St.Pete-Tampa-Orlando-Daytona people: Should I switch to t-mobile?

[alyarb]

It's just me and my dad on this Verizon account. We have two GS4's and are sharing 8 GB of data. Voice\Text is unlimited, and we consistently pay $200/mo. My dad has to tether at work and he is the one driving our data usage.

According to the data on rootmetrics.com, I should expect good performance with T-mobile in my region. I am all over central Florida but usually in Clearwater and Orlando.

I was hoping to hear some firsthand accounts of how T-mobile is performing in this area right now. Can anyone comment on wifi-calling? I get horrible signal from Verizon in my home.

If I were with T-Mobile and had the ability to receive cellular calls over my 30/30 mbps cable connection that would be assuring.

Can anyone speak to the network performance, and how smooth/rocky was the account migration? How are the early termination fees handled? Any input is appreciated. Thanks

 

[paperwastage]

Test drive.... it's free, no one can give you better information than yourself

http://explore.t-mobile.com/test-drive-free-trial

if you decide network is good enough (in your area), then we can talk more about the other points

- WiFi calling requires a t-mobile phone (no Nexus, no international phones, yes to iPhone on iOS8 and other android phones they sell directly)

network performance: When you get LTE (and sometimes 3G), you'll love it. otherwise, you'll be on slow crappy 2G/Edge, or no signal

 

[alyarb]

Wow, thanks. I didn't know they were doing the test drive, I will have to check that out.

One thing I just realized is that we have the non-GSM galaxies, so I will have to get new devices and that means doing their financing at $26/month per phone, bringing my monthly payments back up to the $200 mark.

 

[cpacini]

Tmobile coverage is solid in the area. I live in Brandon and work in Lakeland, I have solid lte along i4 and throughout Lakeland. Same in downtown Tampa.
My father switched from Verizon recent to tmobile and doesn't notice a difference in coverage

 

[s44]

One thing I just realized is that we have the non-GSM galaxies, so I will have to get new devices

No you don't. The Verizon S4 works perfectly in T-Mobile refarm areas (that is, those with LTE), including full AWS LTE.

Just make sure your baseband is updated to MK2 or newer.

 

[kaerflog]

I live on Orlando and have traveled east/west and the signal is solid.
For you and your Dad, its $80 with 2.5gb of data for each of you.
If you want GS4, its $18.25x2/month.
For LG G3, its $24.95x2/month.
$117+tax each month for the GS4.
$130+tax each for G3.
Still much less than $200 for Verizon.

 

[paperwastage]

^tmobile split up service cost and phone subsidy. Other carriers (Verizon included ) were forced to act. Also, 2.5gb/line doesn't apply for a 2 person plan)

Depending on your use case, Verizon could be cheaper

10GB more everything plan with 2 people=$130 without phone subsidy. T-Mobile 2 people @5GB each ($80 base + 2*20= $120, Verizon could be cheaper if you have corp discounts... Of course T-Mobile offers unlimited, but they don't have corp discounts anymore except for government/military)

You should switch to the 10gb more plan above. if you are staying on Verizon and your contract goes up. An optional phone installment plan costs $20-35 a month, 130+30*2 =190, cheaper than your current (well, maybe even after taxes and fees). If you are happy with your s4, your phone bill drops by $50

 

[alyarb]

OK, interesting. The S4's are using the latest firmware, so they would work? Their site doesn't list the S4 as a eligible "bring your own device."

Also, t-mobile's website says an individual plan with unlimited data is $80.

A family plan with two lines with unlimited data would be $140.


...and the unlimited plans only allow 5 GB of tethered data? yikes

 

[cpacini]

How much data do you actually use/need? If you are getting by with 8 gb shared now, than 3 or 5 gb per line might be enough. 2 lines with 3 gb would be 100, 5 gb would be 120. You don't have to have the same amount of data per line either.

 

[alyarb]

The thing is, I use less than a gig per month. It's my dad's laptop which must be tethered at work. he's using Chrome with adblock plus, but I just checked the verizon site today and he used 300 MB of data today. So I am already on track this month for another possible increase (to 10 GB), which would kind of piss me off if i had to do it.

