T-Mobile CEO Misleads on 'No Strings Attached' Free Data, New Customers Require $20 Data Plan to Finance iPads

[keysofanxiety]

Wow, people love to bitch and moan don't they.

I don't see what's misleading here. If you buy an iPad that has T-Mo LTE built in, you get 200Mb of data every month for free. That's clear and simple. That's what the T-Mo man said, that's what it says on the Apple website.

If you can't really afford to buy an iPad and you want to finance it through T-Mobile, there are terms and conditions that go along with that. You don't have to use T-Mo as a bank. You could go to your own bank, you could use a credit card, you could use Apple's credit card and get iTunes credit with every purchase, you could even (shock!) save up some cash and buy the item when you can afford it.

There are two separate deals being offered by T-Mo here and MacRumors would do well to stop conflating them.

Wow, how about you take that monocle out for a second, tell your butler to give you a couple of minutes, and maybe read this tweet. https://twitter.com/JohnLegere/status/396402959853953024

You don't possibly see how this could have been interpreted otherwise? It's not misleading? Really?

 

[AppleScruff1]

Do you think Steve Jobs would have financed an iPad? Seriously!

I hope not. He was the CEO of the company that he founded and was worth about $8 billion. He probably just took as many as he wanted.

 

[gotluck]

I'm speechless just called CSR and they confirmed again that I will pay $26.25 + ~$1.61 for financed iPad with 200mb data per month. $10 on demand data fee will be credited monthly and I'm responsible for the aforementioned ~$1.61 in regulatory fees.

I am a new T-Mobile customer with no voice lines. I mentioned this story on macrumers and she insisted that the above was true regardless and made notes on the account.
I'm still going to ride this out. What the hell. I also believe I'm on the postpaid plan that throttles after 200mb.

So in effect the plan is to pay ~38.64 in 'financing fees' over 24 months due to the regulatory fees on the rebated data plan.

The only reason I still have doubts is macrumors.

 

[Parasprite]

"Misleading" is really kind of a stretch. I guess the guy that texted me about winning a "$1000 BestBuy gift card" was, at best, misleading when he signed me up for weekly horoscopes for only $10/month.



A simple "We bumped up our plans a little so you can enjoy more of the things you love without running out" would have been both easier and effective.

 

[darkslide29]

For those of us on T-Mobile with phones and data plans, we get interest-free financing and data.

Not for new iPad only customers. So no, not everyone.

And I am glad this is finally cleared up. Disappointed, because I am not a current T-Mobile customer, but glad it is finally laid out.

 

[ricktat]

There are no strings attached to getting the 200mb per month.

If you want the 0 down and 0% interest then you have to sign up for a plan.

If you're going to claim that it is misleading when combining to the two then you might as well complain that the 200mb free isn't really free. There are strings attached. You have to provide your own compatible device and that's just not fair. They said free.

Friday morning the T-Mobile website did not indicate that you couldn't combine the offers. They updated the site at least 7 times over the weekend.

The banner ad indicated that you could do both and didn't disclose it any differently. It is disclosed now but wasn't Friday morning.

 

[GadgetGav]

Unfortunately, even this isn't entirely true. I'm a T-Mobile customer with a voice plan (iPhone 5S) and just went through a NIGHTMARE yesterday trying to get data on my iPad Air, which I bought on Saturday directly from Apple. I STILL had to buy a data plan, even as a voice customer. And on top of that, I had to pay a $10 SIM Starter fee, which was odd considering I bought a T-Mobile iPad from Apple, which came with its own SIM card. I can't help but feel like I got hosed.

Sounds like you got hosed to me, but it's not surprising that US cellphone carriers treat their customers like dirt...

I bought an iPad Air with T-Mo LTE from Apple on Friday and just activated it this morning. All on the iPad at my desk, all without any charge or hassle.

The iPad uses data only. If you're only a T-Mobile voice customer at the moment I can see why you'd need to purchase a data plan. Maybe you should have said that you weren't already a customer when it asked, then you could have used the pay on demand option for data.

