T-Mobile Cell Service November 05, 2019, 10:09:49 am We just switched from Verizon to T-Mobile. Two lines, unlimited data, $55 a month plus tax. This is a newer plan for 55 & older. Verizon was $88 a month for just a 2gb plan. T-Mobile seems to be working out just fine. Strong signal and good connections. We’re very happy with this decision. I’d like for all my plans to work this well.
Re: T-Mobile Cell Service Reply #1 – November 05, 2019, 10:47:25 am I check out their coverage map every once in a while because I do like their prices. Unfortunately, for the places we travel, they have very little to no coverage. Hopefully, that will change in the future. Of course, by then their prices will go up!
Re: T-Mobile Cell Service Reply #2 – November 05, 2019, 10:55:38 am My experience is the same as Linda's; for where I travel, Verizon still offers the most consistent service - if a signal is available at all! Current coverage maps for the four major cell service providers are shown on this site (and Technomadia and others...):T-Mobile Coverage Map: How it Compares | WhistleOut
Re: T-Mobile Cell Service Reply #3 – November 05, 2019, 12:35:13 pm We bought a T-Mobile phone and service for my wife for a trip to Italy. We rarely made phone calls there, but texting and data (2G only!) were unlimited and free. As long as we had wifi for downloading off-line Google Maps, travel in the field was fine. Call service in SoCal is a bit more problematic, as the call is lost more frequently than with Verizon, and there is no T-Mobile service at our cabin in the local mountains. Haven't yet done much traveling in the rig, but that is why we kept a Verizon line for MY phone. Her new phone is faster than my old relic, so at the cabin we set mine up as a hotspot and use hers for data needs.Steve
Re: T-Mobile Cell Service Reply #4 – November 05, 2019, 01:12:05 pm We too have Tmo for many years and as my friends with Verizon tell me they get better service in many more remote areas. So we got a third party "pay as you" go hot spot device that works on Verizon, At&T and Tmo, we connect it to our Wilson booster and then run our phones or laptops off that device up to ten device connections. We found in remote areas with our booster that AT&T was what it connected most of the time even at Trona Pinnacles. Karen~Liam 98 ~ MB NinA
Re: T-Mobile Cell Service Reply #5 – November 05, 2019, 01:35:09 pm We took 2 RV trips in October and I was surprised at how well t-mobile covered areas where I expected little service.I was trying them out using a test drive program where you can get a hotpot and 30gb of data for a month for free.It was a pleasant surprise. Free 30-Day Trial with Test Drive® Hotspot Device | T-MobileRich‘03 MB in N.C. 1 Likes
Re: T-Mobile Cell Service Reply #6 – November 05, 2019, 04:12:41 pm I have both tmobile and verizon service for my real estate company. I use the tmo primarily for ipads and one backup phone. The verizon service is much stronger and in more areas than tmo. Otherwise I would drop Verizon. I can say that the tmo service worked well in russia, greece, italy and england when I gave it to some of my employees while traveling. The last trip to slovakia my daughter used verizon, but it was $10/day whereas the tmo service was free.
Re: T-Mobile Cell Service Reply #7 – November 05, 2019, 08:16:48 pm <smile> I know I sound like a old record but ......There are two or more parts to quality cell service. One is the Cell Service Provider and the other is the cell phone. Either or both can be the problem when there is a problem of any sort. Most folks don't have the equipment to do a scientific test. And sadly there will be more confusion rather is clarity going into the future. Cell phones and cell service is like the old days of new/used car buying -- most folks are sold rather then buy. Most all folk get the cell that the cell service provider is paid to push that day........ IMHO the appositely worst way to buy sometime. glen
Re: T-Mobile Cell Service Reply #8 – November 06, 2019, 10:06:19 am Quote from: colddog - November 05, 2019, 08:16:48 pmThere are two or more parts to quality cell service. One is the Cell Service Provider and the other is the cell phone. Either or both can be the problem when there is a problem of any sort. Most folks don't have the equipment to do a scientific test. Well, I can say this - my wife's new Motorola phone outperforms my old Galaxy S4 in every department - except connectivity. This is especially true of phone calls, as opposed to text or data. Her T-Mobile phone will drop calls where my phone - and others on Verizon too - have no problem. Exception: her phone will do voice calls over WiFi on T-Mobile. At a friend's house with horrible reception but land-line internet, my wife can use her phone just fine for calls - but none of ours work. If she turns off that feature, hers is dead too.Steve
