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T-Mobile Targets Tablets: LTE Models for Price of Wi-Fi, Bonus Free Data Through 2014

Only thing that concerns me about T-Mobile about doing these types of things...

There's always a underlining catch to it, that they are not mentioning until driving up to the store and letting them end with this...

"No, it's not really like that"
 
CooperGear said:
It is not a contract, you can dump T-mobile any time but you have to pay off the iPad if you do. It is a data plan and free financing for 24 months. I may have to do this because I want a new iPad but I have the unlimited ATT data so I would get the wi-fi price on the LTE ipad and cancel after the first month.
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I should have said a post paid plan. I only want to pay for data in the months I need it so I'm really not interested in a post paid plan.

You bring up a good point though. What's to prevent someone from paying less for an iPad LTE with a T-Mobile post paid plan and then canceling the plan ?

Is it only if you finance the iPad ?
 
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adeedew said:
I really wish tmobile was ready for prime time with their cell service. Every few months I'll activate a sim to try out on my spare 5s since it's comes unlocked on Verizon and LTE drops to 4g to edge still a lot through LA still. No comparison to Verizon whatsoever which is always a constant LTE. I wonder if they're doing all of this knowing their actually service is not up to par.
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I live in Utah and tried switching from AT&T to tmobile and it was terrible and switched back after 3 weeks. I could only get edge at my house and LTE would come and go in different areas and when it did work it would still be slow.

I think their networks are way overloaded. Not worth it to save a few bucks.
 
Scott90 said:
Oh, you mean $25 for three months, not per month. Then yeah, that's the better deal.
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Yes. For someone who just needs to check a site or two and email while out, it's plenty enough for three months. Last three month period, I used 856MB.

If T-Mobile would offer something like this, I would use them on my iPad. Their data speeds beat AT&T in my area.
 
bboucher790 said:
What's confusing about this T-Mobile?
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See below. Perhaps whomever you were talking with didn't get the updated training?

Regardless, it's posted on the T-Mobile website at the link below. You'll need to click on the Q&A link to expand the page and see this particular Q/A.

Q. What was the $10.00 per month fee we heard about on launch day?
A. We had an executional error in our system at launch that created an erroneous $10.00 charge for network access. We have worked in the days since launch to correct this issue in the system and through employee training. There is no $10.00 per month fee for the 200MB of free data. We are crediting any customer that was erroneously charged this fee.
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http://newsroom.t-mobile.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=251624&p=irol-newsarticle&ID=1872166
 
livingonvideo13 said:
I live in Utah and tried switching from AT&T to tmobile and it was terrible and switched back after 3 weeks. I could only get edge at my house and LTE would come and go in different areas and when it did work it would still be slow.

I think their networks are way overloaded. Not worth it to save a few bucks.
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Agreed. What I don't understand about T-Mobile is that they are so quick to get customers to switch to their network.

Wouldn't it be in their best interest to focus on improving their network. It's like they are going about it backwards.

Jumping to get the customers on board rather than jumping to improve their network. Maybe someone can enlighten me on this particular issue, but does it benefit having new customers jump on their network.

As in they get some type of incentive for having a certain amount of new customers jumping on their network. But the only problem with that is AT&T & Verizon has better network coverage... it's as if the only way T-Mobile can respond is to take away their customers in order to get the support to build a better network, I assume.
 
Gosh, if this could just hold out until September - I'd love to get a 128GB iPad rMini 2 on T-Mobile for $699 instead of $829. I'd do it in a heartbeat.
 
Would they ever consider paying off a device payment plan as well? Something like if you already at least half paid off they will pay the rest, plus ETF. Very costly, but it would be interesting.
 
I had the same problems with T-Mobile; this was last year when the 200MB deal had been around for maybe 3 weeks. (They should have trained their people before the promo, or at least within 3 weeks.) I bought the SIM, but didn't get the free data. Nobody, at any level of the company, knew what the heck they were talking about! Hours wasted on the phone. Eventually I did get the 200MB plan enabled... and then it shut down again after 30 days. Tried again two or three more times before finally (I think?) getting it working. In the meantime, though, too many of the times I'd wanted to rely on their service, I didn't have it. So I got out of the habit of expecting Internet access "everywhere" and relied on WiFi or my AT&T iPhone instead.

If they were hoping this promo would sell me on their quality service, and/or the luxury of having Internet everywhere, they managed to demonstrate the opposite!

