Topic 'US prepaid data is competitive only with T-Mobile' in forum '' - dslreports.com

Re: US prepaid data is competitive only with T-Mobile

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 18:22:27 EDT

BiggA posted : As long as you're under 2GB/mo and 100MB/day, they won't bother you.

US prepaid data is competitive only with T-Mobile

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 20:37:23 EDT

ConstantineM posted :

said by Telco:

The problem with tmobile is that their plans are not competitive and their network is stuck on frequencies used by nobody but themselves. This enormous limitation has prevented a lot of people from switching.

TMobile's PAYG
$100 10�/min 1 year
$50 13�/min 90 days
$30 19�/min 90 days
$10 33�/min 90 days

WTF is that? What is "�/min", minutes of what?

If you're talking about GSM Voice and Sprint-like slow data, then T-Mobile USA has the very same frequencies that AT&T and any other GSM provider in North America has; supported by all iPhones and nearly any GSM world phone. It's more difficult to find a phone that wouldn't support it, than the other way around.

Personally, I have their 5GB@4G plan for 30$/30days, with a Galaxy Nexus from Google for ~350$; getting great speeds and can't complain about coverage; price is as good as it gets in North America!

AT&T doesn't even come close as far as competitiveness goes! StraightTalk, maybe; but their ToS prohibits just about anything: »[StraightTalk] T&C prohibit streaming, app shops [legal][TC].

Re: Structural Issues

Sun, 11 Nov 2012 17:16:01 EDT

BiggA posted : There is one phone that will work on Verizon. And obviously, a given phone can't switch back and forth, but they have SIM cards and several phones that run on AT&T. AT&T includes roaming partners, Verizon doesn't. They seem to default to Sprint, probably because Sprint is very MVNO-friendly, and charges cheaper rates for their crappy network.

Re: Structural Issues

Sun, 11 Nov 2012 14:50:59 EDT

TBBroadband posted : my straight talk phone uses Sprint. As I noted above, they use all carriers that own their own networks, TMO, ATT, VZ and Sprint. It just depends on the area you purchase your phone and the phone.

Re: Structural Issues

Sun, 11 Nov 2012 07:55:11 EDT

anon posted : Straight Talk uses major networks' towers. Depends where you are in the country, you could be on ATT or Verizon's towers. Also, you can purchase just the SIM and use it in your own unlocked phone, ATT or Verizon's phone as well without having to root your smartphone to custom ROM like some of the other prepaid carriers will make you do if you are using your own smart phones. Really, no comparison IMHO..

Re: Structural Issues

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 17:58:49 EDT

anon posted : I got my Virgin Mobile LG Optimus V for $49. I pay $35 a month for 10 times as minutes as I ever use, unlimited text and data. My Optimus rocks (especially after I rooted it).

Why are you just looking at Straight Talk? Quoting only ST when looking at prepaid options is like using the Jacksonville Jaguars as an example for the NFL.

Re: Structural Issues

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 10:03:13 EDT

BiggA posted : With ST, if you have an AT&T SIM, you will get data everywhere the AT&T network is, including roaming partners.

Re: Structural Issues

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 09:44:00 EDT

buddahbless posted : I would semi agree with you however as other users have stated look at there monthly plans vs other monthly prepaid plans and not by the min plans, TMOs majority prepaid client el are on monthly plans. And even though TMO has exclusivity to 1700 aws band as long as there phones are multi-band/quad band and can roam there would be no problem ( If there was a real nationwide roaming agreement in place).

That is the major hurdle that holds TMO back. TMO does not have to fully cater to rural areas as there main goal is major metro areas. However the need to have basic service in these rural areas is a major drawback. One even straight talk knew and made sure not to ignore with there agreement with ATT. Anyone who has ever had straight talk knows there is no data coverage nationwide but access to talk/txt is. TMO You may not be able to have data access everywhere but you should be able to access talk and txt everywhere and thats the bottom line in claiming nationwide service.

With there prepaid rate plans I do believe they need to be more competitive. Similar to there plans on Walmart mobile, TMO very own prepaid 4G plans should have a add a line feature. $50 unlimited should be( or similar) add line 2 for $40, line 3 for $30, and line 4 for $20. An entire family of 4 could have unlimited everything for $140 a month and since that includes taxes it would even undercut all the big 3s offers. That would woo a lot of postpaid family plan customers of the big 3 to TMO. I previously had a family plan on sprint for 4 and it was not even unlimited and it was costing me $225 a mth for 4.

Im just waiting on the bump in data usage the 100mb has to go! It was talked about last yr before the buyout that they would raise that to a full 1GB of 4G before throttling and that still has not happened ( the pricier plans would be raise respectively as well). Well come on TMO time to shake up the prepaid world again.

Re: Structural Issues

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 20:45:51 EDT

BiggA posted : It's tough to make that case though when StraightTalk offers real AT&T service for $45/mo, unlimited (at least for voice, text, and web).

Unlimited might help a little, and T-Mobile's network is very fast in the few places it covers... and therein lies the problem...

Re: Structural Issues

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 16:54:19 EDT

thor793 posted : Look into their Monthly4G plans
Two I know of:
$30, 100 minutes, Unlimited Texts, 5GB Data (what I use)
$70, Unlimited minutes, Unlimited Texts, 5GB Data

I use VOIP with the $30 plan when on wifi at work and at home to stay under the 100 minute cap. Even after that it's only 10 cents per minute...which means I can use up 400 more minutes before it reaches the unlimited plan. If I were to reach that regularly , I would switch...but I don't exceed it at all thanks to VOIP. I have never exceeded the 5GB cap...most of the time I stay under 2GB...and that's with tethering my tablet via wifi.

