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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!

They sure know how to rip you off. Like when you pay full price for a device and the monthly data charges are the same as if you bought on contract with a $450 subsidy!
 
don't see the issue at all.

You want a subsidized device, there will be always be strings attached.
 
This article is so wrong

I'm an AT&T phone customer and I will get the iPad with Tmobile. This Article is so wrong trying to mix the 200 mb with getting the iPad financed in 20 months. The CEO of Tmobile said there will be 200 mb of data free regarless if you have a monthly plan with Tmobile or not but he never said anything about getting the iPad Zero Down without a plan. If I go to AppleStore and buy the ipad I can go to Tmobile and get my 200 mb for free without a plan. Now, If I want to get the iPad with Zero down and 20 payments of $26 then I have to get a monthly plan, that makes sense because they won put their money for you to get an ipad Zero interest and wont get nothing from you. The 200 mb is free for any ipad user with or without a plan, but getting financial help to pay your ipad in 20 months is something else.
 
T-Mobile is ( Carrier + Uncarrier ) / 2

I still like them, but my goodness, this is not the way to communicate stuff to the public. The CEO better stop using twitter.

BTW, macrumors, lay off on T-Mobile a bit will you? They are still doing better than others, so no need to shame them in a first page news story.
 
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.

Well apparently it's not cleared up because you have it totally wrong. Any non-current T-Mobile customer can bring in a compatible device and get free data. What are both of you not understanding about that?

As others have pointed out the fact that their 0% interest financing plan requires you to buy a data plan doesn't mean you don't get the free data. You still get the free data on top of what you're required to buy to get the financing. If you don't want to pay for the prerequisite plan pay cash or finance the iPad elsewhere.
 
The heck with all this! Is there a phone jack adapter for the Ipad Air? I am going back to AOL. 56k all the way!
 
The "free data" will become subsidized data after a decent amount of time, just you guys watch. That's the real hosing -- T-mobile isn't offering this free data forever.
 
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.

Looking into it more, I agree. I've added an edit to reflect it. Thanks!
 
I don't understand why people are having such an issue with this....They offer it 2 ways.

1.) You have an tablet not financed with them and you get free data.
2.) you have a financed tablet with them and you have to pay a "charge" until financing is over and then you get data for free.

Nobody else is offering free data and now we have an option for it. I don't get how people think they should make money with giving away free financing and free data and stay in business. Yes t-Mobile is a horrible for profit company trying to make a profit. How dare they.
 
The title is click-bait and completely misleading, not T-Mobile CEO, and you should be ashamed. The 200 MB is still free for fully paid iPads. Nobody is going to finance you an iPad and not require you to pay a dime.
 
T-Mobile is ( Carrier + Uncarrier ) / 2

I still like them, but my goodness, this is not the way to communicate stuff to the public. The CEO better stop using twitter.

BTW, macrumors, lay off on T-Mobile a bit will you? They are still doing better than others, so no need to shame them in a first page news story.

That I (and I suspect everyone else) completely agree with. They've done a horrible job by 1) not making it clear what they meant in the first place, 2) not informing their staff, 3) tweeting a simple absolute message that left room to be interpreted beyond what they meant, 4) not informing their staff, and maybe not offering a mea culpa on how they've communicated about this now that they've finally made it clear that just because you get free data doesn't mean they're waiving the requirement to buy a data plan if you get their free financing. Also not telling their staff they're offering free data.
 
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I don't understand why people are having such an issue with this....They offer it 2 ways.

1.) You have an tablet not financed with them and you get free data.
2.) you have a financed tablet with them and you have to pay a "charge" until financing is over and then you get data for free.

Nobody else is offering free data and now we have an option for it. I don't get how people think they should make money with giving away free financing and free data and stay in business. Yes t-Mobile is a horrible for profit company trying to make a profit. How dare they.

Because that's not how it was advertised. And even then we're still getting conflicting reports about how T-mobile is handling this. This may turn out to be how it is, but it's not consistent with how they pushed their deals initially. Which is why many are upset.
 
I don't understand why people are having such an issue with this....They offer it 2 ways.

1.) You have an tablet not financed with them and you get free data.
2.) you have a financed tablet with them and you have to pay a "charge" until financing is over and then you get data for free.

