Nexus 5 owners with T-Mobile $30 Prepaid Plan Thread

[DefinedByClass13]

Went out and about today and picked up LTE about half a mile down the street, so at least everything is set up properly on my phone. Currently on HSPA at my house, which is far superior than the crap I was getting on Sprint here.

 

[vlee]

I'm not on Tmobile currently but my sprint contract is ending early next month. I was looking into this $30/mo tmobile plan but the walmart page specifically says this, "The $30 Unlimited Web & Text with 100 min talk plan works only with T-Mobile Phones purchased from a Walmart store or from Walmart.com". How would I go about switching to tmobile and getting this plan and transferring my old number from sprint? Also, does one have to keep purchasing these $30/mo prepaid cards from walmart to continue service or can you setup an automatic payment to continue each month?

I have this plan on my Nexus 4, which I bought when I decided to leave Sprint. I didn't do any of it through Walmart. If you look at the T-Mobile prepaid plans page, it says "This plan is only available for devices purchased from Wal-Mart or devices activated on T-Mobile.com". I got the N4 via Google, then bought a sim online from Tmo (they were running a special at the time and it was something like 99 cents) and then activated it online. My experience is here: http://forums.androidcentral.com/google-nexus-4/259688-phone-sim-here-what-right-steps-now-tm-30-plan.html.

You can buy the $30 cards almost anywhere, or pay online, or set up automatic payment. (Caution for some reason autopayment only bothered to debit my account correctly once out of about 4-5 times and kept resetting itself to non-auto, so I gave up).

Here is the cool thing that I found though - you can buy the cards at Target where they are periodically on sale for something like a dollar or so off. And if you have a Target Red Card, they'll take off 5%. And here is what I discovered recently, although I don't know how long they will do this - I bought a card from Target.com with the red card so got that discount and free delivery, plus they didn't charge the 911 tax that my state recently implemented and they didn't charge sales tax. I mention that because when I renewed online through the TMo site, they charged both taxes, and when I bought in the Target store, they charged sales, but not 911 tax. I have no idea why they wouldn't charge sales tax online, but according to some other remarks I saw online, apparently that works in some but not all states. So I think I figured I ended up saving almost $4 - not a huge amount, but I get a kick out of it. (And figure it's a free latte ).

 

[drhere]

Mine picked up LTE immediately too, and I couldn't be happier with reception I'm getting.
I would occasionally drop to HSPA at my suite (just for a brief few minutes, few times per day) on my S4 and that hasn't happened at all with my Nexus 5 so far.

http://i39.tinypic.com/10ql7dk.jpg

Solid full bars of LTE all the way.

Thanks, I am using my old Gnex in the interim. Hopefully Google's 2-3 week estimate at the time I ordered is shipped quicker.

 

[greydarrah]

I just popped the SIM I was using (on the $30/month plan) out of my N4 and put it in my N5 and everything worked. Mine automatically picked up LTE and speedtest.net showed 23.95 mbs download.

 

[dazzer87]

Planning on dropping Gophone cause of bad coverage. There is no point in me paying 60 bucks a month for crappy speed in my area. For this plan, I know that theres 100 minutes. Just wondering are incoming calls free? Its just outgoing calls that will be at 100 minutes. Also I heard that this plan is for new customer. I had a tmobile account that ended Oct 27th. Could I still sign up in about 2 weeks from now? Will I be consider a "new customer" If I cant and get someone to sign up for me, will they be able to port my GoPhone number over to their account? Thanks.

 

[Sentrix]

Planning on dropping Gophone cause of bad coverage. There is no point in me paying 60 bucks a month for crappy speed in my area. For this plan, I know that theres 100 minutes. Just wondering are incoming calls free? Its just outgoing calls that will be at 100 minutes. Also I heard that this plan is for new customer. I had a tmobile account that ended Oct 27th. Could I still sign up in about 2 weeks from now? Will I be consider a "new customer" If I cant and get someone to sign up for me, will they be able to port my GoPhone number over to their account? Thanks.

Make sure you check your coverage before making the jump.
Incoming calls are the same as outgoing calls and affect your minutes balance, provided you answer the call of course.

T-Mobile may have your account information somewhere and could reactivate it and then do a postpaid to prepaid switch, but more than likely you'll be porting over from GoPhone as a new customer.

 

[npark2012]

Planning on dropping Gophone cause of bad coverage. There is no point in me paying 60 bucks a month for crappy speed in my area. For this plan, I know that theres 100 minutes. Just wondering are incoming calls free? Its just outgoing calls that will be at 100 minutes. Also I heard that this plan is for new customer. I had a tmobile account that ended Oct 27th. Could I still sign up in about 2 weeks from now? Will I be consider a "new customer" If I cant and get someone to sign up for me, will they be able to port my GoPhone number over to their account? Thanks.

Incoming, outgoing, voicemail all uses up your minutes. You are a new customer if you are porting from a different company/mvno that doesn't use tmobile. And yes your phone number will be able to port by law.

