CEO Confirms All iPads on T-Mobile Receive 200MB Free Data Each Month

[Taz Mangus]

I feel like a fool because I had good feelings after placing the order

I was on he phone several times with T-Mobile trying to get the same answer from several different customer reps. There are CSR that only handle the iPad and ones that handle the cell phones. I found that the cell phone CSR are the ones who are not aware of the free 200MB data plans for the iPad. Funny thing is, I didn't know this and I doubt a a lot of people know it as well. Hence, the confusion when speaking with T-Mobile customer support.

 

[RUinOhio]

even the CEO doesn't know everything, he said on his twitter that EIP is not offered to non-customers, yet I was approved for it in 5 minutes never having set foot in a t-mobile store ever:

"all devices come with 200mb free data. We offer EIP to existing customers."
"You need to be a customer in some fashion to qualify for EIP financing but all iPads come with free data"

I was on he phone several times with T-Mobile trying to get the same answer from several different customer reps. There are CSR that only handle the iPad and ones that handle the cell phones. I found that the cell phone CSR are the ones who are not aware of the free 200MB data plans for the iPad. Funny thing is, I didn't know this and I doubt a a lot of people know it as well. Hence, the confusion when speaking with T-Mobile customer support.

 

[bobjob186]

I don't understand the fascination of the ability to spread out the cost over 2 years. I mean, I hate to sound cricitical or anything, but if you don't have $500 in your bank account for these new iPads, maybe you shouldn't buy one. Personally, I usually wait for a bonus from work or some thing like that to buy something like this. I'm not getting a bonus until the end of the year, so I will not be buying it until then...I can wait a little bit longer on my iPad 2

Finance 101 called...It's for you.

 

[catalyst6]

I don't understand the confusion here. I bought a Verizon iPad Air at the apple store. Asked for a Tmobile nano sim on the way out and they gave me one. Out it in the iPad air and got the free data without having to enter a credit card number. Simple as that.

 

[staveb]

I just got this new iPad air, mine has 128 GB space. It is really amazing! I got it with T-Mobile, and I went through the 200 MB and data in two hours just to test it. Once you go through the data, you don't get anymore and you lose your Internet for LTE.

This is a fantastic deal though, as I only use data here and there. I would highly suggest that you get your iPad Air with LTE from T-Mobile.

 

[lyngo]

Been on the phone with T-Mobile all day and the customer service manager told me I had to pay $10/month because I purchased the iPad via an installment plan. I'm pretty upset as the T-Mobile store assured me that the data would be free and proceeded to allow me to purchase using an installment plan.

There's a 14 say buyer's remorse clause for new contracts so I will be returning my purchase. I've been an AT&T customer since the 2G iPhone, T-Mobile almost got my business (5 iPhone lines).

If you brought your business over, they would waive that $10 monthly fee. Might want to reconsider.

 

[dabigkahuna]

I think this is a great idea. In fact, I'm surprised at some of it.

I believe their strategy is this:

1. 200 mb probably doesn't affect their service that much (and if they get too many, they can always stop the offer for new customers).

2. The draw a lot of people in, some of which will end up buying other stuff from T-Mobile in the future.

3. Those who haven't been buying cellular tablets in the past get a chance to see if they find it convenient and some of them will likely find they want to buy more data - money for TM!

4. It also lets people see how good the cellular service is where they live or travel. Some of them will be satisfied and buy TM in the future. I mean, I'm on ATT and get good LTE usually. I'd be leery about risking someone else's service, but this would let me do so for free.

I wouldn't even buy a cellular ipad if not for a deal like this.

My biggest surprise was that it was for an ipad no matter where you bought it. When I first heard about it, I expected it to just be for ones sold at a TM store since I would assume they make more money off those than they do when someone else sells it. So this is pretty nice.

 

[ntnwwnet]

Here's my question:

If I want to finance the iPad Air purchase over the 2 years as offered and I currently have NO SERVICES with Tmobile, how would I go about setting it up?

Can I buy an iPad Air via the monthly payments and ONLY pay the $27/month? Or is there no way to avoid paying the extra $10 since I'm not a Tmobile customer?

This is the only way I can configure it via the website:

If I order over the phone is there a way to ONLY pay the $27/month?

 

[Jolson247]

That's the boat I'm in. I'd like the free data for conveniences sake. I can always tether to my phone. Itll be too late to return it at that point though.