 

[balzmcfearson]

Can't imagine Apple would be too happy about this either? Now Apple's website is incredibly misleading when going to purchase a T-Mobile iPad.

How? If you buy a t-mobile iPad from Apple you get the free data.

 

[c1phers]

This has been the worst experience ever. Went to the store and ordered an iPad, they put me on EIP and said I could get on the 200MB plan when I received the iPad. Come to find out over the weekend and today that its only EIP OR 200MB free, not both. IF you have EIP, you must get a minimum 500MB monthly plan. Call to call my order, they tell me I have to go to the store, I go to the store, they tell me I have to call to cancel my order.

Now I blew up their FB page and they want to me to email them. If I don't get both, I'm not getting this crappy T-mobile crap, if I wanted to pay a monthly charge for service, I'd stick with a carrier that offers a better deal per month for data.

Uncarrier, non-shady cellular provider my arse.

 

[Rogifan]

What sucks is AT&T forcing you into the most expensive data plan in order to use your device as a mobile hotspot. And can someone explain why carriers don't refund what's not used or at least roll it over. It sucks when one month you barely hit 65% of your monthly allowance and the next month you happen to go over and they charge you a $10 fee.

 

[Lazy]

LOL. I am annoyed at T-Mobile (but mostly myself for not investigating this more closely).

I decided to keep my iPad 3rd gen w/cellular for another year.
But when I read no money down and 200 free mb, how could I resist?
I sold my iPad on eBay that same day. (Mostly because my AT&T iPad 3rd gen cannot do LTE on T-Mobile. Otherwise I would have kept it, and brought it over to T-Mobile).

Now I have no iPad, and a bad taste in my mouth of T-Mobile that will be long lasting.

I suppose I will spring for either the wifi only version, or go with an AT&T/Verizon iPad.

Shame on you T-Mobile. And shame on me for not thinking about the old saying "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is (especially when it comes to phone companies!)."

Just finance your (non-T-Mobile) iPad Air interest-free elsewhere and then take it to a T-Mobile store and get your free data. You'll get exactly what you were expecting and maybe that bad taste in your mouth will go away.

 

[MrXiro]

Can anyone confirm the earlier post that says you must jump through hoops every month to maintain the free data plan? I was thinking this would be an ideal way to get my in-laws on the internet, but they don't need another hassle.

If anything at all you might need to "renew" every month from your iPad under the cellular tab of your settings, if you're on prepaid. I wouldn't call that jumping through hoops. It took me all of 30 seconds the first time and I had to put in my information. I'd assume that next time all my info will be there already and I just need to reconfirm that I'm sticking to the basic (200mb) plan and not buying extra.

 

[geniusj]

Macrumors is stirring up controversy here in my eyes. The financing offer for customers and the free 200mb are not related.

If you buy an iPad from anywhere, you get 200mb a month free.

If you want to use T-Mobile's 0% financing on a new iPad, you need to be a paying customer. It's pretty simple.

Edit: OK. Looking at some previous articles, etc. It was unclear. Ideally, they would have kept the 'zero down' and '200mb free' concepts separate.

 

[GadgetGav]

You don't possibly see how this could have been interpreted otherwise? It's not misleading? Really?

Honestly, no.
I bought an iPad. I get free data if I choose the T-Mo version. I don't if I choose any of the other carriers. Seems simple enough.

If there are strings attached to the way you acquire the iPad, that's a different issue. The people who are financing their iPads still get the 200Mb of data as well as whatever plan they signed up to, so they're still included in the "everyone".

 

[AppleScruff1]

What sucks is AT&T forcing you into the most expensive data plan in order to use your device as a mobile hotspot. And can someone explain why carriers don't refund what's not used or at least roll it over. It sucks when one month you barely hit 65% of your monthly allowance and the next month you happen to go over and they charge you a $10 fee.

I'd love to be able to buy x amount of data and actually get to use all of it instead of having it expire in 30 days. What a novel concept for a carrier to implement, actually get what you pay for!

