RedSpark

13 minutes ago, clbowens said:

Interesting, i've been seeing $50 on their website for a while (with a $10 autopay discount or something)

I did get the flyer a number of weeks ago. Held onto it: $60/Month with AutoPay.

Perhaps they've made price adjustments since then?

7 minutes ago, clbowens said:

Wasn't their home internet already $50 per month?

The mail flyer I got here in DC quoted a price of $60/Month.

Another Deal:

It's like they're doing everything that's not an annual iPhone upgrade program like we had with Sprint....

Saw this new deal....

$5/Month for 500 GB

$10/Month for 2 TB

Pretty good.

11 hours ago, jonathanm1978 said:

I was paying for the same thing on android with Samsung... Samsung forever or whatever it was called... but I found out when I tried to get that upgraded new note last year that they weren't doing that. Even though it was still on my bill every month. I paid 11 months into it and got nothing. 

I'm 10 months into my Flex Lease. The website shows that I can upgrade early, but I'm only presented with the option to do 30 month financing or to pay in full. Maybe this will change at the 12 month mark on my Flex Lease? This really stinks if it's the case. Do right by your Sprint customers T-Mobile.

I guess I could always upgrade at the 18 Month mark, but if that's the case, I might as well go to Apple's annual upgrade program instead of T-Mobile's.

On 9/27/2021 at 11:28 AM, schmidtj said:

As T-Mobile US migrates Sprint customers, the CEO sees a ‘fantastic tailwind’

https://www.rcrwireless.com/20210927/5g/as-t-mobile-us-migrates-sprint-subs-the-ceo-sees-a-fantastic-tailwind?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rcrwireless%2FsLmV+(RCR+Wireless+News)

It sure would be great if T-Mobile continued to honor the iPhone Forever Annual Upgrade Program that Sprint offered instead of making it every Two years.... Perhaps that's asking too much.

The more I'm reading about this, the worse of a deal it seems to be.

We have the Unlimited Freedom Tax Inclusive Plan. I've migrated all but one of our lines to TNX. The only line I can't migrate is a Google Pixel 5 which apparently doesn't support TNX yet. Hopefully they get that sorted out at some point.

We have 3 iPhones on our Family Plan that were on Sprint's annual upgrade program, and I was anticipating doing an annual upgrade this year after making 12 Payments on our devices. We're currently at 10 Payments on an 18 Month Lease on those devices. When I checked on the Upgrade Workflow for each line, it seems that I can only do a 30 Month Payment Plan or Pay in Full for the phone at the outset. Would I see something different at 12 Months?

Apparently T-Mobile has introduced a new iPhone Upgrade Plan, but it's every two years instead of every year. Well that's worse than what we had before, and it seems to require us to switch to a new plan as well.... So I go to "Change Plan" and I see something called "Sprint MAX", but there's no fine print about it. It's not even listed on the Sprint Website as a current plan. I'm not about to switch to a new Phone Plan without seeing the Terms and Conditions, so they'd better fix that before I do it.

At this point, we would probably be better off switching all of our iPhone Lines to Apple's iPhone Annual Upgrade Program and bail on getting those devices from Sprint/T-Mobile altogether. We would get an Unlocked iPhone at the outset. We'd get to pay installments over 24 months and we could upgrade every 12 Months without having to Pay Off the device or have to deal with a trade-in value.

Am I missing something here? This seems like a terrible deal/program from T-Mobile.

Just checked out the iPhone 13 Pro upgrade information for our T-Mobile “Migrated” Unlimited Taxes/Fees Included Plan… and unless I’m missing something, there’s no way to do annual upgrades anymore.

I’m only given the choices of 30 Month Payments or to Pay in Full upfront, and I’m only eligible to upgrade to a new device once it’s completely paid off.

Wow, T-Mobile… This really sucks. Are others seeing this too?

1 hour ago, twospirits said:

While hiring that company is nice, it should have never gotten to this point in the first place. What is this, like the 3rd time T-Mobile has been hacked. There was no need to keep customer info on their servers like that. Its bad practice as per the NSA general counsel mentioned a while back. While my account wasn't affected, whos to say the next time (and there will be a next time) that it won't be.

But as usual, all they get is a slap on the wrists and the customer has to deal with changing passwords, pins, locking credit cards etc.

Agreed.

I want to hear less about politics from T-Mobile and more about security from them.

Just now, though said:

Did you actually try it? I've seen speeds upwards of 500/50+.

Oh? If that's the case, I'll check it out. Thanks.

15 minutes ago, dewbertdc said:

RCN is owned by a telecom holding company that also owns some other regional broadband providers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astound_Broadband

It would be interesting if T-Mobile bought them.  T-Mobile has already shown they're not interested in being a video provider with their ditching of T-Vision in favor of YouTubeTV/Philo; I could see them shutting down the video service and just running a pure-play broadband/voice network.

