T-mobile $30 Unlimited data, Text, 100Min Voice

[Eollie]

Honestly, we can't complain about roaming even, for the time being. However, VM is losing ground. As others pricing nears VM's with better coverage, VM is going to have to battle to stay where they are.

Together with the price increase, poor service, outages and poor coverage... These other companies are closing in fast.

VM made it's name with good customer service, and very low cost compared to others.
The costs have gone up (still good though), CS is now a joke, and the actual phone service has become problematic due to growth.

I agree we get decent service. However even with the new people jumping in, its going to make our network even more crappy. Its been confirmed straight talks androids are sprint prepaid. That means more outages and crappy customer support answers because they really have no idea whats going on.

How many people here would pay 600bucks for a new phone if they could get contract like service without the contract? I know I would be willing to save my pennies nickles and dimes but most of the android community not so much. We wont see decent service and reasonable prepaid devices until contract plans go bye bye.

 

[Whyzor]

I'm also in the camp of "no use for anymore than a 4" screen".

I find the 3.5" screen on my iPod touch and the iPhone pretty ideal. The OV is slightly cramped, but not awful. I'd like to never have to use anything with more than a 4 inch screen. Bigger than that, with a case on they look little cricket bats.

Sent via VM670

Apple is known for paying attention to details. One of them is the usability of the onscreen keyboard. Because the iphones have a wider screen in the portrait mode, it helps a lot in the vertical keyboard and improves usability. Android devices tend to have higher aspect ratio screens, meaning at the same diagonal dimension, it's a bit narrower than iPhones. It's probably a way to market a higher number in the screen size, but not much more pixels.

 

[LeslieAnn]

How many people here would pay 600bucks for a new phone if they could get contract like service without the contract? I know I would be willing to save my pennies nickles and dimes but most of the android community not so much. We wont see decent service and reasonable prepaid devices until contract plans go bye bye.

Sorry, but I say no to ANY $600 phone, contract or not.

They are too easily lost, stolen and broken.
Riding bicycles, I see sooo many broken phones it's not even funny. I woudl be scared to take a $600 phone on a ride. I just think it's silly to spend that much of something like that.

Contract won't disappear anytime soon. Prepaid on the other hand is now a force to be reckoned with and as the differences get smaller (as they are), and people see the price difference, post paid will take a HUGE hit. The OV already brought a lot of people off contract.


By the way, you CAN get an Iphone 4 (and many high end androids), on prepaid right now.
The prices start around $60-per month for 1-2gb of data. It's $595 for the phone (Iphone 4) itself, start saving.
As I said, these plans exist, but they aren't as cheap, and most are from companies you never heard of, piggybacking major carriers. Which means they could be gone tomorrow.

 

[Ticojpunk]

The reason I like prepaid has nothing to do with a lack of contract. Its the cost that draws me in. I think that's the case with most people these days.

So high priced phones are a turn off to me. That is, if their prices are so high that even with your lower monthly rate, your out of pocket cost becomes equal to that of post paid. Might as well go contract that point.

Sent via VM670

 

[michikade#AC]

You can always do what I did back when I had prepaid (and even now between upgrade periods on occasion) - eBay baby.

A good friend of mine got a like new iPhone 4 for a couple hundred, and is using it on prepaid. A coworker of mine is about to do the same for the T-Mobile prepaid plan, she's actively bidding on an Android now.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy. They both just got the cheapest phone they could find with the data features they wanted, then swapped the sim. Works great for GSM; CDMA, of course, takes that extra step of activation (or flashing, if required)

Sent from my HTC EVO 4G using Tapatalk

 

[Eollie]

Sorry, but I say no to ANY $600 phone, contract or not.

They are too easily lost, stolen and broken.
Riding bicycles, I see sooo many broken phones it's not even funny. I woudl be scared to take a $600 phone on a ride. I just think it's silly to spend that much of something like that.

Retail price of most new android phones are around 600 bucks. By retail I mean the price the carriers pay. They then offer you the phone for about half price and a contract.

I know you can make the phones work on prepaid services. There was a article a year or so ago where I guy took a iphone3g and had it working on tracphone network. Ive seen article similar with the iphone 4.

If I could pay around what straight talk or virgins unlimited everything plans and get the service a contract plan gets I would pay full retail. But I dont want some half ass service were I only get signal on major highways or metro areas. Being able to have roaming included and my phone work 80% of the areas I go is something I dont think is too unfair to ask.

 

[LeslieAnn]

So high priced phones are a turn off to me. That is, if their prices are so high that even with your lower monthly rate, your out of pocket cost becomes equal to that of post paid. Might as well go contract that point.

Agreed, may as well have them subsidize the phone.

When I started VM, their rates blew away the competition.
Smart phones weren't an issue though.

You can always do what I did back when I had prepaid (and even now between upgrade periods on occasion) - eBay baby.

A LOT of companies have worked to eliminate this ability.
AT&T go phones lock the sim card to the phone now. IDEN phones which also used a sim will be dead any day now and some carriers will flat refuse to let you on with any phone other than theirs. Verizon in particular hates you doing this.

As I mentioned, yes it can be done, but not as easy as it used to be.
Carriers decided it was too much hassle and that they can make more by selling you a phone.

Retail price of most new android phones are around 600 bucks. By retail I mean the price the carriers pay. They then offer you the phone for about half price and a contract.

I know you can make the phones work on prepaid services. There was a article a year or so ago where I guy took a iphone3g and had it working on tracphone network. Ive seen article similar with the iphone 4.

If I could pay around what straight talk or virgins unlimited everything plans and get the service a contract plan gets I would pay full retail. But I dont want some half ass service were I only get signal on major highways or metro areas. Being able to have roaming included and my phone work 80% of the areas I go is something I dont think is too unfair to ask.

