Dumped Tmo yesterday for AT&T

harsaphes

harsaphes

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Aug 29, 2005
Messages
5,331
Yes I know,how could I. Well...I've had Tmo for years and could almost forgive the crappy service in Manhattan(every building I go in I lose signal) but now that I'm in the blackout zone my only device that has cell service is my ATT iPad. So I dumped them. I swore to never be on AT&T again but SANDY forced my hand.
 
I'm sorry man :( I live In Eugene OR and the service here for tmob is fucking great, hope ATT treats you good though. What's the price difference?
 
More and more I'm giving Tmobile a look - I'm on verizon right now.

98 dollars a month for my Galaxy Nexus with LTE - 10GB/month of data.

I don't use much voice or data anyway -- but damn the LTE is fast as hell. Sadly my contract isn't up till early 2014.

In 6 months or so, I might be tempted to give the straight talk thing a "try" - while still keeping my existing verizon service. I have no idea how the Tmobile coverage would be in the area i live and work in. No sense in dumping something that works perfectly for a total unknown.

It's awfully tempting - cutting my bill in half and not having any change in voice service. (I know data wouldn't be as fast or as plentiful, but that's not a huge deal for me)
 
I just switched from att to tmobile. Tmobile is faster than att here in Colorado and has more consistent data everywhere I need. Att has good coverage but you'll never know what speed data you'll get. On att I usually get 0-1.8mbps 3g. 4g aka 3.5g is barely better here. Maybe 2-3 on avg.
Tmobile is typically 15mbps but ive seen up to 25mbps. Even when I have bad service on tmobile data is faster than att.

Hope you have better luck where you are.

As far as tmobile vs verizon, tmobile is just as fast or damn close. Although verizon usually has better coverage. There is no clear winner. I went tmobile to save money and I knew it was faster than att. I would have went verizon but didnt want to pay $100/mo for 1 phone. I pay $60/mo for unlimited data and 500 voice. My data will not get throttled like att/verizon

Go with what works best for your needs and area
 
Wait, I thought AT&T was letting T-Mobile phones roam on their network while the outages were in effect in NYC?
 
Tmobile always has the ability to roam on att towers among others from what tmobile told me
 
T-Mo could roam on edge, but it rarely did. You need to have literally ZERO T-Mo service for it to switch.

That being said, on AT&T where Sandy hit us in NJ I can't make any calls for send any texts, but I can SOMETIMES receive calls, though they mostly go right to voicemail. All the cell phone companies are fucked in the northeast right now, it's not just T-Mo. Verizon/Sprint are almost completely out in Central NJ as well.
 
I been with T-mobile for many years, and I can easily say their service in NYC is lousy. Indoor signal in almost non existence and even before the disaster making a call usually results in failure due to "network busy". When customers complain they tell you need to upgrade your phone, like that would magically fix their network. If you don't accepted their phone solution they will quickly remind you no where does T-mobile claims that their signal will work indoors.
 
Vice/versa, both of them are sharing network/bandwidth currently

T4rd said:
Wait, I thought AT&T was letting T-Mobile phones roam on their network while the outages were in effect in NYC?
Click to expand...
 
W.Feather said:
Vice/versa, both of them are sharing network/bandwidth currently
Click to expand...

Yeah, I meant to specify the other way around too. I read that a couple days ago. So I don't know why OP didn't have the same reception as any AT&T phone with his T-Mobile phone in that area unless his T-mobile phone just didn't support it somehow.
 
Thats my thoughts, something else , because right now in the North East, T-Mo and ATT should have exactly the same coverage since they are network sharing to spread the load.


T4rd said:
Yeah, I meant to specify the other way around too. I read that a couple days ago. So I don't know why OP didn't have the same reception as any AT&T phone with his T-Mobile phone in that area unless his T-mobile phone just didn't support it somehow.
Click to expand...
 