And use a phone like the Galaxy Nexus which is a pentaband phone built to support both T-Mobile and AT&T.

»prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/monthly-4g-plans

Re: Structural Issues

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 16:45:24 EDT

thor793 posted : Except you're not stuck with using the phones provided by the carriers for prepaid...not in the slightest. With AT&T and T-Mobile you have GSM...same with their MVNOs. You can use any phone that uses a GSM Sim and supports that carrier's frequencies. Just get a sim from the carrier and setup and account with the carrier and you're good to go. I should know....I switched from Sprint post-paid to T-Mobile prepaid.

I'm using my Galaxy Nexus bought direct from Google in the summer. I'm on the $30/100 minute/unlimited text/5GB data plan. I don't go over the 100 minutes as I use VOIP at home and at work when on Wifi.

With that plan I save about $60 per month over what I was paying with Sprint (450 minute plan). In December I will have saved enough to offset the cost of the ETF. By June I will have saved enough to offset the cost of my GNex as well.

With Sprint, had I stuck with them, I wouldn't have been able to upgrade my phone until February...and that's with a new 2 year contract. Now I'm seriously considering upgrading for a second time to get Nexus 4.

Just depends on what you use with Prepaid...I'm saving tons.

Used this guide more or less..
»forum.xda-developers.com/showthr···=1646755

Re: Structural Issues

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 16:28:18 EDT

Telco posted : The problem with tmobile is that their plans are not competitive and their network is stuck on frequencies used by nobody but themselves. This enormous limitation has prevented a lot of people from switching.

TMobile's PAYG
$100 10�/min 1 year
$50 13�/min 90 days
$30 19�/min 90 days
$10 33�/min 90 days

10� texts, 25� MMS

PagePlus (Verizon)
$80 4�/min 1 year
$50 5�/min 120 days
$25 6�/min 120 days
$10 10�/min 120 days

5� texts, 25� MMS

--------------

TMobile's $30
Talk or Text: 1500
Data: 30mb

PagePlus (Verizon) $29.95
Talk: 1200
Text: 3000
Data: 250mb

Re: Structural Issues

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 15:52:24 EDT

TBBroadband posted : I'll pay $1205 over the course of 2 years if I keep the same phone. Compared to $2000+ on post paid. Especially since postpaid unlimited normally starts at about 100$.

Re: Structural Issues

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 15:18:45 EDT

anon posted : do the math prepaid vs post paid over 24 month with initial phone purchase;-)

Re: Structural Issues

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 15:12:37 EDT

TBBroadband posted : The value is Straight Talk is a flat $45 per month before taxes- about $50 with taxes. Also ST uses more than just AT&T. You can find the carrier that the phone uses by looking at the model sticker on the side of the packing.

T= T-Mobile
A= AT&T
S= Sprint
V= Verizon

And Metro has even shown that prepaid customers tend to upgrade MORE often than post paid customers at the rate of every 6 months.

Re: Structural Issues

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 12:08:49 EDT

BF69 posted : pre-paid phones suck ass and cost a ton. Straight Talk has the Galaxy S II which is a decent phone, especially for prepaid but it's $350. Where is the savings when you have to cough up $350 up front? I can get a Galaxy S III for $230 from Verizon and I'm including the upgrade fee in that. Besides the fact Straight Talk uses at&t network which only recently added 3g to my area. Maybe when at&t adds 4G or even just fake 4G I would consider pre-paid.

Re: Structural Issues

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 10:40:13 EDT

Killersaurus posted :

said by elefante72:

Tmobile and Sprint are the junior cell companies and they are at the tip of the spear in an accelerating trend: prepaid.

Agreed. People are sick of being locked into overpriced 2 year contracts. I went to Virgin from Verizon and got more minutes, more texts, and kept unlimited data for half the price. My signal is even better at work and at my house. I now that last point won't apply to everyone, of course, but this has been a total win for me. There's not reason I'd ever go back to post-paid. Maybe I'll switch again to the new Nexus and T-Mobile, because with no ETF I could just sell my current Evo V and subsidize the purchase that way.

Structural Issues

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 10:17:54 EDT

elefante72 posted : Tmobile and Sprint are the junior cell companies and they are at the tip of the spear in an accelerating trend: prepaid. The lowering cost of cell phones (look at Nexus 4) will only increase the flight to prepaid because the value is enormous compared to retail.

Now that TMO has the bandwidth--esp in the NE now, they need to fill out their spectrum and get 1900 online.

If you extract the market for Postpaid: Apple iphone. Since they don't have it, it is going to cost them millions of customers. Very few people are going to shell out $650-$850 upfront for an iphone, so that locks them into the three major vendors. Since Sprint spectrum is a mess they are having issues so T and VZW are keeping their postpaid STABLE or slight growth. The real growth is coming at prepaid, everywhere.

Even big red is going to have to cave and let LTE on MVNO because they know that now deployed there are practically no phones left out there in the wild that can be easily added to MVNO (no LTE sim phones without costly reflashing).

So I would say that loss of customers is from:

1. Big fat iphone buyers, and 1700 HSPA. Even if GSM buyers wanted to go prepaid, its only EDGE for now...They need to get 1900 up ASAP. That still does NOTHING for postpaid, which will continue to suffer.
2. Churn over the merger.

Their churn numbers are really high, even in prepaid so they will have to work on that.