Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

T-Mobile's 'Un-Carrier 4.0' Initiative Offers Up to $350 Per Line to Switch Carriers

$70/month unlimited everything is a great deal. I'm planning to switch to this plan when the iPhone 6 releases. I'm currently on the $30, 100 minute, unl text and data plan
 
ANYWAY, I been reading this entire thread and people just simply are horrible in math or just plain stupid. T-Mobile SAVES you money (and gives you more) over the competitors. PERIOD.

This whole switching over to T-Mobile is a win for everyone. They are PAYING your ETF for the competitor. Even if you don't switch it's a win. They are creating fierce competition and this will lower the price of service at some point.

I don't understand why everyone is writing up all these scenarios with the bill plan and adding the phone finance to it and adding protection plans. JUST BUY THE PHONE OUTRIGHT. Like that you have nothing to add to your bill. Then pay $50, $60, or $70 a month with no contract.

KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID.
 
MarvelouzV said:
$70/month unlimited everything is a great deal. I'm planning to switch to this plan when the iPhone 6 releases. I'm currently on the $30, 100 minute, unl text and data plan
Click to expand...

I didn't realize they offered plans where you had a limit on minutes to lower the price. I average around 100 minutes a month myself, it would be great to realize some savings for that.

I have AT&T and they had unlimited internet until they decided they didn't want to offer that anymore. How long will it be before T-Mo does the same thing? Not saying their UN-carrier plan is a bad deal by any means, just thought I would throw that out there.
 
MarvelouzV said:
ANYWAY, I been reading this entire thread and people just simply are horrible in math or just plain stupid. T-Mobile SAVES you money (and gives you more) over the competitors. PERIOD.

This whole switching over to T-Mobile is a win for everyone. They are PAYING your ETF for the competitor. Even if you don't switch it's a win. They are creating fierce competition and this will lower the price of service at some point.

I don't understand why everyone is writing up all these scenarios with the bill plan and adding the phone finance to it and adding protection plans. JUST BUY THE PHONE OUTRIGHT. Like that you have nothing to add to your bill. Then pay $50, $60, or $70 a month with no contract.

KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID.
Click to expand...

Excellent post, and couldn't agree with you more.

Buy the phone outright, and you'll always save in the long run. Even if the savings were minor, no data overage penalty and contract alone is worth the trade off.

And, if you prefer your existing provider, your rates will decrease, i.e., the new ATT Mobile Share Value Plans. You really think they'd offer this option if it weren't for competition from T-Mobile?
 
31 Flavas said:
With t-mobile, the question is how much "high speed" data do you want because all plans have unlimited (throttled) data. You can choose either 500MB, 2.5 GB, or Unlimited high speed data.

For example, say you go with the base 500MB data plan. Your first 500MB is unrestricted, after which, you have unlimited low speed throttled data for the rest of the month.

If you pay for Unlimited high speed data then you'll never be throttled.

Correct, however, once the balance of your new phones is paid off. The $56.50 disappears forever from your monthly bill.

Which would leave you again, with the $185/mo VZW bill vs the $120/mo (plus tax) T-mo bill.

IMO, I would skip the protection plan. Even more so if you already purchased Apple Care for your iPhone. Apple Care covers accidental damage. Moreover, a good phone case and screen protector will protect it from pretty much everything but taking a hammer to it or trying to fold it. And "Find My iPhone" will help you locate it if you lose it.
Click to expand...

Ok so my bill will be high for the first year or shorter depending on how fast I pay off the phones then after that I will start saving. So I go from $185 to prob $140 after a year. That's not bad at all. I guess biggest issue is to find out which coverage is better in my area. All I can go off of is the TMO coverage map. If I did switch only to find out coverage around my home is bad I would be screwed.
 
VersionJ said:
I didn't realize they offered plans where you had a limit on minutes to lower the price. I average around 100 minutes a month myself, it would be great to realize some savings for that.

I have AT&T and they had unlimited internet until they decided they didn't want to offer that anymore. How long will it be before T-Mo does the same thing? Not saying their UN-carrier plan is a bad deal by any means, just thought I would throw that out there.
Click to expand...

The plus side with T-Mo is that without a contract you can leave any time. Obviously if you have unlimited data with AT&T (as I do) then you really have to weigh out the pros/cons before giving it up forever.

budmonster said:
Ok so my bill will be high for the first year or shorter depending on how fast I pay off the phones then after that I will start saving. So I go from $185 to prob $140 after a year. That's not bad at all. I guess biggest issue is to find out which coverage is better in my area. All I can go off of is the TMO coverage map. If I did switch only to find out coverage around my home is bad I would be screwed.
Click to expand...

