- Oct 9, 2002
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I can't tell you how many contradictory statements they've made regarding this.
In late 2013, the iPad mini retina (2nd gen) and iPad Air had just been released. T-Mobile made an offer: "Buying an LTE iPad? There's no reason to buy it anywhere else. We'll give you FREE 200 MB data each month FOR LIFE!" (my own summarization after reading social media posts, blogosphere posts, and T-Mobile press releases). Their big-shot CEO guy made repeated statements on social media about how it's real, no BS. No need to have T-Mobile phone service or any monthly charge. All that stuff... OK. Cool. I can see why this offer would generate some buzz.
I was not a T-Mobile customer, but had been considering T-Mobile for a while. I was going out-of-state for a month and thought it would be good to have the iPad with some games, music, and movies while there was no Internet or TV service in the mountains of West Virginia (unusable phone service too). I chose the 32GB mini 2 (retina) LTE model. With the credit check, I qualified for $0 down financing. I still made a significant down payment anyway -- because I wanted to pay it off more quickly (I don't remember the exact amount).
Each month, I paid 2-3x the stated payment amount on their site. With over-payments crediting toward each monthly payment, I wasn't sure of the exact amount I was being charged each month. Even when some tiny amount like $1 was due, I'd still usually pay closer to $30-$45. Early this year, I checked to see why it wasn't paid-off yet and found that they had been charging $10 / month for some kind of plan that was required until the device is paid off. I saw they had made several public corrections after the initial offer was announced. By this point, I had spent hundreds of dollars that were not applied to my installment payments toward the device. No one ever made this clear to me. I called many times, speaking to many different people. There was nothing they could do. They couldn't even cancel that plan and cancel the 200MB until the device was paid in full.
When I was finally able to, I recently made another large payment to pay-off the device completely. Now, I'm still being charged $10/month -- so I used their online chat to ask them to remove it.
Once again, I got multiple responses telling me that the $10 charge was necessary to have the "free" 200 MB data each month for life. A quick Google search led me to a press release on T-Mobile's own site, describing how they bungled the launch of this...especially with regards to CSR training. Still, it reiterated that, once the tablet is paid in full, there should be no monthly charge for the 200 MB/month free data for life.
http://newsroom.t-mobile.com/news/t-mobile-reiterates-free-data-for-life-details.htm
https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-9700
In the chat, she responded to my quotes from that page with a statement that contradicted itself. In the first sentence, she said there is no way to keep the 200 MB / month free data for life without the $10 plan. Then, in the very next sentence, she says you can switch it to a $0 pre-paid plan and get the 200 MB, but it will require a new SIM.
Despite the contradiction, I'll assume it's possible to do what she said. Why would a new SIM be required? The current SIM is the one that was installed at the iPad factory, before it was shipped to me and before I opened the seal on the package. I should have been able to activate the free 200 MB plan (or any data plan) with that SIM and there's absolutely no technical reason they can't change the plan associated with my subscriber identity module. My guess is they want to charge $10 for a SIM kit.
That reminds me: They charged me for the SIM initially, even though Apple installed the SIM at the factory. If I bought a T-Mobile iPad directly from store.apple.com, I would not have to pay extra for the SIM. That's just nickel-and-dime nonsense, but I was OK with paying it one time only.
Anyway, she gave me a 1-800 number to call, but I still haven't received an email with the log of the conversation.
In late 2013, the iPad mini retina (2nd gen) and iPad Air had just been released. T-Mobile made an offer: "Buying an LTE iPad? There's no reason to buy it anywhere else. We'll give you FREE 200 MB data each month FOR LIFE!" (my own summarization after reading social media posts, blogosphere posts, and T-Mobile press releases). Their big-shot CEO guy made repeated statements on social media about how it's real, no BS. No need to have T-Mobile phone service or any monthly charge. All that stuff... OK. Cool. I can see why this offer would generate some buzz.
I was not a T-Mobile customer, but had been considering T-Mobile for a while. I was going out-of-state for a month and thought it would be good to have the iPad with some games, music, and movies while there was no Internet or TV service in the mountains of West Virginia (unusable phone service too). I chose the 32GB mini 2 (retina) LTE model. With the credit check, I qualified for $0 down financing. I still made a significant down payment anyway -- because I wanted to pay it off more quickly (I don't remember the exact amount).
Each month, I paid 2-3x the stated payment amount on their site. With over-payments crediting toward each monthly payment, I wasn't sure of the exact amount I was being charged each month. Even when some tiny amount like $1 was due, I'd still usually pay closer to $30-$45. Early this year, I checked to see why it wasn't paid-off yet and found that they had been charging $10 / month for some kind of plan that was required until the device is paid off. I saw they had made several public corrections after the initial offer was announced. By this point, I had spent hundreds of dollars that were not applied to my installment payments toward the device. No one ever made this clear to me. I called many times, speaking to many different people. There was nothing they could do. They couldn't even cancel that plan and cancel the 200MB until the device was paid in full.
When I was finally able to, I recently made another large payment to pay-off the device completely. Now, I'm still being charged $10/month -- so I used their online chat to ask them to remove it.
Once again, I got multiple responses telling me that the $10 charge was necessary to have the "free" 200 MB data each month for life. A quick Google search led me to a press release on T-Mobile's own site, describing how they bungled the launch of this...especially with regards to CSR training. Still, it reiterated that, once the tablet is paid in full, there should be no monthly charge for the 200 MB/month free data for life.
http://newsroom.t-mobile.com/news/t-mobile-reiterates-free-data-for-life-details.htm
tmobile said:
https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-9700
In the chat, she responded to my quotes from that page with a statement that contradicted itself. In the first sentence, she said there is no way to keep the 200 MB / month free data for life without the $10 plan. Then, in the very next sentence, she says you can switch it to a $0 pre-paid plan and get the 200 MB, but it will require a new SIM.
Despite the contradiction, I'll assume it's possible to do what she said. Why would a new SIM be required? The current SIM is the one that was installed at the iPad factory, before it was shipped to me and before I opened the seal on the package. I should have been able to activate the free 200 MB plan (or any data plan) with that SIM and there's absolutely no technical reason they can't change the plan associated with my subscriber identity module. My guess is they want to charge $10 for a SIM kit.
That reminds me: They charged me for the SIM initially, even though Apple installed the SIM at the factory. If I bought a T-Mobile iPad directly from store.apple.com, I would not have to pay extra for the SIM. That's just nickel-and-dime nonsense, but I was OK with paying it one time only.
Anyway, she gave me a 1-800 number to call, but I still haven't received an email with the log of the conversation.
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