Tonight I returned the iPad Air I bought yesterday to the TM corporate store (financed, tried to only get free 200MB, was forced to get $20 500MB plan, called CS today and was reiterated the same info, said uh-uh and cancelled plan and account). They tried sticking me with a $75 restocking fee even though I'd had the iPad for less than 24 hours. Beware. The guy at the store was nice and refunded me everything. YMMV.

 

[RMo]

That's what I thought but wasn't sure. What about an iPad 4 from Verizon?

Possibly. You'd need a micro SIM, and then it depends on whether the Verizon iPad 4 supports T-Mobile's frequencies. This is such a complicated mess that I can't remember off the top of my head, but you might be able to find it with some searching. I think they have at least some overlap.

That's also why I'm happy the iPad Air is finally unifying all of these.

 

[Jolson247]

I don't think you can have both (financed and free 200MB with no additional charges). I wouldn't even try, at least until it shakes out definitively that it is or isn't true.

Here's my question:

If I want to finance the iPad Air purchase over the 2 years as offered and I currently have NO SERVICES with Tmobile, how would I go about setting it up?

Can I buy an iPad Air via the monthly payments and ONLY pay the $27/month? Or is there no way to avoid paying the extra $10 since I'm not a Tmobile customer?

This is the only way I can configure it via the website:

Image

If I order over the phone is there a way to ONLY pay the $27/month?

 

[Ryan Burgess]

I just got off a chat with T-Mobile online, and this is what she said:

Jennifer: Hi. I'm a T-Mobile chat specialist. Is there anything I can help you find?
You: Yes, can you please explain how I can get the free 200mb of data?
Jennifer: Thank you for visiting T Mobile today! I understand that you are asking about the free 200MB data for the iPad Air. I will be happy to provide you information about that.
Jennifer: Let's move this chat and make it a window of its own. That way, you'll still see this web page while we chat. Please click 'Move My Chat' to move it now.
You: Basically, I want to order 2 iPad airs with the installment plan, and get the free data on them. How can I do that?
Jennifer: Thank you for moving the chat.
Jennifer: What you need to do is to purchase the iPads online. The 200MB data comes free as long as it has an active T-Mobile account.
You: Can I get the free 200mb if I'm paying the iPads off month by month?
Jennifer: Definitely! It is available on iPad Air on Equipment Installment Plan.
You: Ok, when I order it through the website though, I can only select a $10 plan.
Jennifer: Don't worry about it. Rest assured that the $10 plan will not appear on your actual monthly bill, you can count on the word of our CEO John Legere.
You: Ok, sounds good. Thanks for the help!

Soooo according to this rep (and with the prior comments above) it seems the $10 is credited back to your account every month. I hope this is true because this is a sweet deal!

 

[jacobj]

Correct me if I'm wrong but most likely you are tied to a small area or will be hit with roaming charges. Guaranteed that you are piggy backing off one of the major networks which means you're an after thought if the network is bogged down. The big companies sell access to fill up their networks but won't hesitate to knock you off for one of their actual customers. Also, you get 500mb/day? So, you get 15gb/mo? I think you meant 500mb/mo. It's hard to surpass 500mb when you're getting the slower speeds that you're more likely than not receiving, too.

I live in Jersey an island off France, but part of the UK. I did mean 500mb/day and I generally use 200mb+. I get about 10mb/s which is actuLly faster than my landline as I won't be on fibre until next year. Yes I get data roaming charges when I leave the island on holiday, but that is true of everyone. It strikes me that you are all paying trough the nose because you've got narrow pipes. That seems counter intuitive. Shouldn't you be paying less?

 

[Fiestaman]

I live in Jersey an island off France, but part of the UK. I did mean 500mb/day and I generally use 200mb+. I get about 10mb/s which is actuLly faster than my landline as I won't be on fibre until next year. Yes I get data roaming charges when I leave the island on holiday, but that is true of everyone. It strikes me that you are all paying trough the nose because you've got narrow pipes. That seems counter intuitive. Shouldn't you be paying less?

