I had an iPhone 6 Plus, as I was awaiting the iPhone 7 (now have iPhone 7 non-Plus). Good to hear that it may have been my issue and not T-Mobile's.
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T-Mobile to Offer Four Lines of Unlimited Data for $120 Starting Friday
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I had an iPhone 6 Plus, as I was awaiting the iPhone 7 (now have iPhone 7 non-Plus). Good to hear that it may have been my issue and not T-Mobile's.
I live in the suburbs of Portland Oregon, and I have been a subscriber of Verizon and AT&T in the past. I did a T-Mobile test drive (their now discontinued program to try out their network with a loaner iPhone), and was surprised that in my area T-Mobile blows away the other providers. I have been using T-Mobile for over a year now, and I have been much happier with T-Mobile compared to Verizon / AT&T. There are some dead spots, but I personally haven't seen any more than I used to see with the others. I also love that when I visit Canada and Mexico, my phone works perfectly with no roaming charges, and even on trips to Europe, the limited free internet is also nice (albeit a little painfully slow at times).
I was not clear that the cap was per line, so fair point. However, please note that my family does not seem to go over 10gig combined so it not much of an issue for us. The coverage certainly is an issue.
Orlandoech
macrumors 68040
"Supposedly". There fixed it for you.
sup·pos·ed·ly
səˈpōzədlē/
adverb
- according to what is generally assumed or believed (often used to indicate that the speaker doubts the truth of the statement).
iosuser
macrumors 65816
The vast majority of time you'll be on band 4 with TMobile. The only times I see it switch to band 12 is when I'm inside a store, where band 12 is available. Band 12 does not guarantee coverage where there was no service before.
And band 12 will not give you this kind of speed:
Mad Mac Maniac
macrumors 601
Seriously? Where? I drove across Maine for a few days a couple months ago while visiting Acadia National Park. I found T-Mo coverage in most of Maine (as I've been finding with virtually all of rural america) is pretty crappy or nonexistent.
The cap is what steered my family away. I personally use 20GB a month on average. We moved away from ATT because our grandfathered unlimited data plans cost almost $400 for 5 lines..
Now we're paying $200 for 7 lines with T Mobile One. Seems good coverage so far, granted we're city folk.
[doublepost=1479328670][/doublepost]Wifi
T Mobile (some reason upload is gimped now, ping is always around 60+-10)
I can see T-Mobile on payroll comments is here. Yes I'm a T-Mobile customer a former AT&T. T-Mobile was better couple years ago but not on par with AT&T not even close to Verizon. If you live in a city with good coverage and never go anywhere or take a vacation you can have T-Mobile, otherwise you'll get frustrated from time to time.
macduke
macrumors G5
I've been wanting to add my grandparents to my Verizon plan because they get so confused about everything. This could be a cheaper way to do it. Verizon coverage isn't great at their house as they're kind of in a dead zone on the edge of a bigger city next to forested government land. I mean, it seems like things still load ok, but I'm usually on 1-2 bars at their house. This would be replacing their landline, so it would need to be reliable. If only there was a way to test T-Mobile and see what their coverage is like? They're also snowbirds who drive down to Florida once per year and stay a few months so coverage at the beach would also need to be good.
tonyr6
macrumors 68000
If is says fair LTE then that means no coverage. Been three places that said fair but no coverage at all. Not one bye of any data worked.
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Band 12 sucks. I hate it. Not only does it not cover much rural areas but because of Band 12 downtown Brooklyn my LTE speeds are slow slow I can't even stream low 128kbps music without it dropping out. It is slower than dial up now.
Hoping one ore more of you might help me...so I am on simple choice with 4 lines and I pay $120 (actually less thanks to a company discount). No issues with the plans and I do use tethering in my car (where I have an appleTV going to the entertainment system) as well as with an iPad when we travel with our son. Works perfectly. So, here comes this unlimited plan...I'm guessing losing binge on vs. the "unlimited" 26GB is more or less a wash. What gives me pause is the tethering at 3G speeds. Would I still be able to tether and stream Netflix/Hulu/DisneyJr/whatever from my ATV and iPad at that speed? Or would they force me into paying the extra $25 for high speed tethering? They already told me I would NOT be able to revert back to Simple Choice if I were to leave it...
Thanks for your help and expertise!
