Carrier How does switching to Tmobile work?

[note235]

I currently have 5 lines on ATT and will be switching to tmobile.
4 lines with the 5S and one with the 5c.
2 iPhone 5S will be paid full and the rest on monthly lease but on Apple's site it allows for unlocked phones only. Is the only option going through tmobile?

 

[LithePanther]

I would be very careful about switching to T-mobile.

I did so when they received the iPhone 5 and my service is absolutely terrible in an area that shouldn't be (15 minutes out of NYC).

Data is absolutely terrible and I drop a call at least every few days.

I would ask someone you know who has t-mobile what their experience is. And don't trust their coverage maps - total lies.

 

[madsci954]

Yeah, their coverage has more holes than Swiss cheese. If you can, I would get a test line on tmobile first, and make sure it will work. If you can't do this, ask some friends who have tmobile and see how well it works for them. My wife and I were on them after they got the iPhone 5. And a few weeks ago, we cancelled and went back to AT&T. We pay more, yes, but it's worth it with no spotty data, calls no coming through, and random service drops that we were getting with tmobile.

 

[LithePanther]

I agree. AT&T was 5x better at least.

 

[CEmajr]

I currently have 5 lines on ATT and will be switching to tmobile.
4 lines with the 5S and one with the 5c.
2 iPhone 5S will be paid full and the rest on monthly lease but on Apple's site it allows for unlocked phones only. Is the only option going through tmobile?

Yeah you'll have to go through T-Mobile to setup the EIP financing for the other phones. Apple only allows you to do so by applying for their Barclay's credit card. So it would probably be easier to just set the whole account up through the T-Mobile website.

As far as coverage, check their maps. If you're in the darker pink areas where it says they have "4G" or LTE then you're good. The other areas is where you'll experience slower Edge data.

 

[Gary500]

Lol at all these trolls. Service depends entirely on where you live OP. T-Mobile has 100x better service in my area and has insanely fast LTE. They're way cheaper than ATT and will be the first carrier to get LTE-A. Also, I get a new iPhone every year since there are no contracts instead of waiting for two whole years with ATT. So OP, just test out the service and get T-Mobile.

 

[LithePanther]

Lol at all these trolls. Service depends entirely on where you live OP. T-Mobile has 100x better service in my area and has insanely fast LTE. They're way cheaper than ATT and will be the first carrier to get LTE-A. Also, I get a new iPhone every year since there are no contracts instead of waiting for two whole years with ATT. So OP, just test out the service and get T-Mobile.

I believe every single person told him to check out the service in his area.

Just like you're spouting off on your overexaggerated T-mobile service, so did we about our awful service.

 

[kmichalec]

Lol at all these trolls. Service depends entirely on where you live OP. T-Mobile has 100x better service in my area and has insanely fast LTE. They're way cheaper than ATT and will be the first carrier to get LTE-A. Also, I get a new iPhone every year since there are no contracts instead of waiting for two whole years with ATT. So OP, just test out the service and get T-Mobile.

Agree with Gary. It all depends on your area and coverage and how much you travel. I live in the Detroit Suburbs, and get great coverage, and very fast 4G and LTE. I hardly ever drop calls, and since I don't travel for work, I only run into slower speeds when I go on vacation once or twice a year (and even then, got great coverage at my vacation locations this summer, just spotty on the route there). But, my bill is HALF of what it was with AT&T, so it's worth it easily. But if I lived in an area where the coverage was bad all the time, then it wouldn't be. Don't listen to anyone else tell you it's good/bad. Just go to Tmobile, get a PAYG SIM, and test it out with a TMobile AWS band iPhone 5 first (very important, as if you use the 4S, you won't have the full band functionality with it and you'll be on EDGE more often than you would with the iP5 or iP5s, and you won't get the true experience). If it works for you, then do it. If it doesn't, than don't.

