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goninzo posted:tldr: don't try the nerd plan by buying from apple, buy from walmart. It is the 'walmart plan'. The problem is you are talking to people. We don't call this the "nerd plan" for nothing. Buy a prepaid nano SIM from T-Mobile for $10. When it comes in activate it. Talking to people is what makes this so difficult EDIT: I've heard rumors that Wal-Mart has "Activation kits" which are the SIM and a T-Mobile prepaid card. However, I've never seen one gariig fucked around with this message at 04:02 on Mar 13, 2014 |
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Mar 13, 2014 04:00
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gariig posted:The problem is you are talking to people. We don't call this the "nerd plan" for nothing. Buy a prepaid nano SIM from T-Mobile for $10. When it comes in activate it. Talking to people is what makes this so difficult Guess that is where I went wrong. I went to the store to get the sim, and the guy said I didn't need it, how wrong was he. I ended up buying the Wal-Mart activation kits, which are $40 each, as they include 30 days service. That worked. I was wondering why it was so much, but once I found out about the 30 day service, it was a lot easier. If you want clarity in the store, say 'the Wal-Mart plan'. You need an activation code or the website won't let you past. And if you call in, they'll tell you to go to a store, in person. Or go to Wal-Mart. Either way, it's in process. Though their website is poo poo, and won't let you add a credit card if you're using a current version of chrome. It just bitches about selecting a pay date, but offers no date selection field.
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Mar 13, 2014 04:47
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Note, I only had these problems because: 1. I didn't buy the activation kit from wal-mart. Once I did, I had activation code, done. 2. The local t-mobile store was insistent this was a 'online only' special. 3. I didn't just force the guy to sell me a sim to do this because he said 'It comes with a sim'. I am not sure that this would have fixed this. You need that activation code to get past the form here: https://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/ActivateCodes.aspx I don't know if this process has changed from when you guys did it, but basically the telephone assistant numbers are useless, as they won't talk to wal-mart customers, which I don't blame them for. I'd recommend you at least change the 'nerd plan' to at least what it actually is, a special from Wal-Mart, so they know that's what it is called.
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Mar 13, 2014 04:57
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gariig posted:Buy a prepaid nano SIM from T-Mobile for $10. One more note here, this site does not support an iphone 5, and I didn't just click 'nano sim' because it's not listed as supported. But I guess it is. Plus I'm impatient and didn't wait for it to ship. Sorry for triple posting. Another sign of impatience after loving around with this for 4 hours. Now, onto ordering my Nexus 5 from Google Play. gently caress all iphones.
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Mar 13, 2014 05:01
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goninzo posted:2. The local t-mobile store was insistent this was a 'online only' special. That's because it is. The T-Mobile prepaid site lists the plan as only available for those that either purchase the appropriate package from Wal-Mart (and subsequently activate online, I assume,) and those that get a kit sent to them and then activate online. 
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Mar 13, 2014 06:59
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I think some of the problem is people call it the walmart plan and get confused about how to activate it. You don't need to go anywhere near a walmart to get the plan. Order the prepaid kit thing from tmobile, activate it on the tmobile website and pay $30, put the sim in whatever your heart desires because tmobile couldn't give a poo poo what phone you use since it's a sim only plan, and you're done. Talking to a person to activate only makes things confusing and broken because 99% of the time the person you talk to has no idea the plan even exists. You might have to call afterwards to port a number, but for me at least that was totally painless and took 2 minutes.
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Mar 13, 2014 07:12
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You can actually just buy the activation kit from a t-mobile store or buy the activation kit + 30 days service from walmart. You don't even need to wait for shipping then.
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Mar 13, 2014 11:43
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goninzo posted:
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Mar 13, 2014 13:40
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Everything finished transferring over this morning. I highly recommend someone puts in the amendment in the OP: Must have activation kit to use the nerd plan. This activation code is available via T-Mobile online, T-Mobile store, or Wal-Mart (Costs $40 because it includes 30 days usage). Do not use Chrome to sign up for the nerd plan.
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Mar 13, 2014 16:49
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goninzo posted:Everything finished transferring over this morning. I'll put It in the OP but Tmobile stores don't have activation codes anymore. edit: done
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Mar 13, 2014 17:32
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Looks like T-Mo's gonna be getting a much larger LTE footprint soon: http://www.tmonews.com/2014/03/t-mobile-celebrates-1-year-of-lte-by-launching-major-2gedge-network-upgrade-and-suing-verizon/
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Mar 13, 2014 19:12
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Kreeblah posted:Looks like T-Mo's gonna be getting a much larger LTE footprint soon: Some key details from the article: 50% of 2G-only areas upgraded by the end of the year, fully upgraded by "mid-2015" and 700 MHz A-block LTE deployment starting before the end of the year.