I would have probably gone with T-Mobile for my next iPhone plan, except for this bad experience. Oops!

Now I'm torn... AT&T DSL service was abominable (huge erroneous overcharges, lots of downtime, shockingly bad support; I cancelled it) but AT&T iPhone service has been very good for me for years. Maybe I'll stick with AT&T, or just try Verizon for a change (if they allow simultaneous voice and data so I can make restaurant/movie plans with friends in a post-1900s way).

bboucher790 said:
I use Verizon for my phone service, but I wanted to purchase my iPad Air through T-Mobile to get 200mb of "free data for life". I was going to purchase a WiFi tablet, but decided this was too good a deal to pass up.

I was on the phone yesterday for an hour with a supervisor telling me that I do not get 200mb of free data. It's $10 a month, due to me not being attached to any other T-Mobile services. I wish this was a joke. They said their website is "confusing" and they will need to escalate this to change their website so it's not misleading. They told me I need to have a phone line with them to get the free data. They credited my account for a year for 200mb, but in a year I will have to call back to complain again, since they can only do things in yearly increments.

From T-Mobile's site:

"FREE DATA FOR LIFE
Anybody who wants to use a tablet on T-Mobile's 4G LTE network gets 200MB free data for as long as you own the device, whether you pay for it up front or you choose to finance it.

You can buy a tablet from us, or bring your own device. Either way, you will get 200MB free data for the time you own the device and use it on our network."

What's confusing about this T-Mobile?
Click to expand...
 
Ludatyk said:
Agreed. What I don't understand about T-Mobile is that they are so quick to get customers to switch to their network.

Wouldn't it be in their best interest to focus on improving their network. It's like they are going about it backwards.

Jumping to get the customers on board rather than jumping to improve their network. Maybe someone can enlighten me on this particular issue, but does it benefit having new customers jump on their network.

As in they get some type of incentive for having a certain amount of new customers jumping on their network. But the only problem with that is AT&T & Verizon has better network coverage... it's as if the only way T-Mobile can respond is to take away their customers in order to get the support to build a better network, I assume.
Click to expand...
I think they have improved their network but it depends on the area.

Here in Denver, T-Mobile is the fastest carrier and they give me service at my house where the other two can't.

Also, back in November, I bought a T-Mobile 5S. I noticed sometimes that updating apps or using the iTunes Store would result in a spinning wheel. Same on my iPad. Websites had no problem, it was just with iTunes and the app stores and apples own site and only while using T-Mobile The problem fixed it self about two months ago.

There are also very few edge/4G area here. My phone and iPad stays on LTE most of the time when I'm out. I'm pretty impressed.

I do use AT&T on my iPad now though.
 
bboucher790 said:
I use Verizon for my phone service, but I wanted to purchase my iPad Air through T-Mobile to get 200mb of "free data for life". I was going to purchase a WiFi tablet, but decided this was too good a deal to pass up.

I was on the phone yesterday for an hour with a supervisor telling me that I do not get 200mb of free data. It's $10 a month, due to me not being attached to any other T-Mobile services. I wish this was a joke. They said their website is "confusing" and they will need to escalate this to change their website so it's not misleading. They told me I need to have a phone line with them to get the free data. They credited my account for a year for 200mb, but in a year I will have to call back to complain again, since they can only do things in yearly increments.

From T-Mobile's site:

"FREE DATA FOR LIFE
Anybody who wants to use a tablet on T-Mobile's 4G LTE network gets 200MB free data for as long as you own the device, whether you pay for it up front or you choose to finance it.

You can buy a tablet from us, or bring your own device. Either way, you will get 200MB free data for the time you own the device and use it on our network."

What's confusing about this T-Mobile?
Click to expand...

Still? Jeez. People were having problems like that when they introduced the free 200MB, so much so that the CEO had to come out and clarify that yes, the offer was no exceptions. That is one seriously out-of-date supervisor.
 
JackieInCo said:
Yes. For someone who just needs to check a site or two and email while out, it's plenty enough for three months. Last three month period, I used 856MB.

If T-Mobile would offer something like this, I would use them on my iPad. Their data speeds beat AT&T in my area.
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Well, since you have Tmob for phone, the 1GB/month iPad plan is only $10 for you, which is pretty close to your $25/qtr plan, anyway. And starting Saturday, it is free for the rest of this year. You might want to change. They'll probably give you a SIM for $0-$1 if you go in and ask.

