The T-Mobile/MetroPCS Megathread - Our CEO trolls your CEO.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > The T-Mobile/MetroPCS Megathread - Our CEO trolls your CEO.

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ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

dundun posted:

I understand people don't like being locked into 2 year contracts, but paying full price for the phone you're going to be using doesn't seem like a value proposition. Unless you go the ebay/craigslist route and buy something second hand.

Couple things in play here. You get a lower monthly bill from day one, you can upgrade whenever you choose, you can bring your own phone and pay less every month, you can finish paying the phone off on schedule and simply pay less every month.

# ¿ Jan 10, 2014 22:01

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 18:21

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

That it how most people do it. Get an activation kit from the website, activate it on the website, insert SIM in phone.

# ¿ Jan 24, 2014 21:23

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Otm Shank posted:

Just got my unlocked moto x that came with a T mobile sim already installed. I'm trying to activate it online for the nerd plan but I need an "activation code" that comes with prepaid phones which I'm pretty sure I don't have...

correct. SIM/Activation kits include the code, or you can grab a cheap prepaid phone at retail and use that activation code.

# ¿ Feb 3, 2014 19:21

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Chill Penguin posted:

So I've been reading up on T-Mobile's various plans, preparing to switch from AT&T, and the $30/month nerd plan sounds pretty appealing to me. I've read some conflicting reports about the wifi calling feature, can anyone clarify? It seems like wifi calling would be a good way to avoid going over the 100 minute allotment, but I've read some reports that wifi calling still uses your minutes. Is this true? If so, is there any way around this?

Wifi calling still uses your minutes.
In theory once GVoice switches over to VOIP it would not use your minutes. Gonna get interesting once that happens within a few months.

# ¿ Mar 10, 2014 21:19

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

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.

The A block deployment is going to be interesting. Be interesting to see how long before we get A block handsets.

# ¿ Mar 13, 2014 21:56

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Shadokin posted:

My wife and I will be driving from Sacramento up to Portland, OR round trip 5 times a week for work.

Either you mistyped or you are crazy. Modesto <-> Portland is a 10 hour drive. Maybe you meant 5 times a year?

# ¿ Mar 22, 2014 20:01

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

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.

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?)

The "T-Mobile" version is the unlocked version.

# ¿ Mar 22, 2014 22:23

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

full moto maker customization versus simple color choice? Probably nothing.

# ¿ Mar 22, 2014 23:44

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Vulcan posted:

Looked into getting the new HTC One M8 for $200 /w contract renewal and apparently I've been living under a rock and there are no contracts anymore.

So now I have to front $600 or start paying monthly installments that will end up equaling that? That kind of blows, I've had tmobile forever and just enjoyed upgrading for $200 every couple years.

The plans are cheaper and you can provide your own phone and keep the lower monthly bills or get one from them and pay more every month. If you pay more every month the more every month part stops when you finish paying for the phone (unlike on ATT/Verizon/Sprint when you pay for that month's portion of a phone whether you have a new phone to be paying for or not). Its really a better deal.

# ¿ Mar 26, 2014 07:30

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

you don't have a contract but you do have to finish paying for your phone. Effectively the same, until you finish paying it off and stop paying that line item every month.

# ¿ Apr 3, 2014 05:25

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

FAUXTON posted:

I think they fixed the "HEH THAT'S NOT A REAL ZIP CODE YOU DIRTY FARMER" problem with their site.

e: I need to look into the process of checking out the Nerd plan. Where do I go to just buy a SIM on the site with no plan attached? It looks like I need to do that first, then it is offered during activation?

http://www.t-mobile.com/bring-your-own-phone.html
looks like $0.99 again. Scroll down and select the one you need.

# ¿ Apr 3, 2014 16:09

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Astiesan posted:

Am I the only one who's going to be incredibly sad if the FCC actually lets the Sprint/T-Mobile merger go through? I had Sprint, god I hated them.

