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To All iPhone 4 Users On T-Mobile..Why Settle For 2G?

Neverbepeace

Neverbepeace

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 14, 2009
797
256
New York
I know the iPhone is a great device. Has many features and overall a fun device to own.

My question to you guys are:

Wit the nexus s out as well as the mytouch 4g.......what makes you stick with the ip4 on edge network? If your paying for a regular plan that can give you 3g and 4g access....why settle for 2g edge speeds?


I'm just curious..........
 
Most people I know on T-mobile don't pay for data though. For the ones that do, I think you can get a cheaper plan than the $30 unlimited or $10 200MB. Something like $10 unlimited for dumbphones
 
My friend was on the old $4.95 unlimited data plan from a few years back.
 
2G EDGE speeds aren't that bad, given the way I use it.

For a while, I was using a Palm TX tethered via Bluetooth to a SonyEricsson W710; that only did EDGE, but was good enough to catch up on email from the bus stop. It'd be nice to have the Maps app load faster, but that's really the one thing I notice when I'm out of WiFi range...and with 3G turned off, I get crazy good battery life on my 3GS.

Much of the time (home, work, etc) I'm in range of WiFi anyway. (I got by with an iPod touch for a year or so between the TX and the iPhone, and that only had WiFi.)

Why settle, compared to an Android device? Apps beat speed.

(Also, I'm only paying $20/mo for unlimited data including tethering and T-Mobile Hotspot access because I have the grandfathered Total Internet package.)

(EDIT: my answer wouldn't change if I had a factory-unlocked iPhone 4 instead of the factory-unlocked 3GS, either.)
 
Few reasons probably.
Either they dont need a data plan or dont use much data.
They rather have an iphone than any phone available on Tmobile and rather stay with Tmobile than spend more money per month on AT&T etc....
 
Neverbepeace said:
I know the iPhone is a great device. Has many features and overall a fun device to own.

My question to you guys are:

Wit the nexus s out as well as the mytouch 4g.......what makes you stick with the ip4 on edge network? If your paying for a regular plan that can give you 3g and 4g access....why settle for 2g edge speeds?


I'm just curious..........
Click to expand...

Because I'm a Mac guy and love the integration with my iphone. I could care less about data, no seriously I don't give a damn.
 
Because T-Mobile is cheap as dirt (if you know how to work it) and most people on T-Mobile, that I know of, would rather spend their money on PBR, tight pants, thrift store clothing and other hipstery things. ;)
 
Tmobile is crap, I used to be a loyal tmobile customer for 8 years, their coverage is horrible. Some ppl are lucky they still on the cheaper internet plan but with new customers, why pay 25-30 bucks for 2G internet on ur iphone? It's a sure way to get less for more.
 
Several reasons:

1) I'm perfectly fine with EDGE for the occasional checking of email or looking up a sports score. Most of the popular sites have mobile versions anyway, so this is not a big deal. I'm usually on a wi-fi network anyway at work or home.

2) T-Mobile plans are a lot cheaper than AT&Ts. They even offer cheaper plans for those who are not on contract vs. those that are. For example, I pay only $69.99 for a family plan for 750 minutes and unlimited texting. That same plan on AT&T costs $90.

3) I haven't had a lot of problems with coverage. They have an occasional deadspot, but so does AT&T. T-Mobile's customer service is also top notch and they reside in the US (not outsourced to India or the Phillipines). And most of them are cute women :)

4) I get the $9.99 plan for unlimited data, so I don't have to pay $25 for AT&Ts 2G plan.

The loss of 3G, visual voicemail, and Facetime are not a big deal for me to have to go to AT&T and spend a whole lot more and be tied to a contract.
 
A lot of people say that tmobile's 2g is just as fast as ATT's 3g, considering all the congestion that ATT has.

I've seen side by side comparisons, and tmobile's 2g is either as fast or faster than ATT's 3g.

Tmobile is also dirt cheap like a lot of people say. Right now I'm on a 2g iPhone, although I'd rather have the 3gs so that my apps load up faster. For me, there'd be no point in getting the 4 because then I'd have to cut the sim card to fit.
 
applemagic123 said:
A lot of people say that tmobile's 2g is just as fast as ATT's 3g, considering all the congestion that ATT has.

