Only T-Mobile can truly compete against AT&T's iPhone!

[Mr Hill]

Originally Posted by aristobrat

If this is true, this is a very ballsy move on T-Mobile's part, and would probably explain how they're able to afford to offer the iPhone in their current financial condition. They simply won't subsidize it like most other US carriers do. Isn't Virgin the only one that doesn't?


http://bgr.com/2012/12/06/t-mobile-s...-subsidies-end

I'm not sure if the majority of consumers would understand the concept of paying $649 for an iPhone that other carriers are selling for $199, even if they do get to pay for it over time.

They've been doing this for a while now with their Android smartphone lineup. It's actually working out well for them and they've already moved around 80% of their postpaid customers to this Value Plan model. It basically boils down to them breaking the phone price up to make it a separate charge from the actual rate plan. They charge $70 per month for their truly unlimited data plan, add in the $20 per month EIP for the phone and you come out at $90. Difference is that after the phone is paid off you get an extremely low priced bill compared to the other 3 carriers.

[Ungibbed]

Originally Posted by jstar002

All I know is that I have Tmobile and my blackberry is slower than death... I tried loading Macforums.com on my BB right now on 3G.... I counted out loud to 30 (approx 30 seconds) and the page is still not done loading....

I also don't like their customer service. It's outsourced and the people haven't been helpful at all. I haven't been able to set up email since I switched over to prepaid (I'm talking my regular gmail) while it was working fine when it was on contract. I've talked to at least 5-6 reps and spent 5 hours on the phone receiving service books, resetting the host/router, pulling in battery in and 20 times and still doesn't work. They are useless.

If you're still having issues with your BlackBerry email service, it is most likely a service book issue. I had a Bold 9700 for a number of years with T-Mobile. If you can't do that via your 'Berry, you will have to go into the carrier setup page and may have to delete and re-create your email accounts via your computer on the customer care/my account page.


Concerning the iPhone official support, there is no 3G yet in my area for my 4S. Went back to using my Galaxy S3 and decided I'm waiting a while. Even sending a MMS with a single photo on my iPhone took around 3 to 5 minutes.

The towers in my area do have 24Mb support for AWS enabled phones on the 1700Mhz band. On a average speed test I can pull a solid 14Mb on average.

My iPhone? It feels like using dial up Internet.

[jstar002]

Originally Posted by Ungibbed

If you're still having issues with your BlackBerry email service, it is most likely a service book issue. I had a Bold 9700 for a number of years with T-Mobile. If you can't do that via your 'Berry, you will have to go into the carrier setup page and may have to delete and re-create your email accounts via your computer on the customer care/my account page.

My iPhone? It feels like using dial up Internet.

What do you know... that actually worked!!! It took me 15 minutes to find the link on how to set up my email via the admin (I find their admin super confusing) but it works! Thank you! I called their tech support at least 5-6 times and NEVER had my email working since switching to prepaid which was over 6 months ago. I even talked to supervisors; I demanded to talk to one because nothing ever got resolved. Why didn't they just tell me to do it myself in the admin?

They just kept resending books and telling me to take out the battery and all this stuff that never did anything!! Maybe I'll keep this BB a bit longer now that it works...

Have to thank you again. You are more knowledgeable than the people that work there!

[darster]

T-Mobile. ha ha. Funny.

[Applejuiced]

Originally Posted by Mr Hill

They've been doing this for a while now with their Android smartphone lineup. It's actually working out well for them and they've already moved around 80% of their postpaid customers to this Value Plan model. It basically boils down to them breaking the phone price up to make it a separate charge from the actual rate plan. They charge $70 per month for their truly unlimited data plan, add in the $20 per month EIP for the phone and you come out at $90. Difference is that after the phone is paid off you get an extremely low priced bill compared to the other 3 carriers.

That's a beautiful idea I think.
But like others said people here in the US hate the idea of paying $600-700 for a phone.
They're like I would never ever pay that much for a cellphone.
But instead they pay $120 for a cellphone plan every month with no complains.
Where with this deal you pay $50 a month and considering a 2 year plan its saving you $1680 for that 2 year term.
They just dont see it like that.
No, I want to pay $200 for the phone and dont mind paying a huge bill for the rest 2 years.

I love these type of deals by Tmobile and I really hope other carriers will follow once they see the demand and competition.
Im just really glad that AT&T didnt buy Tmobile or now we'd be stuck with 3 carriers and maybe down the road just 2 if Verizon bought sprint and then they would have milked us like crazy

[tymaster50]

lol T-mobile, lol Metro PCS. I don't know how people manage to use their services with an iPhone. Just buy an iPod Touch if you have T-mobile and you won't have to worry about changing anything... for now.

[Jordan921]

I'll pass on poor coverage.

