anyone here using T-mobile? whats your experience?
coverage, reception, cust service, etc. ???

time for me to switch (from ATT)

TM has decent plans and offers, and is all GSM.

now, if they can just get CZJ to deliver my phone, im sold!


ive had over the past 10 years:

bellsouth mob- OK (now verizon or cingular?)
sprint- worked great, TERRIBLE customer service
ATT- great for national travel, expensive.

I am with Sprint and have investigated the switch, the coverage in most populated areas,and along interstates is good. My sources say it is similar to what Sprint used to be some years ago.
AT&T, Verizon have slightly better coverage. The great feature about GSM is the word wide roaming feature, (changing the SIMM card) the rates vary depending where you roam (developed countries vs. non developed) Europe is great. AT&T sells a GSM, but I have been told it is locked to their system, and they are not too willing to unlock. T-Mobile will sell theirs unlocked, so if you are not happy you can change providers.

I sport a Samsung S105 with Tmobile. Have had it for almost a full year and I am pretty happy with it. The Cust Service for me atleast was great... fast and friendly. Coverage in my area is also good.. but once you make yourself out to "Boon Country" service is not that great. I am planning on taking my phone with me to Europe next month and yes, Tmobile will unlock it for me.

aka Wireless Number Portability before you switch.

That way you can keep your same #. I think it kicks in Nov. 24th. I'd recommend Nextel (since I work for them) but we are more expensive and tend to have poorer coverage in rural areas. We're mostly for people who can take advantage of the walkie talkie feature and business users.

The T-Mob seems to have the best plans out there, don't know what their service is like.

yep, im teeing up for the week after thanksgiving to switch.
WNP should drive some great offers from all providers.

nextel- i had one for approx 1 year on a project. it worked great, but i hated that damn walkie-talkie feature. i didnt enjoy being SO accessible to everyones whims. i prefer to let calls go to VM if the call isnt urgent, and with the nextel WT feature, everyone though that the slightest problem needed immediate attention. it was a VERY short leash!

it seems that T-mobile coverage is acceptable is most metro areas and decent size cities, as well as along most interstates and major hiways as they utilize other carriers towers in many areas...

but, it also looks that there are VAST areas in the boonies that NO SERVICE will be available (even roaming to other carriers) ie: older analog phones will probably roam to other carriers, where the GSM phones may not be able to (if ive been correctly informed)

TM even has major disclaimers stating that even 911 calls will not connect many areas. i keep a old hardwired phone that came with my MB that WILL connect to 911 even without having a account or provider. (i tested it reporting several traffic accidents)

AWS also has a GSM network. They are moving from the American TDMA standard to GSM, hence have two parallel wireless networks. You can see this reflected in their rate plans - they offer "TDMA" plans and "Next Generation" plans.

Be aware that not all GSM phones can be used in Europe. The U.S. uses different frequencies for cellular - 800MHz and 1900MHz, vs 900MHz and 1800MHz in Europe. There are lots of GSM phones which support only the North American frequencies.

I don't find unlocked phones to be all that important. For one thing, it's possible to get any given phone unlocked - just check Ebay. As well, when signing a service contract, the carrier will heavily subsidize a new phone so you get it free, or at minimal cost. So the ability to use your old phone on a new network doesn't seem that valuable to me.

My $.02

- JimY

We had t-mobile for a year. The customer service was OK. In fact, pretty much everything was OK except the signal. Our reception was pretty good everywhere except at home (even 5 blocks away from home was strong). The text, internet and e-mail services were nice, although I regularly got a couple spam messages within a day of checking e-mail through the phone that I never got otherwise --??

We chose t-mobile over at&t because i don't like it when open, public standards (like GSM) become proprietized by some company. Provided you get good reception, I'd recommend t-mobile.

I have T-Mobile and like snibble sport the samsung s105. Great phone and great service. I travel alot within the states and have never had a problem getting service. When I'm home I'm on cingular's towers but still have a great signal. Also note that not only the service provider but also the type of phone you have determine your signal. Some phones have better reception than others. My only beef with TM is that they charge you for a whole minute even if you use only a second and that the call orginates when you hit SEND rather than when the call is connected. But they still have the best plans and blow all the other companies out of the water (trust me I know, I've had them all). Good luck.