 

[LithePanther]

Agree with Gary. It all depends on your area and coverage and how much you travel. I live in the Detroit Suburbs, and get great coverage, and very fast 4G and LTE. I hardly ever drop calls, and since I don't travel for work, I only run into slower speeds when I go on vacation once or twice a year (and even then, got great coverage at my vacation locations this summer, just spotty on the route there). But, my bill is HALF of what it was with AT&T, so it's worth it easily. But if I lived in an area where the coverage was bad all the time, then it wouldn't be. Don't listen to anyone else tell you it's good/bad. Just go to Tmobile, get a PAYG SIM, and test it out with a TMobile AWS band iPhone 5 first (very important, as if you use the 4S, you won't have the full band functionality with it and you'll be on EDGE more often than you would with the iP5 or iP5s, and you won't get the true experience). If it works for you, then do it. If it doesn't, than don't.

So do what everyone else said?

 

[Princejb134]

I have tmobile and I get great service in NYC
Only place I don't get such great service is when I'm on the highway going upstate, but when I'm near a town my service is excellent again

 

[MattMJB0188]

T-Mobile has good service, but then you walk down the block and your phone is bouncing back and fourth from EDGE to HSPA back to EDGE. T-Mobile really can't compete with AT&T. AT&T has, what, 3x the customers? T-Mobile would be really good if they filled all their EDGE areas at least 3G.

T-Mobile isn't running their HSPA network at full blast, which is why many usually pick up an EDGE signal. AWS 1700/2100mhz is horrible for building penetration too.

 

[yeah]

AWS 1700/2100mhz is horrible for building penetration too.

But it's excellent in capacity, especially in dense markets, like New York City.

 

[chrmjenkins]

I currently have 5 lines on ATT and will be switching to tmobile.
4 lines with the 5S and one with the 5c.
2 iPhone 5S will be paid full and the rest on monthly lease but on Apple's site it allows for unlocked phones only. Is the only option going through tmobile?

There will be no unlocked option to start with. It usually takes a while before Apple sells an outright "unlocked version."

 

[benji888]

To get a lower up-front price, you have to go through tmobile to get the phones. Otherwise, yeah, unlock only option through apple, and that might not be available on launch day.

iPhone 5C is a maybe, we shall know tomorrow, but if 5C=China, then, if you get an iPhone 5 instead, you need to be sure it is new or made after April 12th and compatible with tmobile 1700 AWG 3G for those times you are not in LTE area. Apple added this to the hardware of the iPhone 5 US GSM/LTE model only when they started working with tmobile. You can't just unlock any iPhone 5 and be guaranteed to work.

If you end up not getting 5C, keep in mind, anything older than 5, and an iPhone 5 older than April 12th, will not work with tmobile's 3G, only Edge on 4S or LTE or Edge on pre-april 12, 2013 iPhone 5, ... tmobile doesn't have LTE everywhere yet.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1562264/

 

[BruiserB]

To get a lower up-front price, you have to go through tmobile to get the phones. Otherwise, yeah, unlock only option through apple, and that might not be available on launch day.

iPhone 5C is a maybe, we shall know tomorrow, but if 5C=China, then, if you get an iPhone 5 instead, you need to be sure it is new or made after April 12th and compatible with tmobile 1700 AWG 3G for those times you are not in LTE area. Apple added this to the hardware of the iPhone 5 US GSM/LTE model only when they started working with tmobile. You can't just unlock any iPhone 5 and be guaranteed to work.

If you end up not getting 5C, keep in mind, anything older than 5, and an iPhone 5 older than April 12th, will not work with tmobile's 3G, only Edge on 4S or LTE or Edge on pre-april 12, 2013 iPhone 5, ... tmobile doesn't have LTE everywhere yet.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1562264/

I know it's not really the topic of this thread, but what's stated above is not really correct. Older iPhones WILL work with T-mobile's 3G in areas that have been refarmed. If your area has LTE it probably has refarmed 3G as the refarming is necessary to allow the LTE to be activated. So you will have less 3G availability with an older iPhone, particularly in smaller metro and rural areas. But if you are using your phone primarily in a larger city, it may work pretty well for you. A good friend of mine is using a iP4 in Minneapolis with little trouble.