Nobody else is offering free data and now we have an option for it. I don't get how people think they should make money with giving away free financing and free data and stay in business. Yes t-Mobile is a horrible for profit company trying to make a profit. How dare they.

sure what you say is great until there are numerous people that have gone in store and not been able to get the deal you are referring to. why make it so complicated? I thought this guy wanted to shake up the industry and not just have another offer with strings like the rest.
 
T-Mobile never said that you could finance a new iPad with them, without being a customer. They addressed this specifically in their press conference. A recording of the press conference is here: http://newsroom.t-mobile.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=251624&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1867397

It's simple. Everyone gets 200MB of extra data for free, regardless of whether you bought your iPad from T-Mobile. Period.

If you want T-Mobile to offer you 0% financing for 24 months, you need to be a customer. You can have a cell phone plan, and pay nothing for tablet data, and still get 200MB.

If you don't have a cell phone plan, you can pay $20 per month for 700MB of high-speed data (500MB plus 200MB), and unlimited low-speed data.

Why would T-Mobile offer 0% 24-month financing to non-customers? They never said they would, specifically said "you'll need to be a customer," and it would make zero business sense for them to offer it.

It's simple in hindsight, and maybe it's simple if you knew about the press conference, but it's not simple for the many who only read the press release. It's also not simple for all the T-mobile stores who are dumbfounded today because they read the release just like the rest of us did. Today I went to take mine back and they were shocked. The employee was on the phone and I heard him say, "So it's not free?" LOL. For their part, they are working to honor their commitment...
 
CenturyLink pulls the same crap. They advertise $29 high speed internet for life only to find out you'll need to bundle it with another service to get the low $29 price. But hey nobody is complaining. :(

Comcast has been sending me "*new customers only" offers in the mail for high-speed internet for at least 2 years now. They only started sending me them after I signed up for high-speed Internet.

I will never understand this behavior.
 
and how is this "deal" working for those people??

here is my experience:

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.
 
I called T-Mobile and the way it works is this: The free 200MB of "starter data" is only available on pre-pay accounts (which is the standard iPad scheme). You can't have a pre-pay account if you buy your device with an EIP (equipment installment plan), only post-pay which is how my rep set it up without fully understanding the nuances.

When I called to switch to pre-pay, they said I'd have to return the device and then buy it outright in order to do so. So there it is.
 
Poor t-mobile, they need to make money somewhere

they do not get iPad FREE from apple. I know they mislead it but they have to make money somewhere...
 
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.

The only ones that are upset have to be freeloaders. I mean, the only way that you don't get the 200MB of data completely free is if you also get a brand new iPad directly from T-Mobile using their 0% financing offer. Anyone that expected to get both a brand new iPad with 0% financing AND totally free data were forgetting that T-Mobile is an actual business and not a charity.

There are several examples of people putting T-Mobile SIMs in older model iPads and getting the free data deal too, so I don't find this misleading on their part at all.
 
I don't understand why people are having such an issue with this....They offer it 2 ways.

1.) You have an tablet not financed with them and you get free data.
2.) you have a financed tablet with them and you have to pay a "charge" until financing is over and then you get data for free.

Nobody else is offering free data and now we have an option for it. I don't get how people think they should make money with giving away free financing and free data and stay in business. Yes t-Mobile is a horrible for profit company trying to make a profit. How dare they.

I agree; it sounds outrageous! That's why I talked to 2 employees on the phone and 1 in-store to verify. I didn't expect it; but it appeared they were offering it. It appeared this way to the employees I talked to as well. I walked out of the store with no mention of any necessary paid data plan, and with assurances that I didn't need one.
 
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Looks like I got my order in just in time before the $20/mo. plan became mandatory for orders on their website. I took advantage of the free financing because, well, it's free financing. If they don't give me a $10 monthly credit to cancel out my $10 on demand plan, then I will complain until they do or return the iPad. I was planning on getting a new Mini anyways, but 0% financing PLUS free data was worth a shot.
 
I have no issues at all with folks who are buying subsidized hardware having to make other financial commitments in exchange for the hardware subsidy. That's nothing new. That said, I bet the CEO wishes he could take this tweet back (emphasis mine):

"Yes. Everyone gets the 200MB of free data. No exceptions. No strings attached."

Sucks to be the CEO of T-Mo today.
 
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