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Mar 13, 2014 19:42
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Mr.Radar posted:Some key details from the article: 50% of 2G-only areas upgraded by the end of the year, fully upgraded by "mid-2015" and 700 MHz A-block LTE deployment starting before the end of the year.
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Mar 13, 2014 21:56
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Mr.Radar posted:Some key details from the article: 50% of 2G-only areas upgraded by the end of the year, fully upgraded by "mid-2015" and 700 MHz A-block LTE deployment starting before the end of the year. Glad to hear it. I switched to the $30 Nerd Plan from AT&T and I've had a chance to travel around a bit. I kept my wife on AT&T GoPhone and comparing the two, AT&T has a FAR more robust 4g/LTE network. It's not even remotely close once you leave major metro areas. Inside metro areas, they are fairly comparable but outside, using Tmobile's network is like stepping back in time to 2008 and my first iPhone. I researched it beforehand so it's not a shock to me but it is eye opening. Overall, I'm saving a bundle of money with this plan and I spend most of my time at work or home on wifi so the impact is minimal on me. I'll be keeping my wife on GoPhone for a while though.
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Mar 14, 2014 02:03
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I ended up writing up this process for non-geeks so might as well share it here, though you guys taught me and know all this. Nerd Plan: (Must be new customer, able to do online only application.) 1. Get T-Mobile phone. I bought a nexus 5 off Google Play, as it's about $80 cheaper in the store. (32GB one for $436 with two day shipping https://play.google.com/store/devices/details/Nexus_5_32GB_Black?id=nexus_5_black_32gb) Some Wal-Mart phones come with it. 2. Get Activation Kit. Buy off the t-mobile site: http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/sim-card Or, buy from Wal-Mart in store for like $40 for 30 days + sim. http://www.walmart.com/ip/T-Mobile-SIM-Kit/24099996 3. Activate the plan online, this is the only way, DO NOT USE GOOGLE CHROME, use Internet Explorer, the payment function will break otherwise: http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-activate 4. Select the 100 Minutes, 5GB plan. 5. Select migrate my number. It took us like 8 hours to move it over. 6. If you bought from Wal-Mart, you're good for minutes, otherwise you have to do an immediate payment. You cannot add minutes in google chrome because they're bad at internet. Otherwise call their pre-paid number after it's activating and they can help you with adding a card to it. *233 works if your new phone is already working, otherwise use the generic 1-877-453-1304, identify yourself as pre-paid plan wanting to add money to the account. 7. Renew the plan on a monthly basis for $30. I have not seen any taxes yet on it.
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Mar 14, 2014 15:14
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I used Chrome to set up my thing and everything worked fine. Could it be an extension you have active? Or are you running an old version? It might also be worth adding that if you buy a Moto X (the correct choice), you still need to order a new t-mobile activation kit so you get an activation code. This confused me because the Moto X comes with a t-mobile sim — they say this all over the motorola site — but it doesn't come with an "activation code," which is the first thing t-mobile asks for when you sign up.
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Mar 14, 2014 15:21
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Is there a phone cheaper than the Nexus 5 that is LTE capable? My wife and I are thinking about switching from VZW (currently pay $350/month between 2 plans with 2 smartphones each) and I wanted to test out service first. It would be used primarily in the Philly to NYC area, with some trips to Harrisburg, PA. If not, I'll buy a Nexus and just give it to mom if we switch, no big deal.
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Mar 14, 2014 15:41
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Rye Bread posted:Is there a phone cheaper than the Nexus 5 that is LTE capable? My wife and I are thinking about switching from VZW (currently pay $350/month between 2 plans with 2 smartphones each) and I wanted to test out service first. It would be used primarily in the Philly to NYC area, with some trips to Harrisburg, PA. You can get a Nokia 925 for $230. You also get 15 days to return the phone from Google but you might be out shipping costs back to Google.
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Mar 14, 2014 15:47
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I have near non-existent coverage at my desk 15 feet from a window in my office building in downtown Brooklyn. Is there anything I can do? I already called T-Mobile a few days ago and they said they were "sending engineers to look at the nearest tower."
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Mar 14, 2014 18:22
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Happy Pizza Guy posted:I have near non-existent coverage at my desk 15 feet from a window in my office building in downtown Brooklyn. Is there anything I can do? I already called T-Mobile a few days ago and they said they were "sending engineers to look at the nearest tower." Sounds like you have done what you can. T mobile's building signal penetration is pretty piss poor from my experience. You could look into a repeater if your work would let you set one up.
