Tmobile 5s reception problems?

[wordoflife]

I ported my number from Verizon to T-Mobil, returned next day. Had no issues in the return to verizon either. Did everything by phone call to a great rep at Verizon. Told him I screwed up when he asked for the reason on the return to Verizon. It took a fair amount of his time to get it straighten out, and he had to call me back. He actually did call back to finalize in porting my version number that I ported to T-Mobil than back again without any charges what so ever....

I ported from verizon to tmobile, had lots of issues and then ported to AT&T. Super happy! AT&T is the superior carrier in my area and I also got 200 per line to port from tmobile, worked out pretty good. I will have to come up with my own verizon etf but the money I am refunded from tmobile from my phones I traded will pay for that.

So the number doesn't get lost between the time you return your phone to the carrier and sign up with a new one? Like let's say you port from Verizon to T-Mobile and find out you don't like the service. So you return your T-Mobile phone and then go to AT&T. So AT&T can just pick up your number?

 

[Truefan31]

Have done some screen captures of various locations, and here's one from the Rental car facility at Boston Logan in December of last year... Very frustrating to be trying to call my wife at the terminal when there is 'no service' for Tmobile at the rental car turn in...

could you use facetime audio since you're on wifi?

 

[wordoflife]

could you use facetime audio since you're on wifi?

Yeah

 

[ABC5S]

So the number doesn't get lost between the time you return your phone to the carrier and sign up with a new one? Like let's say you port from Verizon to T-Mobile and find out you don't like the service. So you return your T-Mobile phone and then go to AT&T. So AT&T can just pick up your number?

I don't see a problem. Its a electronic transfer done by a computer. I didn't cancel my old carrier service wordoflife, I just went into the new carriers store, told them I wanted their service, and the rep did everything by computer, and that included automatically canceling the other carrier. I didn't have to cancel myself. Same with the return.

 

[wordoflife]

I don't see a problem. Its a electronic transfer done by a computer. I didn't cancel my old carrier service wordoflife, I just went into the new carriers store, told them I wanted their service, and the rep did everything by computer, and that included automatically canceling the other carrier. I didn't have to cancel myself. Same with the return.

So do you sign up for a new carrier before you return the device/service you don't want anymore? Let's say I ported from Sprint to AT&T and didn't like the service. Do I return the phone to AT&T first before going to Verizon? Or sign up with Verizon and then return the phone to AT&T?

Sorry I'm just confused / curious

 

[jredecop]

So do you sign up for a new carrier before you return the device/service you don't want anymore? Let's say I ported from Sprint to AT&T and didn't like the service. Do I return the phone to AT&T first before going to Verizon? Or sign up with Verizon and then return the phone to AT&T?

Sorry I'm just confused / curious

When porting away from tmobile I went into att and they did everything on their end, walked out with an att iPhone then returned everything at tmobile.

 

[aajeevlin]

So do you sign up for a new carrier before you return the device/service you don't want anymore? Let's say I ported from Sprint to AT&T and didn't like the service. Do I return the phone to AT&T first before going to Verizon? Or sign up with Verizon and then return the phone to AT&T?

Sorry I'm just confused / curious

If I remember this correctly (did a lot of switching back in the days), you go to the carrier that you want to switch to first. What they do, they (the new carrier) with your permission will call the previous carrier and ask to start the porting procedure for your number. I was told, that you don't want to cancel with the previous carrier until the porting is done, so that you don't lose your number. Which makes sense.

Also, typically speaking once you leave your previous carrier, I think they still give you either 14-30 days of window for you to return to them.

 

[ABC5S]

So do you sign up for a new carrier before you return the device/service you don't want anymore? Let's say I ported from Sprint to AT&T and didn't like the service. Do I return the phone to AT&T first before going to Verizon? Or sign up with Verizon and then return the phone to AT&T?

Sorry I'm just confused / curious

The two above posters hit it on the head except with me, the new Carrier (T-Mobil) did not call the other carrier (Verizon). He just did everything via computer at the T-Mobil store. I walked out with same number, but different carrier. Same next day when I called Verizon at home, told them I did not get the data coverage as I thought I would, and the Verizon rep just ported back my old number and gave me a even better Loyalty data plan for one year.

It was that simple but Verizon took a bit more time on the phone than planned and asked me for a number to reach me, which was the old phone that I ported to T-Mobil.

Hope this helps.

 

[wordoflife]

The two above posters hit it on the head except with me, the new Carrier (T-Mobil) did not call the other carrier (Verizon). He just did everything via computer at the T-Mobil store. I walked out with same number, but different carrier. Same next day when I called Verizon at home, told them I did not get the data coverage as I thought I would, and the Verizon rep just ported back my old number and gave me a even better Loyalty data plan for one year.

It was that simple but Verizon took a bit more time on the phone than planned and asked me for a number to reach me, which was the old phone that I ported to T-Mobil.

Hope this helps.

Thanks to you (and everyone else who posted). So after you got your phone working on Verizon, you just went back to Tmobile and returned the device?

 

[Tomb01]

OK, so the Apple Store is replacing the phone today. Will report if I can tell a difference.

 

[Retired Cat]

I read that the coverage problem has to do with Tmo's higher frequency radio signals, which don't deal as well as ATT with obstacles like walls and trees.

ATT definitely has better coverage, but Tmo is good in the densely populated areas of the US.

 

[shenan1982]

While T-Mobile doesn't have the footprint of ATT or VZW, they have a fantastic network and great direction for expansion.