I guess that's where the difference is then. I get 50mb/s on LTE. 10mb/s is what I got on 3G and if I wanted 3G, I could get it for free each month. When I asked about roaming, I meant domestic roaming and not international. You're free to utilize other network's cell towers without any fee? Of course, that's if there are other networks present where you are. It's hard to compare nationwide for a huge country like the US with a tiny little island of less than 100k people. The city I live in alone has 67 times the population of your whole island and 8.5 times the land. It's not that hard to provide cheap cellular service when damn near one tower will serve your whole population.

 

[dumastudetto]

It's great to see T-Mobile rewarding the best consumers with free data each and every month. There's no better business decision in the world than doing something special to make Apple fans happy. T-Mobile will be rewarded.

 

[ifudge]

I'm Impressed

I purchased my iPad online and picked it up in store. At home, it took me about three minutes from start to finish to set up my account with T-Mobile.

I already have a wifi hotspot with my Verizon iPhone. Once in a while I'm without my iPhone, or it's out of power, etc. It'll be nice to have the free 200mb to help me out when my hotspot isn't available.

I'm traveling to some remote parts of Utah and Arizona. I'll match up T-Mobile and Verizon and see how each does for letting me connect with the Web.

 

[emseven]

No! Aplle honors Tmobile wish so they lock up the SIM feature until the device is paid off. Then, only TMobile can unlock the device.

I'm going to leave this but wow, you just shouted falsities like gospel.

 

[mshaf]

I just got off a chat with T-Mobile online, and this is what she said:



Soooo according to this rep (and with the prior comments above) it seems the $10 is credited back to your account every month. I hope this is true because this is a sweet deal!

Now you can only select the $20 plan hmm this is getting sketchy

 

[ntnwwnet]

Now you can only select the $20 plan hmm this is getting sketchy

I see that too. The "on demand" option is gone and now the lowest tier is 500 MB, which is $20/month.

Maybe this is just temporary while they're updating their site for the 200 MB/month free plan.

I'm just going to hold off until Monday or Tuesday for everything to settle down and get finalized.

 

[rhinosrcool]

Every time I come back to this tread, there is a different resolution. T-mobile should be hurt by this fiasco but they probably will gain from it. They're getting a great deal of publicity and may have done this on purpose.

----------

I see that too. The "on demand" option is gone and now the lowest tier is 500 MB, which is $20/month.

Maybe this is just temporary while they're updating their site for the 200 MB/month free plan.

I'm just going to hold off until Monday or Tuesday for everything to settle down and get finalized.

Good idea.

 

[hlfway2anywhere]

Yeah. On-demand plan is gone, and my downpayment just skyrocketed. I don't have perfect credit so they wanted $120 up front but now they want over $400 down.

The way this keeps changing makes me nervous. I don't see myself becoming a customer of a company that changes it's offerings by the hour.

 

[malexandria]

hmmm

I bought the 128 T-Mobile version because I can't stand ATT nor Verizon and I hope to cancel my ATT iPhone early next year when I'm finally out of contract. But I'd be lying if I said the 250 GB free offer wasn't a tempting part of the reason I went with T-Mobile.

 

[bielen]

On-Demand Gone

As noted earlier, the On-Demand option is now gone. I tried ordering an iPad yesterday, but couldn't get any consistent information. I called a local store and was told a 2.5GB data plan was required which is obviously wrong. I called the T-Mobile directly and in one instance was told I need an On-Demand plan and must pay $10/month if spread over 24 months. On the second call, I was told I need the 500MB plan. Even when I reference the CEOs notice that 200MB is free with no strings attached, everyone was clueless. I wish T-Mobile would provide the facts so people can make a decision. I'll try again today.

 

[C-Dub]

I don't understand the confusion here. I bought a Verizon iPad Air at the apple store. Asked for a Tmobile nano sim on the way out and they gave me one. Out it in the iPad air and got the free data without having to enter a credit card number. Simple as that.

Did apple charge you for thr t-mobile nano sim?

 

[dumboguy]

This is getting ridiculous. They keep changing the FAQ on this offer. Yesterday it said that financed customers without a voice line had to pay a $10 a month Fraud Prevention charge. Now it says in the same section that they have to pay $20 a month for a 500mb plan to get the free data. So you have to pay for other data to get the free data? I smell class action lawsuit. Why would anyone pay $20 for 500mb+200mb when they can pay $20 for 1gb from Verizon. They fooled a lot of people into buying their iPad and trapped them into their service with long term financing. All you can do is pay it off and switch to prepaid or return it and pay a $75 restocking fee.