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brobson

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 13, 2004
510
6
Dallas
my new job won't allow service in my room w tmobile. We are on a no contract family plan for 4 phones and total bill is 140.
I am very hesitant to switch but it seems silly to not be able to use my phone.
My fear is the hidden costs, etc of a new plan. I'd love a iphone 4 and so would my college daughter, son has a lumina through tmobile (would it work on att or verizon)? dad doesnt care what he uses.
My question:
If I bought 2 used iphones and went no contract I wouldn't be locked into something for two years that is really out of my budget. Is that better than the free iphone 4 with 2 year contract w at&t? am I being paranoid? I can't afford over 200 a month if the data plus all the other greek charges end up being more than they say.
anyone have any suggestions?
 

Smith2000

macrumors member
Jun 6, 2014
33
0
AT&T might work

You could do 4 smartphones on a 1gb value plan on AT&T if you bring your own phones. It would $25 for the plan and $40 for each device. Your total would be $185 month plus taxes, or just under $200 or maybe slightly above depending on your local taxes. With Verizon you'd need Verizon specific phones, so that could really increase your upfront cost.

1gb split four ways wouldn't be that fun though. Everyone would need to keep their music and video streaming to only when they're on wifi and you should be able to make it work.

my new job won't allow service in my room w tmobile. We are on a no contract family plan for 4 phones and total bill is 140.
I am very hesitant to switch but it seems silly to not be able to use my phone.
My fear is the hidden costs, etc of a new plan. I'd love a iphone 4 and so would my college daughter, son has a lumina through tmobile (would it work on att or verizon)? dad doesnt care what he uses.
My question:
If I bought 2 used iphones and went no contract I wouldn't be locked into something for two years that is really out of my budget. Is that better than the free iphone 4 with 2 year contract w at&t? am I being paranoid? I can't afford over 200 a month if the data plus all the other greek charges end up being more than they say.
anyone have any suggestions?
 

ducme

macrumors newbie
Dec 3, 2012
2
0
If you bring your own phones to ATT, the costs should be in line with what you pay today for T-Mobile, depending on how much data your family is jointly using:

$25/line (for 300MB - 6GB data plans) or $15/line (for 10GB - 50GB data plans) + data plan portion

where, for example, the data plan portion is $25/1GB, $40/2GB, $70/4GB, $100/10GB, etc. Note, these rates do not require a 2yr committment.
 

forcetactic

macrumors 6502
Jul 30, 2010
478
7
You have 4 lines so go to Cricket Wireless which is a prepaid that uses ATT towers.

$100 a month (all fees included) gives each line unlimited talk/text/500MB data with unlimited 128kbps throttled afterwards.

You would have to bring your own phones so use the money you save monthly to upgrade phones if you like.
 

CEmajr

macrumors 601
Dec 18, 2012
4,448
1,228
Charlotte, NC
I also recommend Cricket. It uses AT&T's network and you can take your T-Mobile phones to them without buying new ones after you get T-Mobile to unlock them for you
 

Diode

macrumors 68020
Apr 15, 2004
2,443
124
Washington DC
I'm assuming you want to switch because you don't get service at your current place of work?

If price is a big factor and you can hold out iOS8 will allow using T-Mobile's wifi calling feature. If your new office has a wifi network it could be a viable option to hold out for.

If you can't wait the 10GB + 15/line (So About ~$170ish after taxes for 4 lines and 10GB of shared date) AT&T share plan would be a good alternative. Your current phones will work on AT&T but not Verizon.
 

Truefan31

macrumors 68040
Aug 25, 2012
3,587
835
Can't u get a microcell free thru tmobile? It should work. And like earlier iOS 8 will allow wifi calling
 

kupkakez

macrumors 68020
Apr 4, 2011
2,061
1,254
Austin, TX
I personally like verizon from my experience, they've been quite helpful!!!

Verizon wouldn't work for the op. He'd have to buy all new phones and it could be over his budget.

I second cricket. I have 4 lines total on my account for around $120 all in. Two lines have 2.5gb the other two have 500mb. Same network as AT&T.
 

brobson

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 13, 2004
510
6
Dallas
At&t

So am I right that a used AT&T does not have to be unlocked to use Cricket?
 

KUguardgrl13

macrumors 68020
May 16, 2013
2,492
125
Kansas, USA
StraightTalk from Walmart? I don't know much about it, but people around here say it's affordable. Not sure if you could bring the phones you have and use the AT&T network though since they use T-Mobile too. It's $45/month per line though with "unlimited" everything up to 3gb of data before they start throttling.

I'll vouch that Verizon isn't an option in this case. My family has 4 lines with 6gb and pays about $250.
 

natewsmith79

macrumors newbie
Nov 13, 2013
25
0
my new job won't allow service in my room w tmobile. We are on a no contract family plan for 4 phones and total bill is 140.
I am very hesitant to switch but it seems silly to not be able to use my phone.
My fear is the hidden costs, etc of a new plan. I'd love a iphone 4 and so would my college daughter, son has a lumina through tmobile (would it work on att or verizon)? dad doesnt care what he uses.
My question:
If I bought 2 used iphones and went no contract I wouldn't be locked into something for two years that is really out of my budget. Is that better than the free iphone 4 with 2 year contract w at&t? am I being paranoid? I can't afford over 200 a month if the data plus all the other greek charges end up being more than they say.
anyone have any suggestions?