Re: T-Mobile Cell Service Reply #9 – November 06, 2019, 10:53:59 am May I recommend this Android App for testing cell tower and wifi connectivity......https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wilysis.cellinfolite&hl=en_USCell phones are a big pain. Cell phone providers are doing their best to confuse and take advantage of folks. glen
Re: T-Mobile Cell Service Reply #10 – November 06, 2019, 11:04:51 am Quote from: Steve - November 06, 2019, 10:06:19 amWell, I can say this - my wife's new Motorola phone outperforms my old Galaxy S4 in every department - except connectivity. This is especially true of phone calls, as opposed to text or data. Her T-Mobile phone will drop calls where my phone - and others on Verizon too - have no problem. Exception: her phone will do voice calls over WiFi on T-Mobile. At a friend's house with horrible reception but land-line internet, my wife can use her phone just fine for calls - but none of ours work. If she turns off that feature, hers is dead too.SteveText runs on the 'carrier' signal. Calls run on a different but 'larger' signal. If you can get 'data' a person should be able to get 'calls'. A person can get calls and text in a 3G area but no images. 3G is like old modem dailup days. Problem could be the phone isn't using or doesn't have the same 'band'. There are many different freq. used in the cell world. Cheap cells only have a few or many only one band. Verizon uses a different protocol then all other cell phone providers use. Without looking at the spec sheet we will have no idea what the cell can and can not do. Also the tower may not have that band ...... that's my point. We users are really at the mercy of the cell providers.glen
Re: T-Mobile Cell Service Reply #11 – November 06, 2019, 11:21:25 am As I understand it, Tmo is the only US provider who's cell phones can call and text over WiFi with no tower signal, that's why we got them long ago. Where we live at our house there is little to no service. When we have WiFi signal we get phone, text and data working fine at our house. Our friends with AT&T and Verizon have only data on our WiFi. When we are traveling we can connect with our hotspot through our Wilson booster in our 98 ~ MB we can get data, text and calls without a Tmo signal as long as our hotspot finds a signal on AT&T, Verizon etc... It works great as long as we remember to buy the pay as you go data! Karen~Liam 98 ~ MB NinA
Re: T-Mobile Cell Service Reply #12 – November 06, 2019, 12:10:31 pm Quote from: Karen & Liam - November 06, 2019, 11:21:25 amAs I understand it, Tmo is the only US provider who's cell phones can call and text over WiFi with no tower signal, that's why we got them long ago.That may have been true at one time but not any more. Both Verizon and AT&T support WiFi-calling and have for several years. You do have to turn it on though. On my iPhone it’s in Settings / Cellular / Wi-Fi Calling. The cell tower near my house is also near a High School and gets overloaded when school lets out. The signal routinely drops to 1x or no service during these times. When I turn on Wi-Fi Calling, I get both calls and text without any problems. It is a nice feature - John
Re: T-Mobile Cell Service Reply #13 – November 06, 2019, 07:26:39 pm I switched with my phone to T-Mobile about a year ago and have had almost never any coverage problems. I'm not with T-Mobile directly but have a prepaid plan with Mint Mobile (unlimited calls and texts, 3 GB high-speed data, unlimited low-speed data, incl. Wi-Fi calling) for $200.65 ($180 plus tax) YEARLY. I tested them first for 3 months, was satisfied, and then bought the 1-year plan. They have also plans with 8 GB and 12 GB high-speed data. However, I don't need more than 3 GB since I have a mobile hotspot with unlimited data with Verizon.If someone wanted to switch to Mint Mobile I could send you a referral link that earns both of us a renewal credit. Klaus
Re: T-Mobile Cell Service Reply #14 – November 07, 2019, 12:01:59 am Quote from: JohnR - November 06, 2019, 12:10:31 pmThat may have been true at one time but not any more. Both Verizon and AT&T support WiFi-calling and have for several years. You do have to turn it on though. On my iPhone it’s in Settings / Cellular / Wi-Fi Calling. The cell tower near my house is also near a High School and gets overloaded when school lets out. The signal routinely drops to 1x or no service during these times. When I turn on Wi-Fi Calling, I get both calls and text without any problems. It is a nice feature John, is that a setting you would leave on all the time, or just as needed?
