Questions about T-Mobile Prepaid

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I'm currently on Verizon, but the price is pretty ridiculous for my uses and I only get 2gb per month. I really don't care for minutes, only data and text. Also, it seems like Verizon is pretty "meh" here around the Bay Area. My LTE speeds were atrocious when I went to San Francisco, and 3G seemed like 2G. Anyways, I've looked at my options such as Straight Talk, AIO and even GoPhone. But they all have some annoying issues, STT frowns upon streaming and seems to cut off data when you don't use it(in the background, I prefer to have my stuff update). AIO limits speeds and has horrible pings because of this and GoPhone seems pretty expensive for what it is. So I came to the conclusion that T-Mobile prepaid is the best option. $30 for 100 minutes, 5gb 4G/LTE and unlimited texts is perfect. That said, I do have a few questions.

Currently I have a Verizon iPhone 5 and I know it doesn't support T-Mobile LTE, but it does support the fake 4G (HDSPA and HSPA+ I think), but not on the 1700mhz band, only the 1900 and 2100. But, I am in California and MetroPCS seemed to have a lot of it rolled out here, plus I saw on a website that tracks the "sightings" of the refarmed areas and mine was covered. When I use the T-Mobile coverage checker it says 3G coverage is excellent, do they consider their fake 4G as 3G now? I know that 10 miles north and south of me it says "excellent 4G LTE coverage".

Later this year I will be upgrading my phone, so the LTE situation will be covered then.
 
I have seen people say Bay Area t-mobile coverage is great unless you go to certain areas

some info:

http://www.sensorly.com/map/4G/US/USA/T-Mobile/lte_310260#q=San+Francisco+Bay+Area,+CA,+USA

t-mobile 1900mhz 3G refarmed map (that you already probably visited)
http://www.airportal.de/

how much are you paying for 2GB? are you on the $60 "loyalty" plan?

I wouldn't trust t-mobile's coverage map (or sensorly's map either).... best case would be to use the service for a month for $30. not sure whether you can suspend your verizon service for that month though
 
why not do T-mobiles $50 for unlimited text talk and web? (post paid)

Not a bad price imho

Edit: Dead Deal
 
Except that in that $50 plan....
"First 500 MB of data at up to 4G speed"
 
Like I said, I really don't need minutes. I think I've maybe used 100 minutes in the past 6 months. My current plan also has my brother on it, but it's like an 8 year old plan with some additions. 700 minutes, unlimited texts, 2gb data for me and 150mb for him. $166ish a month for that. He's probably going to get his own plan so I don't see the need to stick with Verizon anymore.

I am still curious as to whether the T-Mobile labels HDSPA and HSPA+ as 3G or 4G. I know when I looked at this last year they still labeled things as 4G, but now it's either 4G LTE or 3G.
 
xIronCrossx said:
Like I said, I really don't need minutes. I think I've maybe used 100 minutes in the past 6 months. My current plan also has my brother on it, but it's like an 8 year old plan with some additions. 700 minutes, unlimited texts, 2gb data for me and 150mb for him. $166ish a month for that. He's probably going to get his own plan so I don't see the need to stick with Verizon anymore.

I am still curious as to whether the T-Mobile labels HDSPA and HSPA+ as 3G or 4G. I know when I looked at this last year they still labeled things as 4G, but now it's either 4G LTE or 3G.
Click to expand...

You can try it out pretty easily, just start with a new phone number on T-Mobile and switch the SIMs in your phone. T-Mobile has traditionally called their HSPA+ 4G, and is different from their 4G LTE. Also the non-LTE service is very usable. I usually got 10-30 Mb/s with my Nexus 4.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-Mobile_US#Radio_frequency_spectrum_chart

Service in the Bay Area is acceptable, switching from ATT to T-Mobile I did notice more dropped calls, but that was in one location in Berkeley (parent's house) which got pretty poor reception from ATT as well.

Another thing to consider is that (I think) the postpaid phones get priority on the network.

And while it doesn't sound applicable to you, with more lines, the per phone cost of the postpaid plans is very low. My bill is around 110 IIRC for 5 phones with data.
 
Well the good thing is that if I really don't like it/the coverage is terrible I can always try another prepaid option, although that brings another question. Let's say I transfer my number to the T-Mobile prepaid, could I then transfer my number again to let's say AIO or GoPhone?
 
xIronCrossx said:
Well the good thing is that if I really don't like it/the coverage is terrible I can always try another prepaid option, although that brings another question. Let's say I transfer my number to the T-Mobile prepaid, could I then transfer my number again to let's say AIO or GoPhone?
Click to expand...

Yeah, you shouldn't have any trouble transferring it again. You just need to make sure that you keep the account active. Once you cancel the account it becomes harder (impossible?) to port the number.
 
unrlmth said:
Yeah, you shouldn't have any trouble transferring it again. You just need to make sure that you keep the account active. Once you cancel the account it becomes harder (impossible?) to port the number.
Click to expand...

And that's just paying for it every month, they don't care if you actually use the sim or not right? This would be if I went to Europe and bought a local sim for when I stay there. I know Verizon doesn't care if you use their service or something else as long as you pay for the account.
 
Tmobile has a plan that unlimited text, 100 mins straight(no free nights or weekends) and 5GB of full speed data for 30$ on a month to month.
 
Here is what you do. You go to T-Mobile. Pay $20 for the $3/day plan. That gives you unlimited talk and text plus 200mb of 4G a day(2g edge is unlimited) for 3 days. (Sim activation is $10).

If service is good then I'd switch to their postpaid plan over prepaid. Same prices, just more benefit. You'll have a credit check. You'll already have a valid sim so they won't charge you another $10 activation fee.

$70 unlimited everything. Can't beat that. I use about 25-30gb a month. In Buckhead-Atlanta, Georgia I pull about 40-50mbps on LTE and 12-20 on HSPA+
 
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I just switched to T Mobile from ATT, and I am still using my Atrix 2. I had to get an unlock code from ATT to use the Tmobile SIM. I still get 4G on it, so I imagine that you would too. LTE may be a different story though. I notice that my phone is in EDGE a lot too. A new phone would remedy this though.
 
save your self the trouble dont switch to t-mobile,i switched from att to t-mobile and im in brooklyn a metro area and theres no service in stores or my house. but att always works.
 
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