What I'm doing now is I bought a prepaid phone at walmart and airtime to test out the network at the various places I frequent. If you have an unlocked gsm phone then that's even better. There's the $30 100min 5gb data plan or you could even pay per day.
 
robotphood said:
What I'm doing now is I bought a prepaid phone at walmart and airtime to test out the network at the various places I frequent. If you have an unlocked gsm phone then that's even better. There's the $30 100min 5gb data plan or you could even pay per day.
Click to expand...

I thought about doing that, but unless you have a smartphone which has the appropriate T-Mobile frequencies, that's not a good way to test it.

Just cause you might have good signal on a crappy flip phone, doesn't mean things will be as good using HSPA or LTE on a smartphone.

I wish they could give you a loaner smartphone for a day to test out. I would definitely like to try that, and drive around everywhere I usually go and test the signal that way.
 
MaskedCarrot said:
I thought about doing that, but unless you have a smartphone which has the appropriate T-Mobile frequencies, that's not a good way to test it.

Just cause you might have good signal on a crappy flip phone, doesn't mean things will be as good using HSPA or LTE on a smartphone.

I wish they could give you a loaner smartphone for a day to test out. I would definitely like to try that, and drive around everywhere I usually go and test the signal that way.
Click to expand...

They do have the LTE variant of the galaxy s3 at walmart. Costly (299.99). But I hear Walmart has a pretty good return policy :)
 
31 Flavas said:
You can trade any phone you want. You're still going to have to purchase a new phone though T-Mobile for every ETF you want paid, though.

How it will work is: You trade your old iPhone 4. You purchase a new t-mobile phone. The credit from your iPhone is deducted from the cost of your new phone. After you pay your final AT&T bill. You send them a copy of it and they send you a pre-paid Visa/MC for the amount of your ETF.

You can then request AT&T unlock your 5S. If they grant the unlock then your clear to replace whatever phone you bought with the 5S.
Click to expand...

Has anyone actually done this and confirmed that they will indeed take a phone that is not your active line? I chatted with a T-Mobile rep online today, and he kept saying it had to be my active line. I just don't want to go in to the store ready to pull the trigger and have the tell me that they want my 5S. I am reading mixed messages about this pretty critical point. This post and several people on this thread seem to think this will work, but I'd like to hear of someone actually doing it. If I have to, I can swap my SIM into the iPhone 4 I plan to trade in, just to make it more legit, but if it isn't an issue . . .

Anybody actually given them an old phone yet?
 
JavierDiaz4 said:
Hey guys, based on my previous thought. I figured there was only one way to find out if ATT would cave to give a credit that eventually will be equivalent with what TMobile is offering to a degree so that they can protect their subscriber base. Well, I guess I was on to something. I'm receiving a 50 dollar permanent credit on ATT. They went with free of charge family messaging which is 30 bucks and a permanent 20 dollar credit. Reoccurring every month. Listen, I'm actually pretty ok with that. Tmobile has horrible building penetration where I work and there's a ton of dead spots in my commute home. So to have a bill that matches what I would have gotten from TMobile, I'm happy about.
Click to expand...

I don't have an SMS plan, but they would only give me $20 credit for 3 months ($60 total). When I'm done with that, I'm definitely leaving them.
 
emailsfh said:
Has anyone actually done this and confirmed that they will indeed take a phone that is not your active line? I chatted with a T-Mobile rep online today, and he kept saying it had to be my active line. I just don't want to go in to the store ready to pull the trigger and have the tell me that they want my 5S. I am reading mixed messages about this pretty critical point. This post and several people on this thread seem to think this will work, but I'd like to hear of someone actually doing it. If I have to, I can swap my SIM into the iPhone 4 I plan to trade in, just to make it more legit, but if it isn't an issue . . .

Anybody actually given them an old phone yet?
Click to expand...

From the other Uncarrier 4.0 thread:

phpmaven said:
I went into my local Corporate T-Mobile store and confirmed that you don't have to trade in your current phone, but for every line that has an ETF, you have to turn in a phone that is on their list. ANY phone on their list as long as it powers on and doesn't have a broken screen.

You can figure out which phones are on their approved list by going to their site and checking the trade in value of old phones:
http://www.t-mobile.com/DeviceRecovery/cell-phone-trade-in.aspx

)
Click to expand...
 
emailsfh said:
Has anyone actually done this and confirmed that they will indeed take a phone that is not your active line? I chatted with a T-Mobile rep online today, and he kept saying it had to be my active line. I just don't want to go in to the store ready to pull the trigger and have the tell me that they want my 5S. I am reading mixed messages about this pretty critical point. This post and several people on this thread seem to think this will work, but I'd like to hear of someone actually doing it. If I have to, I can swap my SIM into the iPhone 4 I plan to trade in, just to make it more legit, but if it isn't an issue . . .

