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Switched from Verizon to T-Mobile, great LTE on 7 Plus, not on 5S

amin

amin

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 17, 2003
977
9
Boston, MA
I recently got two enormous bills from Verizon (about $500 each month for two months in a row) because of overages and decided to move the entire family to T-Mobile. We live in the Boston, MA area.

We all kept our phones - my 7 Plus, wife's 6S, and the two kids' 5S phones. The Verizon store guy said we'd have to buy all new phones if we switched to T-Mo, but that wasn't true. T-Mo swapped out the SIM cards, and we were up and running.

My 7 Plus is doing great after the switch. I get LTE with fast speeds everywhere I go. My wife has no complaints on her 6S, but then again she doesn't use much data to begin with.

My kids, on the other hand, are not happy. They are often on 4G or worse in places where I get LTE. I am assuming this has something to do with the fact that my 7 Plus gets more LTE bands than their 5S does.

So I am thinking of putting the $750 in Visa gift cards that T-Mo is giving us for switching ($150 per line x 4 phones and an iPad) towards new phones for the kids.

Does anyone know what the least expensive model would be that gets great T-Mo reception? I was thinking it would be the 6 or 6S but was hoping to get confirmation.
 
Last edited:
The SE would be the most economical choice. It is a 6S internally with the same case and screen as the 5. List price is $400/16GB $450/64 GB. The SE can often be found with some kind of a deal if you look around.
 
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Thanks, everyone! I noticed that the 6S had a couple bands that the SE didn't (source), so it's good to get confirmation that the SE will do for our purposes!
 
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T-mobile uses mainly LTE bands 4 and 12. They also use band 2 and band 5 in some areas. If you use SE or 6s on T-mobile there will be no difference, but possible max LTE speed. SE uses LTE Cat4 while 6s LTECat6.

P.S. There are also 2 types of iPhone 6s: with band 30 (Att widely use now in urban areas) and without(other than Att).
 
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Instead of of buying $400 se's go to apples website you can get refurbished 6s for around the same price $400. The 6s look a lot better imo and have 3D Touch.
 
I'm sure the kids would love the SE. My daughter and I think its a great little phone. Awesome battery and quite the little speed demon.
 
Applejuiced said:
Pretty decent deals, 16GB refurbished 6S for $449.
Or brand new SE 16GB for $399.
Click to expand...
There are deals to be had for the SE, too. I got a brand new 64GB SE from Best Buy for $360 two weeks ago. It was necessary to put it on a Next plan with AT&T, but if I want to, I can pay it off immediately. (This was for my wife, who was barely willing to give up her dying iPhone 5. She wouldn't consider the larger phones, regardless of price or features.)
 
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regkilla said:
3D Touch isn't that ground-breaking. The iPhone SE is great.
Click to expand...
Yeah I have the 7 and I don't even use the 3D Touch. But I do know it's important to some people. I think the 6s design is a lot better then the se. Jmo tho
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Applejuiced said:
Pretty decent deals, 16GB refurbished 6S for $449.
Or brand new SE 16GB for $399.
Click to expand...
Yeah I would go for the 6s personally. But that's just my opinion. Cause I don't like the looks of the 5s.
 
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