T-Mobile Uncarrier 7.0, 10 Sep. "This time it's personal."

[Bateluer]

http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/29/6083337/t-mobile-uncarrier-7-event-coming-september-10

T-Mobile is going to try shaking up the wireless industry again on September 10th. The carrier has just sent out invitations for an "Uncarrier 7.0" event taking place at one of its own stores in San Francisco early next month. There's no big stage show this time, and T-Mobile's tagline for the upcoming news is: "This time it's personal." The event's scheduled to kick off at 1PM PT / 4PM ET, and we'll be bringing you whatever announcements John Legere and Co. make to set T-Mo apart from the competition once again. In case you've forgotten, some of T-Mobile's previous "Uncarrier" initiatives have included a move away from two-year service contracts, 200MB of free tablet data each month, free international data coverage, unlimited music streaming that doesn't affect data usage, and more. What's next? We'll find out soon enough. September's sure shaping up to be a busy month.

Discuss. Any thought?

 

[s44]

SIM unlocking?

http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/0...nlocking-app-for-galaxy-avant-only-right-now/

 

[Kelvrick]

Band 12 phone announcements?

 

[SAWYER]

I dont care what they do until their signal is on par with ATT at least. I bought a 30/month plan to test out and going by their own site I should have had excellent service where I live, it was horrible

 

[Red Storm]

I dont care what they do until their signal is on par with ATT at least. I bought a 30/month plan to test out and going by their own site I should have had excellent service where I live, it was horrible

The $30/month plan is prepaid, which does not get the same level of coverage as postpaid AFAIK.

I for one love what T-Mobile has been doing. They are SO much more affordable than AT&T and Verizon, especially for family plans. I went to price out a comparable family plan for 5 at both Verizon and AT&T and was shocked at how much more expensive it was, and that was even before factoring in monthly payments for a set of 5 devices!

 

[SAWYER]

I meant Att prepaid(Straight Talk which I use)

 

[Bateluer]

I meant Att prepaid(Straight Talk which I use)

I wasn't impressed in Aug 2012 when I test drove the 30/Walmart plan either. Today, on postpaid, I've very satisfied. I get solid LTE in my home, though I usually stay on WiFi there.

On UC7, SIM unlocking sounds like a good idea. Something that fits with the 'personal' tag line.

 

[Red Storm]

I meant Att prepaid(Straight Talk which I use)

The plan you tried out ($30/month) is prepaid T-Mobile. The postpaid T-Mobile data coverage is a lot better.

 

[paperwastage]

The plan you tried out ($30/month) is prepaid T-Mobile. The postpaid T-Mobile data coverage is a lot better.

It would be better (because you get better roaming agreements)... But its not good to rely on roaming agreements in your own home/home town. Maybe your phone wasn't 100% compatible with rmobiles network, particularly the aws bands?

Tmobile has been building out their network quickly though (see LTE deployment that got lit in 2013, and how strong it is right now). Keep an eye out and do another test (drive/$30) in a year or so, especially if they have 700mhz spectrum in your area

Either way, be happy that T-Mobile is still competing... Att/sprint/Verizon has been responding back with better offers/terms

 

[SAWYER]

Maybe the issue was it was an unlocked att iphone

 

[Bateluer]

Maybe the issue was it was an unlocked att iphone

. . . Unless that phone supported TMO's bands, you'd be stuck on 2G EDGE with it on TMO.

 

[bearxor]

The plan you tried out ($30/month) is prepaid T-Mobile. The postpaid T-Mobile data coverage is a lot better.

The roaming coverage on TMo postpaid isn't going to kick in for areas that have TMo coverage. You could have -120db coverage of TMo on EDGE and -80db of AT&T LTE is available and the phone won't switch over. So unless he was losing signal altogether, a post paid plan won't have better coverage.

 

[Medikit]

Honestly the free unlmited x1 year for referrals and allowing for more devices per account with 2.5gb for 1.5 years is already pretty amazing. Oh yeah and duplicating your phone's data for the tablet!

 

[bearxor]

If TMo follows through and upgrades their entire network footprint to LTE by the end of the year, I'd see very few reasons not to go with TMobile. Other than my AT&T service being essentially the same price.

 

[PowerYoga]

only if their signal isn't shit.

 

[Medikit]

only if their signal isn't shit.

