Can anyone explain to me how t-mobile's new upgrade plan works exactly? So if I buy the i5 and want to upgrade to the 5s in a few months, I will still have to pay the $20 a month until the 5 is paid off AND have to pay an extra $20 for the 5s?
 

adozark

macrumors member
Apr 15, 2011
33
0
T-Mobile works great in my area, and so does AT&T.

Verizon is horrible where I live, I have them now because I'm locked into contract. I live in Austin, and I get dropped calls all the time. Austin is a big city, there really isn't much excuse for not having decent coverage here.

I regret ever leaving T-Mobile. I like AT&T, but not only is it more expensive, but they force you to sign a 2 year contract even if you bring your own phone :confused:.
 

Shanpdx

macrumors 68030
Sep 24, 2008
2,534
346
Blazer town!
iPhone 5 Sales is good

I think that is what I conclude, they loss $50 to $70 on each iPhone sold (not considering the 24 month installment) so retracted the price back...

Good for t-mobile; but I do not like it (a company cannot keep the price steady for a month!)

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Can anyone explain to me how t-mobile's new upgrade plan works exactly? So if I buy the i5 and want to upgrade to the 5s in a few months, I will still have to pay the $20 a month until the 5 is paid off AND have to pay an extra $20 for the 5s?

of course yes, you are getting interest free loan. You need to sell the iPhone 5 and pay them and then get iPhone 5S or pay $20 for each...
 

r00fus

macrumors regular
May 23, 2009
129
9
Seriously? I was wanting to switch to tmobile from AT&T when the 5S came off.... $50 isn' a huge amount but makes me not want to as much

I bought 2 iPhone5s in April, was going to add the rest later for relatives, but now I have to explain to them why my initial estimated cost is going to increase.

Urgh. Also I can't find out how to order the new iPhone on t-mobile's site with a subsidy plan, instead of paying the full price up front.


HOWEVER - my experience with my current iPhone5 is incredible - LTE in San Jose is *fast* (Audible downloads at 16-20Mbit/sec).

HD voice really works. I only wish I could get it when calling folks who aren't on tmobile and that have HDvoice phones (ie, not just my wife) - but our commute home calls are much much nicer with the newer phones and I usually only care about quality when talking to her :)
 
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treyjustice

macrumors 65816
Jun 14, 2009
1,252
141
TX
I bought 2 iPhone5s in April, was going to add the rest later for relatives, but now I have to explain to them why my initial estimated cost is going to increase.

Urgh. Also I can't find out how to order the new iPhone on t-mobile's site with a subsidy plan, instead of paying the full price up front.


HOWEVER - my experience with my current iPhone5 is incredible - LTE in San Jose is *fast* (Audible downloads at 16-20Mbit/sec).

HD voice really works. I only wish I could get it when calling folks who aren't on tmobile and that have HDvoice phones (ie, not just my wife) - but our commute home calls are much much nicer with the newer phones and I usually only care about quality when talking to her :)

Awesome! I am hoping they will flip the LTE switch in DFW (dallas area) soon! Until then I will be with AT&T
 

saintforlife

macrumors 65816
Feb 25, 2011
1,045
329
If you are someone that holds on to your phone for the usual 2 year period, there is absolutely no reason to NOT be on contract and get a subsidized phone from a carrier and make them eat the ~$450 difference. If you add T-Mobile's $150 down payment and the monthly $20 payment, at the end of two years it all comes down to the same thing pretty much. Now why wouldn't I just stick with AT&T and enjoy wide spread LTE coverage instead of trying to be all 'contract free'? Contract free sounds nice in theory, but there are too many drawbacks IMO.
 

WatchTheThrone

macrumors regular
Aug 2, 2011
239
137
My dad just got a tmobile iPhone 5 this past Thursday so I'm happy he got it a lil cheaper!!
I used to have tmobile on my 3GS and the service was good but when sprint got the iPhone I tried them out!! Sprint is ok too but their 3G can be slower than edge sometimes which can be frustrating when traveling and need to look something up in maps and it just sits there loading. So I'm contemplating going back to tmobile when the 5S is out!!
150 is still better than 200 for sprint so no biggie there!!

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If you are someone that holds on to your phone for the usual 2 year period, there is absolutely no reason to NOT be on contract and get a subsidized phone from a carrier and make them eat the ~$450 difference. If you add T-Mobile's $150 down payment and the monthly $20 payment, at the end of two years it all comes down to the same thing pretty much. Now why wouldn't I just stick with AT&T and enjoy wide spread LTE coverage instead of trying to be all 'contract free'? Contract free sounds nice in theory, but there are too many drawbacks IMO.

It all comes to price and coverage!! Mostly price.
On att you can't cancel whenever you want like on tmobile!! If you do they're gonna charge you the etf. On tmobile if you want to get a cheaper plan like the 35/month 100 min and unlimited text and data (soft capped at 5gb) then you could end up paying 55 for the plan and the phone!! Att doesn't have anything close to that!!
Tmobile is doing great with their new plans I like the competition it's giving to the big 2
 

DcGamer05

macrumors 6502
Mar 27, 2011
389
226
Litchfield CT
I live in danbury Connecticut and t-mobile here is atrocious and AT&T is acceptable but Verizon and sprint have excellent coverage that's why I'm on sprint because it works well and is a good value. It's all on where you live what you do and where you go everyone has a different answer. All my friends who have t-mobile here get emergency calls only constantly especially in the rural parts of town
 

hansemat000

macrumors newbie
Jan 29, 2013
2
0
This article misinforms

The article states that Apple has no payment plan for T-Mobile phone and that the phone is slightly higher than T-Mobile. First off, Apple does offer a payment plan through Barclays (Interest-free for 24 months). Through Barclays financing, you can also get a price match. Therefore, there is hardly any difference between getting it at T-Mobile and getting it at Apple.
 

as0016

macrumors regular
Sep 24, 2012
100
0
If you are someone that holds on to your phone for the usual 2 year period, there is absolutely no reason to NOT be on contract and get a subsidized phone from a carrier and make them eat the ~$450 difference. If you add T-Mobile's $150 down payment and the monthly $20 payment, at the end of two years it all comes down to the same thing pretty much. Now why wouldn't I just stick with AT&T and enjoy wide spread LTE coverage instead of trying to be all 'contract free'? Contract free sounds nice in theory, but there are too many drawbacks IMO.

