Could T-Mobile finally become the reliable carrier that customers can count on

[pc747]

With more and more cities getting LTE and T-mobile giving out free sim cards to try out their coverage, the question has to be can T-mobile actually become a reliable carrier and a true alternate to Verizon or AT&T?

Over the past year T-Mobile has become the darling of carriers as far as providing options for customers. Some could argue it has reached the point where we really wish Verizon would follow suit. The reality is that Verizon knows what we all know... when it comes to coverage (especially LTE) T-Mobile can not come close. Still, we are starting to see T-Mobile add coverage to more and more cities. As they slowly expand their coverage, we begin to wonder if can they actually provide enough coverage to overcome the stigma they are known for: the pocket areas where their signal completely drops off. In other words, can customers count on them being reliable?

It will be interesting to see in 2014 what T-Mobile can do and how much of an impact they can have on the industry. Personally I am going to grab a free sim and check them out. I will post my findings over the coming weeks.

SIM Card details from T-Mobile

T-Mobile’s 4G Network | Check Your Coverage | T-Mobile Blazing Fast 4G Coverage

 

[kodiak799]

TMo still isn't making money. This is all a grab to acquire customers, which does help absorb R&D and investment. But eventually their prices will have to rise in order to produce a return on that investment.

VZW and AT&T know TMo is giving away their service and that is not a sustainable business model. That is why they don't follow suit.

The most profitable thing TMo has done in the last 4-5 years is their successful greenmail of AT&T with that merger falling thru

 

[rakumiazuri]

You can't tell the difference between the 4G and LTE speeds. Both are fast on T-Mobile.

 

[KZIWarrior]

TMo still isn't making money. This is all a grab to acquire customers, which does help absorb R&D and investment. But eventually their prices will have to rise in order to produce a return on that investment.

VZW and AT&T know TMo is giving away their service and that is not a sustainable business model. That is why they don't follow suit.

The most profitable thing TMo has done in the last 4-5 years is their successful greenmail of AT&T with that merger falling thru

^ Kodiak799 touches on a key point. People don't understand that certain operating costs don't scale like other costs. The reason VZW, and to a lesser extent AT&T can afford to have massive coverage areas is that the total costs is spread over all users. If you are in a major city than yes, you are adding to their profits but in order to maintain coverage they have to keep infrastructure in markets/areas that don't bring in enough revenue to cover costs (i.e. they lose money in these areas). This is exactly why T-Mobile has been able to keep their prices low, they only operate in markets large enough to pay for the infrastructure and avoid areas that can't cover expenses. Granted their are other aspects that similarly have to do with scaling models (purchasing ability, leveraging tactics etc.) but this is probably the most prominent in terms of their coverage, or in T-Mobile's case lack thereof.

 

[johnomaz]

I moved to tmobile at the start of this month. Yes, the service isn't greatest where I live but LTE is in the process of rolling out right now. I've even see it flicker on my phone in my living room a couple times before going back to 4G. But with the ability to use Wifi Calling at home, I don't mind. In the car I don't call or text. I have two kids and know that I wouldn't be able to handle losing my kids in a crash no matter the reason so I don't use my phone in the car while driving to reduce the chances that I take a child from someone else (except at stop lights to change the music if I want a different genre on). At work, its weak. I work in a large building with a metal roof and my office is a room inside said big building. I did get LTE for AT&T when I had them but hey, I have wifi at work and a dedicated landline so I have access to a phone. My phone does make and receive calls in my office but it can get a bit staticy at times.

All that being said, I am glad I got T-Mobile. They seem to be doing things right and I think they will start to make money if enough people come over. I'm not paying any less than AT&T but I have no contract, I like the JUMP program and the option to have unlimited data is great. If I go on vacation I can switch from 2.5 gigs/month to unlimited and then switch back the following month. Even with very bad signal strength calls come through and so do texts. I can live without having 25Mb/s data at all times. I'm fine with 2 or 3 Mb/s nearly everywhere on their 4G signal.

 

[pc747]

well i will be getting the sim card and will pay for a month of service and try it for a month vs my att service.

 

[pc747]

TMo still isn't making money. This is all a grab to acquire customers, which does help absorb R&D and investment. But eventually their prices will have to rise in order to produce a return on that investment.

VZW and AT&T know TMo is giving away their service and that is not a sustainable business model. That is why they don't follow suit.

The most profitable thing TMo has done in the last 4-5 years is their successful greenmail of AT&T with that merger falling thru

^ Kodiak799 touches on a key point. People don't understand that certain operating costs don't scale like other costs. The reason VZW, and to a lesser extent AT&T can afford to have massive coverage areas is that the total costs is spread over all users. If you are in a major city than yes, you are adding to their profits but in order to maintain coverage they have to keep infrastructure in markets/areas that don't bring in enough revenue to cover costs (i.e. they lose money in these areas). This is exactly why T-Mobile has been able to keep their prices low, they only operate in markets large enough to pay for the infrastructure and avoid areas that can't cover expenses. Granted their are other aspects that similarly have to do with scaling models (purchasing ability, leveraging tactics etc.) but this is probably the most prominent in terms of their coverage, or in T-Mobile's case lack thereof.

you guys make great points in that t-mobile is strong in big cities and the cost factor could be the make or break for becoming a major player in the rural areas. I know I am going in holding on to my at&t service as I may have been willing to go from verizon to at&t with confidence but I can not say the same for going T-mobile quite yet.