 

[benji888]

I know it's not really the topic of this thread, but what's stated above is not really correct. Older iPhones WILL work with T-mobile's 3G in areas that have been refarmed. If your area has LTE it probably has refarmed 3G as the refarming is necessary to allow the LTE to be activated. So you will have less 3G availability with an older iPhone, particularly in smaller metro and rural areas. But if you are using your phone primarily in a larger city, it may work pretty well for you. A good friend of mine is using a iP4 in Minneapolis with little trouble.

True, BUT, when you don't have LTE, you go back to EDGE, because it isn't "refarmed" 3G there, this is very slow. So what I stated is correct for iPhone 5's made previous to around April 12th.

I certainly don't want to be buying new phones that only work on EDGE when I am not near an LTE tower. When you aren't in the city is when you are more likely to need a good data connection, as less chance of wifi, am I wrong?

(That is part of the topic of this thread, as OP is asking about switching to Tmobile.)

 

[JackieInCo]

I agree. AT&T was 5x better at least.

That is dependent upon the location of course.

At my house, I consistently get T-Mobile speeds of up to 26Mbps.

On my iPad, I can't get a data signal at all using AT&T. On T-Mobile using my iPad, I get LTE. I tested my speed on that LTE signal last night and got about 17Mbps down and about 5 up.

On AT&T away from my house on my iPad, my LTE speeds are as high as 10Mbps down and about 7 up.

No matter what carrier, it will depend on location, that is what's important.

 

[CEmajr]

True, BUT, when you don't have LTE, you go back to EDGE, because it isn't "refarmed" 3G there, this is very slow. So what I stated is correct for iPhone 5's made previous to around April 12th.

I certainly don't want to be buying new phones that only work on EDGE when I am not near an LTE tower. When you aren't in the city is when you are more likely to need a good data connection, as less chance of wifi, am I wrong?

(That is part of the topic of this thread, as OP is asking about switching to Tmobile.)

No you're still wrong. It isn't an LTE or Edge situation. LTE is running on the 1700mhz AWS band while 3G, "4G" HSPA+ is running on the 1900mhz band. So unlocked iPhones made prior to April 2013 can still receive the 1900mhz 3G ("4G") in refarmed markets. T-Mobile is running both of those frequencies simultaneously. What the iPhones made prior to April 2012 cannot access is the 1700mhz AWS 3G "4G". So if you don't have LTE (iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4, 4S), you drop back to 3G.

As for unlocked iPhone 5's, they will receive 1900mhz 3G in refarmed areas that LTE has not gone live in yet until T-Mobile builds it out. My friend's AT&T unlocked iPhone 5 drops back to "4G" in areas around town where T-Mobile still has holes in the LTE coverage. Then in areas where T-Mobile has not refarmed or they have only Edge anyway, of course you will receive Edge.

 

[kmichalec]

So do what everyone else said?

No, he should do what makes the most sense for him. Some people said don't do it, some said do it, others provided caveats on how he should test it first. How could he actually do what everyone else said? Not physically possible to switch and not switch at the same time, is it? What I provided was just another opinion from someone who actually went through the switch, and has had a good experience. What do you care? So you had a bad experience and your bitter? Too bad. Was the conversation supposed to stop just because you chimed in with you input?

 

[Classiclays]

I would be very careful about switching to T-mobile.

I did so when they received the iPhone 5 and my service is absolutely terrible in an area that shouldn't be (15 minutes out of NYC).

Data is absolutely terrible and I drop a call at least every few days.

I would ask someone you know who has t-mobile what their experience is. And don't trust their coverage maps - total lies.

How is coverage within NYC? I'm planning to switch and the coverage map seems to show everything as dandy.