> While the data is free, it won't be particularly fast. Customers can expect network speeds at around the same level that they get in the US after they are throttled. Chief Marketing Officer Mike Sievert said the average speed customers would get would be around 128 kilobits a second.
Think of it more of an extension of the Kindle 3G business model rather than anything else. The maximum one could theoretically suck through that straw, at 24/7, is 40 GB a month.
That still sounds pretty reasonable, considering that at normal roaming-data prices, that 40 GB would cost you about $10,000. Between a speed cap and insane prices, I'll take the speed cap!
128kbps is pretty slow, but it's fine for basic use. That's basically a mediocre EDGE connection like the original iPhone without great coverage, and while it was no speed demon, it was certainly usable. It'll let you send instant messages, and check your e-mail and get directions if you're patient. I could easily see surviving on a plan like this while traveling.
I've been in Canada for a year using my UK phone, so I only get Edge due to the different bands. Surprisingly, I have survived and I didn't think I would. Sure things take longer to load and I can't really stream YouTube but you learn to live with it and you can always pick up wifi in a lot of cafes and restaurants to send images and files. But, I can send/receive my emails, use Tango/WhatsUp/Skype to instant message, Facebook, browse the web etc. It's more than adequate, you can work around the limitations fairly easily. I'm also on a limited data plan (500MB month) so at faster speeds I would hit that limit very quickly!
I will be buying a Nexus 5 when it comes out though :)
For me, that's not the painful part. The painful part is the six week limit.
When I was in Taiwan, I was handed a prepaid dumbphone and a 4G wireless hotspot with iffy battery life and some indoor coverage issues.
Being able to send/receive SMSs and brief phone calls with my smartphone's home number, and keep up on email and light browsing on my own phone without being at the mercy of the hotspot, would have been very nice, but I was there for ~9 months split into two trips during the course of a year.
I would gladly pay an extra $10-20/month (with $0.20/minute voice) for such capability over an extended period, but that wasn't, and apparently still is not, an option.
I think that the case T-Mobile is going for is not the person who lives in another country for long periods of time for work but the traveller who has to constantly go back and forth between areas, or just a frequent vacationer.
I imagine it's just better for you to get your own plan if you're spending 3/4 of the year there.
Getting my own plan was a legal impossibility, and would have done little to help anyone in the US get hold of me.
car's suggestion is at least an interesting half-solution. I didn't even consider a T-Mobile "wi-fi calling" phone at the time, as I'd been under the impression, right up until today, that T-Mobile had only had that feature for a couple years before abandoning it.
If you get one of the Blackberry UMA models or a T-Mobile branded phone with 'Wifi calling', those phones will work over Wifi anywhere in the world, at no extra cost.
In other words, you can make and receive voice calls on your regular number, and the same for SMS via WLAN.
I would be willing to pay for this service here in the US for a reasonable price. There are plenty of things I would love a low-end data plan for, but can't justify the cost of $45/mo for prepaid data at 1.5GB/mo like Net10 offers. Think of electronics projects that could benefit from an anywhere, always on connection even if it's super slow. But is that project worth $45/mo, and is it worth it if you run out of data before the end of the month?
Had. [EDIT: Er, Have. With apologies, see below discussion.]
I'm paying $25/mo for a limited no-contract BYOB plan. They're still taking my money for it, but I'm a little scared, since I can no longer find it on the site.
Over the last six months, I've seen T-Mobile BYOD plans at $15, 25, 30, 35, 45, and up. Now, you can't get any plan from T-Mobile under $50 per month, and that "cheap" plan comes with less high speed data than they've typically offered for less.
They're killing the value of the plans while rebranding throttling as "unlimited" so it sounds like a perk. "Yeah, use all of our awful throttled data you like. Be our guest!"
Someone should put the old plans, like the one you link to, side by side with the new ones. I don't think so many people would still think this is a win for consumers or competition.
* I've found 1.5 GB is more than enough for email, Wikipedia, and the rare voice call - if I'm settled in somewhere to watch Netflix, I always seem to have wifi.
I just called in to activate this plan (I'm already on a prepaid TMO plan). I couldn't get it on the phone, but the CSR told me that I could order the activation kit from walmart.com, call in, and activate it using the code from the kit. The code can be applied to either a new line or an existing line. The kit sells for ~$30 but includes $30 of service.
T-Mobile isn't exactly going out of its way to let people know this exists. It's not featured in the way you do for a plan you envision as the future cornerstone of the business.
I have this plan. Had to call customer service to get them to honor it. Bit of a hassle, but they did it. It's not available in their regular plan settings; clearly they'd rather people buy the more expensive plan with unlimited minutes instead. I won't be particularly surprised if they discontinue it at some point soon. For the time being, the plan meets my needs quite well though.
$30/mo for 5GB 4G (then I assume 2G after) is quite a deal! If the minutes were higher, I'd use this as my primary provider. As a data-only plan though, that's not too bad!
Yes. It is quite a deal. I pay .10 per minute after the small allocation is used up, but I've only use all 100 minutes twice in the last year I've had this plan.
If I were less lazy and needed more minutes, I'd setup grooveip (or something similar) with my google voice account.
I use my phone quite a bit due to having a widely dispersed family and an upcoming wedding. I also occasionally use my phone for work, but do not get reimbursed for the cost. You have this plan? Do they do the "nights and weekends free" thing? Do they charge for "in network" calls?
I'm actually seriously thinking about switching, as my Net10 experience is sub-par compared to an actual carrier, and $30/mo is better than $45/mo no matter how you split it. 100 minutes is just too low for me, though. I love my Windows Phone, but that means no Google Voice or realistic VOIP offering.
Me: On a plan that says "First N GB at 4G speeds", what
speed do I get after I hit the cap?
Rep: Once the allotted high-speed data has been used
speeds will be throttled down to our 2G speeds.
This would be comparable to about twice the speed
of dial-up which translates to about 100 kbps.
> While the data is free, it won't be particularly fast. Customers can expect network speeds at around the same level that they get in the US after they are throttled. Chief Marketing Officer Mike Sievert said the average speed customers would get would be around 128 kilobits a second.
Think of it more of an extension of the Kindle 3G business model rather than anything else. The maximum one could theoretically suck through that straw, at 24/7, is 40 GB a month.