iPhone XS Best deal for new T-Mobile subscribers

[Wildgift]

My girlfriend and I want to trade in our paid off iPhone 8’s And switch to T-Mobile’s 55+ plan. I’m attracted by the fact that we will get free service while we are in Italy this summer and I can get the MLB TV package.

I am thinking of going and buying the new phones at the Apple store, and paying them off interest free. We can get $300 trade-ins each for our iPhones. Does anyone have any suggestions to make more economic sense?

Thanks!

 

[avtella]

Check for online deals, sometimes they differ from store to the point where you have to convince the reps because they even don't know about them. I got a deal last year, buy any two iPhones (8 Plus 256Gb in my case) at full price at Apple and T-Mobile would give a $700 Visa gift card upon receiving the receipt online, additionally I had to add an unlimited line for a month (while gift card was being processed) before canceling the extra line.

I am grandfathered to the Simple Choice (without unlimited 4G) plan with International calling on all lines ~$130 after taxes and technically I was not eligible but TMO can be pretty nice at allowing incompatible deals at times, they added the extra unlimited line for a month just to make it compatible with the deal.

 

[s54]

I’ve been a T-Mobile customer for 5 years now. I switched to T-Mobile because of how attractive the “free” international data seemed. Since I travel abroad quite often, I thought this was a great perk.

And while it does sound great on paper, it’s garbage in practice. Sure, it’s free, but it’s borderline useless. What they don’t care to disclose (with enough emphasis) is that you’ll get, at best, 128-256 kbps download speeds when traveling obroad in most countries. That’s 2G or worse, depending on your plan.

If you want 3G or 4G overseas with T-Mobile, you’ll have to fork out an additional $50 per month for their 4G international package.

They pride themselves for being international-friendly, but the truth is that their international roaming is ridiculous. You can forget about making data calls or using any apps. Might as well wait until you’re in range of WiFi.

At that point, it’s no different than being with another carrier, since all modern iPhones can send iMessages and make calls over WiFi.

T-Mobile used to be great and much cheaper than its competitors. They used to offer plans that made sense. Today, they offer nothing unique or special.

 

[nicholasg]

I’ve been a T-Mobile customer for 5 years now. I switched to T-Mobile because of how attractive the “free” international data seemed. Since I travel abroad quite often, I thought this was a great perk.

And while it does sound great on paper, it’s garbage in practice. Sure, it’s free, but it’s borderline useless. What they don’t care to disclose (with enough emphasis) is that you’ll get, at best, 128-256 kbps download speeds when traveling obroad in most countries. That’s 2G or worse, depending on your plan.

If you want 3G or 4G overseas with T-Mobile, you’ll have to fork out an additional $50 per month for their 4G international package.

They pride themselves for being international-friendly, but the truth is that their international roaming is ridiculous. You can forget about making data calls or using any apps. Might as well wait until you’re in range of WiFi.

At that point, it’s no different than being with another carrier, since all modern iPhones can send iMessages and make calls over WiFi.

T-Mobile used to be great and much cheaper than its competitors. They used to offer plans that made sense. Today, they offer nothing unique or special.

That has not been my experience in Europe on a US t-mobile plan.

I’ve been able to use FaceTime voice, WhatsApp voice and Maps (for directions). It’s also good for “lite” web usage. And best of all it’s “free”.

 

[Five_Oh]

That has not been my experience in Europe on a US t-mobile plan.

I’ve been able to use FaceTime voice, WhatsApp voice and Maps (for directions). It’s also good for “lite” web usage. And best of all it’s “free”.

My experience as well.

No, you won't be able to stream video while roaming internationally, but you certainly can receive notifications, iMessage, navigate using a maps app, check weather, browse (albeit slow) and other functionality.

It's definitely limited, but functional.

 

[eyoungren]

My girlfriend and I want to trade in our paid off iPhone 8’s And switch to T-Mobile’s 55+ plan. I’m attracted by the fact that we will get free service while we are in Italy this summer and I can get the MLB TV package.

I am thinking of going and buying the new phones at the Apple store, and paying them off interest free. We can get $300 trade-ins each for our iPhones. Does anyone have any suggestions to make more economic sense?

Thanks!

This might interest you. Couple of deals coming up: https://old.reddit.com/r/tmobile/comments/c36sq8/i_just_signed_up_but_i_need_help/

 

[Apple_Robert]

I think it is crappy of T-Mobile to only offer the $35 line rate if you have two lines. Single 55+ people get charged more because of the one, when they should be able to get the $35 per line rate.

I am not 55 yet but, I am with T-Mobile.

Definitely look for online deals. T-Mobile has a new promotion right now that they will beat any current discount you may be receiving via employee, military, affiliate etc. for those looking to switch. I have seen tv ads for the promotion.

 

[prospervic]

That has not been my experience in Europe on a US t-mobile plan.

I’ve been able to use FaceTime voice, WhatsApp voice and Maps (for directions). It’s also good for “lite” web usage. And best of all it’s “free”.

I also have this plan. It’s works better overseas if get the OnePlus add-on. You get 256k data speed for $10/month more. Plus 10gb/month of high-speed tethering (in US), and free domestic in-flight wi-fi.

 

[nburwell]

One thing to keep in mind about MLB.TV is that it's only offered for free at the start of the MLB season via the T-Mobile Tuesdays app. So at this point, the OP would have to pay for a subscription (unless he already has a subscription). But next year you could definitely take advantage of it (assuming T-Mobile offers it).

 

[lordofthereef]

I think the two lines for $70 is the best deal on the market really. If you need more speed in Italy you can upgrade that for just the month. I don't know if other deals like the matching of discounts from your current provider stacks it not, if they do, that could be killer.