[upnorth85]

T-Mobile is a long ways away from providing any competition to AT&T. Yesterday T-Mobiles CTO announced Minneapolis is reframed. This is joke and insult to iPhone users in Minneapolis. I live in the NW suburbs and ther is not a 3G signal for 15 miles around here. I will believe it when I see 3 G speed on my new iPhone 5.

[Cebuano1976]

I am on T-Mobile. 3 iPhones with Unlimited Data, 1 iPhone with 200 MB Data, Unlimited Minutes ad Texts for $115. That's just totally unbeatable. I'm on WIFI approx 18-20 hrs/day so I'm not willing to pay $100 more for services I rarely use.

[Maverick713]

Originally Posted by MattMJB0188

You continue to let AT&T rape you!!! I won't. If that means being on EDGE occasionally, then SO BE IT!!!

They will improve coverage with their recent merger with Metro PCS.

Doesn't Metro PCs work off the sprint network?

[Prime85]

Originally Posted by tymaster50

lol T-mobile, lol Metro PCS. I don't know how people manage to use their services with an iPhone. Just buy an iPod Touch if you have T-mobile and you won't have to worry about changing anything... for now.

Depends on your location. Miami won't be done with the refarming till January but I have already see a great improvement and get 3G everywhere except inside my house which is not necessary because of my wifi. They will be spending 10billon over the next 3 years and 4.5billion in 2013 alone to improve their network.

[tymaster50]

Originally Posted by Prime85

Depends on your location. Miami won't be done with the refarming till January but I have already see a great improvement and get 3G everywhere except inside my house which is not necessary because of my wifi. They will be spending 10billon over the next 3 years and 4.5billion in 2013 alone to improve their network.

T-Mobile must really want this iPhone.

[Jordan921]

Originally Posted by tymaster50

T-Mobile must really want this iPhone.

They sure do.

[Prime85]

Originally Posted by tymaster50

T-Mobile must really want this iPhone.

Yea, according to cult of Mac T-Mobile lost 1.5 million customers in just the past 9 months with the most leaving since the iphone 5 release in September

[JAT]

Originally Posted by upnorth85

T-Mobile is a long ways away from providing any competition to AT&T. Yesterday T-Mobiles CTO announced Minneapolis is reframed. This is joke and insult to iPhone users in Minneapolis. I live in the NW suburbs and ther is not a 3G signal for 15 miles around here. I will believe it when I see 3 G speed on my new iPhone 5.

Sounds interesting. Got a link?

[tymaster50]

But tmobile doing away with subsidies will be their undoing. Not a lot of people can pay $700 up front.

[takeshi74]

Originally Posted by MattMJB0188

AT&T has enjoyed being the dominant GSM carrier in the US for way too long. Verizon and Sprint don't even count because of their limited technology.

It also doesn't help that they aren't GSM in the first place.

Originally Posted by tymaster50

But tmobile doing away with subsidies will be their undoing. Not a lot of people can pay $700 up front.

They don't have to. Read up again.

Certainly, a lot of people will balk at the higher device costs but some people might actually start to consider total cost over the long term.

[Bob Coxner]

Originally Posted by tymaster50

But tmobile doing away with subsidies will be their undoing. Not a lot of people can pay $700 up front.

It sounds as though they will offer a sort of installment plan. You pay full price but stretch the payments out over 20 months. Rather than $700 up front you would pay an extra $35 per month for 20 months. A customer would only see an extra $35 the first month, which beats VZW, AT&T, Sprint, etc, even when they start as low as $199.

[tymaster50]

Originally Posted by Bob Coxner

It sounds as though they will offer a sort of installment plan. You pay full price but stretch the payments out over 20 months. Rather than $700 up front you would pay an extra $35 per month for 20 months. A customer would only see an extra $35 the first month, which beats VZW, AT&T, Sprint, etc, even when they start as low as $199.

The way I see it is this, T-mobile will offer the iPhone 5 but paying full price, an extra 35 a month almost propels it up into the cost of a verizon phone... subsidized on contract with 2 lines, people will look at that and say why not get AT&T or Verizon for the same price and better coverage?

[nitemare]

Originally Posted by tymaster50

The way I see it is this, T-mobile will offer the iPhone 5 but paying full price, an extra 35 a month almost propels it up into the cost of a verizon phone... subsidized on contract with 2 lines, people will look at that and say why not get AT&T or Verizon for the same price and better coverage?

cause AT&T, VZW, and Sprint prices dont go down after the phone is paid off. again just like going with AT&T, VZW, or Sprint u need to check ur coverage area. T-Mo has very good coverage is some areas and not in others just like the big 3

[Prime85]

Originally Posted by tymaster50

The way I see it is this, T-mobile will offer the iPhone 5 but paying full price, an extra 35 a month almost propels it up into the cost of a verizon phone... subsidized on contract with 2 lines, people will look at that and say why not get AT&T or Verizon for the same price and better coverage?

it really depends on how many people you have on your plan, and how long you keep your phone for without upgrading.