If it happens I'll be jumping to cricket until I see how it plays out.

# ¿ Jun 5, 2014 23:30

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Oneiros posted:

Anyone on the $30 nerd plan check out your tethering / personal hotspot. I tried using mine on a whim today and it's working (iPhone 5). No separate tethering data allotment listed on my account, it appears to just be using the normal 5GB.

Oh sweet Jesus. That's the only reason I was considering switching to cricket. If tethering is allowed off the same bucket I'll save my money and keep paying T-Mobile.

# ¿ Jun 19, 2014 19:08

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Oneiros posted:

Anyone on the $30 nerd plan check out your tethering / personal hotspot. I tried using mine on a whim today and it's working (iPhone 5). No separate tethering data allotment listed on my account, it appears to just be using the normal 5GB.

Confirming this.
Nexus 5, up to date, nerd plan. Same setup that got a paywall prompt a month ago works fine now.

# ¿ Jun 20, 2014 02:20

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Teeter posted:

I just got a T Mobile SIM and think I'm ready to start up with the nerd plan, but don't know when to actually make an account and do the activation. My current contract elsewhere will expire at the end of August, and T Mobile's site says that my number should port over okay. Do I need to wait for the other contract to end first then hope for a quick switch over?

Yes. Finish your contract, then do the port.

# ¿ Jun 26, 2014 04:33

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

UncleGuito posted:

So I just got a Nexus 5 as a gift and currently have a HTC One through T-Mobile. I have $400 left on the EIP- am I screwed? They told me I have to keep paying off the balance even if I use my Nexus 5 and try to send the One back. This is so loving lame. I was lured in by the 'old no contracts thing but this is basically just as bad as a contract.

So sell one of the phones and pay off the $400. Then save your $28/mo (or whatever your phone payment is). What are you complaining about?

It IS similar to a contract. One that you can finish paying off at any time and that automatically drops your monthly bill by $x/mo once you finish paying off the phone that you purchased. The alternative is having you phone payment NOT be a line item on the bill and thus never dropping off automatically.

ilkhan fucked around with this message at 01:24 on Jul 1, 2014

# ¿ Jul 1, 2014 01:21

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Dirty Job posted:

I'm shopping around for cell phone plans and I'm wondering about T-Mobile. I live in NYC (Queens) and I noticed that the OP mentioned a "nerd plan" which would be perfect for me. I'm trying to find it on the website but I can't seem to.

http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans
On the left down towards the bottom.

# ¿ Jul 5, 2014 17:56

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Rah! posted:

I'm thinking of switching from metroPCS to the $30 nerd plan. My 5 year-old phone finally died (samsung code), so this seems like a perfect time to get a much better phone, and to cut my phone bill by $25. I'm not sure what phone I should get though. T-Mobile is selling the Samsung Galaxy S II for $168 refurbished, and it looks pretty good. My phone budget is $200 max (cheaper is better, but I also want the best bang for my buck), and after looking at a bunch of different phone reviews for that price range, it seems like the Galaxy S II is the best choice....but i just wanted to make sure. Can anyone confirm this, or recommend something better?

The solution to your 5 year old phone dying isn't to purchase another 5 year old phone.
If you can't afford a swappa moto X or nexus 5, at the very least get a moto G.
Do NOT purchase a SGSII.
I had a T-Mobile SGSII, and while it wasn't bad, it was like 3 phones ago (current N5, N4, GalNex, SGSII.)

ilkhan fucked around with this message at 08:21 on Jul 19, 2014

# ¿ Jul 19, 2014 08:17

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

r0ck0 posted:

Are you saying that streaming music doesn't count towards bandwidth usage on the nerd plan?

From select services, yes.

# ¿ Aug 11, 2014 22:24

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Chemmy posted:

I have a multi line AT&T account. My line has a year left and has an iPhone 5S, my wife's line will be ETF free around now and has an iPhone 5.

