tmobile got the Note 2 this morning

[The0ne]

T-Mobile let's you BYO to their prepaid side with any device that's compatible with their network. Here's the link to plans: http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/monthly-4g-plans Now, this means that you need to show up with a phone. What I'm trying to do is have a T-mo store sell me a Note for full retail ($650ish) with no plan, then do the prepaid BYO option, which is the logistically easier way to go. (if they'll sell you the phone, which the one store I tried so far wouldn't) Assuming you don't talk much, the 30/100 plan saves you $50 a month compared to the cheapest plan witha similar amount of data, which adds up to $1200 over a two year contract.

Shorty seems to be going for some version of 'sign up for a contract, cancel, pay the ETF, keep the phone and sign up for pre-paid' which he'd have to tell you the logistics and numbers about.

I hadn't realize that you could do that with ETF, can you really? Shady but if it works...hmm.

 

[SandEagle]

I used to get this excited over girls when i was your age. Now, I would rather take a Note 2 over them.

 

[shortylickens]

I already had prepaid with my WP7. I Got a contract note 2, swapped sims, and tomorrow I will call up cancel my contract, gladly paying the fee. Over time I will save money with the prepaid sim.

You need to get the prepaid sim seperately, direct from thwir website. Tmobile wont lwt you do ANY prepaid plan when you pickup thw note 2.

 

[The0ne]

I already had prepaid with my WP7. I Got a contract note 2, swapped sims, and tomorrow I will call up cancel my contract, gladly paying the fee. Over time I will save money with the prepaid sim.

You need to get the prepaid sim seperately, direct from thwir website. Tmobile wont lwt you do ANY prepaid plan when you pickup thw note 2.

So after talking with a rep over the plans and rates I think I know exactly what you're doing to get the price (ETF) and the $50 rebate. I'll share with everyone. Man, I'm so new to this phone plan thing lol

Value plan, $650 for phone with $250 up front. The rest is divided and added to your monthly bill totaling $96 ($76+$20). After the remaining balance of phone is paid off, the monthly bill drops to $76

Classic plan, $419 for phone up front at $100/month. This plan is the only one with the $50 rebate.

So doing what you did and choosing the Classic plan and assuming you get to keep the $50 rebate it's works out. Hmm, still getting the pre-paid sim will be hard for me since my phone isn't a smartphone. In any case, I'm off to test drive the Note 2 at the store.

 

[shortylickens]

Look VERY closely at this page
http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/monthly-4g-plans

The 30 dollar unlimited data is ONLY for new contracts. Meaning a new number. You can NOT convert any current SIM and/or phone on or off contract over to that plan. You will need to buy a new SIM for a dollar and activate it with that plan. You cant switch out of it. If you do then you will never be allowed to go back.
I hated giving up my old number, especially cuz it was from Tmobile and I didnt think I'd have to.

 

[shortylickens]

So after talking with a rep over the plans and rates I think I know exactly what you're doing to get the price (ETF) and the $50 rebate. I'll share with everyone. Man, I'm so new to this phone plan thing lol

Value plan, $650 for phone with $250 up front. The rest is divided and added to your monthly bill totaling $96 ($76+$20). After the remaining balance of phone is paid off, the monthly bill drops to $76

Classic plan, $419 for phone up front at $100/month. This plan is the only one with the $50 rebate.

So doing what you did and choosing the Classic plan and assuming you get to keep the $50 rebate it's works out. Hmm, still getting the pre-paid sim will be hard for me since my phone isn't a smartphone. In any case, I'm off to test drive the Note 2 at the store.

I'm keeping the mail in rebate but I'm also paying a huge ETF.
BUT, in the end it all works out better. Especially cuz my local store gave me a small discount that the web store or corporate stores arent doing right now. This thing will not come down in price until next summer.

 

[ImDonly1]

Hmm, still getting the pre-paid sim will be hard for me since my phone isn't a smartphone.

Why is that a problem?
http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-phones
Under category click SIM card. They are $1. Get a microSIM for the Note 2.

Get SIM, go online and activate/sign-up for prepaid $30/mo plan.

They sell plastic microSIM to full sim adapters on ebay for $1 if you wanted to swap between phones.

 

[shortylickens]

100 messages? I thought Tmo's $30 plan had unlimited messages.

Yur right it does.

:hmm:


Ok, on the home screen it says 100 messages.

If I click on details it says my plan gets unlimited messages.



What manner of nonsense is this?

 

[wirednuts]

100 min

unlimited text

 

[maniac5999]

Gentlemen, I just got off an extended chat session with a T-Mobile rep. They did say that at this time you can't just buy the phone, but they did give me the numbers for shorty's option. Here they are: $650 for the phone - $230 plan discount, - $50MIR. = 370 for the phone.
You would also be hit with a $35 activation fee, $200 termination fee. That equals $235 on top of the price of the phone. Now, after my chat session I called them up and asked about cancellation, and they said that if I cancelled within the grace period I wouldn't be charged a month at $80, but I don't entirely trust them.