Currently AT&T and T-Mo can roam in disaster areas without penalty or prioritization. But usually each carrier prioritizes their own networks over the other and you would not be roaming unless you have absolutely NO signal. For T-Mo, that's almost always in buildings!

(I'm laughing at T-Mo but I'm on Sprint!)
 
Use t-mobile here and have worked with ATT/Cingular first hand and see how they treat their customers and business partners, I will never go near them.

I use a HD2 and I can max out my 3G data connection quite easily when in a metro area on a 2+ year old phone..... go to the boondocks and it's edge or GSM only
 
T4rd said:
Wait, I thought AT&T was letting T-Mobile phones roam on their network while the outages were in effect in NYC?
Click to expand...

Roaming on AT&T even in that area requires 3 conditions;

-zero T-Mobile signal (phone won't roam if you can detect a TMO tower, even if zero bars)
-AT&T tower active (they're down too)
-your phone has to be compatible with their bands (generally 850mhz for 2G, 1900mhz for 3G, very few areas still use 850 for any 3G).

INFRNL said:
Tmobile always has the ability to roam on att towers among others from what tmobile told me
Click to expand...

Sort of. T-Mobile and AT&T have had roaming arrangements, but it was mostly tit-for-tat (and guess who has more towers). T-Mobile has been losing a lot of roaming agreements with AT&T lately.

And the recent "concession" for AT&T to allow T-Mobile 3G users to roam on 850mhz was a joke for two reasons. First, very few T-Mobile phones support that band for UMTS/HSPA. The majority of phones on T-Mobile are dual-band (1700/2100) designed for TMO, or tri-band (1700/1900/2100). Quad-band phones are usually 850/900/1900/2100, or not compatible with TMO's AWS spectrum. That only leaves penta-band, which can be named; Nokia N9, Galaxy Nexus, and Nexus 4. Also, AT&T has been withdrawing the use of 850mhz for 3G as they migrated to 1900mhz exclusively in many areas. Bottom line, AT&T offered to let TMO roam on a network that most TMO phones can't use, and AT&T themselves is decommissioning.

So yes, T-Mobile users can roam on AT&T, it's just a shrinking footprint.
 
T-Mo has HORRIBLE service in NY and NJ. Its unusable based on what I've seen on my friends phones.
 
ComputerBox34 said:
T-Mo has HORRIBLE service in NY and NJ. Its unusable based on what I've seen on my friends phones.
Click to expand...

That's so untrue it's not even funny. I did VERY well with T-Mo, except (deep) inside large buildings like a Target or Walmart, where I got zero service. To me, that was unacceptable, but it's the nature of 2100Mhz bandwidth. Since my corporate discount on AT&T made it cheaper than T-Mo, I switched..
 
entropism said:
That's so untrue it's not even funny. I did VERY well with T-Mo, except (deep) inside large buildings like a Target or Walmart, where I got zero service. To me, that was unacceptable, but it's the nature of 2100Mhz bandwidth. Since my corporate discount on AT&T made it cheaper than T-Mo, I switched..
Click to expand...

I have no signal on ground floor buildings. Almost all the restaurants I frequent I have no signal. One is two blocks from my apartment. It's extremely frustrating to be the only one without service when you're out with your friends. Believe me, I was with Tmo for years but being without power gave me the opportunity to see first hand (FOR ME) that ATT in my area and for my needs performed better than Tmo.
 
For you guys having trouble with tmobile in nyc/nj, what phones do you have? Maybe its partially your phone itself?
Here in Colorado I have not had any issues inside buildings using tmobile on my gn2
 
So far so good. Its only been one day and I can see a difference in my signal in the places that I have none. Going to try out my favorite "dead" zones this week and will report back.
 
INFRNL said:
Tmobile always has the ability to roam on att towers among others from what tmobile told me
Click to expand...

