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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.

How did you do the setup the tmobile account? Just popped in the sim and set it up on your ipad?
 
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.

No, it lasts exactly the same except you wait longer to see your content.

If you load up an identical web page on EDGE and LTE they will have used exactly the same from your quota, except LTE will have loaded in 2 secs versus edge which may take a minute.

I would always prefer to have the fastest speed available and simply discipline myself not to use it more than I have to, than have a low speed where I end up using less data because its so painful that I give up.

By the way, given that the up sell is just $10 for an extra gig, I wouldn't worry about it if I enjoyed using my 200MB free and needed just a little bit more for that next 30 days.
 
How did you do the setup the tmobile account? Just popped in the sim and set it up on your ipad?

Yes. It was quick and easy. I turned off the device, put the sim in and turned it back on. In about a minute it booted up and the T-Mobile symbol was in the upper left status area.
 
With an iPad 3rd Gen in my area it is so slow that it basically does not work- at all.
Yep, that's what you'll get with an old model that wasn't built for T-Mobile's LTE band. See http://www.apple.com/ipad/LTE/

An ipad3 literally cannot see T-Mobile's LTE bands even if you have coverage I believe. You might get 3G service if you're in an area where TMO has refarmed their towers, but sounds like you aren't. You might be better served with AT&T's 90day/1GB/$25 plan.

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...
Guy on the phone was right but not clear.

If you have a T-Mobile cell phone plan already and associate your ipad with your account, you get 200MB high speed data free per month and it will fall back to unlimited 2G data for the rest of the month.

On the other hand, if you have no other relationship with T-Mobile and merely put a TMO SIM in your ipad you get 200MB free high speed data per month and it is supposed to cut you off when you reach the limit.

Make more sense now?
 
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

Where do you find the $10 a month for 500mb+ unlimited throttled? When I go to check out on the website the 500mb option is $20

Edit: looks like the $10 plan is if you add it to a basic phone line or a current tmobile account...
 
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Yep, that's what you'll get with an old model that wasn't built for T-Mobile's LTE band. See http://www.apple.com/ipad/LTE/

An ipad3 literally cannot see T-Mobile's LTE bands even if you have coverage I believe. You might get 3G service if you're in an area where TMO has refarmed their towers, but sounds like you aren't. You might be better served with AT&T's 90day/1GB/$25 plan.


Guy on the phone was right but not clear.

If you have a T-Mobile cell phone plan already and associate your ipad with your account, you get 200MB high speed data free per month and it will fall back to unlimited 2G data for the rest of the month.

On the other hand, if you have no other relationship with T-Mobile and merely put a TMO SIM in your ipad you get 200MB free high speed data per month and it is supposed to cut you off when you reach the limit.

Make more sense now?

So if you have an account with them you can still use throttled data after the 200MB? Because I used up my allotment last week and kept getting the upsell message to buy more data occasionally throughout the day. I never bothered to check and see if I could still use throttled data. The cycle already reset now so I'll check it out again next month.
 
So if you have an account with them you can still use throttled data after the 200MB?

Yes, but I believe you have to have added the ipad to your t-mobile account for it to be enabled. Just using a prepaid SIM and not associating the ipad with your phone account wouldn't do the trick.
 
Yes, but I believe you have to have added the ipad to your t-mobile account for it to be enabled. Just using a prepaid SIM and not associating the ipad with your phone account wouldn't do the trick.

Yeah I've added it to my Postpaid account with my phones.
 
I bet the free 200MB plan is at the absolute BOTTOM of the priority list when it comes to delivering packets. There is no way T-Mobile is going to allow paying customers to have their service slowed down even slightly by the freeloaders.

This means that if your tower is busy, you will likely get horrendously slow speeds.

Either way, you get what you pay for. If I were to activate this plan it would be for very occasional use; I'd tether through my phone for serious use.
 
No, it lasts exactly the same except you wait longer to see your content.

If you load up an identical web page on EDGE and LTE they will have used exactly the same from your quota, except LTE will have loaded in 2 secs versus edge which may take a minute.

I would always prefer to have the fastest speed available and simply discipline myself not to use it more than I have to, than have a low speed where I end up using less data because its so painful that I give up.

By the way, given that the up sell is just $10 for an extra gig, I wouldn't worry about it if I enjoyed using my 200MB free and needed just a little bit more for that next 30 days.
hahaha, I don't know what I was thinking when I wrote that :D
 
i've got 2 tablets on the 200mb data plan with tmobile and no problems so far. nexus 7 let and iPad mini lte. i have fast wifi at home and work and i rarely try to use data on the go so this helps me on my bill.
 
