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Review of T-Mobile US (wireless)


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Reviews:
114 reviews (81 good) (11 bad)
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Review by cmarslett See Profile
member for 6.4 years, 70 visits, last login: 14 days ago
updated 176 days ago

  • Pflugerville,Travis,TX
  • $70 per month
  • (month by month)
  • about 3 days
  • "Far faster than my previous 3G phone, coverage nearly as good."
  • "wish data was as cheap as DSL or Clear, but I am happy with TXT and voice."
  • "Excellent on the road, at the airport, backup for when Clear goes down."
Pre Sales Information:
Install process:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)

My Google Nexus GSM (bought direct from Google) and T-Mobile service are working out better than I expected (especially since T-Mobile doesn't provide a lot of info before you sign up). Unlimited voice/text is $60+, adding unlimited Android Web bumps it to $130. And I have been capped one month with my 3G service last year, and one of the last two months with 4G on the GNEX (I re-downloaded all the US and EU maps for my ALK CoPilot when I got the phone - about 2.5 GB over a day or two).

I settled with 700 minutes voice/unlimited TXT/unlimited Android data (2 phone family plan). That costs me half of the unlimited across the board deal and I'm quite happy with it. We have 3 phones (only two use any data, though) and it costs us about $150/mo. I don't recall running over 700 minutes in the more than 2 years we have been with T-mobile.

SpeedTest.net tells me I get 150 ms pings and 8-9 Mbit down with 1-3 Mbit up. That's plenty fast though I think the spec for HSPA+ is 21 Mbit....

I would like better coverage (central Austin seems to be a black hole!). Otherwise, service is as good as it started out being.

Netflix looks as good as it could on a 5" screen, but there are just a few things I still want on something bigger than a phone. And of course tethering to my laptop in airports is a really good deal, too. Thank you, T-Mobile.

Comments:
ArizonaSteve

join:2004-01-31
Apache Junction, AZ
Reviews:
·T-Mobile US
·voip.ms
·Sipgate VOIP
·CenturyLink

8-9 Mbit down?

Do you really get 8-9 Mbit down? Are you sure that's right? It doesn't seem possible since their "4G" is just the old 3G that was renamed but still runs at the same speed as evidenced by the fact there is no 3G anymore. Here in the Phoenix area there is no 3G now, just "4G" some places at about 2.7Mb and Edge everywhere else at 127Kb and it's too slow for any of the Android apps to work.
Their 3G used to connect at 7Mb and give a speed of about 3Mb but now the "4G" actually seems to be slower at 2.7Mb.
cmarslett

join:2006-11-22
Pflugerville, TX
Reviews:
·Clearwire Wireless
·T-Mobile US
·Clear Wireless
·AT&T U-Verse

Re: 8-9 Mbit down?

Not reliably, as I mentioned. I can download a 1.1 GB file and get that kind of speed at 2AM. I've done it 2-3 times just to verify it. That's tethered to my laptop, since even a high end phone with a fast SDcard can't handle that rate (as far as I can tell - Gnex can't, and a Nexus One with a C10 microSD both peak out at about a quarter of that).

But when the towers get really congested I have even seen the up/down drop to around 300kbit/600kbit (yeah, upload faster than download!).

And you're right about the 3G going away, here too, if I use HSPA+ I get a good signal in my office (Gnex). If I connect with the older 3G or HSPA(-) using my Nexus One, it drops out regularly. I suspect they are killing circuits right and left.

djdanska
Rudie32
Premium,MVM
join:2001-04-21
San Diego, CA
kudos:4
I have no problem downloading at over 20Mb/s down in northern Virginia, NYC, and Chicago using my HTC amaze 4g

buddahbless

join:2005-03-21
Premium
Reviews:
·AT&T DSL Service
·Verizon Online DSL
·Comcast
·T-Mobile US

difference between 3G/4G TMO and ATT service

this may help explain the difference in terminology TMO and ATT (before LTE) use to describe there 3G and 4G service.
HSPA = 3G
HSPA+ =4G
»www.differencebetween.com/differ···hnology/
ArizonaSteve

join:2004-01-31
Apache Junction, AZ
Reviews:
·T-Mobile US
·voip.ms
·Sipgate VOIP
·CenturyLink

1 edit

Re: difference between 3G/4G TMO and ATT service

That's not true for T-Mobile who seem to have come up with their own standards. Here in AZ for 3G they use HSPA+ on 1700Mhz. It connects at 7Mb and gives you an actual speed of about 3Mb down, 1-2Mb up. For 4G they use something called WCDMA on 1760Mhz but that only works in or around T-Mobile stores since there isn't much coverage anywhere else. The 4G speed measures just 4-5Mb though even with 5 bars at the store, it's not really fast like they claim.

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