__________________
Brandon



2008 S550
1957 Dodge D100
1967 VW Microbus 21 Window
2001 Suburban
2004 Beach cruiser bicycle
-----------------GO DUKE!-----------------

"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religion, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For that reason alone, people of other faiths have been afforded freedom of worship here." Patrick Henry 1776

I have Verizon. I am on a shared plan with my parents and sister. We get 2000 shared anytime minutes, unlimited nights and weekends, free nationwide long distance, no roaming, caller id, etc, and it costs me $15 a month. I can't complain...

We've had Verizon, or whatever Verizon used to be [Ameritech, A Bell, etc] since 1982. I say pick a company and stick with it. When you are with them a long time, they take care of you. I rarely have a problem, and when I do, it is immediately fixed

I have T-Mobile. Chose them at the time because it was the cheapest way to get into a family plan and get a couple of phones...total actual out-of-pocket costs ran $39...got two Nokia 3900 series phones. Dependable and few frills...but I want a phone, not a TV/PC/Video Arcade/Camera!

I made the switch because my Sprint phone was giving me problems and eventually, didn't work in most areas...kinda worthless to pay for a phone if you can't use it. But it seemed that when i tried to upgrade services or get different phones, that the charges were ridiculous! All of the incentives were geared to new customers only. So the pitch to the loyal customers was "screw you, we already got your account!"

I am watching the number portability issue as well. T-Mobile (and a few others) plan to absorbs the tech costs for now, but the rest of you with other carriers, watch your bills closely!

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2009 ML350 (106K) - Family vehicle
2001 CLK430 Cabriolet (80K) - Wife's car
2005 BMW 645CI (138K) - My daily driver
2016 Mustang (32K) - Daughter's car

G-Benz is correct about carriers charging a fee for WNP. There are significant network costs to this capability that the government has mandated and supplied NO money for. If you port your number from your existing carrier to a new carrier, all of your calls will hit the incumbent carrier's switch and then be directed to your new carriers switch. This means that the incumbent carrier's switching resources will be tied up to redirect a call that does not generate any revenue for them.

There are several other unfunded government mandates on wireless carriers as well CALEA being one of them along with E911. All the costs associated with these programs must be borne by the carrier unless they decide to share the burden with the consumer (who derives all the benefits of these programs). Not to complain about them, but if/when you do see a charge for something like this, understand what is going on behind it.

11-06-2003, 11:44 AM

Last post on this thread before us. See the year?

__________________
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99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
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04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

Raji85's post should be deleted, as it is blatant phishing. Brand new member posts on an ancient thread with a link to a cell phone unlock (hacker) website.

Ax the post and permanent ban for the poster

__________________
On some nights I still believe that a car with the fuel gauge on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. - HST

1983 300SD - 305000
1984 Toyota Landcruiser - 190000
1994 GMC Jimmy - 203000

https://media.giphy.com/media/X3nnss8PAj5aU/giphy.gif

Can't we just move his membership over to Benzworld?

I'm happy with my T-mobile prepaid. $1/day for unlimited text and web + $.15/min. Decent coverage, although the 3G is a bit slow... I use a unlocked smartphone, so the internets the main thing, I can even VoIP over the 3G and not pay for outgoing calls...

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Ich liebe meine Autos!

1991 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL | Megasquirt MS3-Pro | 722.6 transmission w/ AMG paddles | Feind Motorsports Sway Bar | Stinger VIP Radar | AntiLaser Priority | PLX Wideband O2 | 150A Alternator | Cat Delete
1981 Mercedes-Benz 300SD | Blown engine, rebuilding someday...
1981 Mercedes-Benz 300SD | Rear ended, retired in garage.
2009 Yamaha AR230HO | Das Boot

Excessive speeding? It ain't excessive till I redline!