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T-Mobile Turns An Industry On Its Ear

nytimes.com

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Re: T-Mobile Turns An Industry On Its Ear

#71

Post by tutufan »

thisiszen wrote: post #23

Personal anecdote that shows how customer service laser-focused T-Mobile is: Last week the T-Mobile CMO announced a nationwide campaign in which existing and new customers could turn in any Blackberry and get $200 towards a new phone (it was a response in regards to the CEO of Blackberry blasting them the day before). I had just switched over to T-Mobile a couple of days before (so that I can upgrade phones whenever…

I was a loyal T-Mobile customer for years, but now I'm their number one enemy.

In short, I moved to a new state and my house appears to lie between three misconfigured towers. Multiple phones, multiple models repeatedly dropping calls and texts. Diagnostic app showed phones constantly hunting between towers. T-Mobile customer service abysmal--their motto seems to be FOAD.

Finally paid the $800 termination fee to be rid of them. Both StraightTalk (ATT network) and Verizon work perfectly at this location.

The moral of the story is not that T-Mobile sucks (though they do). Rather, never, ever enter a multi-month agreement with a cell carrier. They are simply not to be trusted.

Re: T-Mobile Turns An Industry On Its Ear

#72

Post by bluedino »

rayiner wrote: post #7

I really love T-Mobile, but its also a validation of all the ideas that traditional telecom regulation rejects. T-Mobile has focused its capital on urban areas and wealthier areas. My LTE download speeds in downtown Phila or DC are great. Service in the poor part of Wilmington where I live? I'm lucky to get 1-2 megabit on HSPA. People are rightfully excited about T-Mobile, but let's not forget that its success to dat…

>> T-Mobile has focused its capital on urban areas and wealthier areas.

Outside of major metro areas T-mobile coverage can be next to nothing. T-mobile only has 2G data here while AT&T, Verizon, and even Sprint have 4G coverage.

I'd love to move to their service and save some cash but it's just not possible.

Re: T-Mobile Turns An Industry On Its Ear

#73

Post by er35826 »

67726e wrote: post #66
NoPiece wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The simple version is: US cell phone contract = service bundled with a small loan for a phone. It isn't that bad. They can't charge you whatever they want, your plan is locked in, and if they change it you can leave without penalty. For whatever reason you leave, you can take your number. Pre paid plans are available as options. Nothing forces you to stay with a carrier. The penalty is just recouping some of the unpa…

Correct me if I'm wrong as I always used a pre-paid phone on an MVNO prior to switching to T-Mobile after they started their reforms, but my understanding was that cell-phone companies would typically have something like: PAYMENT = PRICE_OF_SERVICE + (PRICE_OF_PHONE / CONTRACT_DURATION) I know this is a "naive implementation", but the problem is they would never take off the charge for the phone even after one had pa…

That is essentially correct, though the math was completely hidden.

The justification for higher contract rates was because they were using that difference to subsidize new phones whenever you signed a new contract. So, 80 bucks a month for basic service and a few hundred MB of usage.

The problem was that after the 2 year contract ended, when they supposedly were able to recoup the cost of the original phone subsidy, your rate never changed. You'd still pay 80 bucks a month, even if you were happy with your current phone.

T-Mobile's change, much like the rest of the world, was to break out the math explicitly like you show. Then once you've fulfilled the (PRICE_OF_PHONE / CONTRACT_DURATION) term, it would simply vanish.

Re: T-Mobile Turns An Industry On Its Ear

#75

Post by kabdib »

67726e wrote: post #65
kabdib wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have an absolutely unlimited data plan (long story...) that I'd hate to lose, and T-Mobile would have been a bit more expensive.

Several coworkers had truly unlimited data grandfathered through older contracts, but ultimately decided that voting with their dollars for a decent company/policy was more important for what might have been very little (if any) additional cost per month.

Within a hair's breadth of that, believe me.

Re: T-Mobile Turns An Industry On Its Ear

#76

Post by coldpie »

67726e wrote: post #65
kabdib wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have an absolutely unlimited data plan (long story...) that I'd hate to lose, and T-Mobile would have been a bit more expensive.

Several coworkers had truly unlimited data grandfathered through older contracts, but ultimately decided that voting with their dollars for a decent company/policy was more important for what might have been very little (if any) additional cost per month.

This is what has me switching. Despite an expected increase of about $10/mo, I'm moving to T-Mobile as soon as the weather turns nice (unnecessary transport in Minnesota winters is... undesirable) because I don't want to give my money to a company actively fighting against net neutrality, Verizon. Plus the bonus of influencing the mobile market in a positive manner, as this article describes.

Re: T-Mobile Turns An Industry On Its Ear

#77

Post by dm2 »

hrkristian wrote: post #61
dm2 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be neat if they offered a discount for them being wireless access points accessible to other Google Fiber customers. I'm not sure about the Android part, just because it would be almost impossible to prevent someone from running all connections in a house through an Android device and get free internet.

I don't know, I've used my phone as an internet hub, and the sheer heat from pulling that amount of data through the antennas while charging seems like a great way to drastically shorten the lifespan of a phone. Granted, I did this with an old Galaxy S (it ran upwards of 80°c), which has its antenna and power supply right beside each other.

Yeah, but if Google started offering free high-speed WiFi then someone would make a "DIY Android Hub" which had a better antenna, better cooling, and possibly even ethernet ports.

Re: T-Mobile Turns An Industry On Its Ear

#78

Post by fixedd »

tutufan wrote: post #71
thisiszen wrote: post #23

Personal anecdote that shows how customer service laser-focused T-Mobile is: Last week the T-Mobile CMO announced a nationwide campaign in which existing and new customers could turn in any Blackberry and get $200 towards a new phone (it was a response in regards to the CEO of Blackberry blasting them the day before). I had just switched over to T-Mobile a couple of days before (so that I can upgrade phones whenever…

I was a loyal T-Mobile customer for years, but now I'm their number one enemy. In short, I moved to a new state and my house appears to lie between three misconfigured towers. Multiple phones, multiple models repeatedly dropping calls and texts. Diagnostic app showed phones constantly hunting between towers. T-Mobile customer service abysmal--their motto seems to be FOAD. Finally paid the $800 termination fee to be r…

I had the opposite occur for me. I reported a similar problem and they said they'd dispatch an engineer to check on it. Three days later everything worked perfectly.

Re: T-Mobile Turns An Industry On Its Ear

#79

Post by nfoz »

itsmeduncan wrote: post #69

I was an early adopter when T-Mobile rolled out their $50 unlimited everything plan in NYC. The pros outweigh the cons, but they do sometimes give me pause. I don't have service in 90% of my apartment in the middle of Manhattan. It is a newish(2001) building, but my fiancee has full service from Verizon. Outside of NYC the service is fairly spotty compared to bigger networks. T-Mobile with an unlocked 5S is priceless…

How high is your apartment? Service seems to scale with height, and I'm curious how different that is between carriers.

Re: T-Mobile Turns An Industry On Its Ear

#80

Post by chrisBob »

aestra wrote: post #67
chrisBob wrote: post #58

T-Mobile is a news story because the MVNO's don't advertise. T-Mobile can't touch Republic Wireless or Ting prices in most cases.

If you use your phone a real lot, Ting is expensive.

If you use your phone a real lot, Republic wireless is still just $20/month.
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