The T-Mobile/MetroPCS Megathread - Our CEO trolls your CEO.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > The T-Mobile/MetroPCS Megathread - Our CEO trolls your CEO.

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Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

nerve posted:

You'd never need to do it with that plan because there are no limits on anything though?

Might be referring to the 4-ine unlimited call/text but only 2.5G/line plan

# ¿ Mar 26, 2015 17:38

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# ¿ May 8, 2024 08:58

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

hotsauce posted:

According to the TMo subreddit, unlimited users are now being throttled. Like 0.05 throttled (at ~17 gigs or so).

Guess the truly unlimited party is over.

I can't see a use case where a phone is your only internet connection, you're not creating a hotspot, and you burn 500+ MB/day on things that aren't streaming music.

# ¿ Apr 28, 2015 17:30

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

butt dickus posted:

You can burn that much in an hour with Netflix.

This may once again be my naivety, but who is watching ~50 hours of Netflix a month on a phone with no other internet connection? (I presume the person watching all this content would choose the 'good' setting since clearly you're not in it for a pristine viewing experience on a 6" or less screen).

# ¿ Apr 28, 2015 19:18

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

butt dickus posted:

There was a guy in the Verizon thread who bragged about doing just that (I think with an HDMI cable) and using ludicrous amounts of data. He went over 90GB in one month. Since phones have 1920x1080 (and higher) screens you can get the same detail as a full-sized TV.

Frankly, "this dude" (whatever carrier he's on) can go gently caress himself and stop tragedy-ing up my commons. I get it, somebody sold this dude UNLIMITED data and he's all "gently caress the man I'm streaming 1080p all day erry day" but I have little sympathy for him if and when he's called out by his carrier for being an asshat. I wish we lived in a world where unlimited bits can fly though the sky, but they can't, so everyone needs to care just a little bit and realize UNLIMITED is more a billing piece-of-mind convenience than a challenge.

# ¿ Apr 28, 2015 20:16

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

r0ck0 posted:

If you leave the bay area you will have better coverage with verizon most likely.

But theres no stopping a switch since there'd be no contract.

# ¿ May 7, 2015 17:23

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

SeANMcBAY posted:

Do wifi calls use up minutes? What about if I make a wifi call in another country?

Yes, but they're just regular calls overseas on WiFi.

# ¿ May 9, 2015 02:37

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

Captain Pike posted:

My girlfriend has a T-mobile contract, and I wish to buy her a Samsung Galaxy S6.

However, because I do not have a T-mobile contract, the T-mobile website will not let me buy an S6 outright. It wants me to sign up for a contract first.

Can I just buy her an unlocked "international" GSM S6 from Amazon, and a T-mobile sim card?

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Galaxy-SM-G920-FACTORY-UNLOCKED/dp/B00U8KSIGA/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?ie=UTF8

If you don't get the t-mobile version, it won't have wifi calling. If you go to a store they may be able sell you one outright, but I'm not sure.

# ¿ May 9, 2015 20:17

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

Burden posted:

The network is 3g but the speeds with be 128kbps. You can pay for faster speeds.

Which, it's worth noting is actually pretty decent on 3G because the latency is good. I did a week in Canada on 3g at 128k and email/maps worked fine which was 90% of what I wanted.

# ¿ May 24, 2015 23:30

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

22 Eargesplitten posted:

I don't reliably have 3g or 4g, and the cellspot router is just a normal router, I'd still need a T-Mobile branded device. Unless I'm missing something.

if you have one bar anywhere on your property, the cel-fi will rebroadcast a GSM signal so you don't need a t-mo device. If you're asking about an internet-connected device that will generate its own GSM service, no, T-Mobile does not have one of those.

# ¿ Aug 9, 2015 00:46

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

SeANMcBAY posted:

There's gotta be some type of catch? Isn't that cheaper then just outright buying the phone?

you have to be on Jump! on demand to get the deal--- which is $10/mo, so over the 18 months add $180, then tack that on to the 'final' price of $524 to get $704. Still cheaper than $777 but not deal-of-the-year cheap.

# ¿ Sep 10, 2015 20:00

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

Audax posted:

Can I just buy the asus wifi router from T-Mobile? I don't wanna lease it or whatever I just want to give them cash with no runaround. I went into a store over the weekend and the tweens there tried to sell me on new phones (I just bought 4 new phones three months ago) and then said they can only give me the other cell spot booster.

I have two phones that use wifi calling, the area is pretty much between two cell towers, we have high speed internet, just really need a new router.

You don't lease it-- you give them $25, and it's yours as long as you are a t-mobile customer. If you stop being one, you give it back. I guess that's a "lease" but its a $0 one.

# ¿ Oct 21, 2015 16:12

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

chocolateTHUNDER posted:

Yeah, netflix and hulu and stuff. At this point, why not just give truly unlimited data to everyone? I mean, poo poo, streaming music and video are what 99.9% of people use data on their phones for...and being able to scream "truly unlimited data unlike those three other guys!!" would be pretty good for tmobile, right?