Obviously T-Mo doesn't know which line is which, if I trade in the iPhone 5 will they pay an ETF and give me money for the 5? Seems like that should work.

You mean if you transfer both lines? They don't care what phone you trade in, they just require you to trade in a phone.

# ¿ Aug 18, 2014 03:21

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Burden posted:

T-Mobile added more streaming services today. Grooveshark, Black Planet, Radio Paradise, Rdio, Songza, and Accuradio now don't count towards your data cap.

Google music is still the only one I care about.

# ¿ Aug 27, 2014 18:31

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

MondayHotDog posted:

What's the process for upgrading your device on a T-Mobile prepaid plan? Do I just go to a T-Mobile store and hope they have what I want? Do I buy it on my own and bring it to the store? Is there a process to do it online? Will I need a new SIM? Will I be able to keep my $30 100/unlimited/5GB dork plan?

I've never actually gotten a new phone without switching carriers before.

Purchase phone from wherever you want. Insert SIM. If SIM is wrong size go visit a corporate T-Mo store and ask them to swap it for the proper sized SIM.

r0ck0 posted:

Do the prepaid dork plans qualify for free streaming and international data?

No. Simple Choice plans only. AFAIK anyway.

ilkhan fucked around with this message at 02:47 on Aug 30, 2014

# ¿ Aug 30, 2014 01:19

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Astro7x posted:

Well gently caress... no way of me getting the phone in time now

Amazingly, companies take launch dates for new stuff into consideration when doing deals like that one.

# ¿ Sep 12, 2014 18:36

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

eddiewalker posted:

Awesome. Thank you. I wasn't clear if the "activation kit" was anything more than a fresh sim and I don't want to be stuck waiting for one to ship after the phone arrives.

The activation kit is a SIM and a code. The code can be bypassed, but not easily. Order an activation kit, or run down to walmart and pick up the cheapest t-mo prepaid box (which will have an activation code included in it).

# ¿ Sep 14, 2014 03:54

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

r0ck0 posted:

$650 for the nexus 6. Maybe I'm spoiled by the nexus 5 being $350 but this is sad news. Oh well, when is lollipop going to be released for the nexus 5?

Gets an updated preview release Friday. Final build probably when the N6 ships.

# ¿ Oct 15, 2014 22:16

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

If your phone hasnt stopped working (or taking extra dimes out of your balance) its fine.

# ¿ Oct 17, 2014 18:36

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Duckman2008 posted:

The promotion is paying for ETFs for switching from another carrier. Personally, I can see why they won't accept T-Mobile phones. My argument as a rep would be "well, you had 2-3 lines on Verizon, where are those phones?" And if its that you sold them to get more money than the trade in, I think you can afford to buy some cheap non T-Mobile poo poo phone so you can also get the ETF credit. Unless I'm missing something I don't think that extra effort being requested from you is unreasonable.

This. T-Mo isn't the party being the dumbass in this case, if you are trying to use an old t-mo phone for the trade from another carrier offer.

# ¿ Oct 20, 2014 02:24

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Beeftweeter posted:

If anyone was curious, I got my microSIM in the mail yesterday and popped it into my Verizon iPad 4. The setup was completely painless and everything seems to work really well � I was expecting EDGE speeds or something because of the frequencies the Verizon model supports but apparently I get HSDPA here since it gets around 20 Mbps on speed tests. I'm still extremely skeptical about this 200 MB of data really being free each month, but I guess I'll see how it goes.

I do have another question, though: I ordered a new iPad Air 2 (from Apple, not T-Mobile) to replace this device. Am I going to be able to transfer over this free data account or is it basically "1 per customer" or something? Can I have the free data on both devices?

Remove SIM, put SIM in new one. Done.
As for getting it on both, I don't know.

# ¿ Oct 23, 2014 17:17

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

esperantinc posted:

I cannot. There's room in the folders for sure. I can't even move an app icon out of the folder and into the main tray.

Hold and drag doesn't work?
Does it work with other folders on that bar?

