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Official Tmobile-Sprint merger discussion thread


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On 8/15/2023 at 8:18 PM, Yuhfhrh said:

This is how I saw it. No need to dedicate all the 2.5 to N41, when the site only has 1gbps backhaul. 100MHz N41 will already be fully saturated. Keeping b41 active allows LTE devices have a good experience in the meantime until backhaul is improved.

Many sites in my county I count 29 so far goes well over 1GB download. So I don’t see the need to have 90mhz on LTE and 170mhz on NR.

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We all knew this was coming:

https://www.lightreading.com/5g-and-beyond/t-mobiles-premium-pricing-passes-atandt-verizon/d/d-id/786190?#close-modal

Quote

 

T-Mobile introduced a new premium service plan that's more expensive than those from Verizon and AT&T, at least for a single line of service. That's noteworthy considering T-Mobile historically has offered prices that are cheaper than those of its rivals.

However, T-Mobile's move isn't surprising. The company is no longer facing government restrictions on its service pricing; as a condition of T-Mobile's 2020 merger with Sprint, the operator was prevented from raising prices for three years. That restriction ended earlier this year. (Though, to be clear, T-Mobile continues to offer cheaper pricing plans.)

 

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1 hour ago, RedSpark said:

Just got off the phone with T-Mobile. We have eight lines on our family plan (Sprint Max).

Switching to Go5G Plus would increase our bill by $35.00/Month.

Switching to Go5G Next would increase our bill by $105.00/Month.

Adding an additional line (putting us over 8 lines) also means we don't get the AutoPay discount for that line.... So an additional Apple Watch would be $15.00/month instead of $10.00/month.

On the upside, I did learn that we still get the AutoPay discount as long as a Debit/Checking account is linked as the primary, even if you make an early manual payment on a credit card. We'll see how long that lasts for....

I'm not happy about any of this.

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With Go5G Next there are no more "free" lines. If you upgrade to Go5G Next from an account with any "free" lines each of those lines will be $10/mo. Even the what use to be "3rd line On Us" will now cost you $10/mo.

More here:

Everything To Know About T-Mobile’s Go5G Next Plan, Including A Huge Catch

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36 minutes ago, schmidtj said:

With Go5G Next there are no more "free" lines. If you upgrade to Go5G Next from an account with any "free" lines each of those lines will be $10/mo. Even the what use to be "3rd line On Us" will now cost you $10/mo.

More here:

Everything To Know About T-Mobile’s Go5G Next Plan, Including A Huge Catch

Damn. It's sad to see things going this way now.... I miss the simplicity and value of "iPhone Forever" on Sprint.

At some point, I should just consider doing the "iPhone Annual Upgrade Program" through Apple if this is how it's going to be. Of course, you'll wind up paying through the nose for upgrade benefits you won't use if you want the top tier Go5G Next plan for hotspot/international roaming, etc. on T-Mobile.

What a mess. So it'll be an extra $35/Month for Go5G Plus if I want the ability to upgrade our devices every two years and have the same deals as new customers, etc..... or it'll be an extra $105/Month for Go5G Next if I want the ability to upgrade our devices each year and have the same deals as new customers.

Heck, it seems to make more sense to pay off the devices completely and do a trade-in with T-Mobile or Apple, and stay on Sprint Max.... Failing that, I should just buyout the devices each year on T-Mobile and then trade them back in. I doubt my account credit limit is high enough to support financing 7 devices on it.

JFC....

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13 minutes ago, RedSpark said:

At some point, I should just consider doing the "iPhone Annual Upgrade Program" through Apple

I use to do that but didn’t like the hard credit pulls the financing bank did. Then I got an Apple Credit card. 3% Daily Cash on the purchase and 24 mos 0% payments. Now no 24 mos 0% unless the phone is activated on one of the Big Three which means no SIM/eSIM Free phones. So this year I’ll just use Discover which has 5% cash back through September on purchase made via Online Wallets eg. Apple Pay, Google Play, Samsung Pay etc.. 

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11 hours ago, schmidtj said:

I use to do that but didn’t like the hard credit pulls the financing bank did. Then I got an Apple Credit card. 3% Daily Cash on the purchase and 24 mos 0% payments. Now no 24 mos 0% unless the phone is activated on one of the Big Three which means no SIM/eSIM Free phones. So this year I’ll just use Discover which has 5% cash back through September on purchase made via Online Wallets eg. Apple Pay, Google Play, Samsung Pay etc.. 

The Carriers must have used some leverage on Apple to get them to stop selling no-SIM/eSIM free phones. I wonder what was involved with that.

It's just sad to see how T-Mobile is degenerating into the "Carrier" many of us feared after the merger, and there's really nowhere else to go.

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5 minutes ago, RedSpark said:

The Carriers must have used some leverage on Apple to get them to stop selling no-SIM/eSIM free phones. I wonder what was involved with that.

It's just sad to see how T-Mobile is degenerating into the "Carrier" many of us feared after the merger, and there's really nowhere else to go.

Only if you want to use an Apple Credit Card AND take advantage of 24 months @ 0%. Some folks are unhappy since they only applied for the Apple Card for the 24 payments at no interest. 
Rereading my post I can see how it could be confusing. 

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6 minutes ago, schmidtj said:

Only if you want to use an Apple Credit Card AND take advantage of 24 months @ 0%. Some folks are unhappy since they only applied for the Apple Card for the 24 payments at no interest. 
Rereading my post I can see how it could be confusing. 

Whoops! I should have been more clear too. Why do you think Apple stopped doing 0% interest no-SIM/eSIM free phones?

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1 minute ago, RedSpark said:

Whoops! I should have been more clear too. Why do you think Apple stopped doing 0% interest no-SIM/eSIM free phones?