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schizbomb said:
Could I just buy an LTE iPad and cancel the 1GB plan after a month and just use my free 200MB for life?
Click to expand...

Yes. You don't even have to buy it from Tmob and you can get the free 200MB.
 
JackieInCo said:
I think they have improved their network but it depends on the area.

Here in Denver, T-Mobile is the fastest carrier and they give me service at my house where the other two can't.

Also, back in November, I bought a T-Mobile 5S. I noticed sometimes that updating apps or using the iTunes Store would result in a spinning wheel. Same on my iPad. Websites had no problem, it was just with iTunes and the app stores and apples own site and only while using T-Mobile The problem fixed it self about two months ago.

There are also very few edge/4G area here. My phone and iPad stays on LTE most of the time when I'm out. I'm pretty impressed.

I do use AT&T on my iPad now though.
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So, you are using two different carriers?

You have AT&T on the iPad & T-Mobile on the iPhone. I'm with AT&T, I recently switched my plan to the family deal they currently have going on.

I've been with AT&T since the years of Cingular, it's kind of hard to move to another carrier when AT&T has treated "me" fairly. Every carriers are evil in their own right, but I don't plan on switching until there is obvious writings on the wall for me to move on.

Although, I am planning on getting a SIM card through T-Mobile to try out that free data plan deal they have going on for tablets.
 
JAT said:
Well, since you have Tmob for phone, the 1GB/month iPad plan is only $10 for you, which is pretty close to your $25/qtr plan, anyway. And starting Saturday, it is free for the rest of this year. You might want to change. They'll probably give you a SIM for $0-$1 if you go in and ask.

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Yes. You don't even have to buy it from Tmob and you can get the free 200MB.
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Yeah but I want to buy the LTE iPad for $499 + tax from this TMO deal haha
 
haha i got my 32GB one for 1€ on T-Mobile Germany. gotta love the tight competition and little 3rd party phone providers over here
 
Wow, this is pretty good! I wouldnt mind being able to switch over and take advantage of this deal if I werent stuck in an ATT contract :[
 
I'm happy to see T-Mobile disrupting the industry, but my wife and I now have our iPhones on Consumer Cellular and are very pleased, though we're not big data users. Rides the LTE AT&T network. 1000 minutes/15000 texts/2GB data for $70/month for both phones. And Personal Hotspot is free on both phones.
 
And you can pop in any sim from any other carrier and it will work. I bought a sprint IPad Air from target (200 dollar trade in card and all that was in stock was Sprint) and took it straight in to AT&T and they gave me a free sim and I pay $25 for 90 days of 1GB .
 
Prof. said:
I would love to just pay full-price of my iPhone every two years and pay less per month with Verizon. If I can buy the phone outright, and pay $25 less per month, I'd jump on that in a heartbeat.
Click to expand...

I really don't get this thinking. Verizon is the most expensive carrier in the US. Some get discounts, which brings the price down, but without discounts it is the most expensive.

The savings on T-Mobile for most people is probably greater than thirty dollars a month. Verizon advertises $40 a month for unlimited voice and texting. For 2GBs worth of monthly data, it advertises another $50 a month. The total is $90 a month. This includes a device. So for $199 down you get an iPhone 5S. Divide $199 by 24 months, the life of the plan, and that is an additional $9 a month. So, one paying the advertised price is paying almost $100 a month.

On T-Mobile you pay nothing down for the same phone. Instead, you pay it off over 24 months at $27 a month. You can get an unlimited voice, data, and text plan for $50 a month. This included 1GB of 4G data, and unlimited 3G and lower. For $60 a month, you get 4GB of 4G data, and unlimited everything else. There is no extra fee for data sharing amongst devices.

So for as low as $77 a month plus taxes you potentially get more than what Verizon is offering for over twenty dollars a month less. Moreover, there is no contract.

Of course, Verizon has a voice network that reaches more places in the Country, but if you are in an area where T-Mobile has a strong presence, the choice seems like a no-brainer. T-Mobile's data network on average throughout the country is in second place running only slightly below AT&T. Verizon is in a close third place, with Sprint way behind the pack.

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Not sure how you are stuck. T-Mobile buys out your contract.

sonicrobby said:
Wow, this is pretty good! I wouldnt mind being able to switch over and take advantage of this deal if I werent stuck in an ATT contract :[
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