I was a happy RCN internet-only customer here in DC until Fios came to the neighborhood.  Can't beat $39.99 for 300Mbps symmetrical service.

Neat! I wasn't aware of that. Acquiring RCN would be a very interesting play for T-Mobile to make. They'd get a substantial foothold in some major markets and as well as an already built out wireline network that they could use to leverage their wireless assets.

26 minutes ago, though said:

Why won't T-Mobile's service work for you out of curiosity?

Speeds are too low for the sizes of files/documents I work with and need to manipulate.

48 minutes ago, though said:

yep worth a try though if possible!

I'm all for competition! I forgot to mention that I received a mailer for T-Mobile's 5G Internet service the other day. Unfortunately it wouldn't work well for the kind of work I need to do remotely, but I'm glad it's here as another option for people.

Given the undelivered promises from Google Fiber and Verizon Fios here, other companies will hopefully continue to fill the gap with additional competitive service offerings.

3 minutes ago, though said:

(or Starlink?)

Not the best fit for DC:

But it's an amazing technology....

24 minutes ago, Paynefanbro said:

T-Mobile Is Launching Fiber Optic Home Internet, Starting In NYC

https://tmo.report/2021/08/t-mobile-is-launching-fiber-optic-home-internet-starting-in-nyc/

Looks like they're reselling fiber from another company called Pilot Fiber. I wouldn't be surprised if T-Mobile considered a possible acquisition and using it as a jumping off point to build out their own network here so that they can use themselves for backhaul similar to Verizon here.

Hopefully this comes to the DC Area at some point.... because Fios still isn't available for me in D.C.

Google Fiber never showed up either.

Verizon offers 7.1 - 15 Mbps D/L speed DSL.

So I have a choice of Xfinity or RCN.

T-Mobile should consider striking a deal with RCN for access to fiber network, which serves Boston, Chicago, Washington DC Metro Area, NYC, Lehigh Valley and Philadelphia.

4 minutes ago, bill875 said:

It's interesting that the S21 Family of devices seem to be so problematic for customers on Sprint/T-Mobile.  Do we know if these devices specifically have a bad radio?  My sister and wife, both have an S21+ have issues with calls.  My sister has a T-Mobile SIM and my wife has a Sprint SIM and both experience calls dropping or sound dropping out for seconds at a time on a regular basis.  It is to the point that they want to get rid of Sprint/T-Mobile and dump the S21+ ASAP.

Perhaps a Carrier Update would fix this?

18 hours ago, The_Chemist said:

Yeah, it's all messed up. I came home from grocery shopping this morning. I was still in the car in my driveway and called the neighbor across the street. I picked up an item for them. The entire trip home I was streaming Spotify. No issues there. 

The phone call was all garbled to the point I had to hang up and call back on my Verizon phone. 

It turns out when I checked the band with Signal Check Pro afterwards, that I was on HSPA. 

After an airplane mode cycle, I latched onto 5G N71. What the heck wax the deal with connecting to HSPA?  I was using my Note 20 Ultra 5G phone. 

This same thing has happened to my girlfriend with her S21 5G.

Very frustrating. 

 

T-Mobile is doing a very heavy lift right now. It's essentially doing Network Vision 2.0 to integrate Sprint's network into T-Mobile's, but somehow keep both networks running at the same time. It's obviously causing problems along the way.

Given that Sprint's LTE network will be shutdown by June 30, 2022, we're likely going to see this kind of stuff continue until then (and perhaps for some time after) until everything is integrated and optimized.

5 hours ago, iansltx said:

Does seem that way. Maybe between now and then they'll figure out how not to throttle video to 1.5 Mbps on all TNX lines.

My guess is 6/30/22 is when the Sprint mobile core network will be decom'd, so Sprint SIMs will stop working. New iPhones coming with T-Mobile SIMs seems like a good guess.

One question I have is whether T-Mobile thinks they'll have all Keep Sites swapped over to T-Mobile equipment by then. If so, I should be able to switch my family back over to T-Mobile based service at that point, as I don't imaging they'll do those retrofits without at least n71. Or are they expecting to switch L-Sprint sites that remain to T-Mobile's core, and upgrade equipment when they get around to it?

I didn't realize Video was throttled to 1.5 Mbps on TNX lines. I haven't noticed any performance change in video.

It would make sense to have the new "Sprint" iPhones released with a T-Mobile physical SIM, or else these customers will suddenly lose service on June 30, 2022.... Unless they come up with another way to have customers re-provision their devices to T-Mobile with a pushed update, etc. I'm curious how they'll do this. Perhaps with an eSIM?

