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Review by bobjohnson See Profile

  • Location: Orlando, Orange, FL, USA
  • Cost: $75 per month (24 month contract)
  • Install: about 1 days
When it's good, it's great!
When it's not, it's really bad
Voice and text is always great. Data, Hit or miss.
Pre Sales Information:
Install process:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I have had a T-Mobile line for my business for about 5 years. Never had any problems with it when I was in the limited coverage area. Just recently bought the Nokia Lumia 710 and since I bought the phone with no sim card I had to call t-mobile to get the micro-sim. The representative I spoke with talked me into getting a data plan for it for $5 more a month since I had the old Value Unlimited Talk & Text for $69.99. Still unlimited talk and text and 5gigs of 4g with no overage (with hotspot plan) for $74.99. I already used Sprint for my data needs but I figured I could give this a try for $5 extra. The service is Top notch in all HSPA areas, even 3g is pretty solid. T-Mobile's coverage map is definitely the least accurate I have seen as far as what you get where. Outdoor coverage on the map shows better than edge and you will most likely be on edge. EDIT/UPDATE!!: I have figured out how to fix this issue. Dial ##data#, click settings, change to 3g only!!! Don't know if this works on anything other than windows phone but hope it helps someone don't like that my phones indicator skips 3g. It shows I have full 4g and I get 1meg down and maybe 256k up. Kind of deceptive if you ask me but I did get a system information app that shows what i'm actually on so I worked that out myself. All in all a good service for the money. I would recommend to the city dwellers that don't need fast service outside of the big cities. Very reliable for the basic services even off the highways.

Edit: To add speedtests.

Within 2 miles of one another.

Update: 12/29/12- Being throttled sucks!! That is all

Update: 6/16/13 - As you can see from my attachment, I took my phone with me to the dark side and I'm happier for it. While T-Mobile may be good for some people, it's just not for me. I called CS about a week ago for the unlock code and there were no issues and no attempt to keep me as a customer. The rep I spoke with told me that it would take up to two weeks to receive my unlock code via e-mail. Since I have a Nokia it took about four hours to get the code.

Update 5-9-15: In Florida T-Mobile is middle of the road, in the Carolinas where I've been for the past year it's frustrating to say the least.

Update 5-19-16: I switched to T on my last update this time last year. Then I bought a Nexus 6 and got the invite for Google FI so I switched to them. Using Fi I realized that I spent all the extra money for using T-Mobile all the time anyway, so I ported my line back to T-Mobile direct and brought the wife and kids lines from T, Net10 and Straight Talk (which costed about $240 a month) Now we have the Simple Choice North America 10GB per line plan for $120 for 4 lines and really couldn't be happier. What a difference a year makes!

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member for 17.1 years, 3670 visits, last login: 1.1 years ago
updated 7.8 years ago


bobjohnson
Premium Member
join:2007-02-03
Spartanburg, SC

bobjohnson

Premium Member

Upon further review...

After spending more time with this service and making a trip halfway across the country on a just interstates trip I suppose that I'll be sticking with sprint for my mobile data needs. The data really doesn't work anywhere well. Slacker Radio only worked for less than half of my trip. As long as you aren't mobile this is a good service.
ArizonaSteve
join:2004-01-31
Apache Junction, AZ

ArizonaSteve

Member

No Coverage Outside Of Town.

You are correct, they don't have any service outside of major urban areas. I recently drove across Texas on I-10 and there was no coverage at all past El Paso until I reached San Antonio! AT&T and Verizon cover most smaller towns and along the freeways. Sprint even has service in a few areas but T-Mobile doesn't have any service at all in most rural areas.

BTW, you are paying way too much at $75/mo. If you stay with T-Mo you should buy one of their cheap phones at Walmart with the $30/mo unlimited data plan and put the SIM in you phone.

bobjohnson
Premium Member
join:2007-02-03
Spartanburg, SC

bobjohnson

Premium Member

Re: No Coverage Outside Of Town.

said by ArizonaSteve:

You are correct, they don't have any service outside of major urban areas. I recently drove across Texas on I-10 and there was no coverage at all past El Paso until I reached San Antonio! AT&T and Verizon cover most smaller towns and along the freeways. Sprint even has service in a few areas but T-Mobile doesn't have any service at all in most rural areas.

BTW, you are paying way too much at $75/mo. If you stay with T-Mo you should buy one of their cheap phones at Walmart with the $30/mo unlimited data plan and put the SIM in you phone.

I have a business account with Sprint so I have coverage wherever Verizon has coverage with them but with T-mo I use it for my business and use about 3000 voice minutes every month so I couldn't use the $30 WalMart plan if I wanted to. Because of this I also don't think I could rely on prepaid from any company as I can't afford any downtime or bad customer service. Thanks for the advice though.
ArizonaSteve
join:2004-01-31
Apache Junction, AZ

ArizonaSteve

Member

There are lots of different speeds.

