What are typical T-Mobile EDGE data speeds?

[pilot1226]

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Considering buying a 3GS or 4 soon to use with T-Mobile. Currently have speeds on Sprint with my BB Curve with:

635 kbps download
85 kbps upload

Tests completed with FancySpeedTest for BB OS.

Thanks.

 

[viperGTS]

I usually get around 100 kbps up and down.

 

[Givmeabrek]

Wow, that's sad. Is it really worth the savings?

Not bragging but AT&T gives me 6 to 8 Mb/s down. They have their own problems but the data is great.

 

[viperGTS]

Wow, that's sad. Is it really worth the savings?

I wouldnt know, as I havent switched from another carrier and im only 16 so i dont pay the bill. but apparently tmobile is "refarming" their 3G network so maybe thatll rise soon.

I use a 3GS btw.

 

[Applejuiced]

Wow, that's sad. Is it really worth the savings?

Not bragging but AT&T gives me 6 to 8 Mb/s down. They have their own problems but the data is great.

I agree.
Its like having a Porche and only going 20MPH with it.
It will get old after a while and you'd be like WTF? I feel like Im riding a mopad

 

[pilot1226]

I agree.
Its like having a Porche and only going 20MPH with it.
It will get old after a while and you'd be like WTF? I feel like Im riding a mopad

Well, the savings is pretty considerable, despite the fact I get a 15% discount with Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon (not sure if T-Mobile would give me the discount with their value plan)

If I were to switch to the T-Mobile Value Plan of Unlimited Talk, Text, and Web (2GB prior to throttle, but no data overage charges), it would give us our two lines that we need for $100 per month before taxes.

The current Sprint plan I'm on now gives us 1500 Shared Minutes with Free Nights and Weekends, and Free Mobile to Any Mobile, with Unlimited Messaging and Data. It's $130 per month before taxes. Unfortunately, Sprint changed their contract after we were customers, and now this same plan will be $150 per month after we upgrade, including a $35 activation fee per line to upgrade the phone. This is their "Premium Data Fee" of $10 per line per month for using data with a smartphone.

The AT&T plan I am looking at is the Nation FamilyTalk 700 with unlimited messaging and mobile to any mobile, free nights and weekends, and 2GB Data Packs for both lines. This is also $150 per month prior to any discounts I get, which includes free activation. So, it will be the same as Sprint, except for losing unlimited (slow) data and about half the minutes. The minutes aren't a big deal because we only use about 250 minutes that actually count against our number.

Both Sprint and AT&T would make me commit to an additional 2 year contract, which is fine, but the savings of $50 per month is looking very attractive.

That would be a savings of $600 per year, or $1200 over the course of a hypothetical 2-year contract.

Obviously my data speeds would be considerably slower with T-Mobile unless they continue this spectrum refarming. So, even if I bought an iPhone 4 (not a 4S) for retail price, or even a 4S at unlocked retail price... it would pay for itself over the course of the would-be 24 month contract.

I could always get a Samsung GS2 or something and actually use the higher data speeds and lock myself into a contract with T-Mobile and still save around $50 a month, but I certainly want an iPhone.

My case for actually using EDGE is that my data speed with Sprint is quite awful right now anyway, so I don't feel I'll know what I'm missing. It's not like I'm coming over from HSPA+ to EDGE.

....

The only case I'd have to remaining with Sprint would be to hold out for the iPhone 5 with hopefully LTE support which could bypass this slow data speed issue. But I can't justify spending the same as AT&T and having very slow data rates.

 

[takeshi74]

My case for actually using EDGE is that my data speed with Sprint is quite awful right now anyway, so I don't feel I'll know what I'm missing.

You'll probably notice the difference between 635kbps and 100kbps. Make sure you sort it out before your inital period to cancel without ETF runs out on TMO.

The only case I'd have to remaining with Sprint would be to hold out for the iPhone 5 with hopefully LTE support which could bypass this slow data speed issue. But I can't justify spending the same as AT&T and having very slow data rates.

Ultimately it's your call. I couldn't justify EDGE data rates no matter what the savings (even if service was free). YMMV, of course (see below).

Wow, that's sad. Is it really worth the savings?

As with any question of worth, depends on who you ask. Obviously, the people that use the iPhone with TMO think it is. I'd say no. YMMV.

 

[pilot1226]

You'll probably notice the difference between 635kbps and 100kbps. Make sure you sort it out before your inital period to cancel without ETF runs out on TMO.


Ultimately it's your call. I couldn't justify EDGE data rates no matter what the savings (even if service was free). YMMV, of course (see below).


As with any question of worth, depends on who you ask. Obviously, the people that use the iPhone with TMO think it is. I'd say no. YMMV.

Does the T-Mobile plan include Mobile Hotspot for free? Granted, speeds are slow on EDGE, thinking more "down the road" after this refarming is completed.