 

[fixxxer7]

Dallas, TX user here. Love the price of the plan, love the phone, gonna give it a month to try out the service area. Right now, I like it but wish it had better LTE coverage at my house, but Wifi can handle that.

smooth activation process through tmobile.com, especially when I ordered the micro sim activation kit online for free, that's always a plus. So far so good.

 

[KevRivas]

I am also attempting the $30 pre-paid option with T-Mobile and my new Nexus 5. I am a long time Verizon Wireless customer (approaching 10 years) with unlimited data for my Galaxy Nexus. I live in the Fort Lee, NJ area which sits right on the Hudson River across from NYC-Manhattan. So service has always been great and I have never (or really can't remember) any times where I had any frustrations with my Verizon Wireless service at all. I keep up pretty well with Verizon's roadmap with LTE and their future implementations with their service as well, so I'm excited where things could go.

However, the whole Nexus 5 debacle with not being on Verizon has truly made me question where my priorities lie as a cell-phone user and technology lover. Therefore, I have been currently testing out the T-Mobile pre-paid service since this past Tuesday (Nov 5th) for the entire month in hopes that T-Mobile will prove me right with any horror stories or frustrations I've heard from other service carriers in the past. But suffice to say, in just the short time so far with T-Mobile thus far, I have no qualms yet. Actually, walking into the T-Mobile store (as they are rushed with the closing crowd) to pick up a sim card was a pleasant and painless experience.

I am trying to fully engage their service though, utilizing both my Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 5 in all my common scenarios. I like to say I'm a pretty heft data user (maybe around 10gbs or more?). I test out calls and data through my most commonplaces, including the car, the train, work, out on lunch and of course home. I run speed tests and make calls along both sides of service providers and noticed service is comparable if not better when it comes to T-Mobile, which is surprising so far. I also run speed tests a long side my sister's new Droid Maxx since I understand the Galaxy Nexus has it's own 4G issues with Verizon separately on the hardware configuration end of the phone. These tests are also producing similar results.

I hate to admit it... and I REALLY DO HATE TO ADMIT IT...but if things continue the way they are going the rest of this month. T-Mobile will have a new customer in the greater NY/NJ area.

 

[gmdphd]

Does the $40 Walmart kit include the micro SIM and a $30 credit for one month or does $40 only get you an activated SIM card?

 

[DefinedByClass13]

It's a micro SIM card and $30 credit attached to the activation code, not separately like a refill card/pin.

 

[deeznutz206]

For those that are intending on tethering with this plan, you will be blocked and redirected to the T-Mobile sign in screen.
To get around this, there is a hack but you will need to unlock the bootloader and root your device. Please see this thread here and post #70 Nexus 5 tethering block? - Page 7 - xda-developers

I did this and now am able to tether

 

[yfan]

For those that are intending on tethering with this plan, you will be blocked and redirected to the T-Mobile sign in screen.
To get around this, there is a hack but you will need to unlock the bootloader and root your device. Please see this thread here and post #70 Nexus 5 tethering block? - Page 7 - xda-developers

I did this and now am able to tether

I don't really tether, but my account shows that T-Mobile allows a nominal 100 MB of tethering even for this plan.

 

[Daniel Kruger]

Hello! I moved out to college into a new city that has T-mobile LTE! before this my whole family has been on iPhone 4s's in my hometown and our contracts are expiring in december. Im pretty pumped about this...
I have a question, did anyone get the 32GB model? If so, I thought I'd read somewhere that it has a bigger battery than the 16GB... Can anyone confirm this?

 

[EnigmaticPsychotic]

T-Mobile is currently giving away free sim cards + free shipping. Enter the code “NOVSIM” at checkout and it should go through.

http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-phones

Sounds like a good deal for those of you looking to join T-mo.

 

[Daniel Kruger]

Hey, thanks for the reply...
I actually did see that deal (through 9to5mac,google,toys)
Ive tried it many times and I actually spoke with a rep that told me my order "will not go through and we don't know why" but they talked to their order review department and just told me that it won't work for me.

 

[bwalsh2]

Tried to activate online and got stuck at the 5th step, something about a needed input for calendar date. I web-chatted with a rep who said that the activation had gone through (I subsequently received an email starting as such). He gave me a customer service number to call if i didnt see the port go through within a day. I called that number and have been transferred to 5 different departments. They now say that they dont see the number or activation.

Anyone have any tips on who to go to next? I've been loathe to go into a store, because I've heard that they cannot give you the $30/100min deal.

 

[EnigmaticPsychotic]

I would say bite the bullet and call. It's the best way.

 

[bwalsh2]

After 90 minutes of hold music, I got through to the T-Mobile Porting department at (877) 207-8169. This was the only department that knew the issue I was referring to and was able to do anything about it.

They were able to work through the issue. As it turns out, my number was in porting limbo because when you enter your Verizon account number, you should NOT include the hyphen. I guess they'll do anything to prevent you from switiching.

 

[lets_go_android]

I have a question, did anyone get the 32GB model? If so, I thought I'd read somewhere that it has a bigger battery than the 16GB... Can anyone confirm this?

I don't have the 32GB yet, but it does not have a bigger battery. There was wild rumor prior to the release that the 32GB would have a bigger battery, but it is not so, unfortunately.