Re: T-Mobile Cell Service Reply #15 – November 07, 2019, 11:56:11 am Quote from: HiLola - November 07, 2019, 12:01:59 amJohn, is that a setting you would leave on all the time, or just as needed?Personally I don’t leave it on all the time for the following reasons. I have an unlimited Verizon plan and therefore don’t need the WiFi connection or WiFi-calling to save minutes/text/Data. The phones WiFi circuits will use up some of the battery whether it’s connected or not. And I only need to turn on WiFi when the cell tower is slow or not available.Now my wife on the other hand always has WiFi and WiFi-calling turned on. But for different reasons... she has a prepaid AT&T plan with monthly minutes, text and data. AT&T doesn’t count the call minutes against her plan when using WiFi-calling but does count the text messages. And of course AT&T doesn’t count the data because she’s using the house connection. So in order to save minutes and data while in the house, she always has WiFi and WiFi-calling turned on.As far as the major carriers go... Verizon and Sprint do not count minutes or text when using WiFi-calling. AT&T counts text messages but not call minutes when using WiFi-calling. T-Mobile counts call minutes and I don’t know if they count text messages when using WiFi-calling. Of course, none of this matters if you have unlimited minutes and text.So bottom line is... it depends on your situation. If you have a limited minutes/text/data plan and/or in a poor cell tower area, then it’s probably worth it to always have WiFi and WiFi-calling turned on, at least while your at home. Battery discharge is more of an issue when you have poor cell tower coverage then it is when you are out of WiFi range. When you are in a poor cell tower area, the radios in the phone will “amp-up” to try to make the connection. Increasing the transmitters output power and increasing the receivers gain, thus using more battery current. When you are out of WiFi range, the phones radios will still try to make a connection but will not increase power to do so. Unused or unconnected WiFi is still an extra draw on the battery but a relatively small one. So... in order to save your battery charge, it’s more important to turn off the cellular and turn on the WiFi in a poor cell tower area where WiFi is available.I hope this helps.- John 1 Likes
Re: T-Mobile Cell Service Reply #16 – November 07, 2019, 12:41:22 pm As an addendum, when set to wifi priority calling, the call MAY be dropped if you wander to a poor wifi signal zone. Also, if you wander to a wifi absent zone, such as getting in the car and driving off while on a call...Steve 1 Likes
Re: T-Mobile Cell Service Reply #17 – November 07, 2019, 01:08:47 pm Quote from: Steve - November 07, 2019, 12:41:22 pmAs an addendum, when set to wifi priority calling, the call MAY be dropped if you wander to a poor wifi signal zone. Also, if you wander to a wifi absent zone, such as getting in the car and driving off while on a call...Steve Good point... thanks.- John
Re: T-Mobile Cell Service Reply #18 – November 08, 2019, 11:52:43 am <sigh> This is the problem in a nut shell. We are all right and we are all wrong. Sadly there are too many variables to make any judgment or observations. The cell service providers throw out lots and lots of misinformation and we users fill in the blanks with anecdotal 'facts'. You really need to spends hours and days reading technical papers to understand the cell phone/service. And nobody has the time - really. What may or may not work for me has no being on what may or may not work for you. Here's what I do --- I turn off data. I can still get text messages and phone calls. I leave wifi on all the time. I have a plan that picks the strongest cell signal around me. I can be using just about any cell providers system. Seeing the cell tower means nothing. Generally you have a 'home' tower. All you traffic is 'pushed' thru that tower no matter were your cell phone is located. As a habit when I travel out of my cell tower area I re-boot my cell phone to get a new 'home' tower. The cell providers do 'balance' the traffic thru the towers. What that means is a cell tower could have less traffic moving thru it a various times and dates. glen
Re: T-Mobile Cell Service Reply #19 – November 08, 2019, 02:28:12 pm Quote from: colddog - November 08, 2019, 11:52:43 am<sigh> This is the problem in a nut shell. We are all right and we are all wrong. Sadly there are too many variables to make any judgment or observations. The cell service providers throw out lots and lots of misinformation and we users fill in the blanks with anecdotal 'facts'. You really need to spends hours and days reading technical papers to understand the cell phone/service. And nobody has the time - really. What may or may not work for me has no being on what may or may not work for you. Here's what I do --- I turn off data. I can still get text messages and phone calls. I leave wifi on all the time. I have a plan that picks the strongest cell signal around me. I can be using just about any cell providers system. Seeing the cell tower means nothing. Generally you have a 'home' tower. All you traffic is 'pushed' thru that tower no matter were your cell phone is located. As a habit when I travel out of my cell tower area I re-boot my cell phone to get a new 'home' tower. The cell providers do 'balance' the traffic thru the towers. What that means is a cell tower could have less traffic moving thru it a various times and dates. glenGlen always has good stuff on cell phones. Here's something on managing cellular data.What is Cellular Data and How Do I Manage It? | CityMacChris
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