Has The “Un-Carrier” Changed Me?

[AndroidDissected]

View attachment 63942​

A few months ago, I decided on my own accord, that I would pick up an unlocked Galaxy Nexus and give the “Un-Carrier” a fair try. When I started I was concerned. I know from my brother having the service when he lived around me, it wasn’t great. Boy, was I surprised. Not only was the service better than I was expecting, some places had better service than my other carrier, Verizon Wireless.
With Verizon Wireless, I have a grandfathered plan. Unlimited data, unlimited text and 450 mins of peak hours talk time. The plan I chose to try on T-Mobile was the 500MB 4G data, unlimited 2G data, unlimited text and unlimited talk. The comparison is a little off here, but essentially T-Mobile is unlimited everything and Verizon Wireless is not. Let’s talk about costs, since that’s what we are interested in; cost and coverage. For $50+ local and federal taxes and fees, T-Mobile’s plan is quite a bargain if I’m honest. My grandfathered plan is ~$100.

(Continue Reading @ Android Dissected)

 

[xsylus]

You're not under contract but typically you lease the phone and pay for it monthly

 

[combatmedic870]

View attachment 63942​

A few months ago, I decided on my own accord, that I would pick up an unlocked Galaxy Nexus and give the “Un-Carrier” a fair try. When I started I was concerned. I know from my brother having the service when he lived around me, it wasn’t great. Boy, was I surprised. Not only was the service better than I was expecting, some places had better service than my other carrier, Verizon Wireless.
With Verizon Wireless, I have a grandfathered plan. Unlimited data, unlimited text and 450 mins of peak hours talk time. The plan I chose to try on T-Mobile was the 500MB 4G data, unlimited 2G data, unlimited text and unlimited talk. The comparison is a little off here, but essentially T-Mobile is unlimited everything and Verizon Wireless is not. Let’s talk about costs, since that’s what we are interested in; cost and coverage. For $50+ local and federal taxes and fees, T-Mobile’s plan is quite a bargain if I’m honest. My grandfathered plan is ~$100.

(Continue Reading @ Android Dissected)

Soooo, yea.....500mb isnt....unlimited....to me that would be the most important thing. That and unlimited text. I might talk 75 mins on the phone a month.

how much is T mobile with unlimited 4g data?

 

[b-jammin21]

Can I ask what "your area" is?

 

[guidot]

My area is Cape Cod Massachusetts.

And just FYI 500MB of 4G data, and unlimited 2G data, is unlimited data.

 

[4low4fun]

What's the speed of t mobiles 2g data? And do all of their phones come with a 4g/2g toggle to avoid charges?

 

[naDroid.com]

My area is Cape Cod Massachusetts.

And just FYI 500MB of 4G data, and unlimited 2G data, is unlimited data.

Sorry, I have to disagree as well. To me, unlimited data is both unlimited quantity and un-crippled speeds. If I am forced to 2G (or else I incur charges for 4G) then it is not unlimited. Just my two cents.

 

[jseah]

Sorry, I have to disagree as well. To me, unlimited data is both unlimited quantity and un-crippled speeds. If I am forced to 2G (or else I incur charges for 4G) then it is not unlimited. Just my two cents.

From what I understand, you don't incur overage charges. For the OP's example above (500 MB 4G data and unlimited 2G data), what would happen is you would get 4G speeds until you hit the 500 MB limit and then after that you would be throttled to 2G speeds for the remainder of the billing cycle.

 

[swc2001]

Yes what are your 2g data speeds. Can you toggle to 2g so as not to waste the 4g?

 

[johnomaz]

On TMobile, you can have unlimited 4G (HSPA+) speeds on TMobile for $70 a month. $50 is 500MB + 2G, $60 is 2GB + 2G. My wife is going to be going to TMobile this week to give it a try and see how coverage is in our area. If it works out, I'll be going there too when my AT&T contract is up. She is on verizon. If their HSPA+ is close to AT&Ts HSPA, it'll be more than enough.

 

[jseah]

If T-Mobile had better service in my area (where I live is 2G only, I would need to travel 10 miles east or west to get into a 3G area), it would be viable option.

 

[Fuzzball]

I'm switching next week. Even with full unlimited 4G data for each line, I'd be paying less than my grandfathered plans on Verizon. I will be selling my grandfathered VZW Unlimited data accounts to offset the costs of replacement phones while retaining my numbers. Even though it's not easily selectable on T-Mobile's site, one can have different data plans for each line. My wife is a stay at home mom and her phone can be on the WiFi most of the time so the 500MB could be enough; if not, I'll just bump her to the 2GB plan for $10/mo more. I can drastically reduce my data usage by going to WiFi as well so I'll be giving 2GB a shot, but the unlimited is an additional $10/mo.

T-Mobile is refarming their spectrum right now. They're moving HSPA+ to bands that AT&T and international phones can take advantage of. On top of that they're deploying LTE aggressively and plan to be done by the end of the year. The equipment they're installing is LTE-Advanced compatible so they only need to do a firmware upgrade to move to the new spec.

My employer is large enough to have discounts will all four carriers. I'll have to see if T-Mobile pulls the same discount crap that VZW does. Verizon's corporate discount only applies to the one line so the savings really is not a whole lot. If T-Mobile applies it to the whole account, I'll be impressed. I have other reasons for switching other than cost, but that's another story.

 

[GeLopez]

Yes i just switched and i am so surprised how good their service is, way better than verizon (i was with verizon for 13 years) at home the 4G speeds are twice as fast for me. i have unlimited everything (no throttle) for less than my grandfathered account with big red.

if you are with verizon i ask you to reconsider t-mobile. They have a 1 month phone for $19+tax thats for you to test their service. and come back and thank me

 

[SILVER COUPE]

i want to switch but have to wait until my contract is up in Nov. tmobile is getting the three phones im interested in, S4, HTC One and the Sony Xperia Z.

 

[kodiak799]

The problem isn't that TMo doesn't have great service in some areas, it's that if you travel much at all the lousy service kind of defeats the purpose of a mobile phone. I'd argue most people, on wifi at work and home, don't need more than 1gig of data.

But "unlimited" 2G is almost an oxymoron. 3G can be painstakingly slow, I can't imagine dealing with 2G speeds.