I've seen side by side comparisons, and tmobile's 2g is either as fast or faster than ATT's 3g.
Click to expand...

Yeah right, Tmobiles Edge will never come close to the 3G speeds I and most AT&T customers get.
Its close and comparable to AT&T's 2G speeds but you cant compare it to 3G.
Try to do this with your Tmobile edge.
 

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applemagic123 said:
A lot of people say that tmobile's 2g is just as fast as ATT's 3g, considering all the congestion that ATT has.

I've seen side by side comparisons, and tmobile's 2g is either as fast or faster than ATT's 3g.

Tmobile is also dirt cheap like a lot of people say. Right now I'm on a 2g iPhone, although I'd rather have the 3gs so that my apps load up faster. For me, there'd be no point in getting the 4 because then I'd have to cut the sim card to fit.
Click to expand...
Maybe in SF and NYC but not anywhere else. At&t's 3G is VERY quick.
 
dukebound85 said:
It really does in my locality as I alluded to above. Kinda was a bummer lol
Click to expand...

EDGE can carry bandwidth up to 236.8 kbit/s but real life 2G speeds are less than that.
Not sure what speeds you get localy but that wouldnt even come close to AT&T's 3G speed even if you only get 1-2Mbps would ge a huge difference.
Unless edge is all you have on AT&T then both would be the same or Tmobile might be even better.
 
Last edited:
i pay $5.99 for t-zone, compared to $30 for att. so that comes out to about $530 per year in savings. since i have two iphones on the account, you're looking at $1,060 a year. does that answer your question?

oh and unlimited family text only costs me $10 a month. i think it's $20 a month for att.
 
i ask my friends this same question they say price
dont want to change to att ect...


on a side note how do you get iphone 3gs unlocked jailbroken to send mms
when i go to txt I do not even see that option as in the camera symbol to add photos.
 
Simple answer? It's pretty darn cheap.

Especially if you're on grandfathered plans. I still have that $9.99 T-Zones plan which is now about $20. I think the first T-Zones plan was about $6?

But really, EDGE is fine for me. I can check Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook pretty easily. The extra 2 second wait for page loading is fine with me. I'm a pretty impatient person too. But if I'm saving me & my parents that much money, and I can still have an iPhone? Psh, then it's all good for me!
 
Update:

I had the iPhone 4 on T-Mobile for a short time. No more then 2 or 3 days. While the speeds werent terrible, If I'm paying $79 a month....might as well get a device that at least has 3G.

So i did the sim hack for the iPad and use the data for $25 a month....I would use talkatone fr my minutes. While that is not bad....the quality of talkatone was horrible. Plus, I'm in the process of finding a job so I need reliable service.

Went back to T-Mobile and bought a bb 9700. While it was ok, the aim/gtalk chats were bad. Messages rarely came through....I would have to go into the aim/gtalk app and refresh manually to see if I had messages (which I did).

Sold the 9700 and bought a mytouch 4g. While a nice phone, the battery life was BAD! Unplugged at 10:30am and by 2:30, I was 54%. During that time, I was basically chatting on meebo....no web surfing...sent one email...sent a few texts...no music...no youtube....all in all...I sold the mytouch 4g lolololol now I'm back to square one. Felt like a did a 360. It also leaves me thinking that apple has a good thing going with the way it handles multitasking.

I will try the Nexus S and see how things go....if that fails.....I will look for an unlock ip4 and keep it moving on edge speeds:(
 
Wow, it must be expensive buying all these phones cause I doubt they keep giving them to you subsidized right?
Wouldnt be cheaper to just pay a little extra per month and have an i4 with AT&T 3G speeds?
 
Applejuiced said:
Wow, it must be expensive buying all these phones cause I doubt they keep giving them to you subsidized right?
Wouldnt be cheaper to just pay a little extra per month and have an i4 with AT&T 3G speeds?
Click to expand...

Well, I left att a long time ago. Not really looking to have my credit checked again. Plus, i hate contracts:mad:

I have Flexpay month to month and have 1000 anytime...unlimited data and text for $79. Att pisses me off sometimes. They should offer iPhone on pay plans as well. What is the reason why they don't?

Thats like tmobile saying....."you cant use your mytouch 4g....or Nexus S" if your on flexpay. Doesn't make any sense to me.
 
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