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Mar 14, 2014 20:18
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Polo-Rican posted:I used Chrome to set up my thing and everything worked fine. Could it be an extension you have active? Or are you running an old version? Nope, running current version, no plugins. Maybe it just had a bad night of drinking, who knows.
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Mar 15, 2014 01:01
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Polo-Rican posted:I used Chrome to set up my thing and everything worked fine. Could it be an extension you have active? Or are you running an old version? It could be an extension, but I had the same problem he did - I just ended up buying a prepaid code from Calling Mart and using that. Then my port got botched so bad that my new phone wasn't assigned a temporary phone number, and I had to call them to force the port. But that went through and I've had no problems since, so I don't have anything to complain about!
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Mar 15, 2014 01:57
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That Nerd Plan looks like it was designed for me. Thank you, goninzo, for going through all that hassle and making the process clear. I have a few remaining questions: Does the data plan use the full-speed 4G LTE tech? What is the roaming like? Is there roaming on the Nerd Plan, or is it (correctly) assumed that I'll basically never leave home? Any international coverage? The phone I want looks a little tricky to get without buying it in a T-Mobile store along with a regular plan: The Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Could I get one direct from a T-Mobile store, or would they refuse to sell me one without a plan? (Maybe if I had the starter kit from Wal-mart with me.) Or am I left to third-party sellers, looking at Swappa.com, that sort of thing? I want the T-Mobile branded Note 3, the SM-N900T model, largely because of the explanation given here, that it works on a wider set of LTE bands.
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Mar 15, 2014 06:40
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Vavrek posted:That Nerd Plan looks like it was designed for me. Thank you, goninzo, for going through all that hassle and making the process clear. I have a few remaining questions: quote:What is the roaming like? Is there roaming on the Nerd Plan, or is it (correctly) assumed that I'll basically never leave home? Any international coverage? quote:The phone I want looks a little tricky to get without buying it in a T-Mobile store along with a regular plan: The Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Could I get one direct from a T-Mobile store, or would they refuse to sell me one without a plan? (Maybe if I had the starter kit from Wal-mart with me.) Or am I left to third-party sellers, looking at Swappa.com, that sort of thing?
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Mar 15, 2014 15:50
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Thanks for the reply. Good info, and nothing looks too outlandish.Mr.Radar posted:I don't see why T-Mobile wouldn't want to sell you one, their latest drive is to get people to buy their phones up-front instead of subsidizing them. I was mildly offput by the claim that they'd unlock a phone only after I used it with them for 40-some days, and I've never bought a phone without some accompanying contract. Wasn't sure how they'd deal with "I'd just like to buy a phone, thank you."  Good to hear it shouldn't be a problem.
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Mar 15, 2014 20:22
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Vavrek posted:Thanks for the reply. Good info, and nothing looks too outlandish. http://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-1588 For prepaid plans, if you buy it outright, and have at least $100 of service credits on your account since purchase you should be able to get it unlocked immediately. Since you're not a customer yet, looks like the easiest path would be to buy the sim with no credit, activate, then buy the phone and $100 worth of credit, use the phone once and that should do it.
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Mar 17, 2014 16:32
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The update to T-Mo's Android Visual Voicemail app makes it look like they are catering to people with either very large fingers or people who need reading glasses.
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Mar 18, 2014 00:02
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dentata posted:The update to T-Mo's Android Visual Voicemail app makes it look like they are catering to people with either very large fingers or people who need reading glasses.
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Mar 18, 2014 10:54
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When I went to the T-Mobile store to activate my old iPhone 4 the other week, the guy helping me said he would be able to activate me a free SIM card for my iPad that would give me 200MB of free cellular data per month. He even waived the fees on my SIM cards for my iPhone 4 and the iPad I figured there must be come catch to it, but it appears that there are none. I took out my lovely AT&T SIM and replaced it with the T-Mobile one, and it worked instantly with no need to mess around with any settings. Is this an actual advertised plan or something? Reading into it more, I guess you just need to have a T-Mobile post paid plan, and that's it.
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Mar 18, 2014 17:37
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Astro7x posted:When I went to the T-Mobile store to activate my old iPhone 4 the other week, the guy helping me said he would be able to activate me a free SIM card for my iPad that would give me 200MB of free cellular data per month. He even waived the fees on my SIM cards for my iPhone 4 and the iPad It'a available to anybody, regardless of their status as a T-Mobile customer, and has been available for all tablets (that have LTE radios) since about November 2013: http://www.t-mobile.com/landing/free-mobile-internet-data.html
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Mar 20, 2014 04:43
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Since AT&T and T-Mobile both use GSM, am I correct in assuming that I can then use an AT&T phone on T-Mobile? For example, the Nokia Lumia 900 is much cheaper than the 920, which seems to be T-Mobile's version of the phone.