I also wonder what will happen to current TNX customers when they upgrade this Fall. It would be crazy to have to provision a Sprint SIM first and then switch to a T-Mobile SIM. Hopefully they don't have us do that.

10 hours ago, Trip said:

What's irritating to me is that they've issued conflicting notices.  I've gotten e-mails saying one of the phones on my account needs to be replaced, a paper letter saying all of them do, and then the website says any device that supports VoLTE is fine, which all of the devices do.  So which is it?

I wish T-Mobile were competent.

- Trip

 

May I ask what devices you have on your account?

Some interesting info about the shutdown in this article. Also found these pages on the T-Mobile Website interesting as well:

T-Mobile Network Evolution: https://www.t-mobile.com/support/coverage/t-mobile-network-evolution

What does the Sprint 3G (CDMA) network retirement mean to me?

On January 1, 2022, Sprint’s older 3G (CDMA) network will be retired. If you are still using a device that is dependent on Sprint’s 3G (CDMA) network or that does not support VoLTE, you’ll need to upgrade to a more modern device no later than the end of 2021 to continue getting service, including the ability to make 911 calls depending on your location.

What does the Sprint LTE network retirement mean to me?

Sprint’s LTE network will be retired on June 30, 2022. The good news is most Sprint LTE and 5G devices are compatible with the T-Mobile LTE or 5G network and will continue to operate on T-Mobile's LTE and 5G networks.  Customers only need to take a few easy steps:

• Replace the Sprint SIM card with a T-Mobile SIM card
• Ensure Voice over LTE (VoLTE) is enabled in device settings for voice calls (on applicable devices)

Sprint Migration Center: https://www.t-mobile.com/support/sprint-migration-center

Given the timeline for the Sprint LTE shutdown on June 30, 2022, I wonder if the upcoming iPhone will ship with a T-Mobile SIM Card pre-installed this Fall as it will be required to replace the Sprint SIM Card with a T-Mobile SIM card.

Unless I'm misreading, June 30, 2022 also sounds like it will be the end of TNA?

9 hours ago, dewbertdc said:

T-Mobile has updated their coverage maps to include 5G Ultra Capacity (N41) coverage.  Shows how quickly they've added it to towers in the DC area.

They've made incredible progress here in such a short period of time. The network is great!

10 hours ago, dewbertdc said:

Given that this mostly affects small cell mmWave deployments like the ones that Verizon and AT&T are using, I don't see much changing for T-Mobile.  They're mostly focused on adding mid-band 5G to their existing T-Mobile and Sprint-keep macro sites, which have been happening in this area pretty quickly.

Good point. I guess it could be helpful for when T-Mobile does mmWave deployments in the area.

Bethesda Magazine has another interesting write-up about it: https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/government/council-approves-change-to-pave-the-way-for-expanded-5g-coverage/

Finally!

https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2021/07/montgomery-county-votes-in-favor-of-5g-cell-towers/

https://www.localdvm.com/news/maryland/montgomery-co-passes-5g-wireless-amendment-some-residents-raise-safety-concerns/

https://dcist.com/story/21/07/26/montgomery-county-council-to-vote-on-5g-zoning-bill-amid-pushback/

This has been a long time coming.

How could this affect T-Mobile's build around here?

23 hours ago, Paynefanbro said:

T-Mobile did two news releases today.

1. T‑Mobile Has Most Reliable 5G Network (Again) According to New Report

   1. T-Mobile has been found to have the fastest, largest, and most reliable 5G network in the U.S. according to umlaut. Although I don't disagree with the results, I still think we should take it with a grain of salt since it was commissioned by T-Mobile and it doesn't look like they covered a very large area.

2. A 5G Build Update! And a Look Toward the Future of 5G

   1. T-Mobile now covers 165 million POPs with Ultra-Capacity 5G and 305 million POPs with Nationwide 5G.

   2. Neville also bragged about how they fully expect to maintain their spectrum lead well into the future.

      1. T-Mobile will average 100MHz of mid-band nationwide by year-end covering 200 million people for a total of for 60 billion MHz pops. This is compared to Verizon who plans to cover 100 million people next year and use 60 MHz of C-band to get 6 billion MHz pops. That same math for AT&T with their 40MHz of C-band is 4 billion MHz pops.

      2. In 2023 when the rest of the C-band spectrum becomes available T-Mobile is targeting 300 million people covered with 200MHz of mid-band for 60 billion MHz pops. Verizon says they’ll cover 200 million people with 160MHz, bringing them to 32 billion MHz pops. And AT&T will cover 200 million people with 80MHz of C-band, they’ll be at 16 billion MHz pops. 

Also here's an updated (though still low res) map:

Pretty impressive! Well done.

Nice!