Thanks for your help and expertise!
johnparjr
macrumors 6502a
Im an actual T-mobile user who has no problems with coverage in California, Hawaii and Nevada seems a little ridiculous on your part to ridicule my post.
avanpelt
macrumors 68030
Ok, so when you said T-Mobile has coverage in "most areas" you were drawing from your experiences in three states. Thanks for clarifying that.
I'm an actual T-Mobile user, as well. I've used their service in more than three states with the latest iPad hardware available to take advantage of their "Extended Range LTE". My experience has been that their coverage maps are optimistic and in some cases the maps do not accurately depict real-world coverage. There are still far more places in this country that my iPad Pro will say "No Service" when it has a T-Mobile SIM in it compared to when I put a Verizon or AT&T SIM in it.
My original point still stands. Is T-Mobile coverage better than it was a year ago? I think it is. But for you to say that T-Mobile has coverage in "most areas" based on your experience in three states really doesn't make much sense.
As a T-Mobile switcher from AT&T in the Tacoma suburb area (not a big city, it's not even incorporated) my wife and I pretested before switching and found the coverage virtually identical (T-mobile actually hung on slightly longer in the farmland a few miles to the south). Oddly Verizon is not an option, for some reason reception is poor in my particular home (don't know anyone on Sprint).
I can also back up the Band 12 comments (mainly if you used a phone without Band 12 to test, it's not a complete picture of the experience with a more modern phone), going around with a 5s and my wife with an SE her connection was significantly more robust and had no dropouts in our local parks (mine did frequently). Since upgrading phones it hasn't been a problem.
I can also back up the Band 12 comments (mainly if you used a phone without Band 12 to test, it's not a complete picture of the experience with a more modern phone), going around with a 5s and my wife with an SE her connection was significantly more robust and had no dropouts in our local parks (mine did frequently). Since upgrading phones it hasn't been a problem.
iosuser
macrumors 65816
I can't imagine a smooth streaming experrience at 512kbps..
Did you opt for 4.5GB for extra $10/mo? If so you already have unlimited binge on video streaming that applies to tethering as well. If you haven't then their current offering on your simple choice is 6GB for $15/mo. Should still be better than giving up your simple choice.
Thank you for your input! I did get the 6GB plan, yes. And because of a promotion when I signed up it is $120 for 4 lines. So what I have now costs the same as this new plan. Between binge on and data rollover I never come close to my monthly cap, and considering that the high speed tethering is kind of a lifeline with a toddler at restaurants and road trips (and binge on does apply to tethering if I do stream from the included services), I agree that I should probably stick to my fast tethering! Kind of disappointed that they limit the tethering speed...
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Coreless apples
macrumors member
I'd have to agree with you there. I just switched from Verizon to T-Mobile and although in some spots like inside buildings the coverage might be weaker I still get through and have no problems with accessing content. I have no doubt that T-Mobile will continue to keep me a happy newer customer. Nobody else besides sprint offers unlimited data for a decent price. Until Verizon can see that smaller company's like T-Mobile are killing some of their sales and change it back to unlimited I am going to sit comfy with big magenta.
Nope. I had the same impression after reading this MacRumors article and had to investigate T-Mobile's offer myself.
After reading the fine print of T-Mobile's Magenta and Black Friday deals, which states "Smartphone/tablet offers for well-qualified customers; qualifying plan and 24-mo finance agreements required," it's my understanding that 24-month required finance plan applies to Black Friday deals that offer free Samsung Tabs and Galaxy S7 upgrades, not relating to the Magenta Friday on the 18th. MacRumors just wasn't very clear on the 24-mo finance agreement portion. 😵
iosuser
macrumors 65816
I would for sure keep the simple choice plan.
The one plan would've been too good to be true without those limits. It is the most gimmicky of all TMo promotions. With just surfing on the phone, without high speed tethering and HD video, it'd be pretty hard to use up much data that would benefit from an "unlimited" plan.
Friend of mine switched earlier this year to all unlimited on his four lines and wound up being $20 less per month (I think $170 total with all fees and taxes per month). That was with 14GB a month high speed tethering. That was the last of the great plan offering.
Mahler12x
macrumors regular
I worried about the same thing 2 years ago when I switched and I'm so glad I did switch because I've been incredibly happy with both service and never ever having to even think of my data usage
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"Coverage" isn't the problem in the Bay Area in my experience, it's that you have 3-4 bars of "LTE" and yet your data speeds are practically unusable. I don't understand. Is their capacity poor or what? I live in the Sacramento area and get very consistent, good coverage and speeds for the most part.
