Is T-Mobile worth another try?

[Google_Superuser]

A while back I tried T-Mobile's $30 plan. Reception was terrible on both My Nexus 4 and S4 GPE. I rarely ever got LTE on the S4 and could barely make calls in my own house. Now I was told that the S4GPE was lacking certain spectrums to properly work on t-mobile. I ended up going to ATT go phone and paying $60/month for 2.5gb and unlimited talk/text. While I found I need more than 100 minutes it would be really nice to have more data. I now have a Sony Z Ultra GPE.....would it be worth trying T-Mobile again? Everyone I know with T-Mobile has just fine coverage in this area so I am not sure whether it was just the phones or what.

I need it to work in the SF Bay Area and in the Monteresy County/Salinas area as well from time to time. With my S4 I had literally 0 coverage no call,data or text at Laguna Seca near Salinas.

 

[dpham00]

T-mobile currently only uses band 4 lte, so if you were able to get LTE with the s4 gpe then I don't think another phone would make a difference, unless tmobile increased coverage since then.

Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 3 via Tapatalk Pro

 

[B. Diddy]

I'm in the Silicon Valley area, and T-Mobile has been pretty great for me, from Gilroy up to San Francisco. However, their coverage finder does show relatively poor reception at Laguna Seca.

 

[SoCalBIGmike]

Jesus. Look at the device spec page. Does have it AWS listed? Why, yes it does. 1900/2100 Mhz.

As for the other person spreading FUD below, its the GPE HTC One that LACKS AWS.

And I'm curious, if you are a "Google Superuser" why would you NOT just go buy a fuc*king phone from T-Mobile directly on a POST PAID PLAN and try the service within the day buyers remorse period?

 

[Google_Superuser]

Relax. You seem awfully angry over a thread.

I was under the impression that the S4 GPE had the spectrum needed to work with the T-Mobile yet various members here seemed to contradict that. Additionally my experience didn't match that of other people I know with T-Mobile in the same area.

I don't want to go through the hassle of gaming the return policy. Not really sure what that has to do with knowing a lot about or being a big fan of Google. I didn't name myself an expert on cell phone return policy.

I could simply test it out with a pre-paid sim but I can't really just use another number for a few days as I can't really get everyone to switch to it temporarily while I "test" things out.

 

[B. Diddy]

One way to test it out would be to start a T-Mobile plan, get the new SIM card from them and insert it into your Z Ultra, then have your AT&T number forwarded to the temporary T-Mobile number. You won't have to give your contacts a new phone number--they can just call your old number, and you'll get it on your T-Mobile line. If you like T-Mobile, then ask the T-Mobile people to port your number over, and they should be able to do it without any additional fee. The only problem is that you can't forward text messages.

 

[Paul627g]

Notice things getting a bit heated in here. Lets keep things calm and civil ! No need to start cursing and heating up the conversation.


Thanks

Paul
Moderator Team Leader @ Android Central.

 

[Google_Superuser]

Oh ok hmm hadn't thought of the call forwarding angle.

I'm still not sure because I make too many calls for the $30 a month plan now. I pay $60 a mont for 2gb with gophone so not really any reason to use that plan with T-Mobile, which leaves the $70 unlimited plan which is still more out of pocket than a pay now but it would be really nice to not have to worry about data usage. I'm constantly thinking or saving things to do on wifi to keep it under 2gb. It's a bit of a pain. I seriously envy people who have grandfathered ATT unlimited plans.

 

[B. Diddy]

If you have Target in your area, maybe consider Brightspot. $65 for unlimited voice/text, and unlimited data (but only 4 GB/month of high speed data). Every 6 months, you also get a $25 Target giftcard.

 

[Google_Superuser]

Interesting. Are speeds really 4G...equivalent to T-Mobile proper? I know Att mvnos are only like what 8mbps tops?

Posted via Android Central App

 

[B. Diddy]

As far as I can tell from the official website and other blog articles, it's essentially T-Mobile's network and speeds. So 4G means LTE or HSPA+, whichever is available in a given area. Where I am in Silicon Valley, HSPA+ is often still >10 MBPS, which tops Verizon's 4G LTE network.

 

[Google_Superuser]

Alright. Thanks for the info. Not a bad idea.

 

[dpham00]

If you have Target in your area, maybe consider Brightspot. $65 for unlimited voice/text, and unlimited data (but only 4 GB/month of high speed data). Every 6 months, you also get a $25 Target giftcard.

Target red members receive 5% off service, should one decide to go this route.

Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 3 via Tapatalk Pro

 

[dpham00]

As far as I can tell from the official website and other blog articles, it's essentially T-Mobile's network and speeds. So 4G means LTE or HSPA+, whichever is available in a given area. Where I am in Silicon Valley, HSPA+ is often still >10 MBPS, which tops Verizon's 4G LTE network.

It's a Tmobile mvno. Advantage being if you buy a brightspot branded phone (the 521 was $35) and switch to tmobile, then it should be compatible.

Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 3 via Tapatalk Pro

 

[dpham00]

One way to test it out would be to start a T-Mobile plan, get the new SIM card from them and insert it into your Z Ultra, then have your AT&T number forwarded to the temporary T-Mobile number. You won't have to give your contacts a new phone number--they can just call your old number, and you'll get it on your T-Mobile line. If you like T-Mobile, then ask the T-Mobile people to port your number over, and they should be able to do it without any additional fee. The only problem is that you can't forward text messages.

You can also get tmobile $3/day plan to test out service where you need it. It has unlimited talk and text and 200mb per day.

Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 3 via Tapatalk Pro

 

[dpham00]

If you have Target in your area, maybe consider Brightspot. $65 for unlimited voice/text, and unlimited data (but only 4 GB/month of high speed data). Every 6 months, you also get a $25 Target giftcard.

I saw a TV ad where it said free second month of service on brightspot. Saw some info on it here too
http://slickdeals.net/f/6707228-brightspot-free-month-of-service-with-activation-cheaper-unlock






Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 3 via Tapatalk Pro

 

[Google_Superuser]

Currently test driving T-Mobile on their $3/day plan. Loaded it up with the minimum $10 and will try it out for a few days. Still have my ATT sim in an old phone so I can check it for messages periodically.

So far its performing better than the S4 GPE. Doesn't match ATT but I am still getting mostly LTE.

 

[Google_Superuser]

So it looks like it works just fine in all my usual areas. I can't really drive all over the place just to test it but it seems to be working well. Places where I had literally nothing with the S4 GPE now have at least H. Reception is still bad at my house...is bad with Att too but I can usually get one bar of LTE vs 1 bar of H with tmobile and sometimes edge.


Does anyone know if I will need to go to a T-Mobile store to port my ATT number over to the account? Or can I do it over the phone/live chat?

 

[B. Diddy]

I'm pretty sure they can do it over the phone. I went to the local store to do it in case there were any issues, but it seriously only took me about 10 minutes.

 

[Google_Superuser]

Another question. Last time I tried t-mo I couldn't set Google Voice as my voicemail box. I read later (after I went back to ATT) that you just have to call and tell them to disable the stock voicemail?