 

[mkrishnan]

Not bragging but AT&T gives me 6 to 8 Mb/s down. They have their own problems but the data is great.

On a 3GS?

My informal take is that, when I went from my T-Mobile original iPhone to my AT&T 3GS, most of the time, T-mobile seemed to make up some room in sustained transfer rates (but my speeds were a bit higher -- IIRC closer to 200kbps down, and it wasn't that noticeable an improvement. My 4S on AT&T is drastically faster, however, than either my 3GS on AT&T was or my original iPhone on T-Mo ever were.

If your baseline is the speed you get on Sprint now, I think it won't be so bad. Compared to the newest hardware on AT&T, though, I think there's a big difference.

 

[Applejuiced]

Well, the savings is pretty considerable, despite the fact I get a 15% discount with Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon (not sure if T-Mobile would give me the discount with their value plan)

If the only thing considered is money then why not go with Metropcs or something similar.
Unlimited everything for $40 including taxes. But again, you get what you pay for.
You can get good priced plans on AT&T also if you have 3-4 people on a family plan. Sharing minutes, add the unlimited texts option that gives you unlimited calling to any cellphone for free and if you can also add a FAN discount code then you're golden. You can all split the bill and end up paying $50-60 per person.
I got 3 lines on AT&T all unlimited iphone data plans, unlimited texts and 700 rollover minutes $188 including taxes with a FAN discount.

 

[Boogsephine]

Does the T-Mobile plan include Mobile Hotspot for free? Granted, speeds are slow on EDGE, thinking more "down the road" after this refarming is completed.

No, you will have to add the mobile hotspot / tethering feature on. They've been busting down big time and making people put that on if they use the tethering feature at all. If you qualify for a discount on any other plan, it'll qualify for a value plan as well.

My recommendation: do the $50 Monthly4G (prepaid) for your two lines. $50 + tax ($3.38 here) each and you will have unlimited everything on your iPhone.

You can always move that prepaid into a contract later on if you wanted to. If you have any questions regarding T-Mobile or the iPhone on our network, feel free to PM me.

 

[pilot1226]

No, you will have to add the mobile hotspot / tethering feature on. They've been busting down big time and making people put that on if they use the tethering feature at all. If you qualify for a discount on any other plan, it'll qualify for a value plan as well.

My recommendation: do the $50 Monthly4G (prepaid) for your two lines. $50 + tax ($3.38 here) each and you will have unlimited everything on your iPhone.

You can always move that prepaid into a contract later on if you wanted to. If you have any questions regarding T-Mobile or the iPhone on our network, feel free to PM me.

Thanks. The Prepaid plan for $50 seems to only offer 200 MB of data and the $60 plan offers the 2GB plan. I don't necessarily need to be on a Prepaid plan, so I would be fine on the Value Plan with the 2 lines for $100/mo with the 2GB Data.

Biggest decision now is if I want to deal with EDGE speeds or not.

 

[Boogsephine]

Thanks. The Prepaid plan for $50 seems to only offer 200 MB of data and the $60 plan offers the 2GB plan. I don't necessarily need to be on a Prepaid plan, so I would be fine on the Value Plan with the 2 lines for $100/mo with the 2GB Data.

Biggest decision now is if I want to deal with EDGE speeds or not.

If you end up using the iPhone on the prepaid, the $50 plan gives you 100MB of 4G speeds (not relevant to you on an iPhone) and then throttles the speed down to 2G speeds (you'll be slower regardless) after that. There is absolutely no sense in doing the $60 plan when using the iPhone.

I get this all the time at work. That is honestly your best bet. Like I said before, you can always move those prepaid plans to a value plan and then use that credit line to break up the payment of any other phone you want into your monthly bill (T-Mobile phone that is).

It's also rumored that the iPhone may get 3G speeds (most likely when roaming) on T-Mobile's network since we are receiving 3bil worth of spectrum from them since the buyout didn't go through. I wouldn't go into contract right now and use that as a determining factor.

 

[pilot1226]

If you end up using the iPhone on the prepaid, the $50 plan gives you 100MB of 4G speeds (not relevant to you on an iPhone) and then throttles the speed down to 2G speeds (you'll be slower regardless) after that. There is absolutely no sense in doing the $60 plan when using the iPhone.

I get this all the time at work. That is honestly your best bet. Like I said before, you can always move those prepaid plans to a value plan and then use that credit line to break up the payment of any other phone you want into your monthly bill (T-Mobile phone that is).

It's also rumored that the iPhone may get 3G speeds (most likely when roaming) on T-Mobile's network since we are receiving 3bil worth of spectrum from them since the buyout didn't go through. I wouldn't go into contract right now and use that as a determining factor.

Good point. I actually called T-Mobile customer service to ask if there was any pending refarming for the New York City Metro Area (I live in Northern NJ) since that would probably affect me. They had no information, unfortunately.