The issue IS with iPhone, but not directly.

I used to work at TMO corporate back in the day of the national build out, and the problem that they're having is the network is currently tuned for the old frequencies, not the new frequencies. The iPhone is more difficult because it needs a much more consistent data connection to the tower, or it'll search for a more sure-thing, such as HSPA or EDGE.

Right now, I'm told that T-Mobile is aware the network is a mess, lots of handoff issues where they never happened before, lots of dead areas because the towers need to be retuned to compensate for the new frequency coverage (aka where a building may have been covered by a radio pointed at 187 degrees on the old frequency, the building isn't covered at the same degree under the new frequency.

The bottom line is it's a work in progress. Users with Android and Blackberry phones won't notice the issue as much as iPhone... so the problem isn't directly the iPhone, but indirectly it is.

They've got techs on the ground doing the retune in the big cities first, and will eventually get everything back to where it should be, but obviously it's a big process, and ultimately with different frequencies there will just be some areas that aren't able to be covered until new towers go up.

I personally have both AT&T and T-Mobile. I use AT&T when I'm here in the US as it works great. I travel internationally 5-10 days out of any given month, so I also have a T-Mobile $50 "simple choice" plan that gives me international data and text free (unlimited), and $0.20 per minute calling back to the states. There's no carrier that can offer anything even remotely similar to that. ATT would charge me $500+ per month for the amount of data and texts I consume internationally, even with one of their packages. More than justifies having that sim on hand. I occasionally pop it into the phone here in the US, and I do notice their network is getting better, but it's still not amazing... but like they say, ya get what you pay for.

 

[Tomb01]

OK, so the Apple Store is replacing the phone today. Will report if I can tell a difference.

Well, sadly the 'new' phone seems no better than the one it replaced. In my home zip (76034) in an area that supposedly has 'Excellent' 4G/LTE coverage, standing in line the post office the phone either had 1 bar of 4G or 1-2 bars of E. Not impressive, and puts the lie to their map. Maybe it is a problem with the frequency, but it is definitely not true that I had 'Excellent' coverage. Likewise in the Boston airport rental car facility, or at my church in Bedford, TX (likewise 'Excellent' coverage). Had 'no coverage' in Honolulu and our timeshare, both either 'Excellent' or 'Very Good' 4G/LTE based on the T-Mobile map. Spent 5 days in Pine Mountain, GA, with virtually no connectivity at all for most of those 5 days. Not sure the lower cost is worth the hassle. My wife also has a new iPhone 5S and is experiencing the identical issues, though neither of us had issues with our 4S or 5 with AT&T. Very annoying....

 

[dr.devious]

I'm on T-Mobile in Reno, Nevada. I had a 5S for a few days and the service was terrible. I exchanged for a couple different 5S's and none of them were any better. Interesting to note that my daughter's Nexus 5 runs almost flawlessly on T-Mobile, so my experience is that iPhone's on T-Mo are terrible.

 

[nickprete11]

I have a T-Mobile iPhone in Philadelphia and the suburban areas. I had that problem, where it reverts to EDGE until up until a few weeks ago, where T-Mobile replaced my SIM card. Now I almost have LTE at my house, and the map only says "good 4G". I've had a great experience so far, no complaints. Good luck! Although I'm right near a huge city, so experience can vary, I'm aware T-Mobile isn't for everyone.

 

[Tomb01]

I have a T-Mobile iPhone in Philadelphia and the suburban areas. I had that problem, where it reverts to EDGE until up until a few weeks ago, where T-Mobile replaced my SIM card. Now I almost have LTE at my house, and the map only says "good 4G". I've had a great experience so far, no complaints. Good luck! Although I'm right near a huge city, so experience can vary, I'm aware T-Mobile isn't for everyone.

Hmmm, will have to contact T-Mobile support again and see if that might help.

 

[ugcop]

I travel a lot and as far as I am concered ATT is the big dog on the block. It costs money to be the big dog so I expect their rates to reflect that. If you live, work and travel in an area that has a strong signal from xyz phone company then go with a lower priced service. Just don't expect all services to be the same.

 

[iPhonemaster5S]

iPhones in particular don't play nice with tmobile, at least for me that is. My HTC One works just fine but I have poped a tmobile sim in my iPhone and it doesn't seem to get great reception and has hand off issues. If I put the AT&T sim back in the phone works fine. However I have heard that in Boston T-mobile isn't very good.

 

[crzdcolombian]

Cellular coverage should be one of the major factors in deciding which carrier to choose. Sadly, here in the Boston area T-Mo is inferior to ATT and VZW

I have friends on T-Mo here and they hate it, because coverage is so bad.

Lexington street a major street in Waltham is a complete dead zone for Verizon. I was able to get out of my verizon contract because of it. AT&T has real good coverage and even get 4g on the T even while underground.

T-mobile being 60 bucks cheaper a month for me is making me want to switch but I hear it is kind of spotty. You would think in a major city it would work great.

 

[2298754]

Lexington street a major street in Waltham is a complete dead zone for Verizon. I was able to get out of my verizon contract because of it. AT&T has real good coverage and even get 4g on the T even while underground.

Same thing here inside Boston. T-Mobile is terribly overrated. There are parts of the city where LTE is still not deployment (my part of Brookline), and I still see EDGE in the middle of a major city. It is ridiculous.

AT&T (and VZW) has all the MBTA stations and lines covered underground. It was HSPA until a few weeks ago. It's all fast LTE now. AT&T can't be touched in Boston by T-Mobile. Not even close.