Can you tell us what this exactly means please: "my new job won't allow service in my room w tmobile."

Remember with iOS 8 and T-Mobile now has WIFI CALLING..
 

brobson

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 13, 2004
510
6
Dallas
Can you tell us what this exactly means please: "my new job won't allow service in my room w tmobile."

Remember with iOS 8 and T-Mobile now has WIFI CALLING..

The building where I have worked since Sept will not allow calls with T-mobile.
I read somewhere that's common with buildings. My daughter cant get service in her dorm either, in Dallas. So verizon or AT&T are what everyone uses at work. I asked tmobile about the microcell and they said it wasn't possible.

Looks like cricket is great but my kids hate their phones and i want an iphone so I am looking at used iphones here, etc. I don't want to lock into a contract (my son is 23 next week- but who am i kidding though, i'm probably going to be paying for his phone in two years also, lol)

i guess have to wait (with no service) for the iphone 6 (for better used iphone 5 prices) and ios8.
Ugh, i have spent my whole vacation on this :confused:

Thanks for everyone's help though. I should probably just go sign my life away for the next two years I just don't trust it'll stay below $160.
 
Last edited:

marshallbedsaul

macrumors 6502a
Nov 14, 2007
892
72
Utah
I love my verizon service ! I've had (AT&T,tmobile, sprint) the last two were cheap.
Att I always felt robbed/disconnected. (DMV area)

Verizon's not the cheapest but great coverage
I have unlimited Data,txt,1400 mins a month paying 100.00(insurance,tax,bs fees)
 

KUguardgrl13

macrumors 68020
May 16, 2013
2,492
125
Kansas, USA
Verizon's not the cheapest but great coverage
I have unlimited Data,txt,1400 mins a month paying 100.00(insurance,tax,bs fees)

Just so OP is aware, that's a grandfathered plan. New customers can't get unlimited data on Verizon anymore. You get unlimited talk and text with a limited data bucket for all lines to share. Each smartphone is $40/month plus the cost of the data bucket you choose as well as taxes and fees. Insurance is a waste, IMO, unless you're forgetful and likely to have it stolen. AppleCare+ is much better for warranty repair and accidental damage.

You might look into AT&T go phone prepaid and see if the phones you have with T-Mobile will work. It's AT&T service but not quite as expensive. Verizon prepaid has terrible phone options, and you can't use the ones you have.
 

brobson

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 13, 2004
510
6
Dallas
still wondering

Still wondering what to do.
I bought an iphone 5 here yesterday and plan to go to cricket (but have heard mixed things).

I hear the 6 has wifi calling for t-mobile so I could stay, but my daughter would still have problems in her dorm right? because she has a 5. Does the 5 have wifi calling?

A lady at t-mobile said the person I am calling has to have wifi too for it to work? I'm not sure she was right.
Then I googled "smart wifi app" and wondered- if my daughter downloaded the app on her 5 and I got a 6 would we be able to stay with t-mobile?
 
Last edited:

Truefan31

macrumors 68040
Aug 25, 2012
3,587
835
The wifi calling is native to iOS 8 and tmobile. It switches seamlessly. Idk if the 5 will enable it. I know the 5s will
 

brobson

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 13, 2004
510
6
Dallas
hmmm

Thanks, just got off the phone and the lady said she will give us a signal booster (don't know why they didn't before) so we may wait and see if it works.
The wifi will only work if it's a t-mobile phone apparently and ours is an unlocked at&t iphone 5.

Why does one need an IT degree to understand all of this?:confused:
 
Last edited:

lordofthereef

macrumors G5
Nov 29, 2011
13,161
3,720
Boston, MA
Thanks, just got off the phone and the lady said she will give us a booster (don't know why they didn't before) so we may wait and see if it works.
The wifi will only work if it's a tmobile iphone apparently and ours is an unlocked phone. Why does one need an IT degree to understand all of this?:confused:

I doubt the specific model matters. If you have a TMO sim in there it should pick it up just fine.
 

ROLLTIDE1

macrumors 68000
Sep 12, 2012
1,901
596
my new job won't allow service in my room w tmobile. We are on a no contract family plan for 4 phones and total bill is 140.
I am very hesitant to switch but it seems silly to not be able to use my phone.
My fear is the hidden costs, etc of a new plan. I'd love a iphone 4 and so would my college daughter, son has a lumina through tmobile (would it work on att or verizon)? dad doesnt care what he uses.
My question:
If I bought 2 used iphones and went no contract I wouldn't be locked into something for two years that is really out of my budget. Is that better than the free iphone 4 with 2 year contract w at&t? am I being paranoid? I can't afford over 200 a month if the data plus all the other greek charges end up being more than they say.
anyone have any suggestions?

buy a cellular amp and stop complaining
 

brobson

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 13, 2004
510
6
Dallas
So sorry to complain but I bet you would too if your 19 year old daughter couldn't get service on her campus and didn't feel safe, let alone us at work and home.
All for a whopping $175 a month.

Bought a phone here and I'll try cricket tomorrow.
Thanks everyone

buy a cellular amp and stop complaining
 
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