Apple → T-Mobile Monthly4G Plans

Anybody else using one of the pre-paid Monthly4G plans from T-Mobile? As a limited time offer, they have SIM cards for $0.99, no activation charge, and a $30 100Minute/5GB-4G/Unlimited-2G plan.

I signed up yesterday, popped the SIM into my iPad and it works great. In Los Angeles, they've already refarmed the entire HSDPA+ network to work on the 1900MHz band for iPhones/iPads. I was getting around 3Mbps/1Mbps in a crowded location and 13Mbps/3Mbps in a less crowded area.

In New York, their 1900MHz coverage is spotty. At my house in the Bronx, there's only Edge coverage (0.05Mbps). But it looks like there should be coverage in Manhattan and other more populated areas according to »airportal.de

Also had my iPhone 4S unlocked through the other thread and the service works great on there, too.

I was paying AT&T $25/month for 2GB on my iPad. For an extra $5 in a refarmed area, it's well worth it (even without LTE, imo).

I have a friend at work who is on this plan with his Nexus 4 and other Nexus phones since it debuted. Here in dallas on their HSPA+ network it gets 20-25mb down pretty much any time of the day, just amazing speeds, who needs LTE.

You should get yourself a T-Mobile Sonic 4G Mobile HotSpot off ebay and pop your ipad sim in there. Get some true 4G while you wait for them to re-farm the rest of the spectrum.

Thanks for the tip. Does that work without subscribing to T-Mobile's $15 mobile hotspot add-on? If so, that's definitely worth it.

TD would I be able to do this with my Verizon ipad mini, only problem I have is tmobile will not give me a nano sim without signing up for phone plan.

But I want to sign up for the ($30 web special plan 4g monthly), also that plan is trying to sell me a phone first and I can't seem to bypass that.

Seems in Roselle, nj we get the 4g network.

Any help!

Thanks, Ken

You can either cut the micro SIM card down to nano SIM size manually using a cutting guide (I used this »www.airportal.de/nanosim/ template), or you can get a SIM cutting tool like: »www.ebay.com/itm/390514709602

I cut my iPad 2's AT&T SIM to nano using the template for my iPad mini and it works fine (didn't need to use sandpaper as some people suggest).

For the T-Mobile SIM, I'm waiting on my SIM cutting tool to arrive later this week, as I wanted to make sure I could use an adapter to get it back to MicroSIM size.

Yeah it should work you will probably need a micro or nanno sim(depending on which ipad you have) to full sim card adapter. Pop your micro sim into the full adapter, toss it into the hotspot and turn it on.

Here is the best cutter I found for sim cards
»www.amazon.com/gp/produc ··· _s00_i00

it does cuts to micro and nanno sim. I just bought once since I only had a micro cutter. I would get something like this and avoid trying to do it with scissors and a guide. These cutters pay for themselves pretty quickly.

I would also recommend these -
»www.amazon.com/iCoolkit- ··· im_cps_2

if you are trying to go back up from the nanno sim into micro or full size devices.

I'm in the same boat. I'm looking to grab the nano sim but for the $30 deal they want you to buy a phone. If you just pick up the SIM and come back to activate, is the $30 plan available?

Yep, just make sure you order the Monthly4G SIM card. The $30 plan was available when I punched in the activation code to start service after receiving the SIM.

edit: I purchased this one specifically: »prepaid-phones.t-mobile. ··· tion-Kit

Cool, that is the one I ordered and will receive tomorrow. Saving another $15 over straight talk will be welcome for this spare phone.

I've been testing it out on my older iPhone 4. In SF, they finally have 3G coverage on the 1900MHz band, but, for some reason, the 'holding it wrong' signal dropping issue is extremely severe for this phone on the T-mobile network (never had an issue with AT&T). I go from 4 bars of 3G to losing signal, to hopping on 2 bars of EDGE as soon as I pick up the phone. I'm guessing AT&T is not using 1900MHz for 3G coverage in the bay area, and that particular frequency is problematic.

So I can't really browse the internet on it. I have been using it in the car on long trips to stream pandora indefinitely, and that has been working great, though.

Also, while I'm supposed to have to pay more for tethering, the personal hotspot feature just works, so I end up with 4GB of data and tethering for $30 a month.

We have now 2 iPads and an iPhone on a shared data plan on AT&T. BS $36 activation fees aside, with 3 devices the prices are fairly reasonable, and I can up my data from 1GB to 4GB for $30 more per month. Since that includes tethering and works better than t-mobile's network, I'm going to just let my t-mobile SIM expire.

It's a shame, because I'm no fan of AT&T's lobbying or in-bed-with-NSA policies, but I can't go back to 80% EDGE coverage once I'm used to LTE.

I dunno, I'm on board with a talk/data plan that costs the same as AT&T's data alone.

even if that data is EDGE?

Hmmm, edge...I think I'd rather have my toenails pulled out with a rusty pair of pliers, and then be kicked in the nuts followed by a punch in the face.

The AT&T Shared plans are useless if you have even one dumb phone that doesn't need data. My current plan is around $150/month, depending on the taxes, for 2 iPhones and a dumb phone. If I switch to shared, yea.. I can add my iPad for $10, but my base rate goes up to $180+tax with less data starting out than 3 individual data plans.

So instead of giving AT&T $25/month for 2GB, I'll give T-Mobile $30 for effectively unlimited. But I agree, Edge is a killer. Hoping the coverage is better once I get back to Los Angeles.

Just like ya said, got the nano-SIM today and had no problem activating on the $30/mo deal. I'm getting about 3Mb from 3G. Saves me $15 over Straight Talk on this spare phone.

Thanks TD, that was about the only way it seems, now how did you go about signing up for the tmobile $30 web plan I see no way to get passed it trying to sell you a 4g phone first, what am I missing.

Again thanks for your help much appreciated, Ken

Just get the correct "activation kit" for $0.99, regular or micro sim. After you have it in your phone and start online activation, you can choose the $30 deal from the plan list. Basically you don't buy a pre-activated SIM. You only do that if it is coming with a phone.

»prepaid-phones.t-mobile. ··· im-cards