# ¿ Dec 8, 2014 22:23

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Edward IV posted:

Good timing since I recently added my brother to my plan and we roughly pay $100 for unlimited data and 3GB of tethering for me and 1GB for him. If we switch, my brother may end up paying more for his plan but unlimited data and 5GB of tethering for $50 per line?

My only concern is that if my brother ever decides to leave for another carrier, I doubt I can go back to my current $70 unlimited data with 3GB of tethering and I don't know if I can justify the $10 bump for the additional tethering cap. Especially since T-Mobile doesn't seem to properly measure how much data I'm actually getting through tethering. I've used about 5GB of tethered data over the past month according to my phone yet T-Mobile hasn't counted a single bit against my tethered data allotment. Although that could be because of some unusual settings and setup of my phone (an unlocked Rogers version of the Lumia 920) that inadvertently misreports my tethered data usage. If getting a T-Mobile specific device does fix the issue, though, then I guess I have no choice but to go with the additional tethered data.

Switch to the new plan. Worry about your brother leaving later.

# ¿ Dec 12, 2014 18:15

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

I just switched to the $50 simple mobile plan from the nerd plan. Now I get to debate switching up a notch. $10 to triple my full speed data and add rollover aint bad. I need to see how much data I end up using.

# ¿ Dec 16, 2014 21:39

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Brock Landers posted:

Why did you switch from the nerd plan? Did you need the unlimited minutes?

New job. I was on a conference call troubleshooting the office phone system on day 4 that lasted 95 minutes.

# ¿ Dec 17, 2014 07:39

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Endless Mike posted:

Can I see my data stash already? I assume it's not retroactive. Can I downgrade to 1 GB then upgrade back to 3 GB and get the 10 GB stash?

EDIT: Actually bothered to go read the site: Starts with the January billing cycle and all eligible plans get preloaded with the 10 GB data stash, but it doesn't start building until that's used. Seems like a nice way for people to downgrade their plan for a few months to burn through the stash if they use somewhere between their current plan and the next one down.

For phones it only really applies to the 3GB and 5GB plans. Doesn't apply to full unlimited, and doesn't apply to the 1GB. It might be a reason for unlim guys to step down to 5GB, but I wouldn't bet on that.
Its a reason for 1GB people to step up to the 3GB, and the 10GB is a lot of bonus data, but the question there is how much they actually use. Stepping up to get rollover is fine but not very helpful if you are never actually going to use that data.

# ¿ Dec 17, 2014 17:44

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

How did you check if they counted? My phone says 1.2GB used, t-mo's account page says 200MB.

# ¿ Dec 26, 2014 20:44

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

If you tether an android tablet to your phone and play one of the free steaming services on the tethered device does it count your data usage against your cap?

# ¿ Jan 5, 2015 06:55

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Probably about as cheap as it gets, yes.
But you can also get full unlimited everything for $100/mo.

# ¿ Feb 22, 2015 05:46

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Speaking of data stash, where does it show on the t-mo account page?
I switched from nerd plan -> 2GB ->3GB dec/january, but don't see it on my account page.

# ¿ Feb 26, 2015 19:16

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Endless Mike posted:

It shows up on the usage overview for me. Just click Usage at the top of My T-Mobile.

I dont even see any usage info. My account must still have a prepaid flag in there somewhere.
I'll go talk to them at some point, its not that critical.

# ¿ Feb 27, 2015 02:14

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

butt dickus posted:

Ugh, that means I'm going to have to replace my Nexus 5 if I want to get that sweet rural coverage.

Same.
I'm seriously banking on the Z4 being good enough to jump on.

# ¿ Feb 27, 2015 19:36

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 18:21

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Uthor posted:

HAHAHAHA

Its down to $70 after discounting the $100 for prime...But this is still the proper response.

# ¿ Apr 17, 2015 04:00

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > The T-Mobile/MetroPCS Megathread - Our CEO trolls your CEO.

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