I know for a fact that this used to be true. But I distinctly remember calling on two or three different occasions to ask this very question. And everytime, level 2 support has concretely told me that this was true and only true, when TMo service was unavailable. But for me personally, I have only seen this work once. I work in a basement, and my co-worker who sits next me who is on AT&T regularly gets 1 to 2 bars of 3g service, and I have none. Yet my phone doesn't switch over to AT&T like it should, since service is not available in my vicinity. BUT it is otherwise available in the area.


As for the topic on hand. I would switch over to AT&T from TMo if the prices for data plans didn't suck out right. I get a very nice discount from my employer's deal with Tmo. ~$70/mo with the top data plan, 500 minutes and unlimited text. Can AT&T top that?

I've been on TMo for years and years now. They've always been nice to me.
 
JohnRico said:
I know for a fact that this used to be true. But I distinctly remember calling on two or three different occasions to ask this very question. And everytime, level 2 support has concretely told me that this was true and only true, when TMo service was unavailable. But for me personally, I have only seen this work once. I work in a basement, and my co-worker who sits next me who is on AT&T regularly gets 1 to 2 bars of 3g service, and I have none. Yet my phone doesn't switch over to AT&T like it should, since service is not available in my vicinity. BUT it is otherwise available in the area.


As for the topic on hand. I would switch over to AT&T from TMo if the prices for data plans didn't suck out right. I get a very nice discount from my employer's deal with Tmo. ~$70/mo with the top data plan, 500 minutes and unlimited text. Can AT&T top that?

I've been on TMo for years and years now. They've always been nice to me.
Click to expand...

T-mobile has no roaming when making PHONE CALLS. Data is a different story.
Also you have to have a nationwide plan to be able to use your phone everywhere and if you go near the border, you gotta call them and let them know so they don't ding you for getting a canadian or mexican tower...
 
YeuEmMaiMai said:
T-mobile has no roaming when making PHONE CALLS. Data is a different story.
Also you have to have a nationwide plan to be able to use your phone everywhere and if you go near the border, you gotta call them and let them know so they don't ding you for getting a canadian or mexican tower...
Click to expand...

T-Mobile does roam for phone calls. I can confirm this. Their agreement with AT&T does not cover all areas. So it is possible to roam in some areas and not others.
 
Medion said:
Roaming on AT&T even in that area requires 3 conditions;

-zero T-Mobile signal (phone won't roam if you can detect a TMO tower, even if zero bars)
-AT&T tower active (they're down too)
-your phone has to be compatible with their bands (generally 850mhz for 2G, 1900mhz for 3G, very few areas still use 850 for any 3G).



Sort of. T-Mobile and AT&T have had roaming arrangements, but it was mostly tit-for-tat (and guess who has more towers). T-Mobile has been losing a lot of roaming agreements with AT&T lately.

And the recent "concession" for AT&T to allow T-Mobile 3G users to roam on 850mhz was a joke for two reasons. First, very few T-Mobile phones support that band for UMTS/HSPA. The majority of phones on T-Mobile are dual-band (1700/2100) designed for TMO, or tri-band (1700/1900/2100). Quad-band phones are usually 850/900/1900/2100, or not compatible with TMO's AWS spectrum. That only leaves penta-band, which can be named; Nokia N9, Galaxy Nexus, and Nexus 4. Also, AT&T has been withdrawing the use of 850mhz for 3G as they migrated to 1900mhz exclusively in many areas. Bottom line, AT&T offered to let TMO roam on a network that most TMO phones can't use, and AT&T themselves is decommissioning.

So yes, T-Mobile users can roam on AT&T, it's just a shrinking footprint.
Click to expand...

Good info. The switch to roaming generally works exactly the same for most carriers, Sprint will roam on Verizon and other local carriers as well but only if you have absolutely no Sprint signal (and if you're in a really dodgy area you might see it switch back and forth which absolutely murders the battery life).

Phones can be forced to roam w/custom ROM and whatnot, but carriers can also drop you if you spend most of your time roaming.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top