I bet the free 200MB plan is at the absolute BOTTOM of the priority list when it comes to delivering packets. There is no way T-Mobile is going to allow paying customers to have their service slowed down even slightly by the freeloaders.

This means that if your tower is busy, you will likely get horrendously slow speeds.

That would a very stupid move on T-Mobil's part. I doubt T-Mobile even sees much, if any, impact on network usage from us free plan users. The free data plan is a way to get people to try T-Mobile at a very low cost; it is a very low cost way to advertise and reach out to people who may not even consider them. If they have a bad experience how likely are they to switch? A heavy user is likely to hit the cap quickly and either stop using data or pony up for extra data, the marginal cost of the extra data makes them an attractive way to generate revenue and advertise T-Mobile. The splash T-Mobile made when they announced it alone probably is worth more than whatever it costs T-Mobile to deliver the data.

Either way, you get what you pay for. If I were to activate this plan it would be for very occasional use; I'd tether through my phone for serious use.

To each his own. I have it and will add it to my older iPad as well. I use less than 200MBs since most of my time I have wifi or use my phone for email, but it is nice to have it available.

I think it was brilliant marketing move and sooner or later their competitors will have to act to counter it.

YMMV
 
I recently upgraded to an iPad air and rMini so I could take advantage of Tmobile's deal.

So far, I'm getting LTE in most places and am happy.
 
I had a free Tmobile sim in my Air and it fired up just fine. Worked great!

Then I traded my Air for a rMini and could NOT get that sim to work in the rMini. Visited a tmobile store and talked to several techs over the phone. They all said the sim should work in my rMini and were at a loss as to what was wrong. I seriously spent hours on the phone with tech support over a period of several days. They tried wiping my account, changing my telephone number, etc. Finally gave up, got a new sim and it worked right away.

Lesson learned: The sim will probably only ever work with the device you activated it on, even when Tmobile claims otherwise. :rolleyes:

Otherwise, I am loving having free internet for when I'm on the go. Just as speedy as my husband's ATT's data.
 
Thank you all for the responses.

I got my sim a few days ago and after going and configuring everything it seems to work like a charm. Not sure what the complaints were on here but it works pretty well beyond the fact that 200mb is little but I already knew that.
 
My free Sim I got off Tmo last month works fine in my Air. I do have a Tmo iphone acct but did not attach the ipad to it, but if they will do throttling after the 200 on the ipad I may check it out but I just don't trust the store personnel 1) for knowing what they are doing and 2) for not trying to upsell me and lose some feature I have now. My iPhone has hotspot too but I never use it much. maybe I should.

I just got an email saying I've used 80% which is rare for me and I've got some time to go. I see it was Flipboard. I hate how some sites now have active video on Flipboard. Not friendly to data counters...
 
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do you need to be a t-mobile customer to get the free data, or do i just need to buy a nano sim from them and then choose the free 200mb
 
Just get a Tm sim and install it, asks for mim information to set up.
One note, my sim came with a phone number that was needed to set it up.
 
do you need to be a t-mobile customer to get the free data, or do i just need to buy a nano sim from them and then choose the free 200mb

You don't need to be a T-mobile customer. Also, if you turn Wi-Fi off and set up via view account under Cellular Data, you will not need the number that is assigned to the SIM.
 
You don't need to be a T-mobile customer. Also, if you turn Wi-Fi off and set up via view account under Cellular Data, you will not need the number that is assigned to the SIM.

Thank you

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Anybody know a place to get a t-mobile nano sim for cheaper then 10 dollars
 
You don't need to be a T-mobile customer. Also, if you turn Wi-Fi off and set up via view account under Cellular Data, you will not need the number that is assigned to the SIM.

I set up my Tm with the phone number, is there a was to start over and set it up without the phone number, unless I turn of wifi it prompts me for the phone number to view the account. It wold be nice not to have to remember the number. I don't have any other Tm accounts.
 
I set up my Tm with the phone number, is there a was to start over and set it up without the phone number, unless I turn of wifi it prompts me for the phone number to view the account. It wold be nice not to have to remember the number. I don't have any other Tm accounts.

Whenever you access the wi-fi website it will ask for the phone number. Via cellular view account it does not. It doesn't matter how you set it up, via Wi-Fi you will need the phone number.
 
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