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T-Mobile Buying Experiences and Unboxings?

B

BruiserB

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Aug 9, 2008
1,769
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Just wondering if anyone can post their experiences buying in a T-mobile store today?

Do they have good stock levels? Is it just the 16GB one that they have?

Will they sell it unlocked upfront for just $579 if you already have T-mobile prepaid service, or is that price only for people going on the new plans?

I think the 0% financing/payment plan is only for people getting the new plans or on postpaid...is that true?

Also any unboxing photos? Anything noteworthy to distinguish the T-mobile phone from any other iPhone?
 
osofast240sx said:
Just got mine. No sim pin thanks apple!
Click to expand...

Huh? You mean you can't lock your SIM anymore?

That sucks as it was a useful feature when traveling. You could lock your SIM and be absolutely sure your phone wouldn't try to roam in a foreign country until you entered the unlock code. It was also great for using GPS without turning on the cellular radio, useful in an airplane.

The preference should be in Settings -> Phone, I'm surprised it's gone. :(
 
zorinlynx said:
Huh? You mean you can't lock your SIM anymore?

That sucks as it was a useful feature when traveling. You could lock your SIM and be absolutely sure your phone wouldn't try to roam in a foreign country until you entered the unlock code. It was also great for using GPS without turning on the cellular radio, useful in an airplane.

The preference should be in Settings -> Phone, I'm surprised it's gone. :(
Click to expand...

I'm not sure it he's talking about that or the sim ejection tool.
 
I got mine at my local Apple Store this morning. I was their first T-Mobile iPhone :)
 
I am switching from AT&T. I went in to my T-mobile store and they are having major problems. I think the East coast crashed their system. People that are paying full price are still able to get their phones though.
 
Gonzo3333 said:
I am switching from AT&T. I went in to my T-mobile store and they are having major problems. I think the East coast crashed their system. People that are paying full price are still able to get their phones though.
Click to expand...

This happens every iPhone launch. Luckily I'm already on T-Mobile so I just went to the Apple Store and didn't have to mess with T-mobile. Although my local Apple Store had a T-Mobile rep there for launch day to help out which I thought was pretty cool.
 
Guys do you know if you refuse delivery of an iphone from tmobile, if you still get hit with a restocking fee?
 
osofast240sx said:
Just got mine. No sim pin thanks apple!
Click to expand...

Only unlocked Phones have them- the T-Mobiles one's arent unlocked ;)

----------
CEmajr said:
Good news guys it comes with 6.1.2. Jail breakable
Click to expand...

Mine came with 6.1.3
yhe6yry9.jpg


----------
Gonzo3333 said:
I am switching from AT&T. I went in to my T-mobile store and they are having major problems. I think the East coast crashed their system. People that are paying full price are still able to get their phones though.
Click to expand...

That issue was resolved. The guy gave me the option to either buy in full or come back later and then magically the EIP system started working.
 
BruiserB said:
Just wondering if anyone can post their experiences buying in a T-mobile store today?

Do they have good stock levels? Is it just the 16GB one that they have?

Will they sell it unlocked upfront for just $579 if you already have T-mobile prepaid service, or is that price only for people going on the new plans?

I think the 0% financing/payment plan is only for people getting the new plans or on postpaid...is that true?

Also any unboxing photos? Anything noteworthy to distinguish the T-mobile phone from any other iPhone?
Click to expand...

If you buy the phone upfront from them at the retail store, you're required to get a $50 prepaid plan. So you're looking at $630 before tax. If you do get it from them, you can transfer that $50 from the new number they gave you to you're current prepaid number as long as you didn't use the new number at all. I had to call customer care, since the rep in store wasn't able to do it for me.
 
I walked in at 9am and walked out at 1030am with my iPhone 5. If the computers weren't crashing it would have been much sooner since there were only 6 people in front of me. I did end up paying in full because the EIP wasn't processing.

Also, hi! New here, haven't had an iPhone since the 3G when I left ATT.
 
zorinlynx said:
Huh? You mean you can't lock your SIM anymore?

That sucks as it was a useful feature when traveling. You could lock your SIM and be absolutely sure your phone wouldn't try to roam in a foreign country until you entered the unlock code. It was also great for using GPS without turning on the cellular radio, useful in an airplane.