A big reason for this is that T-Mobile simply does not have access to low band (sub 1ghz) spectrum. In the next year they should be able to use the recently purchased 700mhz spectrum. In the meantime they provide voice over Wifi for compatible phones.

 

[paperwastage]

Xperia Z3 is officially coming to T-mobile

http://newsroom.t-mobile.com/news/t-mobile-to-add-the-all-new-sony-xperia-z3-this-fall.htm

If it's the D6616 version, will have Band 12 support (probably will be D6616, since it's LTE bands are tailored specifically to what T-mobile operates on... bad because it might not be portable 100% on AT&T - only supports band 2,4,12)

(Page 8)http://dl-developer.sonymobile.com/...ria_Z3_D6603_D6633_D6643_D6653_D6616_WP_1.pdf

think i'm going to skip the Z3 b/c of this shortsight...

 

[evident]

If TMo follows through and upgrades their entire network footprint to LTE by the end of the year, I'd see very few reasons not to go with TMobile. Other than my AT&T service being essentially the same price.

No way your AT&T is the same price, unless if you have no minutes, no data on AT&T...


TMobile is the best choice i made in years to save me $ on recurring monthly fees.

 

[bearxor]

No way your AT&T is the same price, unless if you have no minutes, no data on AT&T...


TMobile is the best choice i made in years to save me $ on recurring monthly fees.

I have a 21% discount on AT&T. Long story short:

On T-Mobile, I'd pay $160/mo for two phones with plans that cover me.
On AT&T, I'd pay $185/mo. The extra $25 /mo is pretty worth it for me right now, considering that a lot of my area is still EDGE-only. I can't even get HSPA or LTE down the street from my home.

And I'm only paying about $145 right now because I only have one phone under a payment plan, but that will likely change in a few weeks with the iPhone 6.

Like I said, they get the entire network footprint to LTE, it's going to be extremely tempting. But I'm also in no hurry to switch. Obviously, someone without any kind of corporate discounts would be in a VERY different situation.

EDIT: I would also like to notate that phone pricing is the big differentiation in this price. 32GB iPhone 5S's are $25/mo on T-Mobile and $37.50 on AT&T Next 12. That's a $12.50/mo price difference. But I can trade in my iPhone every 12 months on AT&T under that plan and pricing. If I wanted the same on T-Mobile, I'd have to tack on an extra $10/mo, meaning the price difference is really closer to $5/mo for me. Which is why I said "essentially" the same price.

So just to break that down to an even more base level. Let's say you wanted dirt cheap phones like a Nokia Lumia 635 or a Moto G or something. On AT&T, My MRC would be $109/mo after discounts. On T-Mobile, it would be $110/mo if I brought my own devices.

 

[boomhower]

They've got to get their network in shape before they can interest me. Here I have LTE Verizon. Sprint is LTE and AT&T is 4G with partial LTE that is rolling out by the end of the year. Tmobile is 2G.

 

[bearxor]

They've got to get their network in shape before they can interest me. Here I have LTE Verizon. Sprint is LTE and AT&T is 4G with partial LTE that is rolling out by the end of the year. Tmobile is 2G.

Same situation I'm in. I give AT&T a little bit of a pass because they do not own/operate the towers in my city. The local telco has those. But they upgraded them to HSPA+ a few years ago and the speeds are pretty good. Usually 6-7Mbps/1-2Mbps. They're also upgrading them to LTE. Every once in a while I'll glance and see LTE on my phone. So hopefully they're getting close.

TMo on the other hand. EDGE, EDGE, EDGE. Not even AWS HSPA+. But small areas that used to be EDGE-only are starting to show up as LTE so I'm fairly optimistic they're going to at least come close to hitting their goal of all LTE by the end of the year. Small pockets of EDGE I can deal with.

I hope they say something about this next week. I'd love to know for certain before the next iPhone is available. I'm pretty willing to switch to TMo just to say "fuck you" to AT&T/Verizon.

 

[cpacini]

Anyone heard anything in this. Timing seems poor as this is bound to get drowned out by residual Apple coverage

 

[Seven]

Some wifi calling in the air and some other nonsense stuff. Seems boring. The uncarrier is getting old.

 

[Red Storm]

They say free wifi calling for all devices, and seamless transition with VoLTE.

Is there supposed to be more?

 

[rcpratt]

This is so personal that it hurts.