Now, assuming they are correct regarding the month of service, it's basically just a wash compared to buying the phone outright if you don't get the MIR, better if you do, but I never trust MIRs. I'm going to go and try to do this tomorrow at lunch.

 

[Infrnl]

I think tmobile a new pricing strategy is rediculous. $250down and $20 for 20 mos= full price of $650 and you still have to sign a 2yr contract. They told me they would give me $100 rebate for porting my number over from my AT&T account.
They also told me I could pay $650 to buy the phone off contract. I do not think tmobile coverage is the best but this guy claims they are on par with att and its just going to get better since they just bought that company. He also claims they will have lte next yr and will have coverage on par with Verizon.
I do no think they have as much coverage as att. Unfortunately this location only had a dummy phone so I couldn't play with one or compare actual size to the gs3.

 

[QueBert]

Of course most of what you wrote is an utter lie/or demonstrates your inability to use the app, because every single article on Google Music when it was released notofied us of the fact that the songs were exclusive to google music.

Most of all, the fact that there is in fact no hack to get Google Play songs to play in a normal music player because of the lack of an API, unless you mean playing cached songs, which is less of a hack and more of a "install an app that supports it" which tends to be "most of them"

Also, does "Powerful Music Companies that want to prevent piracy and so refuse to alow Google to sell songs without conditions which include not providing an API" strike a note anywhere?

So what about people who didn't read "every single article on Google Music" or even one? The STORE told me I could play the song from the cloud, or download it to my phone so I can play it when I don't want to stream it. I don't think it's far fetched for people who assume the "download" would make it playable on your device. Not on your device using 1 specific app. I didn't see a word about it only being able to be played using the Google Music app, and I'm not the only person bitching about this, Google it.'

It's telling that songs I bought on iTunes were instantly synced and playable with any app I wanted to use without any "hacking" so your reason why Google couldn't do is seems iffy.

As for "no hack" it can be done with enough effort, and there are multiple apps for it. I bought Offline Music Importer, and it did what was a PITA to me do manually. Feel free to point out where I lied, you could technically say I don't know how to use the app I suppose. But Google sure doesn't mention the severe limitations of playing the songs you download on your phone.

 

[monkey333]

And yet those of us on sprint are getting jerked around at best buy..

 

[Shortcut]

Gentlemen, I just got off an extended chat session with a T-Mobile rep. They did say that at this time you can't just buy the phone, but they did give me the numbers for shorty's option. Here they are: $650 for the phone - $230 plan discount, - $50MIR. = 370 for the phone.
You would also be hit with a $35 activation fee, $200 termination fee. That equals $235 on top of the price of the phone. Now, after my chat session I called them up and asked about cancellation, and they said that if I cancelled within the grace period I wouldn't be charged a month at $80, but I don't entirely trust them.

Now, assuming they are correct regarding the month of service, it's basically just a wash compared to buying the phone outright if you don't get the MIR, better if you do, but I never trust MIRs. I'm going to go and try to do this tomorrow at lunch.

Thanks for looking into this, bro! I may do the same as well tomorrow - can't wait to jump on the android train.

 

[The0ne]

Why is that a problem?
http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-phones
Under category click SIM card. They are $1. Get a microSIM for the Note 2.

Get SIM, go online and activate/sign-up for prepaid $30/mo plan.

They sell plastic microSIM to full sim adapters on ebay for $1 if you wanted to swap between phones.

Thanks for the info. I mean if the cancellation works it's still not so bad paying $76/month for 2 years vs $30/month. But as Maniac realize like I did, with all the fee's it might be easier to just buy the phone for the full price and stick the $1 sim in.

Edit: Good phone btw and I was not disappointed. Screen is gorgeous. Books, UI navigation, playing movies, etc were flawless for me. I'm actually returning my newly bouth 7" tablet I use for reading in preparation for the Note2 purchase; but I think I will wait a bit and see if price can be had for less after a month or so?

 

[Infrnl]

I agree that buying outright is the best option. There are mixed answers if we can buy outright from tmobile and I do not think anyone else is selling it yet

 

[Fire&Blood]

I think tmobile a new pricing strategy is rediculous. $250down and $20 for 20 mos= full price of $650 and you still have to sign a 2yr contract. They told me they would give me $100 rebate for porting my number over from my AT&T account.
They also told me I could pay $650 to buy the phone off contract. I do not think tmobile coverage is the best but this guy claims they are on par with att and its just going to get better since they just bought that company. He also claims they will have lte next yr and will have coverage on par with Verizon.
I do no think they have as much coverage as att. Unfortunately this location only had a dummy phone so I couldn't play with one or compare actual size to the gs3.

