Thinking about switching to T-Mo from VZW - But hesitant

[Garemlin]

Then you'd have the booster... Those work well, provided you can get a signal somewhere in your house. You put a base station where it can get a signal, then place the transmitter in a central location... The base station takes the tower signal and sends it to the xmitter, which then provides service to your house.

The only key thing is that while the signal you'll get will be strong, it'll only be as good, speed wise, as what that base station can get. I think I got like 10-20 mbps when I had the booster. And you'll get that though your house reliably, without a weak signal.

I get a signal in my house. I posted the speeds above. If I can get 10-20 I can live with that.

 

[wess580]

Ive been with T-Mobile for 2years now from sprint after 15 years and im glad i made the switch. The only time i have a problem with signal is inside of older brick buildings

 

[raino]

The manager at my local T-Mo store. He already told me I could get two since they will be in two different locations.

If you have Twitter/Facebook, I would reach out to T-Force (TMO's customer service people, supposedly good) there. A store manager might have the power to somewhat affect your plan pricing via credits, but I don't think he controls who gets issued boosters and how many. T-Force might be able to tell you what the criteria (what minimum existing coverage qualifies, speed, etc) for boosters are and if you'd qualify. Plus you have it writing.

 

[Rukbat]

First - try AT&T and Sprint, if their maps show any coverage at your house. The first thing you go for is who has the best signal where you need signal. $5/month unlimited is useless if you can't use it.

Second, go around your house, attic, on the roof, etc., to see where you get adequate speeds on your phone. If you can't find one, the booster won't be able to find one either. It doesn't "boost" the signal if there's not enough signal there, it "moves" the signal from a place where it's good to a place where it's not good. (You can build a little waterproof box on the roof and use a bulkhead fitting to run the cables from inside to outside through a waterproof hole, if that's the only place you get a good signal.) But putting the booster where there's bad signal is only going to give you stronger bad signal to the phones.

If you have aluminum siding, or heat barrier insulation in the attic (or both), they're cutting the signal getting into the house, and the booster will have to be mounted outside. There's no way to boost a signal that's in the noise without changing location.

Also check other places you use the phone. If there's no TMO signal at your desk at work, or at school, they won't do you much good, except at home.

(There's a lot of homework you have to do before deciding on how to fix an "out in the bookdocks" problem.)

 

[Garemlin]

First - try AT&T and Sprint, if their maps show any coverage at your house. The first thing you go for is who has the best signal where you need signal. $5/month unlimited is useless if you can't use it.

Second, go around your house, attic, on the roof, etc., to see where you get adequate speeds on your phone. If you can't find one, the booster won't be able to find one either. It doesn't "boost" the signal if there's not enough signal there, it "moves" the signal from a place where it's good to a place where it's not good. (You can build a little waterproof box on the roof and use a bulkhead fitting to run the cables from inside to outside through a waterproof hole, if that's the only place you get a good signal.) But putting the booster where there's bad signal is only going to give you stronger bad signal to the phones.

If you have aluminum siding, or heat barrier insulation in the attic (or both), they're cutting the signal getting into the house, and the booster will have to be mounted outside. There's no way to boost a signal that's in the noise without changing location.

Also check other places you use the phone. If there's no TMO signal at your desk at work, or at school, they won't do you much good, except at home.

(There's a lot of homework you have to do before deciding on how to fix an "out in the bookdocks" problem.)

Sprint service is horrendous in this area. AT&T cost much more and you get less. Seems quite a bit is tied to the Direct TV thing too.

I actually did try different areas. My bedroom is three times as fast as my living room. The reason is I'm guessing is we have an aluminum awning in front of that area. Outside in the front yard is twice as fast as the back yard. No explanation there. The best I was able to get in any area of my house and property is about 10mbps. So I guess with a booster that is as good as it will get no matter what.

And I am concerned about the different areas too. But really don't have a chance to try it out on every single area.

It is a risky proposition making the switch. Especially when I'm getting 60mbps on VZW in the same exact spot I'm getting 3mbps with the T-Mo card.

 

[idon12no]

I don't know if this would apply to the sim card you tried, but you should make sure it didn't have 'binge on' activated because that caps your video quality at 480p. Maybe that's why 480p was the best you could get?

 

[11B1P]

Because VZW unlimited is not really unlimited. So you constantly have to baby your data. They can, which pretty much means will, throttle you at 22gb I think it is.

They "may" reduce your speed in heavy traffic areas. Sounds like you don't live in a "heavy traffic area".

 

[Almeuit]

Well keep in mind de-priortization is not a hard throttle. As in when you are over 22 GB you aren't instantly at crap speeds for the rest of your cycle... Only if the area is congested will you have these reduced speeds.

All carriers have this "limit" you could say. They vary from carrier to carrier on how much but they all will slow you down if the area is congested + you are over the limit on that line.

