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Review by Zenit_IIfx See Profile

  • Location: Purcellville, Loudoun, VA, USA
  • Cost: $100 per month
Price is great, Network Speed & Latency can beat DSL, flexible service options
Indoor coverage in thick buildings not that good, tower handoffs often fail in less dense areas
Excellent service for the money if you can get coverage.
Pre Sales Information:
Install process:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

My Other Reviews

·Comcast XFINITY
-New Review as of June 2016-

Overall my experience with this carrier is very positive. Their network modernization program is working, and the old 2G network is disappearing, replaced with blistering fast LTE fed by fiber. Definitely go with T-Mobile if they have coverage in your area that meets your needs.

|Billing & CS|
Customer Support is getting better but still is poor at handling unusual situations. If you are unsatisfied with any interaction with support the higher level CSR's are more than willing to credit your account for any trouble. Credits can range from $15 all the way up to $250 in my experience (this credit entirely has to do with a long-delayed order of new phones, not service/billing).

Customer Service is also unwilling to work with individual lines to resolve issues, you must be the main account holder. Does not matter if you have names on the account, its a restrictive policy. AT&T was more flexible in this regard.

As for usage billing there are no overages if you go over your data limit. We have 1gb per line. The penalty is throttling you down to EDGE-like speeds, still usable. I rarely go over.

|Network|
What used to be "that old 1990's EDGE network" is disappearing fast. The network refarm has been a success and I entirely believe Neville Ray (CTO) that all EDGE towers will have LTE overbuilt by the end of this year. The LTE is blistering fast with consistent low pingtimes. Your going to want a current T-Mobile device (or a phone with full support of the bands TMUS uses) to take advantage of the network, if you come on board with a device that can only do AT&T's 3G bands your not going to even see the whole network. In urban areas EDGE has been replaced with 3G, but the more rural towers have gone straight to LTE with EDGE for legacy/voice/SMS.

To put it short, when I started 3G or Faux-G was a rarity in 2012. By 2015 their network has totally transformed. Signal has gotten more reliable and consistent. Calls are clearer and dont drop as often. The neglect during the mid-late 2000's has been repaired, and the shiny new network gleams.

The one caveat of the current T-Mobile network is hand off between towers in more sparse areas. Calls tend to drop between rural towers as they are spaced far enough that a call handover will fail, but you will regain reception momentarily. This is not a problem in more dense suburban or urban environments.

|Local Upgrades|

T-Mobile has been going back and adding new antennas to sites they previously upgraded to LTE in order to take advantage of AWS spectrum that is unused. My local tower is getting upgrades right now, and I look forward to the improved coverage and speed.

|Speed|
Data is blistering fast for cellular, with good latency under 100ms. The LTE speed varies, on the re-farmed EDGE towers the speed will max out at 30mbps during idle times, but on urban towers the speeds can be as high as 100mbps with the right phone. Their higher than normal tower density in coverage areas due to the short range of AWS reduces tower congestion and it shows. EDGE, where it still is the only option (almost gone) has deteriorated to the point that it barely works for email or navigation.

|Conclusion|
T-MUS is really challenging the norm of the US wireless market. Having no overage fees, free international roaming, unlimited music (with certain services), and Wifi Calling really polish the edges of this offering. The pricing is great for 4 lines. If the coverage in your area is sufficient, give them a try. The savings are worth it!

10/10 would use network again



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member for 11.8 years, 5519 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 7.7 years ago


StevenP88
join:2010-11-01
Kansas City, MO

1 edit

StevenP88

Member

AT&T Prcing

Actually AT&T has unlimited talk,text and 6 GB of data which includes 4 phones for 250 a month, that's the plan I have with them and the service and internet speed away better than T-Mobile any day, even the call quality is much better, I have a business plan with them since I have my own company, Premiere support is AMAZING and they will bend over backwards for you, I have 4 lines on my account, 1 for my brother and 1 for his fiance, 1 for myself and 1for my partner.. I would give AT&T another look, and honestly they are not that bad, I have never dropped a call or lost service with them, were as with T-Mobile we struggled to even get service even though supposedly provide perfect service here.. PLUS I can have 10 lines on one account with no deposits ever and even start a second account with the same amount of lines and still no deposit lol
medbuyer
join:2003-11-20
Memphis, TN

medbuyer

Member

Re: AT&T Prcing

except not everybody can have premier access like you...they only give you that since they can milk more money out of your business that you're giving to them...

even after you're paid for the phone unit, you're still paying for the price which in the end amounts to almost 3 phones after paying for service for 24 months...

let's see if you can figure that out and do the math...