T-Mobile USA to Carry iPhone Beginning April 12th, Using New 'Uncarrier' Payment Plan

[doboy]

I'm still not seeing how it is cheaper. I mean, either way you will pay a lot of money out of the wazoo.


Also think of it this way: you can pay $600 for 3 iPhone 5's now with ATT OR you can pay over $1500 with T-Mobile. I mean, I can see where some of the savings are, but it's not a lifesaver.

Then this plan is not meant for you.

 

[jman240]

I'm still not seeing how it is cheaper. I mean, either way you will pay a lot of money out of the wazoo.


Also think of it this way: you can pay $600 for 3 iPhone 5's now with ATT OR you can pay over $1500 with T-Mobile. I mean, I can see where some of the savings are, but it's not a lifesaver.

Calculate what you pay over 24 months not initial costs. Its much cheaper than the big 3, depending on your needs it can be almost $1000 difference for one phone over 2 years.

 

[linkgx1]

Calculate what you pay over 24 months not initial costs. Its much cheaper than the big 3, depending on your needs it can be almost $1000 difference for one phone over 2 years.

I mean, I pay like $210 a moth for 3 lines with ATT.......

 

[Drewski]

I recently switched to T Mobile on a family plan, using my old Galaxy S2. My wife is content with her Galaxy S (the first one) although we have discussed getting iPhones under the assumption that they would play nicer with our Mac and MBP. We have no problem with reception in Chicago where we live, or the greater midwest where we do most of our traveling. Speedtest app reported 12.94MBps in the middle of the day.

As long as a new TMobile-sold Iphone does as well as (or better than?) this old S2, I'd seriously consider buying one (or two).

And still pay less than signing up with ATT, etc.

 

[aneftp]

From where? I've seen this comment a couple times, what other company offers unlimited call, message, data for $70?




Thanks for the explanation. But I still don't see how ATT comes in at the same price even for four lines.

TM has four lines, unlimited call and text and 2 gigs of data for $140 monthly.

ATT has four lines, unlimited call and text, just 300 megs of data for $380 monthly. Or with 3 gigs data each, $420 monthly.

That's either $240 or $280 more monthly, a difference of either $5760 or $6720 over two years. Even subtracting $1600 from that for the phone subsidy doesn't even come close. And for just $40 per month more, TM customers can get unlimited data on those four lines. What numbers are you comparing?

EDIT: If someone is happy with 300 megs on ATT, they'd be fine with 500 on TM, which offers $100 for four lines. That's a difference of $280 on the cheapest plans of each. Of course on ATT you can choose shared minutes instead of the unlimited for cheaper, but it's still more expensive than TM for a plan that's not as good.

Every since ATT stopped their 12 month upgrade program for those with primary lines $99 and up, most have switched (like me) to the $69.99/700 minute plan for the first 2 lines with rollover and any mobile (as long as you have unlimited text).

No one uses all those minutes each month with Any mobile (free incoming/out going to any cellular number on any carrier) and rollover these days.

$69.99 for 2 lines plus $9.99 for each addition line. That's $89.99 for 4 lines

Plus $30 for text
Plus whatever you want for data.

I have 4 lines, 2 with smartphone unlimited. and 2 flip lines. Costs me $155 total (including taxes). I get a $400 subsidy per line x 4 lines. that's $1600 in subsidy with ATT. I get a 24% discount.

But if you went with the sharing data plans. Unlimited text/talk and say 6GB of data. That comes out to $40/line x 4 ($140) plus $70 for 4GB of data. That's about $210 a month

(ATT) $210/month X 20 months (minus $1600 in subsidies for those 4 lines).
Tmobile $120 (that gives you 2GB data on 2 lines) a month x 20 months (no subsidy)

The math is very close.

Factor in ATT's discounts. Don't know if T-mobile will offer any discounts.

 

[linkgx1]

Then this plan is not meant for you.

Was I talking to you?

 

[nofear1az]

TMobile's network is a LOT slower than both AT&T's and Verizon's. You will notice the difference coming from those carriers, and rue the day you switched.

I would have to disagree with you on that... Me and many of my friends came off of ATT to T-Mobile and we are lightning fast compared to ATT. Maybe it depends on your area, that's why I suggest checking your area.