If I knew for a fact that everywhere would be getting the 3G service, I'd be on T-Mobile in a second. I was with them years ago on a family plan before the entire plan jumped ship to the evil empire known as Verizon. Wasn't happy with Verizon one bit.

 

[nraudigy2]

Isn't EDGE speed on Tmobile around 0.15KB/sec? Someone needs to do a speedtest.

 

[ninjaw95]

uhm. i got the $30 walmart plan for tmo w/ unlim web, and im satisfied, but if you have a lil more $$$ go with Metro for $40 or if its not in your area straighttalk is $45.

 

[Boogsephine]

Isn't EDGE speed on Tmobile around 0.15KB/sec? Someone need to do a speedtest.

It's pretty slow but I can usually deal with it when I'm not around WiFi and if I don't have my other work phone on me. A little over a year ago I was using the Blackberry 8900 which only got EDGE speeds and I had that phone for a year and was happy with that. I'd love to have 3G or HSPA+ speeds on my iPhone (when it's in working order) but that won't happen for a little while.

uhm. i got the $30 walmart plan for tmo w/ unlim web, and im satisfied, but if you have a lil more $$$ go with Metro for $40 or if its not in your area straighttalk is $45.

The quality of Metro and Straight Talk are both pretty bad. The $30 Walmart plan is pretty good from what I hear. We don't offer that in our stores since it's a Walmart special but at least T-Mobile has a much more stable network and better bang for the buck than both of those other companies do.

 

[ninjaw95]

The quality of Metro and Straight Talk are both pretty bad. The $30 Walmart plan is pretty good from what I hear. We don't offer that in our stores since it's a Walmart special but at least T-Mobile has a much more stable network and better bang for the buck than both of those other companies do.

Yea Walmart $30 all the way. But the cool thing about Straighttalk and Metro is that there is no unlock required. i had to get a iPhone off craigslist which was under ios5 and get a gevey.

 

[vikingjunior]

If you choose to do this use Opera mini as a browser as it's much quicker then stock browser.

Second is I wonder how long edge will be around for.

 

[pilot1226]

It's pretty slow but I can usually deal with it when I'm not around WiFi and if I don't have my other work phone on me. A little over a year ago I was using the Blackberry 8900 which only got EDGE speeds and I had that phone for a year and was happy with that. I'd love to have 3G or HSPA+ speeds on my iPhone (when it's in working order) but that won't happen for a little while.

Sounds good! I'm hoping a "little while" isn't more than 6 months away. Sounds like they're making some fast refarming out in the southwestern US. Hope that pace continues!

 

[wordoflife]

I think you should just use AT&T (or Verizon or Sprint) service. You're going to end up paying more for the device since it'll have to be unlocked, and you won't get great data speeds. I easily hit 5-7 mbps in Northern Jersey on AT&T.

 

[ninjaw95]

I think you should just use AT&T (or Verizon or Sprint) service. You're going to end up paying more for the device since it'll have to be unlocked, and you won't get great data speeds. I easily hit 5-7 mbps in Northern Jersey on AT&T.

but then you would be locked on a 2 year contract paying $100 a month, paying for an unlocked device and gettting a prepaid service saves $$$ withen the first 6months

 

[pilot1226]

but then you would be locked on a 2 year contract paying $100 a month, paying for an unlocked device and gettting a prepaid service saves $$$ withen the first 6months

In all actuality because I'm on a family plan, it's probably closer to $140 per month after my employee discount.

 

[ninjaw95]

In all actuality because I'm on a family plan, it's probably closer to $140 per month after my employee discount.

140 for how many people and min/data?
im on $30 unlim data (5gb 4g) n txt + 100min on tmobile for my i4, im in seatte too so ill get 3g speed soon

 

[pilot1226]

140 for how many people and min/data?
im on $30 unlim data (5gb 4g) n txt + 100min on tmobile for my i4, im in seatte too so ill get 3g speed soon

The AT&T Plan is as follows:
700 Shared Minutes with Rollover
Unlimited Nights and Weekends
Unlimited Mobile to Any Mobile
Unlimited Messaging - All Lines
2 GB Personal Data
2 GB Personal Data

It's more about the unlimited mobile to any carrier mobile plan. I can call a Verizon mobile phone and they don't count against my minutes. That feature was the main reason I'd left Verizon for Sprint. Now, AT&T has it.

I believe the total would be around $128 per month before taxes which right now on Sprint are around $12 per month, so I'm assuming around $140 total. Free activation with both lines too from my employee discount.

If I choose to get a Wifi iPad 3, I do like the idea of bumping up to a 4 GB DataPro Personal Data pack with Tethering for just $20 more per month. That's certainly a lot better than paying Sprint another $30 for, despite the fact that I'd be getting 5GB of tethering data with them.