T-Mobile Automatically Moving Legacy Plan Customers to New Plans

[Westside guy]

Somewhat interestingly (to some, maybe?) - we just switched to US Mobile from our T-Mobile legacy plans about a month ago.

I'd recommend US Mobile just for their relatively competent help staff. But they're also cheaper, and you can pick any of the Big 3's networks (and also switch later).

 

[turbineseaplane]

There are two possible catches: (1) MVNO / prepaid plans can have a lower service priority than the carrier's "premium" postpaid plans, meaning possibly less reliable or fast service in congested areas

Yep - varies even within an MVNO depending upon what network one chooses.
A good point!

The best move is to test and give it a go, if one is so inclined.

I did that and I've never looked back. 🤙

 

[Kar98]

Wow, two big negatives. I am surprised, callerID really doesnt work properly??

That’s how it is on all prepaid plans even directly from the actual carrier.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Wow, two big negatives. I am surprised, callerID really doesnt work properly??

That hasn't been my experience.
I have a feeling the MVNO & the network choice matters here.

 

[zakarhino]

US Mobile is the answer here. You can use Verizon, T-Mo, or AT&T networks.

Great advice thanks. Just bought an esim for 1 month to test it out and it’s pretty good. Tmo have a dead spot right where I live and they refuse to do anything about it. I think it’s time I switched.

 

[Biro]

Tmo have a dead spot right where I live and they refuse to do anything about it. I think it’s time I switched.

Same story here.

 

[Gator5000e]

I was paying $60-$70 total or two lines for a long time with T-Mobile...since before the Sprint acquisition. I had to cancel one of the lines and when I called to do so I was told by the CSR that the best plan I could get was.......$70 a month. For one line. So I took the plan but after a couple of months, I switched to Mint Mobile. Mint runs on the T-Mobile network which is really strong where I live. With T-Mobile I had never used more than 12GB of data in a month so I selected the 3 month trial at $15 a month for 17GB. So far so good. The port over from T-Mo to Mint was straightforward. The only down sides with Mint are no stores and you have to prepay. When the trial ends, I can renew for 3, 6 or 12 months. There is a slight increase off the trial from $15 to $20 a month if I prepay for 12 months at a total cost of $240. That will save me $600 a year. So for me the savings are worth prepaying.

 

[MrENGLISH]

Is this for real? What’s the catch? Cause honestly I’m very interested.

It's real. My main line is setup on Warp, which is Verizon Network, as eSIM 1. I have Multi-Network setup to use Dark Star, which is AT&T, as eSIM 2. When I'm in an area where the Verizon signal isn't the greatest but AT&T is, I use the action button to easily switch my data from eSIM 1 to eSIM 2. It's been working out great for me so far. Very happy with US Mobile. They even provide the Shortcut preset I am using for my action button.

 

[Gator5000e]

That’s how it is on all prepaid plans even directly from the actual carrier.

Not true. I switched to Mint and caller ID works fine.

 

[coolfactor]

Ideally, plans should be fully configurable by the customer, not pre-configured by the company.

 

[coolfactor]

T-Mobile’s former CEO, John Legere, is somewhat like Steve Jobs in that he prioritizes customers, whereas the two CEOs that succeeded Legere, first Mike Sievert and now Srini Goplan, are somewhat like Tim Cook in that they prioritize maximizing profits.

For a moment, I thought it would be genius for them to have a special plan called the "Go" plan, based on the CEO name you gave, but then I looked it up, and it's spelled "Gopalan". 🤣

Tim Cook did an excellent job during his rein. He wasn't blind to focusing on customers. We have industry-envied hardware and software! It's the shareholders demanding profits. I wish Apple was a private company again.

 

[Kar98]

Not true. I switched to Mint and caller ID works fine.

Interesting. When I was with Mint, it was “wireless caller”. Maybe because I never was on a postpaid plan anywhere, and you ported in from one?

 

[Gator5000e]

Interesting. When I was with Mint, it was “wireless caller”. Maybe because I never was on a postpaid plan anywhere, and you ported in from one?

Yes, from T-Mobile. And Mint uses the T-Mobile network.

 

[thadoggfather]

As much as I don’t wanna give t mo money for this bad practice is their 150 day 5gb $10 iPad plan one time prepaid plan still probably the best for what it offers bang for buck?

Think I might lock in before that too gets like doubled or something.

 

[technole]

The day the T-Mobile CTO put me in-touch with the executive that was able to tell me and even show me an internal map of when the tower near my house would be upgraded to 4G LTE was the day I decided to be a customer forever. Best international plans too compared to the other two.

 

[msackey]

As the holder of a 12+ year old Simple Choice plan, I’m just waiting for the email/text…

We also have Simple Choice North America plan. Hope we aren’t forced to switch.