Anybody actually given them an old phone yet?
Click to expand...

I haven't actually done this yet, but I was told in the store that you can trade in any phone that is one their list. They have no way of knowing what phone you were using anyway. I'm buying 2 cheap AT&T Gophones to trade in. But I would say that you should go to your store and talk to them first. Speak to a salesperson and tell them exactly what you are going to do and then get their card and come back in when you're ready and so the deal with them.
 
phpmaven said:
I haven't actually done this yet, but I was told in the store that you can trade in any phone that is one their list. They have no way of knowing what phone you were using anyway. I'm buying 2 cheap AT&T Gophones to trade in. But I would say that you should go to your store and talk to them first. Speak to a salesperson and tell them exactly what you are going to do and then get their card and come back in when you're ready and so the deal with them.
Click to expand...

Please report back when you go for it. I'm thinking that if too many people start to do this, T-Mobile might become less lenient over time with what you can trade in.
 
emailsfh said:
Please report back when you go for it. I'm thinking that if too many people start to do this, T-Mobile might become less lenient over time with what you can trade in.
Click to expand...

I'm worried about the same thing. They may well have a directive from corporate that changes things by the time I come in next week. I'll have to wait and see

I just discovered that they have completely changed the list of eligible phones. The ones I was planning on using are not going to work. Back to the drawing board.
 
Last edited:
So I called Verizon today and brought up this deal being offered by T-Mobile. I asked them what they could do for me to keep me from switching...... they basically said don't let the door hit me in the a** on the way out. :mad:
 
KevinMac said:
So I called Verizon today and brought up this deal being offered by T-Mobile. I asked them what they could do for me to keep me from switching...... they basically said don't let the door hit me in the a** on the way out. :mad:
Click to expand...


You think t-mobile wouldn't say the same thing?
 
phpmaven said:
I'm worried about the same thing. They may well have a directive from corporate that changes things by the time I come in next week. I'll have to wait and see

I just discovered that they have completely changed the list of eligible phones. The ones I was planning on using are not going to work. Back to the drawing board.
Click to expand...

Ouch. I still have an old iPhone 4 that I was going to use. I don't anticipate them taking that one off anytime soon. Keep us posted.

----------
CrimsonKnight said:
You think t-mobile wouldn't say the same thing?
Click to expand...

ATT certainly has been giving a bit. That is pretty gutsy of Verizon, we'll see how they do with retention with an attitude like that (unless they know they have you for network quality reasons).
 
phpmaven said:
I'm worried about the same thing. They may well have a directive from corporate that changes things by the time I come in next week. I'll have to wait and see

I just discovered that they have completely changed the list of eligible phones. The ones I was planning on using are not going to work. Back to the drawing board.
Click to expand...

Ok... I just did the whole deal a few hours ago.
I ended up buying an iPhone 4 off of CL for $80 and traded that in instead of my 5S. I traded in the 4S for $120 since it would have cost me another $80 to find a phone that I could trade in instead and the market is glutted with them and you really can't get a lot over $200 for them, so I didn't figure it was worth it. Maybe I could have made $50, but I just wanted to get this done. I also traded in a Blackberry Curve 8520. The other line didn't have an ETF, so I didn't trade in anything else.

I got 2 new 5Ss and 2 new 5Cs. I'll sell my 5S (which is unlocked) for at least $600 or so. I was in the store for about 1:45, which is not too bad.
 
phpmaven said:
Ok... I just did the whole deal a few hours ago.
I ended up buying an iPhone 4 off of CL for $80 and traded that in instead of my 5S. I traded in the 4S for $120 since it would have cost me another $80 to find a phone that I could trade in instead and the market is glutted with them and you really can't get a lot over $200 for them, so I didn't figure it was worth it. Maybe I could have made $50, but I just wanted to get this done. I also traded in a Blackberry Curve 8520. The other line didn't have an ETF, so I didn't trade in anything else.

I got 2 new 5Ss and 2 new 5Cs. I'll sell my 5S (which is unlocked) for at least $600 or so. I was in the store for about 1:45, which is not too bad.
Click to expand...

ok can you help me clarify something.

1) you can trade any phone right? even if you're not even using the phone? meaning, it doesn't have to be a phone with YOUR WORKING SIM CARD in it?

2) can you re-use your phone number?
 
kensic said:
ok can you help me clarify something.

1) you can trade any phone right? even if you're not even using the phone? meaning, it doesn't have to be a phone with YOUR WORKING SIM CARD in it?

2) can you re-use your phone number?
Click to expand...

You can trade in any phone that is on their list of approved phones. It has to at least power on and not have a cracked screen. Of course you can bring your number.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back