Want to switch to T-Mo and get the Iphone 6, need soem advice

[tdx]

Hi everyone

after having been on a family plan with AT&T for years I'm done with them and want to switch to T-Mobile. So with the Iphones getting announced tomorrow, I figured that would be a great time to do this. I have a few questions:

- Will it make more sense to but the phone full price at Apple and bring it to T-Mo or buy the phone from them?

- My wife and I have pretty good phones (Moto X, Iphone 5). What's best: sell them on ebay and eat the AT&T termination fees (1 year each left on our contracts), get T-Mo to pay the termination fees and hand in the phones or trade in the phones for credit?

- Finally, which plan is the best for unlimited talk, texts and, say, 4GB of data for 2 people?

If anyone can give me some advice on this I would greatly appreciate.

Thanks!

 

[Mars Is Waiting]

- Will it make more sense to but the phone full price at Apple and bring it to T-Mo or buy the phone from them?

It depends on what you want to do personally. You'd probably end up saving money if you bought it through T-Mobile, but again, that's up to you.

- My wife and I have pretty good phones (Moto X, Iphone 5). What's best: sell them on ebay and eat the AT&T termination fees (1 year each left on our contracts), get T-Mo to pay the termination fees and hand in the phones or trade in the phones for credit?

I think you'd be better off getting T-Mobile to pay for the termination fees and surrendering the phones. Only reason I say that is with the money you make selling the phones is going to go to the AT&T termination fees regardless.

- Finally, which plan is the best for unlimited talk, texts and, say, 4GB of data for 2 people?

They currently offer 1 GB, 3 GB, 5 GB and then unlimited. For 5 GB you're looking at $100 a month for both of you, but if you pay an extra $10 a month, you get unlimited data.

 

[brun019822]

Hi everyone

after having been on a family plan with AT&T for years I'm done with them and want to switch to T-Mobile. So with the Iphones getting announced tomorrow, I figured that would be a great time to do this. I have a few questions:

- Will it make more sense to but the phone full price at Apple and bring it to T-Mo or buy the phone from them?

- My wife and I have pretty good phones (Moto X, Iphone 5). What's best: sell them on ebay and eat the AT&T termination fees (1 year each left on our contracts), get T-Mo to pay the termination fees and hand in the phones or trade in the phones for credit?

- Finally, which plan is the best for unlimited talk, texts and, say, 4GB of data for 2 people?

If anyone can give me some advice on this I would greatly appreciate.

Thanks!

Go on eBay and buy some $20 blackberry and trade those in instead of the iPhones. That is what I did when I switched from verizon to tmobile I was not going to trade in 3 iPhone 5s for $200 each

 

[phpmaven]

Go on eBay and buy some $20 blackberry and trade those in instead of the iPhones. That is what I did when I switched from verizon to tmobile I was not going to trade in 3 iPhone 5s for $200 each

That's the ticket. You have to make sure that the phones you buy to trade in are on their list of approved smartphones.
http://www.t-mobile.com/DeviceRecovery/cell-phone-trade-in.aspx

Several of them can be purchased for next to nothing. Then sell the old phones on CL.

 

[frenchbullcho]

Can I preorder through t-mobile.com ?

It depends on what you want to do personally. You'd probably end up saving money if you bought it through T-Mobile, but again, that's up to you.



I think you'd be better off getting T-Mobile to pay for the termination fees and surrendering the phones. Only reason I say that is with the money you make selling the phones is going to go to the AT&T termination fees regardless.



They currently offer 1 GB, 3 GB, 5 GB and then unlimited. For 5 GB you're looking at $100 a month for both of you, but if you pay an extra $10 a month, you get unlimited data.

 

[Velin]

OP:

Get an unlocked phone. Bite the bullet and pay upfront for it. It will be the best bang for the buck, both now (with reduced carrier rates) and at resale. Want to switch carriers? Easy; just pop in another nanoSIM. I have the "Verizon" 5s and use T-Mobile, the 5s switches flawlessly between T-Mobile, Verizon, and ATT.