 

[aneftp]

Once again guys.

T-mobile's plans make sense to those with 1-2 lines definitely.

Many of us with 4-5 lines and discount with ATT/Verizon won't see much of any savings with T-mobile's new plans.

Run the math. Everyone's situation is different.

But hopefully T-mobile can stop their bleeding of customers they have experienced recently. They need to.

We need to have more than 3 major carriers. And Sprint is barely hanging on as number 3. It's really a 2 horse race with ATT and Verizon. It's bad for consumers to have just 2 major nationwide carriers.

 

[S.B.G]

It might be goodbye AT&T, hello T-Mobile!

 

[linkgx1]

Once again guys.

T-mobile's plans make sense to those with 1-2 lines definitely.

Many of us with 4-5 lines and discount with ATT/Verizon won't see much of any savings with T-mobile's new plans.

Run the math. Everyone's situation is different.

But hopefully T-mobile can stop their bleeding of customers they have experienced recently. They need to.

We need to have more than 3 major carriers. And Sprint is barely hanging on as number 3. It's really a 2 horse race with ATT and Verizon. It's bad for consumers to have just 2 major nationwide carriers.

Yeah, things start turning out evenly when you hit over 3 lines.....

----------

It might be goodbye AT&T, hello T-Mobile!

Depending on your area....

 

[alsec]

It might be goodbye AT&T, hello T-Mobile!

I don't think At&t will ever go away, and that's a good thing. We need more competition in the marketplace. Right now is so scarce that the consumer get's screwed! I hope that T-mobile shakes up the foundation a bit with this.

 

[vatkins1906]

Simultaneous Data & Voice

Does T-Mobile offer simultaneous voice & data? This would be a make or break deal for me.

 

[bbeagle]

I would have to disagree with you on that... Me and many of my friends came off of ATT to T-Mobile and we are lightning fast compared to ATT. Maybe it depends on your area, that's why I suggest checking your area.

You're right. It depends on the area.

If you have the real AT&T 4G (your phone saya 'LTE'), then AT&T speeds are amazing. If your AT&T phone just shows '4G', then you have the slower 4G.

 

[milo]

I'm still not seeing how it is cheaper. I mean, either way you will pay a lot of money out of the wazoo.

Paying for the phone is a bit cheaper than buying it outright from Apple. And generally, if you actually price out the numbers from most other companies for service, it is quite a bit cheaper. Of course there will always be people who will complain it's not cheaper enough, but it's still cheaper.

Was I talking to you?

When you're posting on a message board, you're talking to everyone here.

 

[jlc1978]

From where? I've seen this comment a couple times, what other company offers unlimited call, message, data for $70?

WalMart, via Straight Talk, offers it for $45; although they can drop your service plan for "excessive data usage" which appears to be in the 2GB/moth or a hundred or so mb in a day. Not really unlimited; but for a low data user might be a decent deal if you can deal with their customer service which is reported to make ATT/VZW et. al. look like 5 Star performers.

----------

Does T-Mobile offer simultaneous voice & data? This would be a make or break deal for me.

They're GSM so they should; only CDMA is data or voice, not both.

 

[flux73]

Okay, I need clarification. Is the factory unlocked iPhone 5 compatible with T-mobile's LTE network? ie When T-mobile LTE comes to Portland, will my phone work at full LTE speed? Will I get LTE at all?

 

[mscriv]

Tmobile is calling out exactly what you described. By keeping the price the same for everyone regardless if you subsidize or not your paying exactly what they want you to pay. Because they are hiding it behind their monthly plans is very sneaky or underhanded in my eyes.

I guess my question would be where is it that you get the idea that the major carriers are "hiding it behind their monthly plans"? The only person hurling those accusations is TMobile who is obviously trying to promote their different business model. The truth is, the notion that "you are paying exactly what they want you to pay" holds the same for every business out there. Every business looks at their expenses and makes a decision on price based on how much profit they want to make. TMobile is also charging customers "exactly what they want them to pay".