At least they tried something new, which is something they should have been doing all along. Being the first carrier to offer a device that other carriers will carry too is a good thing. If they couldn't secure an exclusive device with the popular OEM''s, they should have been experimenting and contracting others the entire time for high end devices instead of just sticking with the weakest cousins of most popular phones. In some cases it was really extreme, no one can name the 3 Motorola phones without looking them up first, they were that terrible, as opposed to some at the least passable Moto devices elsewhere.

The price will discourage many but it is a device with want factor which is what they sorely lack.

 

[Oyeve]

Of course most of what you wrote is an utter lie/or demonstrates your inability to use the app, because every single article on Google Music when it was released notofied us of the fact that the songs were exclusive to google music.

Most of all, the fact that there is in fact no hack to get Google Play songs to play in a normal music player because of the lack of an API, unless you mean playing cached songs, which is less of a hack and more of a "install an app that supports it" which tends to be "most of them"

Also, does "Powerful Music Companies that want to prevent piracy and so refuse to alow Google to sell songs without conditions which include not providing an API" strike a note anywhere?

I just go to googlmusic website download the song on my computer and copy it any device.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Gentlemen, I just got off an extended chat session with a T-Mobile rep. They did say that at this time you can't just buy the phone

What's the difference between buying Tmobile's version and the international version? Just LTE?

 

[ChristieNooks]

Can you confirm if the T-mobile variant has the "Multi-Window" function?

To turn it on press and hold the back button for 3 seconds. If it works the multi-window task bar will appear. If not, a firmware update should be coming soon.

 

[ChronoReverse]

Can you confirm if the T-mobile variant has the "Multi-Window" function?

To turn it on press and hold the back button for 3 seconds. If it works the multi-window task bar will appear. If not, a firmware update should be coming soon.

None of the US models will have it as shipped. Likely will come with the first OTA.

 

[ChristieNooks]

I'm currently living in Taiwan and there is no multi-window function here yet.

Samsung was quick to update the European Note II's with this feature and I hope other regions will be updated as quickly.

One other feature I hope is updated soon is the screen recorder function. I even noticed some reviewers used this function to make their reviews. You should be able to hold up on the volume rocker and the home button at the same time to star recording. But it's not on mine.

And I find it very annoying as these are two unique features that I wanted on my Note II and aren't available....yet.

 

[golem]

IT WORKS!
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA BLOODY MARVELOUS!


I didnt have the bastard seated correctly (had to use one of those clipper tools). After fiddling with it for a couple minutes I finally got it in correctly. Turned it on and the sucker makes calls & everything.


Wicked sick, now I can do everything I want for 30 bucks a month.

Did you buy the phone on the classic or value plan. I don't think you can cancel out the the value plan w/o Tmobile blacklisting your phone and maybe even sending your account to collections. (I think reasoning behind this is that the etf covers breaking the contract on the service, but not the "loan" to get the phone at a discounted price that you're supposed to pay back at $20.00 a month).

Also make sure the local store you bought it from doesn't have it's own extra etf. I know bestbuy and costco don't have an extra etf besides the one Tmo charges, but stores like Wirefly and Amazonwireless have their own separate etf from the one the carrier would charge.

 

[shortylickens]

Gentlemen, I just got off an extended chat session with a T-Mobile rep. They did say that at this time you can't just buy the phone, but they did give me the numbers for shorty's option. Here they are: $650 for the phone - $230 plan discount, - $50MIR. = 370 for the phone.
You would also be hit with a $35 activation fee, $200 termination fee. That equals $235 on top of the price of the phone. Now, after my chat session I called them up and asked about cancellation, and they said that if I cancelled within the grace period I wouldn't be charged a month at $80, but I don't entirely trust them.

Now, assuming they are correct regarding the month of service, it's basically just a wash compared to buying the phone outright if you don't get the MIR, better if you do, but I never trust MIRs. I'm going to go and try to do this tomorrow at lunch.

If you cancel within the grace period you ALSO need to turn the phone back in.
Otherwise the grace period is meaningless. Actually, it might be better to keep it for more than 30 days, THEN cancel. That would look considerably less suspicious I think.

 

[shortylickens]

I agree that buying outright is the best option. There are mixed answers if we can buy outright from tmobile and I do not think anyone else is selling it yet

Nope. Right now its one of the very few devices they only sell on contract. And before anyone starts this debate again, YES, it is legal for them to do that.
Somebody tried getting consumer affairs on a provider about that and it turns out a business can sell their product however they damn well please.
BUT, consumer affairs also allows you to get out of a contract any time you want. You just need to pay any associated fees. In the case of a cell phone that means ETF (to recoup the cost of the phone itself) and Activation (to cover the cost of one person making one phone call).