Also, look into buying a carrier-specific phone that is unlocked out of the box. At 5s launch, the "Verizon" iPhone 5s in fact had all three radios unlocked (GSM, CDMA, and UMTS) due to a settlement with the U.S. government. Tons of forum posts about it, many many people on this forum bought the Verizon phone due to better supply and fully unlocked. This allows you to use the 5s "Verizon" phone anywhere on the planet. So it's a true worldphone. This is what I bought -- box said Verizon, but it didn't matter, everything was unlocked and right now I am using it on T-Mobile, without having to do anything but slip in a T-Mobile SIM.

In fact, any iPhone 6 will come with all three radios. Only difference is a "T-Mobile" phone may have CDMA and UMTS locked. So get one that is unlocked. I don't know whether any carrier-specific iPhone 6 will be unlocked on day one, but watch the forums, there will be a ton of inquiries about which models are unlocked out of the box.

I say again, get an unlocked iPhone 6. Carrier won't matter, all iPhones will have the radios necessary to communicate with just about every wireless co. It's the only way to go.

 

[California King]

That's the ticket. You have to make sure that the phones you buy to trade in are on their list of approved smartphones.
http://www.t-mobile.com/DeviceRecovery/cell-phone-trade-in.aspx

Several of them can be purchased for next to nothing. Then sell the old phones on CL.

That's a great idea! I can't believe I never thought of that.

So just to be sure, T-Mobile will basically accept any phone (working/not working), as long as it's on their approved list? They don't require you to trade in the current phone you're using? I'm thinking of just buying the "AT&T GoPhone Samsung a157V" from Wal-Mart and trading that in...any issues with that?

 

[phpmaven]

That's a great idea! I can't believe I never thought of that.

So just to be sure, T-Mobile will basically accept any phone (working/not working), as long as it's on their approved list? They don't require you to trade in the current phone you're using? I'm thinking of just buying the "AT&T GoPhone Samsung a157V" from Wal-Mart and trading that in...any issues with that?

It's been a while since I moved to T-mobile, but when I did it, I don't think the phone even had to be working. I believe the screen couldn't be cracked though. I would check with T-Mobile to see what their current requirements are.

Keep in mind that they have no way of knowing what phone you have now. You should be able to pick something up for around $20-$30 that will work.

 

[tdx]

Thanks so much for all the info you guys. Didn't know you could walk in with a cheap phone I'll def do that.

And I agree i'll get an unlocked iphone too. From today's announcement, any indication which carrier will have the fully unlocked iphone? Or will they all be the same?

 

[mlaw8]

Would something like this work??

1. Buy iPhone 6 from AT&T (to sell on CL)
2. Buy crap phone on eBay to trade in to Tmobile
3. Buy iPhone 6 from Tmobile (to use)
4. Have Tmobile pay good portion of ETF (probably would have to wait 30 days from purchase of phone from AT&T).
5. Make big profit??

Thanks

 

[tdx]

Ok so another question: it looks like the only way to have a guaranteed unlocked phone is to buy the t-mo version from the apple store full price. That's fine, that's what I'll do.

But my question is this: since I will NOT be purchasing my iphone directly from t-mo, do I even have to wait until the 19th to switch carriers?

Basically can I go to t-mo today, get a family plan, and not buy any phone from them, and then on the 19th activate the iphone I'll buy from apple?

What do you guys think? is this the best course of action?

Thanks!

 

[Diode]

Ok so another question: it looks like the only way to have a guaranteed unlocked phone is to buy the t-mo version from the apple store full price. That's fine, that's what I'll do.

But my question is this: since I will NOT be purchasing my iphone directly from t-mo, do I even have to wait until the 19th to switch carriers?

Basically can I go to t-mo today, get a family plan, and not buy any phone from them, and then on the 19th activate the iphone I'll buy from apple?

What do you guys think? is this the best course of action?

Thanks!

You do not have to wait to switch. If your current phones are unlocked you can switch now and buy the phones on Friday using your current phones as a stopover until they arrive.

 

[tdx]

Thanks. I'll go ahead and do that then. I'll also try to turn in cheap phones and report what happened.

 

[tdx]

Ok so I went ahead and ordered two iphones from a t-mobile store and will get my ETF reimbursed.

But because of the stupid T-Mobile system crashes yesterday the store was only able to put in the order this morning which means both phones are back ordered and they have no ETA.

Based on previous years, how late do you guys think the iphones will be from the Sept 19th delivery date? I ordered a 16GB and a 64GB Iphone 6 in space gray BTW.