The preference should be in Settings -> Phone, I'm surprised it's gone. :(
Click to expand...
No the actual pin to open the sim tray
 
Izaiah said:
I walked in at 9am and walked out at 1030am with my iPhone 5. If the computers weren't crashing it would have been much sooner since there were only 6 people in front of me. I did end up paying in full because the EIP wasn't processing.

Also, hi! New here, haven't had an iPhone since the 3G when I left ATT.
Click to expand...

I bought online this morning at 7 am. Then I went into my local Apple Store to pick it up at 930. It took all of 5 minutes and I was done. Of course I had a T-mobile plan already.
 
My Experience

I went to my local t-mobile store around 930, i failed to call yesterday and realize they opened at 9AM as opposed to 10AM. There was a fair amount of folks there, so I was "checked in" and given two tickets for my phones(stepmother and I). I waited about an hour before i went in and another hour to get them both setup due to the system at T-mobile going down. They had to do a portion of the upgrade process manually, but towards the latter of my process, the system went back up. Long wait, but well worth it. They even gave us free bottled water, which if anyone lives in South Florida, knows its a necessity. Both came with 6.1.2 so i will be jb-ing mine when i get time to. I hope everyone enjoys their iphone! and sorry for the 7pg report lol
 
zorinlynx said:
Oh! I haven't seen an iPhone come with one of those in a while.
Click to expand...

Normally, the unlocked iPhone 5 comes with one from Apple. But the T-mobile version of the unlocked iPhone doesn't include one. My guess is Apple doesn't include them when a SIM comes pre-installed. There's no where to even put it because the little packet that has the fold outs for it is missing.
 
My Experience This Morning

I was at the Apple Store near my house first thing this morning and was disappointed. The Apple Store employees had no idea about the band change and had no stock of pure unlocked phones (I was doing an exchange of the old unlock for new unlock). As I have T-Mobile, I didn't care if I had to get one on the network and unlock later, but they didn't have any 32gb in stock. Not just that, but these buffoons had no idea that the unlocked iPhone and T-mobile iPhone were one and the same and had different cellular bands than the older model.I called another Apple Store that's close to work and swung by there. Best guys ever! I walked in, explained that I wanted to exchange for an iPhone with the 1700 AWS band and he hopped to it. When he tried to do the exchange, it wouldn't work (because they dont allow exchanges to "in-network" phones). However, he said "screw it", refunded my purchase to a gift card, and bought the T-Mobile 32gb with it. As the T-Mobile version doesn't come with the SIM tool and mine did, he let me keep it. Day started of crappy but ended up good :cool:
 
Picked up one at 11AM at the Apple Store in Indianapolis. They said I was the first person to buy one.

Can with a TMobile sim which is nice. Going to try signing up for the $30/month plan now.
 
Good luck to all new T-mobile iphoners.

Hope you don't mind a ton of dropped calls.

T-mobile is famous for them.

If it works well in your area then great!
 
thehustleman said:
Good luck to all new T-mobile iphoners.

Hope you don't mind a ton of dropped calls.

T-mobile is famous for them.

If it works well in your area then great!
Click to expand...

I've been using an unlocked iPhone 5 for 3 months and have yet to have a dropped call on T-Mobile.
 
Help me understand. You buy through t-mobile, you pay full price for the phone and minimum $50 to start contract, right?

Aren't other providers offering the iPhone for alot cheaper? I'm in the market so please offer your insights. Thanks.
 
just went to sign up for the $30 plan and went through this. nothing big...just a FYI



You: hello! I bought one of the new iphone 5's today and want to sign up for the $30/month 100 minute/5g data plans.
Rae: Hello Andy.
Rae: I am sorry for that you need to go with our new no contract plan which is for $50 and in this you will get unlimited talk text and data.
You: i didn't buy the phone at the tmobile store. i bought it out of contract at the apple store.
Rae: Well this $30 plan is a prepaid plan.
You: yep. that's what i'm looking for.
Rae: But we don;t have prepaid nano SIM card that support iphone5.
You: hmmmm.....just the micro?
Rae: We have regular SIM card and micro SIM card in prepaid service.
Rae: We have nano in no contract(postpaid)service.
You: i can't use the tmobile sim that's in the phone?
Rae: You got the SIM card with the phone?
You: yes
You: it came that way from apple
Rae: Then you just need to contact customer care support they will activate the service with this $30 plan.
You: sweet. what's the number?
Rae: I would suggest you please contact our Customer Service Center at 1-877-453-1304 for assistance with this.
You: thanks for your help. have a good weekend!
Rae: You are welcome.
 
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