Don't quote me but I hear it's to reduce fraud. It's too easy to buy an unlocked phone and then sell it overseas at exhorbataht prices. I don't understand the connection to the Apple Card specifically. 

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13 hours ago, RedSpark said:

Damn. It's sad to see things going this way now....

I mean, all of this was predictable the day the merger was announced.  Literally nobody can pretend to be even a little bit surprised, as price increases are always what happens after consolidation. 

It's why I've never understood all the people cheering on the merger. 

- Trip

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44 minutes ago, Trip said:

I mean, all of this was predictable the day the merger was announced.  Literally nobody can pretend to be even a little bit surprised, as price increases are always what happens after consolidation. 

It's why I've never understood all the people cheering on the merger. 

- Trip

I don't expect any of this to improve when Dish gets its act together.... whenever that is. It's never going to make a competitive difference in the marketplace.

This is just the way it's going to be going forward. It's really sad.

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14 minutes ago, PedroDaGr8 said:

The most recent S22 update added a VoNR toggle to settings. To me, this indicates that TMO is happy enough with VoNR now to roll it out to the general public. 

My iPhone 14 Pro on iOS 16.6 has a toggle switch that was auto-enabled for "5G Standalone" when I looked under Settings --> Cellular --> Cellular Data Options --> Voice & Data

It says: 5G Standalone uses 5G for all cellular activity, including cellular network connections.

I have things set to "5G Auto" and "Allow More Data on 5G".

I'm taking that Sprint MAX plan for all I can now...

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5 hours ago, RedSpark said:

My iPhone 14 Pro on iOS 16.6 has a toggle switch that was auto-enabled for "5G Standalone" when I looked under Settings --> Cellular --> Cellular Data Options --> Voice & Data

It says: 5G Standalone uses 5G for all cellular activity, including cellular network connections.

I have things set to "5G Auto" and "Allow More Data on 5G".

I'm taking that Sprint MAX plan for all I can now...

 About a month ago my voice service was exemplary using your settings. Then I tried 5G Standalone just for grins and 30% of my voice calls dropped after 5 minutes. Coincidence? I switched back and no more dropped calls. Iphone 14 Pro Max. iOS 16.6

J

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1 hour ago, schmidtj said:

 About a month ago my voice service was exemplary using your settings. Then I tried 5G Standalone just for grins and 30% of my voice calls dropped after 5 minutes. Coincidence? I switched back and no more dropped calls. Iphone 14 Pro Max. iOS 16.6

J

My voice/data service on T-Mobile has been really great. I didn’t even know this “5G Standalone” toggle switch was added there or even enabled. It wasn’t even there last time I checked these settings.

I’ve been thinking about the Go5G Plans some more… Maybe it makes sense to do the middle ground to accommodate the Android people on our plan who only upgrade every two years: Go5G Plus for the $35/Month bump?

What’s an example of an existing customer getting a new customer deal? I don’t really understand what that means.

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Fun times: T-Mobile migrated me over to their billing and nuked data access in the process. Had to hop off the phone with customer service due to needing to hop onto a flight. Good thing I have the other three carriers available to work around this. Hold time was estimated at 30m (was actually less) and they disabled callbacks so I'm guessing I wasn't the only one to have this screwup.

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1 hour ago, RedSpark said:

What’s an example of an existing customer getting a new customer deal? I don’t really understand what that means.

Stuff like this:

Add a new line or trade in a qualifying phone on a Go5G Plus plan for a free Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5—the strongest Flip yet. Open it up and turn heads.

Add a new line or trade in a qualifying phone on a Go5G Plus plan for up to $1000 off the new Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5. Double the screen. Double the experience.

Usually for new customers but if you're on Go5G Plus as an existing customer you can take advantage of it.
In these examples you need a "qualifying" trade-in. Whatever that is.

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I've been having problems with people unable to call me, and so is my wife. I live in an area with decent 5g UC n71... (both s23 ultra).

Wifi calling doesn't seem to make a difference. It'll randomly drop a call on wifi calling...

But with cellular, it won't even ring if someone attempts to call. 

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2 hours ago, jonathanm1978 said:

I've been having problems with people unable to call me, and so is my wife. I live in an area with decent 5g UC n71... (both s23 ultra).

Wifi calling doesn't seem to make a difference. It'll randomly drop a call on wifi calling...

But with cellular, it won't even ring if someone attempts to call. 

I had the same issue here and Instacart tried to call twice because they rely on Google Maps for delivery and Google has my home address located at the wrong place.  Both calls failed to ring my phone and I was charged a late cancellation fee and didn't receive my grocery order because T-Mobile couldn't deliver something as basic as a telephone call.

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5 hours ago, schmidtj said:

Stuff like this:

Add a new line or trade in a qualifying phone on a Go5G Plus plan for a free Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5—the strongest Flip yet. Open it up and turn heads.

Add a new line or trade in a qualifying phone on a Go5G Plus plan for up to $1000 off the new Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5. Double the screen. Double the experience.

Usually for new customers but if you're on Go5G Plus as an existing customer you can take advantage of it.
In these examples you need a "qualifying" trade-in. Whatever that is.

Thanks. So basically it depends on the graciousness of T-Mobile for what the deals will be. Do I need to have 24 months of payments to get these deals or can I just pay off the device(s) early to be eligible?

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2 hours ago, RedSpark said:

Thanks. So basically it depends on the graciousness of T-Mobile for what the deals will be. Do I need to have 24 months of payments to get these deals or can I just pay off the device(s) early to be eligible?

Yes. Deals vary. As I understand it free phones are really set up as an installment plan and as long as the line is active T-Mobile makes the payments via bill credits. If you leave or cancel the line then you make the remaining payments over time or all at once. Your choice. Full disclosure I’ve never done one. 

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