T-Mobile LTE & Network Discussion V2

[Paynefanbro]

T-Mobile works well in Houston, TX.

 

No complaints here

 

Sent from my SM-N910T

 

We know.

[gusherb]

This new XXL plan (18gb) does not include the first line. It's still $20/line, so $120/month.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6+

Every time I go and build an order with that plan it shows the line access as being included. On mobile and on a computer web browser. Every piece of evidence I see indicates this promo price includes one line.

 

Edit: checked it again and now it's showing as $100 plus $20. If that was really an error before they left it that way awhile. I wonder if someone placed an order if that would've slipped through and they would've been able to get by with no access charge. I'm sure it would've got picked up on fairly quickly though.

[Johnner1999]

I retract my earlier post on how great a deal the xxl offer is. I too thought the first line was included.

 

It's not a bad offer. But not an oh wow moment.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Deval]

I find it interesting that Fierce didn't have an article on the new offers from T-Mobile, a day after the announcement.

[Fraydog]

I love how we are being blamed for the trolling on this site when people are being advised to not put anything up on the comments by me and others on this site.

 

I would hope all S4GRU membership act adult but my gut tells me most of the people fighting over there have no affiliation with this site. S4GRU isn't run that way so as a moderator here, I'm amazed at this line of logic.

[mittenmitten]

What's the deal with this Fabian guy anyway? Is he known from some other website or message board or something? Or does he just troll FierceWireless comments? It looks like he has a cult following or something, and every time I go to FW there's like a million comments from him. This is the first time I've seen him reference S4GRU though, do people here comment there a lot?

[Ascertion]

What's the deal with this Fabian guy anyway? Is he known from some other website or message board or something? Or does he just troll FierceWireless comments? It looks like he has a cult following or something, and every time I go to FW there's like a million comments from him. This is the first time I've seen him reference S4GRU though, do people here comment there a lot?

He's been made a fool of quite often.  Likely the posts opposing his stances gets the upvotes/likes, which goes to show his opinion isn't that popular.  He's gotten to the point where people that counter any of his arguments, he just replies "Yeah, No.  Troll Along."   It's not worth even giving him attention here, to be honest, since he roams this site likely as much as me.  He says the same things everytime about Sprint's terrible network, when T-Mobile sat on Edge-only sites for longer than Sprint has on EvDo.  And whenever Sprint actually proves they're making progress, he discredits the ones that printed the report.  Nothing more than a troll who's opinions shouldn't really matter.

[Fraydog]

He's been made a fool of quite often. Likely the posts opposing his stances gets the upvotes/likes, which goes to show his opinion isn't that popular. He's gotten to the point where people that counter any of his arguments, he just replies "Yeah, No. Troll Along." It's not worth even giving him attention here, to be honest, since he roams this site likely as much as me. He says the same things everytime about Sprint's terrible network, when T-Mobile sat on Edge-only sites for longer than Sprint has on EvDo. And whenever Sprint actually proves they're making progress, he discredits the ones that printed the report. Nothing more than a troll who's opinions shouldn't really matter.

I don't mind people vouching for T-Mobile. In fact, if I want to play devil's advocate, I really could. I don't have that much concern over any of it. It's just that...there's some people, a small and vocal few, who take the almost religious stands regarding their favorite Magenta clad carrier and forget that it's a carrier.

 

I'll just say that act doesn't play well with the general public. Most people don't really care that much at the end of the day. What do they want their carrier to be? A dumb pipe. That's pretty much the beginning and the end of it.

 

I think some of the jabs on their end that are light-hearted and irrelevant are just fine with me. Then there's a select few who take it all way too far. Good for you if you are on the T-Mobile network in NYC, Las Vegas, or Florida and those places have great service. That doesn't mean that extends over the large part of the country. In fact I'd say VZW is the only real choice for a large part of the geographic area of the United States. That's the real sad part of this. Lots of people I know are locked into carriers that charge them large overages. That's the real sad part of this: I know it's an argument many people make that people should plan out and manage their data usage. In the real world, that just doesn't happen. I put my phone down last night and what I heard was shocking. Everyone at the table had overages. Most of the people were on Verizon. I played devil's advocate and said "you can backdate your plan to find a usage pattern that's better for you." Then what came back? They'd rather pay the overage if they get it.

 

That is the type of garbage that overages are. I'd be OK if VZW pooled data or just automagically knocked someone up to the next tier. That's not what they're doing. It's $15 for 1GB. That's ridiculous.

 

Yet, what is there to do? T-Mobile still has large coverage holes over this part of the US, and then AT&T is there but engages in all the same practices as Verizon. That's the whole reason I found this site. I was that desperate to find another option. Unfortunately a suffering Sprint hasn't been able to do much here. Hopefully that changes as Sprint turns around their business.

 

I want to see a healthy Sprint because it would unlock much deeper price competition in the US. I think the T-Mobile build will also help but in the areas that they don't have low band, their options are far more limited in scope.