Because if you look at all the analyses out there - ATT doesn't "eat" the 450, it's built into your plan pricing. Att and Verizon are more expensive. If you stick with it for two years, you save something like 600 bucks+ if you compare T-mobile plan with comparable AT&T plan

Total cost to T-Mobile for 2-years will be $2260 (2310 with new phone price) (this is the price of phone 70 unlimited no throttling plan for 24 months). Verizon and AT&T it’s $2840 - and you get no unlimited.
 

saintforlife

macrumors 65816
Feb 25, 2011
1,045
329
Because if you look at all the analyses out there - ATT doesn't "eat" the 450, it's built into your plan pricing. Att and Verizon are more expensive. If you stick with it for two years, you save something like 600 bucks+ if you compare T-mobile plan with comparable AT&T plan

Total cost to T-Mobile for 2-years will be $2260 (2310 with new phone price) (this is the price of phone 70 unlimited no throttling plan for 24 months). Verizon and AT&T it’s $2840 - and you get no unlimited.

I currently pay $140 including taxes for my AT&T family plan with two iPhone 5's with 1500 mins (total b/w two phones), 2GB of data (per phone) and 200 text messages per month (per phone). We don't come anywhere close to using up the minutes or the messages or the data.

If you take a comparable T-Mobile family plan and add $40 to the monthly bill (monthly payment for the two iPhones), it is in fact more than what I currently pay for my AT&T plan. There is no compelling reason whatsoever for me to go off contract. I don't save any money. I have found that buying top end smartphones through contract and changing them out every two years gives the best bang for the buck. This works amazingly well if you are not one of those people that have to have a new phone ever year.
 

osofast240sx

macrumors 68030
Mar 25, 2011
2,539
16
Umm, no it's not.

Look, I like TMO, and used them for years. But to suggest that their network has anywhere near the coverage that Verizon's does is completely looney tunes.
It's not just about coverage. It's about the ability to use the iPhone as intended. I can facetime as much as i want. surf as much as i want. I live in a big city(NYC) and I travel alot to mostly big cities( and their surrounding burbs). And now I get to roam on AT&T network for the next 7 years. This is a new tmobile with a lot more coverage.
 

rdlink

macrumors 68040
Nov 10, 2007
3,226
2,435
Out of the Reach of the FBI
It's not just about coverage. It's about the ability to use the iPhone as intended. I can facetime as much as i want. surf as much as i want. I live in a big city(NYC) and I travel alot to mostly big cities( and their surrounding burbs). And now I get to roam on AT&T network for the next 7 years. This is a new tmobile with a lot more coverage.


All that is well and good, and I am very happy for you. Sincerely, I am. But your original statement that all wireless carriers are pretty much the same is still untrue.

And the fact of the matter is that the vast majority of users would tell you in a second that having reliable coverage in more places is the most important thing. After all, the same thing is true for mobile devices as desktop devices: The network is the computer. In fact, it's even more so for mobile devices.

I really hope that TMO is the bigger, better network that you say it is. Because I would really love to go back to them. But the fact that they took way too long to get the iPhone eventually cost them my business, and what I know about their network vs. VZ is making me very hesitant to go back.
 

Bartolo

macrumors newbie
Aug 13, 2010
9
0
All mobile carriers have their good and bad areas. In my experience though, T-Mobile's cell coverage is worse then the other major carriers.

You're in New Hampshire -- not the highest priority for any carrier unfortunately. Closer to Boston, TMO is just fine.
 

osofast240sx

macrumors 68030
Mar 25, 2011
2,539
16
All that is well and good, and I am very happy for you. Sincerely, I am. But your original statement that all wireless carriers are pretty much the same is still untrue.

And the fact of the matter is that the vast majority of users would tell you in a second that having reliable coverage in more places is the most important thing. After all, the same thing is true for mobile devices as desktop devices: The network is the computer. In fact, it's even more so for mobile devices.

I really hope that TMO is the bigger, better network that you say it is. Because I would really love to go back to them. But the fact that they took way too long to get the iPhone eventually cost them my business, and what I know about their network vs. VZ is making me very hesitant to go back.
When I say all I mean the big 4 carriers. My wife has verzion and I can't remember a time were she had service and I didn't.

It was not tmobile's fault for not having the iPhone. Att had an exclusive GSM deal with Apple, that lasted through 2012. Att was the only carrier bold enough in 2007 to take a gamble with apple.

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Is it possible to make a larger downpayment to T-Mobile and pay less over time?
Yes I'm paying $12 a month per iPhone. And you can pay off early.
 

Plutonius

macrumors G3
Feb 22, 2003
9,048
8,417
New Hampshire, USA
You're in New Hampshire -- not the highest priority for any carrier unfortunately. Closer to Boston, TMO is just fine.

I live in southern NH and I work in Mass. As I said earlier, I have no issues with T-Mobile coverage where I live / work. I was traveling to NY state last weekend and I had no coverage. I have also not had coverage in many other states when I traveled. I'm a happy T-Mobile customer but the T-Mobile coverage isn't up to par with the other major carriers.
 
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