What are some value adds to using T-Mobile over AT&T?
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I have been on AT&T since I dumped Nextel after the Sprint/Nextel merger. I have always liked T-Mobile, but their service quality in St. Louis was lacking. That is pretty solid now, and I moved to the Chicago suburbs which has great T-Mobile coverage.
I ran the numbers with my current AT&T plan compared to the current T-Mobile advertised plans. I am actually getting away slightly cheaper with AT&T as one of our phones currently has no type of payment plan.
Our AT&T phones are on their NEXT plan and switching to T-Mobile The commitment would be similar to finance the phone.
T-Mobile will be great when the family is in Japan next year due to WiFi calling, but until then it is all a wash. Also AT&T keeps saying they will enable WiFi calling but it has not happened yet.
Here are the numbers I am looking at right now.
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The WiFi calling, as you mentioned, is huge. I absolutely love that feature.
Also, TMobile considers the US, Canada and Mexico to be a single domestic market. So everything that they offer to you in the US extends to all of the big three North American countries.
But the big winner for me at least is the unlimited text and data in over one hundred countries. Don't know if that is a big winner for you or not, for me it is epic. Nearly anyplace that I am likely to be (Morocco was a bit exception, as is Gibraltar which I have no interest in ever seeing again) get text and data for free. That's huge. Calling is cheap too, but not free.
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Japan is included in the free text and data.
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@scottalanmiller said:
Japan is included in the free text and data.
For $10/month unlimited calls landlines is available, but of no interest. we call there, but not enough minutes to make $10/month worth it.
Unlimited to Japanese mobile we would use enough (i.e. would be cheaper than the SIP plans I use now) if available, but that is not one of the 30 countries available for the $15/month add on.
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@scottalanmiller said:
Japan is included in the free text and data.
And that is why I said it would be nice next year when my wife goes back.
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Considering that it was posted today that AT&T signed up voluntarily to work with the NSA (though I suppose we don't have proof that all carriers didn't) makes me want to leave them as they don't care about my privacy.
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@Dashrender said:
Considering that it was posted today that AT&T signed up voluntarily to work with the NSA (though I suppose we don't have proof that all carriers didn't) makes me want to leave them as they don't care about my privacy.
That should be a thread on its own. I'd post that as a news item.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
Considering that it was posted today that AT&T signed up voluntarily to work with the NSA (though I suppose we don't have proof that all carriers didn't) makes me want to leave them as they don't care about my privacy.
That should be a thread on its own. I'd post that as a news item.
Done
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I use T-Mobile and love it. It's not the best if you travel a lot, but for a homebody like me it works perfectly well.
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@Nic said:
I use T-Mobile and love it. It's not the best if you travel a lot in the US but if you travel a lot internationally it is by far the best, but for a homebody like me it works perfectly well.
FTFY
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I'm debating between T-Mobile and Republic Wireless.... Republic is less expensive but I'm concerned about the cell service in this area not being available. T-Mobile is fairly well represented in most towns around here though.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@Nic said:
I use T-Mobile and love it. It's not the best if you travel a lot in the US but if you travel a lot internationally it is by far the best, but for a homebody like me it works perfectly well.
FTFY
Good point - I did mean US
Also I switched from Verizon and used their ETF buyout feature and it worked without a hitch. I just went into the store with my last Verizon bill and they mailed me a gift card for the ETF balance a few weeks later.
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In places like Spain and Panama, TMobile never drops, ever. Even in the most remote corners and rural areas or mountains.
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The problem with switching is that it will actually be more expensive for the term of the financing of the phones. This is why it is not simply a clear cut, switch and save money thing and why I was asking people for opinions on what value adds the service may bring.
While I could simply buy the phone outright, that does not change the math because the financing versus outright purchase ends at the same total in 24 months.
I could wait for the iPhone 6s to release and switch. this would give me a newer model phone for the same rate as I would get the 6 now. Or I could get a 6 after the 6s comes out and assume the price point will be going down a bit.
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Getting out of a contract or finance deal can make the equation skew a lot. Green field, TMobile is a pretty clear win, I think.
Verizon practically shoved me over to TMobile with their open hatred of customers and their "loyal customer fees". Literally, that's what it was called.
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Tmobile has gotten much better around here. And the prices are great compared to Verizon. But we do MANY MANY road trips in the US and Verizon just still has the best coverage. I have to rely on my cell and a mifi way too much to be without service.
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Having recently switched from ATT to T-Mobile all I can say is DONNNNNNNNNN'TTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's the worst thing ever. We all ( 4 of us on my family plan ) have iPhone 6 and 6 pluses and get no reception anywhere. Like anywhere. New York, Seattle, everywhere we've been it's an embarrassing, crippling struggle.
That said, if your only goal is to save money, and you're fine w/ maps, data, pretty much everything just not working a lot of the time, switch to T-Mobile. It does, techncially, let you successfully make phone calls sometimes. You can also text, though my gf and I will text each other in the same building and sometimes one of us won't get the other's for over an hour, even on our amazing fiber-powered wifi, it's just shocking and absolutely GD MF terrible.
I plan on switching back at some point, or to some other carrier. T-Mobile is just... the absolute worst. It's almost like not having a smartphone.
The end.
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@creayt said:
Having recently switched from ATT to T-Mobile all I can say is DONNNNNNNNNN'TTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's the worst thing ever. We all ( 4 of us on my family plan ) have iPhone 6 and 6 pluses and get no reception anywhere. Like anywhere. New York, Seattle, everywhere we've been it's an embarrassing, crippling struggle.
That's so weird. NY it had the best reception of anything I tried (AT&T was the worst.) Dallas, it was better than Verizon (didn't test AT&T.) Seattle it worked fine. I use it everywhere without issues. Even the places where @Minion-Queen goes that she has issues, it routinely works for me.
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@creayt said:
You can also text, though my gf and I will text each other in the same building and sometimes one of us won't get the other's for over an hour, even on our amazing fiber-powered wifi, it's just shocking and absolutely GD MF terrible.
I've seen that a lot with Verizon. Texting that took three hours from two people at the same table.
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@creayt said:
Having recently switched from ATT to T-Mobile all I can say is DONNNNNNNNNN'TTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's the worst thing ever. We all ( 4 of us on my family plan ) have iPhone 6 and 6 pluses and get no reception anywhere. Like anywhere. New York, Seattle, everywhere we've been it's an embarrassing, crippling struggle.
That said, if your only goal is to save money, and you're fine w/ maps, data, pretty much everything just not working a lot of the time, switch to T-Mobile. It does, techncially, let you successfully make phone calls sometimes. You can also text, though my gf and I will text each other in the same building and sometimes one of us won't get the other's for over an hour, even on our amazing fiber-powered wifi, it's just shocking and absolutely GD MF terrible.
I plan on switching back at some point, or to some other carrier. T-Mobile is just... the absolute worst. It's almost like not having a smartphone.
The end.
I think most companies have this texting issue. It can regularly (a few times every other week) take 1-2 hours for my texts to get to my wife, we are on Verizon.