[cortney]

That is the type of garbage that overages are. I'd be OK if VZW pooled data or just automagically knocked someone up to the next tier. That's not what they're doing. It's $15 for 1GB. That's ridiculous.

 

Yet, what is there to do? T-Mobile still has large coverage holes over this part of the US, and then AT&T is there but engages in all the same practices as Verizon. That's the whole reason I found this site. I was that desperate to find another option. Unfortunately a suffering Sprint hasn't been able to do much here. Hopefully that changes as Sprint turns around their business.

 

I agreed with your points, but in terms of the overages for the average user who keeps his/her phone for 2-5 years at a time: no carrier is preventing anyone from manning the hell up and buying their devices outright and picking either a Verizon/AT&T Prepaid or MVNO option (no overages at least for AT&T/MVNO), otherwise an Unlimited or suitable plan on Sprint, even prepaid on Sprint if the local service is good (and doesn't require roaming). Ignorance is bliss. 

 

Now that may be "too complicated" for most people, but even I know people not tech or cell savvy that went that way long ago and reaped the benefits. Just don't walk into a corporate store and ask their recommendation, lol... 

 

Postpaid can be useful for some, including those who use higher data amounts and truly need the upgrade plans, but it is incredibly hyped up and overused. Sprint is the only carrier I'd ever use postpaid if needed. 

[Fraydog]

There's a bunch of people in Chester who should be on PagePlus. No question. My counter to your point is postpaid providers are going to have to eventually adapt. If VZW and AT&T had to adapt pooled data I'd consider that a win for consumers.

[dnwk]

It looks like T-mobile is using LTE b2 to overlay those EDGE only area. I guess they could keep using old panels by deploy on B2. Cell edge performance is rather weak. Keep jumping between LTE and Edge or other Tower.

[Arysyn]

I agree with Fraydog about the overage costs being too high, but I also think the per GB data cost of current pooled/shared data is too expensive. I've done some estimates on them tied in with the added per line costs, and found that when calculated, these plans in many scenarios end up costing around $9-$10 per GB overall when all costs are added up.

 

I mentioned this recently here, but I'll say it again. There really ought to be a monthly individual plan of $45 monthly, including everything other than data, then just have a low flat per GB cost for data, which I recommend be $1 per gb. The cost for one line using 20gb of data would be $65, which is just a bit more than what Cricket was charging for 20gb of data in their promotional plan some months ago.

 

Even better, I wouldn't mind going back to charging a very cheap rate for calls and texts. For example, a $30 monthly plan for one line including taxes and fees, $1 per GB of data, 1¢ per minute, and 1¢ per text. That would be great for those who don't make many voice calls and don't text often either, if at all.

 

These options would be great for consumers and would go a long way of truly simplifying things for customers. I would love to see any carrier offer this, as it would show that carrier truly was trying to be for the customer.

 

T-Mobile is not what they claim they are in what they are doing with "Uncarrier". People who believe otherwise are truly ignorant, especially when not looking at how T-Mobile has increased prices quite heavily on individual lines over the years. T-Mobile use to have promotional plans giving customers 1000 minutes and unlimited N&W minutes for under $40 monthly, with the option for unlimited internet for around $20 monthly add-on, though that price did vary at times. Yet at least for some time, it was much more "Uncarrier" than it is nowadays.

[Fraydog]

It looks like T-mobile is using LTE b2 to overlay those EDGE only area. I guess they could keep using old panels by deploy on B2. Cell edge performance is rather weak. Keep jumping between LTE and Edge or other Tower.

 

In building is kind of adventurous, to put it one way. The ultimate solution would be for DT and T-Mobile US to pay up for low band where penetration is going to be much better. They could also go back and replace antennas and install RRU's, but I don't know how much of a signal gain that would deliver. I'm sure enough to notice. 

 

What would really help? The newer antennas that could support LTE, WCDMA, and GSM. The Flexi's on the ground where I live support LTE, the problem is the antennas can really only do LTE and GSM, there aren't enough ports for WCDMA. I'd be in a better position if I fell back to WCDMA in building over GSM. 

[cortney]

In building is kind of adventurous, to put it one way. The ultimate solution would be for DT and T-Mobile US to pay up for low band where penetration is going to be much better. They could also go back and replace antennas and install RRU's, but I don't know how much of a signal gain that would deliver. I'm sure enough to notice. 

 

What would really help? The newer antennas that could support LTE, WCDMA, and GSM. The Flexi's on the ground where I live support LTE, the problem is the antennas can really only do LTE and GSM, there aren't enough ports for WCDMA. I'd be in a better position if I fell back to WCDMA in building over GSM. 

 

That's one of the biggest problems I have with T-Mobile. I do not consider 2G a valid option for data or calling on GSM networks for me.

 

No thanks, there are 3 other carriers who decided 3G comes before 2G, and 2 of which did not let their 3G simply rot on an outdated standard. Their common sense appeals to me.

 

Not that I don't love LTE, but it's only available 90-98% of the time outside of non-urban areas, so 3G still matters. 

[Fraydog]

That's one of the biggest problems I have with T-Mobile. I do not consider 2G a valid option for data or calling on GSM networks for me.