You can nitpick the word "subsidy" all you want, but the truth is that it's simply one of the costs of doing business. It's one of many line items on an itemized expense sheet. There are probably several of those line items that the average customer would like to opt out of having to pay, but that's not how business works. And, just because companies have different business models it doesn't mean one is doing something dishonest where as the other isn't. Some try to make money upfront, some make money along the way, some go for quality over quantity, while others go for quantity over quality. The point is that consumers need to be discerning about their purchases and buy based on what meets their needs. A big part of being discerning is learning how to see through the marketing/advertising rhetoric. I'm just calling this "subsidy" nonsense out for what it is... meaningless provider mudslinging that is more twisting than truth telling. In other words, smoke where there's no fire. There is no major carrier "subsidy" conspiracy where they are sneaking excess charges in on you.

 

[gtgrad95]

https://explore.t-mobile.com/iphone-5

The bottom line is if you are city is farmed well for PCS 1900 Mhz and has LTE, you do not need to get rid of your current iPhone 5. If you live in the part of the city with Edge all the time, then selling your current iPhone and buying the new version means you can take advantage of T-mobile's excellent AWS 1700/2100 Mhz frequency. Which by the way is real good compared to their shoddy 1900 PCS coverage for iPhones.

I currently live in an area that is refarmed for the PCS 1900 coverage. However, I am only getting 3G (HSPA) speeds. Is it not possible at all to get 4G (HSPA+) speeds, even on the updated T-Mobile version iPhone?

Edit to add: I'm assuming then that T-Mobile's AWS 1700 does support 4G (HSPA+), correct?

 

[twotwo11]

Let's see... $20/month (iPhone) + $50/month (base rate) + $10/month (2.5GB) = $80/month for one line.

I pay $100 for Verizon and 2GB of Data. I would rather pay $20 more a month for a far more grown out LTE network that Verizon offers. (even if T-Mobile offers unlimited data)

Fixed it.

 

[bushido]

Damn, that'd be nice! Yes, we get screwed

Let's see, I pay $65/mo for cable internet (15Mb/3Mb with static IP) with no TV, $155/mo for two iPhones on ATT and $31/mo for home phone line (no long distance).

:-o

19€ for unlimited 100mbit/s internet inclusive unlimited homeline (which i never use but its included with any internet plan by default so whatever)

11€ iPad 1GB data (which i literally havent used ever, im always on wifi with my iPad, so technically i should have just gotten the wifi only version)

35€ iPhone, the phone itself was 1€

premium deluxe cable tv + HD 19€

 

[S.B.G]

Depending on your area....

Right. I have to figure out what it's like in my area because I have no idea.

I don't think At&t will ever go away, and that's a good thing. We need more competition in the marketplace. Right now is so scarce that the consumer get's screwed! I hope that T-mobile shakes up the foundation a bit with this.

I hope so too.

 

[jman240]

I mean, I pay like $210 a moth for 3 lines with ATT.......

Ok. 3 Lines on Tmob starts at $90/mo

If you don't already own the phones or don't want to buy them outright then add on $30-$60 to that.

The data add ons are only for high speed 4G, you get 3G (2G) unlimited data with the base Tmob plans...

 

[Vegastouch]

can this be part of a family plan? or is this only individual plans?

Family plans as well. Ive been on a value plan now for almost 9 months now. I owe $200(as of today) on my GS3 and then can upgrade at anytime so say i want a iPhone 5 or even a GS4, i pay $200 to pay off my phone plus another $99 for either one of those and i get value plan savings.

I havent seen if it is the same as what mine is. I pay only $5 to add a line of $5 for 250 MB of data, $10 for 2GB of data or $20 for unlimited data and at the time, they didnt charge me activation fees to upgrade the two GS3's i got ( i have 4 cell lines and a home line through them)

My bill actually went down $40 a month from what it was...or you can pay for your phone up front and your bill will be $20 cheaper per month still....but most cant afford to do that.

 

[jman240]

Tmobile 2G throttling definition for those interested.

http://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-2741

 

[CEmajr]

For those claiming that on family plans you come out better with AT&T/Verizon, the folks at Tmonews have posted up an editorial showing how T-Mobile is the better value no matter how you put it (as long as they have good coverage in your area).

http://www.tmonews.com/2013/03/editorial-t-mobiles-new-plans-are-awesome-for-everyone/