 

[strayts]

iPad isn't just a toy, it is a productivity tool. Some people don't have the money to shell out for one -- why judge them because they finance something like this?

Besides, T-Mobile is providing FREE financing. Why, exactly, is that a problem is anyone's world? I often take advantage of free financing because it is free money and I can keep making money on my money during the promotions period.

I guess consider yourself lucky you can shell out cash for an iPad, but don't judge others.

All I'm saying is it's not smart to go into debt for something that can easily be saved for in a few months. There's no such thing as "free financing," especially if you accidentally pay a day late or something. Not worth it, especially for a $600 purchase.

 

[JoEw]

This was part of the reason I went from t-mobile to my Best buy, and purchased a Wi-Fi version instead. 18 months no interest, my only reason for going to t-mobile was the no money upfront which when they told me I would have to have a paid data my first month I told them how misleading it was since their CEO tweeted how it would be free

 

[ricktat]

Macrumors is stirring up controversy here in my eyes. The financing offer for customers and the free 200mb are not related.

If you buy an iPad from anywhere, you get 200mb a month free.

If you want to use T-Mobile's 0% financing on a new iPad, you need to be a paying customer. It's pretty simple.

Thanks... now that makes me feel better.

 

[NMBob]

Stick with the wifi only iPads. Screw these cell companies

If only they'd stuck a GPS receiver on their M7 chip...

 

[CosmoCopus]

It says in the article If you pay full price for the iPad the 200mb data is free.
I don't see anything misleading about it.

I have an iPad with cellular(verizon). Can I change to t-Mobile and get the free data?

 

[darkslide29]

Macrumors is stirring up controversy here in my eyes. The financing offer for customers and the free 200mb are not related.

If you buy an iPad from anywhere, you get 200mb a month free.

If you want to use T-Mobile's 0% financing on a new iPad, you need to be a paying customer. It's pretty simple.

It's simple now, sure, but Friday morning, the T-Mobile website wasn't clear, and many were able to sign up for both no problem. Now they're sitting on the fence on whether or not they'll be allowed to keep both, or not.

The website Friday morning wasn't clear, the CEO tweeting wasn't clear, so people bought them up. The website has been updated many times since Friday morning (someone else said 7x) and it is now not possible to get both.

I am just going to buy the iPad outright to get the 200mb free, but the point is that it was bad execution and did mislead some.

 

[gotluck]

All I'm saying is it's not smart to go into debt for something that can easily be saved for in a few months. There's no such thing as "free financing," especially if you accidentally pay a day late or something. Not worth it, especially for a $600 purchase.

0% financing is free, dont pay late of course..
Must account for time value of money too, its actually a discount.

 

[GadgetGav]

This is just a huge headache. I bought a T-Mobile iPad from Apple (after 3 years of Wi-Fi only iPads) because I thought it would be a simple 200MB that is always available until you exceed at which point, you'd have to pay. It turns out you have to call/go to the store every month to activate it or something. Trading my T-Mobile Air in for a wifi iPad like I've always had and just forgetting about this hassle. Shame on these guys, if you say it's going to be free then make it free -- not "hey, how bout you jump over a couple of hoops and then it's free".

Can anyone confirm the earlier post that says you must jump through hoops every month to maintain the free data plan? I was thinking this would be an ideal way to get my in-laws on the internet, but they don't need another hassle.

This one you mean?
Sounds like sour grapes rather than experience to me. I just activated mine from my desk without having to call or go to a store. It didn't ask for any credit card info, and there's an option for on-demand which is turn it on and off as you please. Seems like real free data to me.

 

[ricktat]

0% financing is free, dont pay late of course..
Must account for time value of money too, its actually a discount.

I have the $600 to pay for mine but I would rather use the cash for Christmas presents since I can do the 0% finance.

Sorry but we are Americans.

 

[darkslide29]

0% financing is free, dont pay late of course..
Must account for time value of money too, its actually a discount.

Not sure why more people don't get this.
For many, it's not about not being able to afford it. It's about getting the best deal out of your money.