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Mar 21, 2014 02:16
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Chill Penguin posted:Since AT&T and T-Mobile both use GSM, am I correct in assuming that I can then use an AT&T phone on T-Mobile? For example, the Nokia Lumia 900 is much cheaper than the 920, which seems to be T-Mobile's version of the phone.
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Mar 21, 2014 02:47
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Chill Penguin posted:Since AT&T and T-Mobile both use GSM, am I correct in assuming that I can then use an AT&T phone on T-Mobile? For example, the Nokia Lumia 900 is much cheaper than the 920, which seems to be T-Mobile's version of the phone. You will need to make sure the phone supports T-Mobile frequencies. The most problematic are the AWS 1700/2100 bands T-Mobile uses for 3G HSPA and LTE in most areas.
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Mar 21, 2014 04:18
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Chill Penguin posted:Since AT&T and T-Mobile both use GSM, am I correct in assuming that I can then use an AT&T phone on T-Mobile? For example, the Nokia Lumia 900 is much cheaper than the 920, which seems to be T-Mobile's version of the phone. The 900 is the Windows Phone 7 predecessor to the 920. The 920 is already last generation. The current version is the 925. I wouldn't buy a 900 due to its old OS.
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Mar 21, 2014 04:50
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Stupid piece of poo poo Metro PCS... My brother picked up a mint condition Metro SGS3 at his shop, it works fine, IMEI is clear, but he tasked me with unlocking it to T-Mobile so his girlfriend can replace her cracked phone. Long story short MetroPCS tech support says their system won't generate an unlock code until I've been a paid customer for 3 months, and actually told me to go to ReleaseMyCode.com and pay $26 if I wanted the code earlier. I tried that out and their code didn't work, plus apparently trying three times may or may not permanently lock the phone so it can never be unlocked again. Does anyone on MetroPCS wanna buy this thing off me or something? Sheesh.
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Mar 21, 2014 23:43
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I'm moving to Modesto, ca this coming week and currently have sprint. My wife and I will be driving from Sacramento up to Portland, OR round trip 5 times a week for work. The whole way will be on the i5. After looking at the coverage map for sprint it appears as though we will need a new carrier. Does anyone have any first hand experience with T-Mobile in this area? We are heavy streamers, between 14 to 18 hours of streaming radio a day and some Netflix thrown in combined together. We also need to be able to make and receive phone calls without them perpetually dropping. If anyone is able to help me make a informed decision on this I'd appreciate it.
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Mar 22, 2014 19:01
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Shadokin posted:My wife and I will be driving from Sacramento up to Portland, OR round trip 5 times a week for work.
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Mar 22, 2014 20:01
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Motorola really needs to let T-Mobile sell the Moto X. I'm trying to switch from Verizon and take advantage of the ETF payoff deal, but not being able to buy the phone from T-Mobile is really screwing things up. Looks like my current plan is: 1) Buy a Moto X from Motorola (not even that is simple, as they sell a special T-Mobile phone in addition to their customizable phones which let you select T-Mobile at the checkout process, but I think they're the same in the end?) 2) Take it to the store along with this ancient flip-phone I've got (guy at the store said they'll take basically anything, since apparently my Incredible 4G LTE is also worth $0 to T-Mobile). Resell Incredible on ebay or something. 3) Buy the cheapest flip-phone they've got ($72) in order to qualify for the ETF payoff. Chuck this phone into a donation bin or something. 4) Pay Verizon the ~$200 ETF, give bill to T-Mobile for reimbursement. In the end I effectively pay a $72 ETF instead of a $200 ETF. Or I can wait until January when there should be no ETF from Verizon. Sound right?
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Mar 22, 2014 20:20
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ColdPie posted:Motorola really needs to let T-Mobile sell the Moto X. I'm trying to switch from Verizon and take advantage of the ETF payoff deal, but not being able to buy the phone from T-Mobile is really screwing things up. You would be correct.
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Mar 22, 2014 21:44
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ColdPie posted:Motorola really needs to let T-Mobile sell the Moto X. I'm trying to switch from Verizon and take advantage of the ETF payoff deal, but not being able to buy the phone from T-Mobile is really screwing things up.
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Mar 22, 2014 22:23
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