You can get that if you look around.
It will run you a bit more, about $60-$70 per month. The problem is data, you will only get 1-2 gigs and then possibly cut off. As for coverage some use Verizon and AT&T, so that's not an issue.

You can get the phones cheaper, A LOT cheaper. Check Amazon or Newegg. Iphones, no. Apple is too controlling with prices. You should be able to find a pretty nice phone for $350-$500. Still a lot, but a far cry from Iphone prices.

 

[anon(182107)]

If that's the case, that's what I'm getting on VM 3G. It was 80kbps down the other night, with full bars! Hello T-Mobile!

Well GSM Arena shows the T-Mobile Mytouch 3G with Class 10 EDGE (Maximum Speed of 236 kbps).

Maybe I should look up 2G speed test videos. T-Mobile's 2G could be faster than VM's 3G. Today speed test only showed about 50 kbps.

Sent from my Android using Tapatalk

 

[colonelcack]

Well GSM Arena shows the T-Mobile Mytouch 3G with Class 10 EDGE (Maximum Speed of 236 kbps).

Maybe I should look up 2G speed test videos. T-Mobile's 2G could be faster than VM's 3G. Today speed test only showed about 50 kbps.

Sent from my Android using Tapatalk

Tmobiles 2g speeds are decent as long as you aren't moving at high speeds. Once you start driving your speeds will drop below whats playable for apps like pandora...it's an edge limitation, not tmobiles network.

However Tmobiles 3G is fantastic, 3-5mbps all day everyday. Pings are always under 200ms, sometimes 80-120. I know they were solid because I could even tether and play call of duty on my 360 online!

 

[LeslieAnn]

Before anyone considers this plan, word coming back is that 3g speeds are SLOWER than EDGE.
Sub 200k and needless to say, users are not happy. Support is giving users the runaround on explanations.


T-Mobile however is revamping their pre-pay plans sometime this month and I hear things are going to get very interesting.

 

[Silence99]

Before anyone considers this plan, word coming back is that 3g speeds are SLOWER than EDGE.

Sooo, the same as Virgin for me then. It's a shame I can't get on this plan. I'd jump off Virgin in a second if any other providers could compare price-wise. My Virgin Mobile 3g is so bad, they should be embarrassed. Most of the time, it doesn't even work, if it does, it's sub 56k speeds. But there is no T-Mobile where I live.

 

[LeslieAnn]

Sooo, the same as Virgin for me then. It's a shame I can't get on this plan. I'd jump off Virgin in a second if any other providers could compare price-wise. My Virgin Mobile 3g is so bad, they should be embarrassed. Most of the time, it doesn't even work, if it does, it's sub 56k speeds. But there is no T-Mobile where I live.

YIKES!
There are alternatives, using AT&T and Verizon, but they cost about double what you pay now.
Might be something to consider if you need the speed.

Most people can get by on slow speeds and wifi, not me, but most.

 

[Silence99]

YIKES!
There are alternatives, using AT&T and Verizon, but they cost about double what you pay now.
Might be something to consider if you need the speed.

Most people can get by on slow speeds and wifi, not me, but most.

Yeah, I get buy with the slow speeds, but it drives me crazy! I was in vacation in St Louis (Go Cards!) and the 3G was blazingly fast, like it should be, so I know it's not my phone, and it just reminded me how bad service is in my area. I've been seriously considering a change to AT&T's $25 GoPhone 250min/unlimited text deal and add data, but as I'm grandfathered in at the $25 rate with Virgin, I find it hard to walk away!

 

[Ticojpunk]

To anyone thinking of switching/trying this new plan out, don't cancel your VM plan right away, especially if you have a grandfathered lower rate. You can keep your account intact for 90 days and not pay, without losing your rate. I had forgotten this tidbit when I started considering this T-Mobile deal.

If I do check it out,

1.) I'll buy a used phone from eBay, and if I don't like the service, I can resell it on eBay for pretty much exactly what I paid for it.

2.) I'll keep my VM account active, but stop paying it for 30 days while I try T-Mobile. Alternatively, I can keep my VM phone active and compare coverage in different areas.

This way, if I end up hating T-Mobile's service, I'm only really out the $30 for the T-Mobile monthly rate.

If only VM's speeds were a little better. If so I wouldn't even be giving T-Mobile a second thought.

 

[aj888]

can you use any 4g phone on the repaid service? can i just go buy a used phone and us it for this new plain?

 

[Eollie]

can you use any 4g phone on the repaid service? can i just go buy a used phone and us it for this new plain?

The understanding is any 4g phone. T-Mobile is one of the last bring your own phone prepaids of the major companies.

 

[LeslieAnn]

The understanding is any 4g phone. T-Mobile is one of the last bring your own phone prepaids of the major companies.

Correct.
There are MVNO's like Virgin used to be, such as Simple Mobile and others who allow it, but they are not very common. Bring your own has lost favor with the big brands because of tech support problems and the fact that they can make a whole lot more by getting you to take their "free" phones.

It costs on around $600 a year more on a contract than it does for non-contract. Your first year, they paid off that Iphone and made money. The second year is almost pure profit. Imagine what they make on people using crap hones on the same plan.

 

[aj888]

Im just talking about using any tmobile 4g phone with this plain.

 

[zedorda]

I can't say I would consider this at all but that just because of my area and I know the coverage. My wife and I both use VM OV. Our house mate has a galaxy tab by T-mobile and everywhere we go our OV have better signal and more pleasurable experience in general. I did use T-mobile a few years back and back then they only had 4G in large cities that faded before you left the city line. Again this only really pertains to the southeast Michigan Detroit Metro Area.

 

[Eollie]

Im just talking about using any tmobile 4g phone with this plain.

See my previous post.