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Carrier T-Mobile free data experiences?

N

nzalog

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 25, 2012
274
2
So at first I thought it was only free 200MB a month, which I was OK with, I'd use it rarely off wifi and it would just be convenient. Then I was told that it's free 200mb high speed and then free unlimited low speed. So I'm pretty surprised because this kinda goes way past what I expected.

Has anyone actually tried it and are there any tricks or gotcha's behind the whole thing? Just seems a bit too good to be true...​
 
With an iPad 3rd Gen in my area it is so slow that it basically does not work- at all.
 
T-Mo prices are good but when I tried them I had poor coverage and had to go outside to make a call. Their coverage map showed I should have excellent coverage:rolleyes:

Needless to say I ended it in less than 24 hours.
 
nzalog said:
So at first I thought it was only free 200MB a month, which I was OK with, I'd use it rarely off wifi and it would just be convenient. Then I was told that it's free 200mb high speed and then free unlimited low speed. So I'm pretty surprised because this kinda goes way past what I expected.

Has anyone actually tried it and are there any tricks or gotcha's behind the whole thing? Just seems a bit too good to be true...​
Click to expand...

People around here love to bash tmobile.

AND there's a ton of mis-information here. Let me clarify, as I actually know what I'm talking about, because I have the product in question.

TMobile has great urban and suburban connection speeds, if you're working on a new iPad that's properly provisioned. Older iPads don't support all of TMobile's connection bands, which cause it to be a lot slower.

In a rural area, however, forget it.

It's 200MB. Flat. Not unlimited, not throttling, it's 200MB, with the ability to buy more at a price of $5/GB. If you use up 200MB, it shuts down the connection, and prompts you to buy more. It never does it automatically.


There's also the pay-monthly option of $10/month for 500MB full speed, unlimited throttled.

Source - http://newsroom.t-mobile.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=251624&p=irol-newsarticle&ID=1867397
 
spyguy10709 said:
People around here love to bash tmobile.

AND there's a ton of mis-information here. Let me clarify, as I actually know what I'm talking about, because I have the product in question.

TMobile has great urban and suburban connection speeds, if you're working on a new iPad that's properly provisioned. Older iPads don't support all of TMobile's connection bands, which cause it to be a lot slower.

In a rural area, however, forget it.

It's 200MB. Flat. Not unlimited, not throttling, it's 200MB, with the ability to buy more at a price of $5/GB. If you use up 200MB, it shuts down the connection, and prompts you to buy more. It never does it automatically.


There's also the pay-monthly option of $10/month for 500MB full speed, unlimited throttled.

Source - http://newsroom.t-mobile.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=251624&p=irol-newsarticle&ID=1867397
Click to expand...

Hmm I think the guy I spoke on the phone with gave me the wrong info then... Still decent prices for the other plans. Thank you for taking the time to clarify... I'm pretty sure I'm in a high coverage are with an up to date ipad so it should work out well.

BTW, I like your sig, did I give you the idea?
 
I've had it for the past 2 months on my iPad Mini. Works great just as advertised. 200MB and then it turns off with the option to buy more. At that point I just use my Personal Hotspot from my iPhone. Service is great here as well.

Note to those with iPads other than the Air or rMini, unless you are in a major metro area you will probably only receive EDGE data with your iPad because it does not support T-Mobile's AWS bands.
 
My experience with the free 200mb has not been good either. Reception here is listed as excellent but my Air takes forever to connect and it connects to Edge speeds only instead of the LTE it's advertised as. I just figured it was bad reception for TMobile at my house. AT&T and Verizon gives us great speed so I'm not really fussed about it. The 200mb free would have been nice to have but it's not necessary. I might try another location to see if it improves. BTW, this is not a bash TMobile comment by any means. I'm sure TMobile works great for many people, just like other cell companies. They all have dead spots.
 
I had some issues getting activated, but overall it has been a great experience. Reception is good in my area and the LTE speed is solid. And tethering is included! No complaints here.
 
The person on the phone told me incorrect information, as well, then. She told me it was 200 LTE and then unlimited Edge just like the other data provisions on my family plan.