 

[msackey]

I find US carrier costs crazy… appreciate we’re far more densely populated but in the UK most people are paying the equivalent of $15/month for 50GB data. I’m currently on $9 for 100!

Sounds like the industry needs more competition.

It’s not necessarily more competition that we need. It’s regulation. Industry after industry, the promise of competition hasn’t really brought down prices. It’s made service worse and eventually consolidation occurs.

 

[CarlJ]

With T-Mobile I had never used more than 12GB of data in a month so I selected the 3 month trial at $15 a month for 17GB. So far so good. The port over from T-Mo to Mint was straightforward. The only down sides with Mint are no stores and you have to prepay. When the trial ends, I can renew for 3, 6 or 12 months. There is a slight increase off the trial from $15 to $20 a month if I prepay for 12 months at a total cost of $240.

This is the plan I've been on for about 3½ years. Except when I signed up, it was a 10GB/mo plan. Then they upgraded it to 12GB, then 15GB, and just a month or so ago, to 17GB, all while the price remained the same. I've been quite happy with Mint.

 

[Christopher Kim]

I switched my wife and I’s plans from T-Mobile to Visible about 9 months ago. I was with T-Mobile for ~4 years (on their Essentials plan, $45/line = $90 for both of us), and before that, with AT&T for almost 15 years.

A few things to note:
- For all the MVNOs, yes, some of their cheaper plans give you “lower-priority” during network congestion times, for whatever network they use (eg. for Visible, it’s Verizon). Usually their premium plans get you the same priority as the network’s highest tier post-paid customers, and those are still great deals (eg. $30/month), but not the dirt-cheap like $15/month ones you see advertised sometimes

- I do think it’s correct about the whole Caller ID will show up as Wireless Caller (vs your name). But honestly, I almost never call anyone who doesn’t already have my number in their contacts. So it doesn’t matter to me. Very rarely am I calling someone for the first time (that isn’t a business or customer service number).

- The price is significantly better than Big 3, if you have 1 or 2 lines. However, there’s basically no discounts for multiple lines. Visible for example, everyone has to have their own “account” - 1 person can pay for both, but there’s no setup like 1 “account holder” and then multiple lines under that, like the Big 3 have. Thus, if you have kids and your whole family’s on the “Family Account”, Big 3 plans are much more cost competitive… since they have great deals for 3rd line, 4th line, 5th line, etc. Whereas you get no discounts on the MVNOs. So MVNOs make the most sense for 1 or 2 lines. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t work for more lines, but the savings gets progressively worse with more lines.

- The sign-up process can be hit or miss. Most people have zero issues with it. I did with my wife and I’s iPhone 15 generation (Pro Max and Pro) and it was easy peasy with eSim. However there are cases where the port doesn’t go smoothly (for whatever reason), which leads to…

- One primary trade-off is that these MVNO’s don’t have brick & mortar stores (so you can go in and talk to a person to troubleshoot issues), and Visible for example doesn’t even have a customer service number to call. You have to message them/chat through the app. Everything is done through the app.
If you’re fairly technically savvy, and as long as things go smoothly at port, this was a non-issue. I NEVER went into a T-Mo store in my life other than when I first signed up (big sign-up discount for 2 lines, BOGO iPhones). But if you’re doing for an older parent for example, who often needs help, this is a consideration

 

[kwikdeth]

They sent me the text but the link with details doesn't work, so I don't even know what they're putting me on. Typical.

 

[@Brett]

Reminds of Telstra in Australia. Keeps bumping their prices pretty much everywhere year stating it’s to make the network better. But somehow their network has gotten worse. Cheapest plan is now like $65 a month AUD

 

[Korito]

At least over there you don't have inflation clause in your contract like we have in EU. So each year your bills go by % of inflation for last year. It's awesome.

 

[platinumaqua]

Yep, this comes up every time any US carrier plan is mentioned. Every time, some people from Europe (often quite a few) rush to tell us how much better their plans are. Every time. We get it. Your phone plans are better.

I think most Europeans have no concept of just how extremely ginormous (and in some areas, sparse) the US is. It takes an awful lot of towers in relatively unpopulated areas to cover it all, towers which still cost a lot even if they're not getting much traffic. And yeah, the industry needs more regulation and more actual competition. But, we get it: your phone plans are better.

for what it's worth, I almost never travel to the other side of the country. I would be perfectly fine with a regional plan for a cheaper price.

 

[lostPod]

So glad I have had a google voice number since the beginning. I can change carriers and nobody even notices.

Remember when it was integrated into Sprint ?

 

[lostPod]

How is Verizon doing these days ? I have Spectrum which is on Verizon and it's complete garbade, unfortunely. I assume its because its an MVNO, because when I was on straight Verizon it was great except it was like $100 for one line. This new $30 plan looks intriguing.