 

No thanks, there are 3 other carriers who decided 3G comes before 2G, and 2 of which did not let their 3G simply rot on an outdated standard. Their common sense appeals to me.

 

Not that I don't love LTE, but it's only available 90-98% of the time outside of non-urban areas, so 3G still matters.

I would be more than happy to go L700 VoLTE with GSM fallback but that would be different since L700 goes farther than U1900.

 

AT&T has a UMTS network here but it's shit. So VZW is what most use even though that's like talking in a tin can most of the time. Honesty T-Mo GSM has better voice quality here, but not the coverage.

[Sprke]

 

 

So VZW is what most use even though that's like talking in a tin can most of the time.

You need to be using VoLTE on VZW. Takes care of the tin can sound even when your not on a HD call.

 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

[Arysyn]

I definitely don't mean to sound rude towards those here who are more realistic about technology and the ways of things in the wireless industry. My comments I'm about to make is intended towards those more directly involved in the industry and are responsible for things as they are, which I know many here try to base their comments as how things are because of that, rather than how things ought to be. That is something that I often do. I look first at what would be best and if I think that is something which is possible, regardless of difficulty, finances, etc., I still think that is what ought to be done.

 

I read here and on other sites about how there is all of this 2g and 3g still around, which of course I've experienced plenty of it myself with T-Mobile. I think it is really sad that after all of these years, its still there, especially when a much better technological standard is available in LTE. I've read plenty of times, mainly from people who are more realistic than I am, about how this is the way it is because many people still have 2g-only and 3g-only devices. Which to me, seems that if this is the reason or at least a major reason for why 2g and 3g are still so prevalent, then that shows me these wireless companies are catering to people who have no real excuse not to upgrade, especially when there are plenty of inexpensive LTE devices that are affordable. This is not a reasonable excuse though to be keeping network technology back.

 

What makes all of this seem worse to me, is that carriers such as T-Mobile, have their own MVNOs strictly for use on 2g and 3g, which is another setback to the ideals of a fully 4g network. I've also heard the excuse of how there are MVNOs operated outside of carrier control that have 2g-only and 3g-only specific contracts with these carriers, something which is more understandable of a setback because of legally binding issues, along with carriers not being able to force LTE devices to these MVNO's customers. Although, I think these carriers really ought to try reworking these contracts, with details as to serving these MVNOs to their satisfaction in a transition to full 4g.

 

One more mention to finish this post. While Verizon certainly has a very good network, I've spoken with people who have experienced problems in some areas, with the network dropping down to EVDO and even down to 1xrtt. Yet in the news lately, there are reports of Verizon beginning to work on 5g standards. While that is good, Verizon really ought to improve in these areas where the network drops down to EVDO and 1xrtt. LTE ought to be the data network until 5g is ready, but until then, only LTE should be used. That is, if these networks truly want to be able to give these carriers a genuine reason for some of the claims they make about their ability to serve their customers, honestly.

[Fraydog]

You need to be using VoLTE on VZW. Takes care of the tin can sound even when your not on a HD call.

 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

Too many drops around here. Besides I have a 5S. I will switch VoLTE on when I upgrade.

[dnwk]

I don't think you will need WCDMA once LTE is in place. LTE basically cover all 3G could do.

[dnwk]

WCDMA probably goes before GSM get shuttered.

[Fraydog]

I don't think you will need WCDMA once LTE is in place. LTE basically cover all 3G could do.

No, LTE 700 does, but that isn't available for 125 miles from me. The nearest LTE 700 site in the T-Mobile system is on I-64 between Evansville, IN, and Mount Vernon, IL near Grayville.

[dnwk]

They just need to densify the tower. It maybe better spending money on new tower than install WCDMA

[EvanA]

http://www.newsweek.com/2015/09/25/tmobile-ceo-john-legere-torched-cellphone-industry-rules-372157.html

 

In this short profile, Legere is quoted as saying, among other things, that if T-Mobile can get more spectrum he'll amp up the competition even more. Just a tip John: stop complaining about lacking spectrum and pay up for it.

[Maverick]

http://www.newsweek.com/2015/09/25/tmobile-ceo-john-legere-torched-cellphone-industry-rules-372157.html

 

In this short profile, Legere is quoted as saying, among other things, that if T-Mobile can get more spectrum he'll amp up the competition even more. Just a tip John: stop complaining about lacking spectrum and pay up for it.

 

Agreed. 

 

The only problem is that the crackhead feels entitled and expects to be given not worked and paid for like the competitors.  

[JThorson]

http://www.newsweek.com/2015/09/25/tmobile-ceo-john-legere-torched-cellphone-industry-rules-372157.html

 

In this short profile, Legere is quoted as saying, among other things, that if T-Mobile can get more spectrum he'll amp up the competition even more. Just a tip John: stop complaining about lacking spectrum and pay up for it.

Of course; John is like "Verizon and AT&T was given spectrum, why can't I have any?  " He is so egotistical I can't stand it.