Although, I'm not too worried about it. In fact, if it's 200mb total then I *prefer* edge speeds (I moved from OC, CA to rural Oregon for a couple years) because when I was visiting back home last month I burned through my data in about a week. I wish there was some way I could use edge for basic things and then turn on LTE when I want to do something high speed. But since all data, fast and slow, counts toward the cap then I don't mind my iPad being on Edge all the time because it will last longer. I only plan to use the cellular data in emergencies anyway.
 
BL4zD said:
The person on the phone told me incorrect information, as well, then. She told me it was 200 LTE and then unlimited Edge just like the other data provisions on my family plan.

Although, I'm not too worried about it. In fact, if it's 200mb total then I *prefer* edge speeds (I moved from OC, CA to rural Oregon for a couple years) because when I was visiting back home last month I burned through my data in about a week. I wish there was some way I could use edge for basic things and then turn on LTE when I want to do something high speed. But since all data, fast and slow, counts toward the cap then I don't mind my iPad being on Edge all the time because it will last longer. I only plan to use the cellular data in emergencies anyway.
Click to expand...

Couldn't you just turn LTE off in the cellular settings like you would on an iPhone?
 
CEmajr said:
It would still connect to "4G". There's no way to force LTE devices to connect to EDGE.
Click to expand...
This and the fact that TMobile treats the entire pool of initial high speed minutes and any other minutes as a single bucket meaning that regardless of fast (LTE/4G) or slow (Edge) usage all minutes count against whichever plan you have.

I have 500mb LTE and then unlimited Edge. I upgraded to 2.5GB of LTE when I went home and there was no internet. I was trying to use my Edge for emails and simple browsing and the LTE for gaming and media browsing but there was no way to do that according to Tmobile.
 
Ladybug said:
My experience with the free 200mb has not been good either. Reception here is listed as excellent but my Air takes forever to connect and it connects to Edge speeds only instead of the LTE it's advertised as. I just figured it was bad reception for TMobile at my house. AT&T and Verizon gives us great speed so I'm not really fussed about it. The 200mb free would have been nice to have but it's not necessary. I might try another location to see if it improves. BTW, this is not a bash TMobile comment by any means. I'm sure TMobile works great for many people, just like other cell companies. They all have dead spots.
Click to expand...

In the suburbs of NYC it takes me 20 seconds to connect... And it connects to LTE. Make sure your iPad is provisioned correctly, you should make a trip to the TMo store to make sure :)
 
its all good

I'm sorry to hear the horror stories. I traded a 1st gen Mini for an iPad 3. Even swap. The Mini was a 16gb ATT version. The New iPad that I traded for was a 16gb data model, and from the sn I think it is an ATT version. I'm running the latest version of ios 7.
I did not want to pay for another device on my account, and originally planned to use it inhouse only on wifi with no sim. But after hearing about T-Mobiles offer of free data, I went online and ordered a sim for 10 bucks from T-Mobile. I've had it for 3 months and I do have a 200mb cap, but the account is completely free, less the 10 bucks. I've used the data to 180 mb a couple of times now. I had no problems getting the free account and I've not had any speed problems either. My LTE iPad rMini is very, very fast, but the iPad 3 works fluidly when I turn off wifi with no noticeable lag. It's a great option to have available and speed has not an issue. Granted, I haven't had to use it much using data only.
My 2 cents. Regards all.
 
I love it. Used to pay $20 to Verizon for a 1GB/mo plan, but only used at most 150 MB per month. A lot of times I'd just use 30-40 MB. So having 200MB for free works out amazingly.

I have an iPad 3, so I don't get T-Mobile LTE/AWS. But my area has been refarmed and I've never seen Edge where I've needed to use it. The refarmed speeds are 5-9 Mb/s so it's not bad. Not the 45 Mb/s I could get on Verizon LTE, but hey..
 
spyguy10709 said:
In the suburbs of NYC it takes me 20 seconds to connect... And it connects to LTE. Make sure your iPad is provisioned correctly, you should make a trip to the TMo store to make sure :)
Click to expand...
Thanks, I think I will take your advice.
 
michael31986 said:
Can't I just go to a t mobile store and buy a nano sim? Instead of ordering online.
Click to expand...

You should be able to.

Also have the Air and TMo 200mb plan since November, fantastic fast, and when it runs out i just tether.
 
You can buy a sim in store, online, or installed in a new pad. Online is reported to sometimes be cheaper. In store may expose you to unsavory sales tactics.
 
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