Originally, we had 4 GB shared and I thought that was enough, but we had to increase it to 6 and then to 8 GB, which is $40/mo extra heh.


I'll be in Clearwater this weekend and I'm going to set him up with Opera and some plugin-blocking extensions and see what that does to his daily usage. He only reads news sites and news blogs, so I imagine it's just the affiliate media in the margins of the content that is driving his data usage.

And now I've invited the people to come and bash me because bloggers depend on funds from affiliates heh

 

[paperwastage]

^ list of compatible phones may not be complete

http://www.reddit.com/r/tmobile/wiki/phones

As I've said, T-Mobile may not be valid for your use case. Verizon data buckets don't care if you tether, but T-Mobile does. But T-Mobile is the only carrier (well, sprint too) that still offers unlimited

Best scenario would be staying on Verizon, and downgrade to more everything once your contact is up. T

-Mobile does offer stuff like 7-11GB data on phone which allows full tether. Base plan of 1GB each($80), upgrade ur dads line to +$70(?) for 11GB data for $150. 11gb only works on your dad's cell

 

[s44]

OK, interesting. The S4's are using the latest firmware, so they would work? Their site doesn't list the S4 as a eligible "bring your own device."

Yes, it absolutely works. And yes, NC5 has AWS support in the baseband so you'll get full LTE. To use wifi calling you'll want to flash to a T-Mo based ROM using Safestrap though. (Personally I'd forget about wifi calling and just use GV+something like an Obihai at home.)

And btw, note that you don't have to get unlimited for every device... and that most internet music streaming doesn't count towards the quota.

 

[gsethi]

Test drive.... it's free, no one can give you better information than yourself

http://explore.t-mobile.com/test-drive-free-trial

if you decide network is good enough (in your area), then we can talk more about the other points

- WiFi calling requires a t-mobile phone (no Nexus, no international phones, yes to iPhone on iOS8 and other android phones they sell directly)

network performance: When you get LTE (and sometimes 3G), you'll love it. otherwise, you'll be on slow crappy 2G/Edge, or no signal

I second this. I am doing the test drive right now. Yesterday, signal on T-mobile was as good as AT&T (maybe one less bar) but much higher speeds on LTE.

This morning, I am only getting 1 bar and 4G (no LTE) on the T-mobile phone, at the back of my house. Front gets LTE.

So, everyone's scenario will be different.

UPDATE: WTF T-mobile. Yesterday, sitting in the front room of my house, i was getting LTE and excellent speeds. Today, at the same exact spot, i am getting No Service or barely 1 bar, and 4g (no LTE). Will do some more testing but it looks like I am staying with AT&T. Definately, do a Free test Drive before switching.

 

[Megatomic]

I live in Lakeland and my wife's T-Mobile service was less than great on her Moto X which is widely known to have excellent radios. She was much happier when she switched to AT&T.

 

[alyarb]

I'm glad I created this thread then. You guys do make some great points:

1. with verizon, there is still less guesswork than T-Mobile with regards to network availability. wide-varying signal levels within the same small structure like a house would (and does) drive me nuts. I only get 1-2 bars at home but at least it's usable.

2. t-mobile isn't the absolute cheapest for every use case

and of course

3. in my particular case, switching providers wouldn't net enough savings for it to be worthwhile. what i really need to do is slash at the content my dad is pulling down all day and maybe i can set our plan back to 6 GB.

 

[isekii]

I live in Lakeland and my wife's T-Mobile service was less than great on her Moto X which is widely known to have excellent radios. She was much happier when she switched to AT&T.

Weren't there different versions of the MotoX one for Tmo and one for ATT ?

 

[MrSquished]

i just switched plans on AT&T to the unlimited talk & text plus 10GB shared data (one iPhone and one HTC One M8) for $130 a month before taxes and fees. i feel it's a good deal.

 

[Megatomic]

Weren't there different versions of the MotoX one for Tmo and one for ATT ?

There was an AT&T specific model (XT1058) and an unlocked GSM model (XT1053). My wife had the XT1053 which did come with a T-Mobile SIM card.