 

[KZIWarrior]

Let us know how it goes, I do like their approach to equipment better than VZW and wouldn't mind getting off of contracts. Realistically with VoIP via GrooveIP the few places I go that don't have service have WiFi so it's not like I'd miss much. And to be honest I enjoy turning my phone off now so missing a few calls wouldn't be bad, lol. Besides who doesn't want to support Carly Foulkes)

 

[pc747]

Let us know how it goes, I do like their approach to equipment better than VZW and wouldn't mind getting off of contracts. Realistically with VoIP via GrooveIP the few places I go that don't have service have WiFi so it's not like I'd miss much. And to be honest I enjoy turning my phone off now so missing a few calls wouldn't be bad, lol. Besides who doesn't want to support Carly Foulkes)

To be honest I would rather see Verizon and At&t meet us in the middle here. What I like about t-mobile is that if I buy my phone full price my bill goes down and the reason our bills are they way they are is because they incorporate the cost of the phone along the 2 year contract. Ordinarily that would be great unless you buy a phone like a nexus or google edition device from google play or you decide to buy a developer edition or pay full price on vzw to keep unlimited data. Point being is it would be nice to see vzw and at&t incorporate that and I can see that happening if enough people start looking at pink. Are big red or blue afraid of pink the reality is big blue has more to fear than vzw because att customers can just swap out sim where vzw devices are locked to that carrier. So we are more likely to see at&t flinch than verizon.

 

[Asgard]

In the car I don't call or text. I have two kids and know that I wouldn't be able to handle losing my kids in a crash no matter the reason so I don't use my phone in the car while driving to reduce the chances that I take a child from someone else (except at stop lights to change the music if I want a different genre on).

First, I applaud your view. People always get mad at me because when I drive I don't answer my phone, and being someone who's dad died on a car accident I can't tell you how much I agree with you.
Second. According to your signature you have an Impreza WRX/STi so you get extra points for that.

Personally I live on an area with good coverage so as soon as my contract ends I'm going with Tmo, the only thing I need to figure out is if they have calls/messaging to Mexico because I saw a monthly pre-paid plan on AT&T the other day with pretty much the same that I have on VZW but for half the price.

 

[jntdroid]

I love T-Mobile's philosophy and how they're trying to shake up the industry. I love the device freedom. I love HD voice. I love simultaneous voice and data. I love how their HSPA+42 is as fast as LTE in a lot of places, and is the "fallback" to LTE in those places. I love how I can get a similar plan to my Verizon plan for about 60% of the cost.

I hate how I walk inside my building and lose coverage (Verizon gives me weak, but consistent LTE) - and I'm in one of their strongest areas.

I hate how when I travel to east TX to visit family, I lose service completely(even voice and text), even when the map shows I should at least be getting Edge - and this was as recent as a few months ago.

With Verizon I feel comfortable ditching my landline completely. With T-Mobile I'm nowhere near that train of thought.

 

[MissionImprobable]

The big thing for now is fringe areas. As others mentioned VZ eats the cost to maintain coverage in certain areas with minimal users at any given point and spreads the entirety of operations out over a large coverage base. When you look at VZs overall coverage it pretty much is the same as their 4G map since they are working to move to VOLTE as well regardless of if you're in New York, the middle of the AZ desert, or some nowhere road in Wyoming. That is exactly why we don't jump ship; it used to be acceptable to know you'd lose coverage between major cities, but that's not what most of us expect anymore and most of us also aren't willing to give that up.

I would love to go to Tmo and check out all those great Sony handsets that I've been missing out on, but I still have Unlimited on VZ and because of the rate we've gotten it really isn't a savings to jump ship simply so that I can play around with some different devices. I certainly do have my eye on T-mobile and Sprint to see what they do over time, however.

 

[kodiak799]

It will be interesting, if TMo is going to focus on major cities, what will happen to the cost structures. There are a variety of responses AT&T and VZW could take that might not be good for many customers, not to mention people in outlying areas with only 1 or 2 choices of coverage.

 

[Caesars]

I don't travel too far out of NE Ohio, but so far I've had unbelievable lte/hspa, loving my tmobile.

Note 3 <Caesars>

 

[jntdroid]

It will be interesting, if TMo is going to focus on major cities, what will happen to the cost structures. There are a variety of responses AT&T and VZW could take that might not be good for many customers, not to mention people in outlying areas with only 1 or 2 choices of coverage.

IMHO, Verizon needs to just start a marketing campaign similar to the "can you hear me now" one - i.e. something showing exactly why we pay for them and how their coverage is second to none. Maybe show some friends driving out to a rural camping spot, and one of them has AT&T or T-Mobile. In the car on the way out, he/she's bragging about how his/her LTE speeds are faster (though make it a focal point that it's not that much faster). Then when they get to the campsite, the AT&T/Tmo user has little to no signal of anything, and the verizon camper still has the exact same LTE signal.

I didn't elaborate that well, but you get the idea. They have the marketing budget, it seems they could crush T-Mobile with it if they wanted. Though they would probably never do anything that admitted other networks might have faster LTE. Though with AWS rolling out, maybe they're not faster anyway!