AT&T - 22 GB

Sprint - 23 GB

T-Mobile - 50 GB

Verizon - 22 GB on one plan and 75 GB on another

Because VZW unlimited is not really unlimited. So you constantly have to baby your data. They can, which pretty much means will, throttle you at 22gb I think it is. I have more data than that on my current plan and pay less.

Pretty much tired of living in the stone age. Not having internet. Not being able to stream any service. Listen to Pandora. Update my TVs firmware. Etc.....

 

[raino]

I don't know if this would apply to the sim card you tried, but you should make sure it didn't have 'binge on' activated because that caps your video quality at 480p. Maybe that's why 480p was the best you could get?

T-Mobile, the self-proclaimed pro-NN carrier built for data users, removed the Binge On toggle a while ago. Old customers were grandfathered but new customers have to make do with whatever quality they get at 1.5mbps (generally 480p) or pay $10-25 per line per month to have this throttle removed.

 

[idon12no]

T-Mobile, the self-proclaimed pro-NN carrier built for data users, removed the Binge On toggle a while ago. Old customers were grandfathered but new customers have to make do with whatever quality they get at 1.5mbps (generally 480p) or pay $10-25 per line per month to have this throttle removed.

Okay. I guess I missed that one. So binge on is over?

 

[raino]

So binge on is over?

For any one with the TMO One plans, yes. They have to pay extra to get their video not throttled to 1.5 mbps.

But if you had Binge On, you should be grandfathered in and still able to turn it on/off.

 

[Ry]

Try them out on another number/line for a month.

 

[anon(5719825)]

For any one with the TMO One plans, yes. They have to pay extra to get their video not throttled to 1.5 mbps.

But if you had Binge On, you should be grandfathered in and still able to turn it on/off.

I have three all in lines for $100 on T-Mobile. If you don't remember, the all in promo included HD video streaming, tethering and binge on. I tried finding the on/off switch for binge on a few months ago and it looks like it's removed for even grandfathered plans although it's still turned on on all three of my lines.

 

[methodman89]

Have you asked about what I screenshot?

 

[raino]

I have three all in lines for $100 on T-Mobile. If you don't remember, the all in promo included HD video streaming, tethering and binge on. I tried finding the on/off switch for binge on a few months ago and it looks like it's removed for even grandfathered plans although it's still turned on on all three of my lines.

Have you tried the short codes? Not sure if those were also disabled but they were a quick BO management option at one point.

 

[Byrese]

Don't be. It's FINE!

 

[anon(5719825)]

Have you tried the short codes? Not sure if those were also disabled but they were a quick BO management option at one point.

Unfortunately, those codes no longer work. They've completely wiped the ability to turn binge on, on or off. On my account, it's permanently on which is fine with me.

It's just weird that they've wiped the feature completely from the website as if it never existed.

 

[raino]

It's just weird that they've wiped the feature completely from the website as if it never existed.

Makes sense to me. They want to get rid of free 1080p, so they're pulling shenanigans like this...and introducing a new plan with no known HS video add-on. Uncarrier.

 

[anon(5719825)]

Makes sense to me. They want to get rid of free 1080p, so they're pulling shenanigans like this...and introducing a new plan with no known HS video add-on. Uncarrier.

I've had enough of T-Mobile. I've had three lines on a promo that they introduced a few years back called All In. This included at the time, Binge On with the ability to turn it off, tethering at 128Mbps which is slow, and one or two other things I can't remember. Over the past few months, they took away the ability to turn Binge On, off so unless I pay $15 more per month, YouTube and other videos sites stream at 480p.

AT&T offers two lines for $150 that includes 15GB of high speed tethering, streaming at 1080p and a bunch of channels that are somewhat OK and I can watch them through an app on my Apple TV.

I've had one line opened already since March and I ordered a second line with a Note 9 phone that will be here this week.Once I get that sim, I'm porting my main line from T-Mobile to it and then cancelling T-Mobile.

I just feel I'm getting more on AT&T these days even though I feel I get slightly better coverage in my area on T-Mobile.

 

[thecaddyman]

I've had enough of T-Mobile. I've had three lines on a promo that they introduced a few years back called All In. This included at the time, Binge On with the ability to turn it off, tethering at 128Mbps which is slow, and one or two other things I can't remember. Over the past few months, they took away the ability to turn Binge On, off so unless I pay $15 more per month, YouTube and other videos sites stream at 480p.

AT&T offers two lines for $150 that includes 15GB of high speed tethering, streaming at 1080p and a bunch of channels that are somewhat OK and I can watch them through an app on my Apple TV.

I've had one line opened already since March and I ordered a second line with a Note 9 phone that will be here this week.Once I get that sim, I'm porting my main line from T-Mobile to it and then cancelling T-Mobile.

I just feel I'm getting more on AT&T these days even though I feel I get slightly better coverage in my area on T-Mobile.

That's great to hear they were able to fix it