T-Mobile Unlimited Data Plan Discussion

[Kenomac]

Our family has been with T-Mobile for two months now on their new unlimited data plan. We made the change primarily because after 30 years with Verizon, we became tired of the lousy service and constant peddling of the latest cellphones and lack of an overseas plan. But that's not the point of this thread.

How many have made the switch to the T-Mobile unlimited data plan? Are you pleased with the results and has it lived up to the promises?

For us, I was able to keep my US phone number so folks back in the states can still call me for free, although... it costs me 20 cents per minute (not what I was promised) on the international plan. It also costs me 20 cents per minute to make calls to the US, again... not what I was promised. The unlimited data however, is working out greats so far here in Italy where I get 3G roaming service via TIM. Now I use either Whatsapp or Facetime to make all calls. I've checked several times with T-Mobile to receive assurances that it's free and so far, there's no roaming charges on my account. This is in contrast to using Verizon, where I had to suspend my phone number for six months each year at a cost of $30 per month (for no service) and purchase SIM cards where ever I went.

Please tell about your experiences, has everything worked out? So far, so good for us.

Cheers

Ken

[newhaul]

Ken we had t mobile for our trucking company not international but we did have 10 lines. All was great for about the first 8 months. Then weird charges started showing up. For some reason we suddenly had 5 tablets on the account paying extra for data. Our Bill suddenly trippled for no apparent reason. We liked the service but the billing practices soon drove US back to verison. Again not international . my best advice would be to check each line on each Bill and keep them honest. ( we have been fighting the bill for about 8 months now since porting out. ) just my 2CW

[LoudMusic]

My work phone is TMobile, and I never see the bill, but we switched to them when they originally started the Unlimited International service several years ago. It's been great for us as we have about 30 guys who travel all over the world.

From my user experience, it's been pretty good all over Europe. I get at least Edge/2G unlimited everywhere I go. Many places I get something like half a gigabyte at 3G before it drops to 2G. And because I spent most of my time working on location or at the hotel I have reasonably fast wifi to string my data along.

I've also used TMobile wifi hotspots with some success.

And most recently I've taken advantage of their partnership with GoGo.

It's also been easy to add additional locations, such as central America, when we travel there if it isn't already covered by our Unlimited International plan. I believe it's like $20/month/country, but don't quote me on that

Basically, if you're an American and you're not using TMobile, it's my opinion you've already gone wrong

[Kenomac]

It was nice walking off the plane in Rome last week and having everything connected without roaming charges. Much nicer than hunting down local SIM cards at the first shopping mall or forking money over to the news stand guys usually for nothing in return.

I've notified family and friends to download Whatsapp or contact me via Facetime, which is working fine so far.

[newhaul]

Ken thats great news keep us up on how well it works this summer and any issues you run into.

[jkleins]

How is the reception on the East Coast compared to ATT or Verizon. anybody have a comparison?

[Kenomac]

Seems fine in Massachusetts. The only place my wife has trouble is in the basement of her downtown Boston hospital. Otherwise no difference from Verizon.

[LoudMusic]

Originally Posted by jkleins

How is the reception on the East Coast compared to ATT or Verizon. anybody have a comparison?

They claim it's pretty good. It's been good everywhere I've been.

https://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/coverage-map

[Captain Puget]

Any comments/ experience on coverage quality in the PNW (Northern Puget Sound and up the inside passage to SE Alaska?

[skipgundlach]

I have TM unlimited. They have recently upped the data to 30G before (possible - network congestion controlled) throttling - which I have never experienced.

I have had many positive comments, but have yet to use it, for the Bahamas; I'll try it out in a month or so.

I use mine strictly for data, because...

See another post by me for details, but I ported the same number I've had for over 40 years (starting with a Bellsouth land line) to Google Voice, which operates over Hangouts. The effect is similar to Skype but has my previous number - which everyone who's called me for over 40 years knows - attached to it, and which comes up on the CID screen when I make a call.

In the Bahamas, under GV or Hangouts, I pay some trivial cost to make a local call (10 cents landline, 20 cell, or similar), but nothing to call any US number; similarly, my 91-year-old mother-in-law, who uses me as her tech support or to reach her daughter, calls the same number she has for decades; as far as she can tell, I'm next door. The cost to make a Bahamas call is the same as it is for a call card, but I don't have to renew it every 90 days or have it die.

And, my experience with BTC's sim - which my TM sources have essentially duplicated - was that if I could see a cell tower, I got 4G throughput. I understand that it's slower in some of the far-out islands, but have not yet personally experienced it that way.

So, if you can get a signal, and the bulk of what you'd call would be to and from the US, the Google hack will be free. Local calls would be on the GVoice/Hangouts cost menu, but pretty affordable, and, of course, you don't have to mess with a local sim if you're roaming free with TM, and might be cheaper than whatever the local carrier would charge...

[Colin A]

Originally Posted by jkleins

How is the reception on the East Coast compared to ATT or Verizon. anybody have a comparison?

I have had good luck on the East coast from NJ up to Midcoast Maine. Also been fine from Charleston down to Lauderdale. Haven't tried the mid Atlantic yet. T-mobile does have issues in some large buildings in some cities depending on what bands are in use in that city. On the West coast I have used it in Seattle up to Bellingham without issue,

[zboss]

We switched from AT&T to the T-Mobile Unlimited Everything plan with the GoGo In-Flight. So far, we are generally pleased with the results. The only default option I would switch off is the wi-fi assist for phone calls. This was on by default and it was causing me to have bad phone call connections (you are connected over wifi and if that signal wasn't good then it sounded very badly).

I'm here in West Palm Beach and I get 53 megabits down and something like 30+ up.

With that said, the coverage is not quite as good in places as my old AT&T phone. However, T-Mobile is buying spectrum up all over the place and they are expanding fast.

I favor unlimited data over perfect coverage. The go-go inflight is also very useful.

[skipgundlach]

PS my coverage - at least where I am most of the time - is from hunger.

Seeing more than 2 bars is cause for amazement most of the time. On our mooring ball in Vero Beach City Marina, 1-2 is the norm, and around town in the car, rarely better.

Other places it's gangbusters, so it's all a matter of Location, Location, Location.

That's my only beef with the service...

[sailingforfun]

I can't comment on costs, but I can on connectivity. We just sailed through the A,B,C's Columbia, Panama and Costa Rica. I had Verizon service, another guy had AT&T and the third had T-Mobile.

The guy with T-Mobile had connectivity everywhere all the time, the guy with AT&T had connectivity about 75% of the time and I (Verizon) had connectivity about 50% of the time.

Needless to say I am now a T-Mobile customer.

[Scrimshaw4]

We have one T-mobile account and as soon as the contract period is up we are cancelling and going to AT&T. Unlimited data is great IF you can get coverage. T-Mobile in the Annapolis area is very bad and and non-existent on the Chesapeake Bay! JMHO