ATT Monthly bill 1 line - for Unlimited Minutes, unlimited texts, 5gb data = 140/month With ATT


140/month * 24 Months = 3360/2years + 200 for iphone = $3560+Tax




T-Mobile Monthly bill 1 line - Unlimited Minutes, Unlimited Texts, Unlimited Highspeed data - $70 * 24 = $1680 + $650 for iPhone = $2330+Tax



So: ATT = $3560 - with only 5GB data
T-Mobile = $2330 - With unlimited data

Source - AT&T and T-Mobile Websites.

Now if you keep the phone a 3rd year the changes are even more drastic

[jrswizzle]

Originally Posted by Prime85

it really depends on how many people you have on your plan, and how long you keep your phone for without upgrading.

ATT Monthly bill 1 line - for Unlimited Minutes, unlimited texts, 5gb data = 140/month With ATT


140/month * 24 Months = 3360/2years + 200 for iphone = $3560+Tax




T-Mobile Monthly bill 1 line - Unlimited Minutes, Unlimited Texts, Unlimited Highspeed data - $70 * 24 = $1680 + $650 for iPhone = $2330+Tax



So: ATT = $3560 - with only 5GB LTE data
T-Mobile = $2330 - With unlimited HSPA data

Source - AT&T and T-Mobile Websites.

Now if you keep the phone a 3rd year the changes are even more drastic

There's a massive difference.

And keeping a phone for a third year? Will T-Mobile have LTE by then? LTE-A will be getting ready to be rolled out - again increasing the top end speed of the data service by a factor of 10 again.

If T-Mobile wants to be the bargain cell service, they can go right after it. But let's not pretend those prices can be equally compared.

[Prime85]

Originally Posted by jrswizzle

There's a massive difference.

And keeping a phone for a third year? Will T-Mobile have LTE by then? LTE-A will be getting ready to be rolled out - again increasing the top end speed of the data service by a factor of 10 again.

T-Mobiles LTE-Advanced network will be up in their major markets in 2013 and then it will be completed over the next three years for their entire network (according to T-Mobile CEO).

Miami is a major market so i can wait till the summer for LTE since i am already getting 13-15MB/s on their HSPA+. Since all i do is use it for web browsing and Email (sometimes Iheart Radio but rarely) i am fine with this to save that much money. Some people dont like to update their phone every 2 years. I will be Skipping the iPhone 5S so having 2 years with my iPhone 5 on T-mobile i will save a grand, that is a large amount.

Now if someone lives in an area without HSPA+ then i agree it wouldn't be worth it.

[jrswizzle]

Originally Posted by Prime85

T-Mobiles LTE-Advanced network will be up in their major markets in 2013 and then it will be completed over the next three years for their entire network (according to T-Mobile CEO).

Miami is a major market so i can wait till the summer for LTE since i am already getting 13-15MB/s on their HSPA+. Since all i do is use it for web browsing and Email (sometimes Iheart Radio but rarely) i am fine with this to save that much money. Some people dont like to update their phone every 2 years. I will be Skipping the iPhone 5S so having 2 years with my iPhone 5 on T-mobile i will save a grand, that is a large amount.

Now if someone lives in an area without HSPA+ then i agree it wouldn't be worth it.

Interesting - my experience with LTE over HSPA+ has been extremely positive for LTE. I would hate to go back to HSPA+ - though I suppose an unclogged network would give better speeds relatively speaking.

T-Mobile was my carrier before ATT. We switched primarily for the iPhone but T-Mobile offered terrible coverage in Frisco, TX at the time (it was small then, but was booming).

I'll have to see how this all plays out - as it stands I'm clutching my unlimited data plan tightly (as I routinely use a good amount of data). If T-Mobile offers an unlimited LTE or better yet LTE-A plan on this unsubsidized model, I may have to take a look - provided the coverage is decent (didn't they sell off a chunk of their towers not too long ago?)

[Prime85]

Originally Posted by jrswizzle

Interesting - my experience with LTE over HSPA+ has been extremely positive for LTE. I would hate to go back to HSPA+ - though I suppose an unclogged network would give better speeds relatively speaking.

T-Mobile was my carrier before ATT. We switched primarily for the iPhone but T-Mobile offered terrible coverage in Frisco, TX at the time (it was small then, but was booming).

I'll have to see how this all plays out - as it stands I'm clutching my unlimited data plan tightly (as I routinely use a good amount of data). If T-Mobile offers an unlimited LTE or better yet LTE-A plan on this unsubsidized model, I may have to take a look - provided the coverage is decent (didn't they sell off a chunk of their towers not too long ago?)

I never heard about them selling off towers but i do know they received a large amount from the fall through merger with ATT.