Regarding your speedtests within 2 miles of one another, there are lots of towers around that give different speeds. They only have a range of about 1/2 a mile and I have 6-7 all around me but they are just 2G & 3G with speeds of 120k-6Mb, the nearest 4G tower that has the highest speeds of 22-24Mb is 2 miles away near the T-Mobile store. To get the best speeds depends a lot on which way you are standing, how high you hold the phone up in the air, anything in the way, etc. For everyone to get fast speeds everywhere they would have to cover the earth with the newest, fastest towers spaced not more than 1 mile apart in every direction but of course that is impossible. If you use an app like OpenSignalMaps you can see where all the towers are around you and what speed and protocol you are using. Unfortunately it doesn't show the speed and type of all the towers though, just the one you connect to. Network Signal Info will also show the tower you connect to and the speed and protocol but it doesn't show all the other towers.

bobjohnson
Premium Member
join:2007-02-03
Spartanburg, SC

1 edit

bobjohnson

Premium Member

Re: There are lots of different speeds.

said by ArizonaSteve:

Regarding your speedtests within 2 miles of one another, there are lots of towers around that give different speeds. They only have a range of about 1/2 a mile and I have 6-7 all around me but they are just 2G & 3G with speeds of 120k-6Mb, the nearest 4G tower that has the highest speeds of 22-24Mb is 2 miles away near the T-Mobile store. To get the best speeds depends a lot on which way you are standing, how high you hold the phone up in the air, anything in the way, etc. For everyone to get fast speeds everywhere they would have to cover the earth with the newest, fastest towers spaced not more than 1 mile apart in every direction but of course that is impossible. If you use an app like OpenSignalMaps you can see where all the towers are around you and what speed and protocol you are using. Unfortunately it doesn't show the speed and type of all the towers though, just the one you connect to. Network Signal Info will also show the tower you connect to and the speed and protocol but it doesn't show all the other towers.

Lol, wut? In my speedtest comparison it's showing the difference between a HSPA 42 tower and a sketchy GPRS tower in a fairly decent sized city within a couple miles of each other. I do understand cellular technology and how it works. This was an unbiased review of an inconsistent network. If I lock my phone to 3g I get at least 3g pretty much everywhere. I have a stand next to my laptop mount in my truck and don't hold it but I shouldn't have to stand with my phone over my head to get decent service in Orlando Florida with any service anyways. FYI, There is no Network Signal Info or OpenSignalMaps for Windows Phone 7.
ArizonaSteve
join:2004-01-31
Apache Junction, AZ

ArizonaSteve

Member

Re: There are lots of different speeds.

I don't understand why you are still complaining or what the "Lol, wut?" comment is about since they still can't put towers everywhere on earth to satisfy everyone with good service no matter where they might be! A lot of the towers are still just 2G GSM with Edge and will take a long time to replace with updated service. Now that they are moving 3G from 1700Mhz to 1900Mhz it's getting better though. My old Samsung 4G Exhibit II that was never of any use since there aren't many 4G towers around has started working again now that a tower just a block from me has been converted to 1900Mhz!
BTW, too bad you got a Windows Phone 7 that doesn't have any apps but if you want to upgrade you can always buy a used Samsung Galaxy S-II on ebay and put your SIM in it.

bobjohnson
Premium Member
join:2007-02-03
Spartanburg, SC

bobjohnson

Premium Member

Re: There are lots of different speeds.

said by ArizonaSteve:

I don't understand why you are still complaining or what the "Lol, wut?" comment is about since they still can't put towers everywhere on earth to satisfy everyone with good service no matter where they might be! A lot of the towers are still just 2G GSM with Edge and will take a long time to replace with updated service. Now that they are moving 3G from 1700Mhz to 1900Mhz it's getting better though. My old Samsung 4G Exhibit II that was never of any use since there aren't many 4G towers around has started working again now that a tower just a block from me has been converted to 1900Mhz!
BTW, too bad you got a Windows Phone 7 that doesn't have any apps but if you want to upgrade you can always buy a used Samsung Galaxy S-II on ebay and put your SIM in it.

I'm not complaining, I'm stating facts. Then you came in and crapped on my review. T-Mobile refarming their 1900mhz spectrum has nothing to do with stock T-Mobile phones suddenly getting HSPA service. And lastly, since informing potential customers of a certain service is the intention of the DSLR review section I recommended it to people that don't go very far from where it works. I don't expect any company, especially a value carrier to have service everywhere but I do want people to be aware of how sketchy it can be.