If they can categorize the traffic, they can optimize and throttle it transparently-- things like limiting netflix traffic to a megabit or less so that you'll get perfectly adequate 480p on your phone and not saturate a tower. And at that point the only people hitting their caps are people who *probably* should have a proper fixed wireless or wire line provider for doing the bandwidth-intensive thing that is not streaming music or video.

# ¿ Oct 30, 2015 01:21

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

PRADA SLUT posted:

Am I the only one that doesn't like the precedent this sets?

If mobile audio and video are what's causing the majority of people to use their bandwidth, why not just make unlimited bandwidth for everyone as standard, instead of basically going "this site is okay, this isn't, this counts, this doesn't count". This is essentially what the net neutrality crowd is afraid of, that an ISP will basically control which services go through the network free and which cost "extra" (for this, in terms of bandwidth usage).

At the end of the day, it's basically saying "you're paying $X a month for unlimited access to these services, but all other services you have to use your allotted bandwidth to access as well". I get that people are all excited because FREE INTERNET STREAMING, but I can't see why this isn't better than just cutting the data packages all together and giving unlimited across the board.

It's a fine precedent for cellular data?

If you pay for N bytes of data, you will get N bytes to do whatever you want with. The music (and theoretical video) freedom are just fringe benefits. They're not throttling Service X within those N bytes. You get bonus bytes to do things that most people do with mobile devices these days. If you don't use those services, you still get the same data you always did.

# ¿ Oct 30, 2015 18:32

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

Uthor posted:

Yes, but you also create an incentive to favor the supported sites. "I can use *little company* and eat into my data plan or I can use *big company* and not waste data."

Same reason people were mad at Facebook when they were launching that free internet thing a while back. It was free, but limited to certain sites. You can pay for the wider internet, but the incentive is to frequent Facebook's selected sites and not pay anything.

I think the key difference is T-Mobile's impartiality to the services, they don't charge them for 'special' access, and they add services based on customer demand. The current list contains a lot of niche services:

code:

    Apple Music
    Pandora
    iHeartRadio
    Rhapsody
    Beatport
    Spotify
    Slacker
    Radical.FM
    8tracks
    Samsung Milk Music
    Black Planet
    Songza
    Rdio
    Radio Paradise
    AccuRadio
    SoundCloud
    Saavn
    Digitally Imported
    JAZZRADIO.com
    ROCKRADIO.com
    RadioTunes
    radioPup
    radio.com
    Mad Genius Radio
    Groove Music
    Live365
    Fresca Radio
    Google Music
    Fit Radio
    SiriusXM
    Tidal Music
    MixRadio
    BandCamp

So if you were a new startup, I think it's highly likely you could get your users to ask for it and get it added. IOwnCalculus said it way more succinctly than I did, but T-mo is trying to offer effectively unlimited data to the vast majority of users while making it very hard to abuse the service.

# ¿ Oct 30, 2015 18:51

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

tonic posted:

So Data Stash is only available on the plans with 5gb or less of data? That seems silly.

I was going to switch my wife and I over, but it seems like unless you need 4 lines, TMO's plans are relatively expensive these days.

I believe you can still get the two lines with unlimited talk text and 4g plus 7 gigs of tether plan for $100

# ¿ Nov 9, 2015 17:21

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

LionYeti posted:

No youtube or twitch yet which is a huge bummer.

Probably similar to the issues they had with google music, google's cdn is more complicated than most.

# ¿ Nov 10, 2015 21:53

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

FogHelmut posted:

Can I tether?

Probably not, but even if you could you probably wouldn't want to, binge on launches at 480p.

# ¿ Nov 10, 2015 23:31

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

illcendiary posted:

Seems like a lovely precedent to set. Happy for you goons that will save money/be able to stream more in the short term, but it's always disheartening to see this approach instead of keeping the data agnostic.

You are still paying market rate for agnostic data, this is just a fringe benefit. I wish I could watch NFL mobile, but that's a verizon fringe benefit.

# ¿ Nov 10, 2015 23:46

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

hiddenriverninja posted:

Does this mean locks the resolution on your video apps?

Yes, based on the minor amount of technical detail they gave at the conference. The way I understand it to work is that when you are opted in to binge on, and using a supported app, they know what kind of packets are going to and from where and they transcode it to reduce data usage (in the same way they recompress images over non-https connections).

# ¿ Nov 11, 2015 00:39

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

Also on the negative side, with BingeOn, data stash is limited to 20GB. If you would rather keep the year of data stash instead (like if you are on unlimited, and want to stash hotspot bits) you need to opt-out here:

http://datastashoptout.t-mobile.com/#/home

There's no downside I can see for unlimited users opting out of bingeon unless you routinely hit the 21GB soft cap in an area where it's enforced and most for your usage is video.

# ¿ Nov 12, 2015 01:13

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

Logan2211 posted:

I have unlimited with the 7GB (soon 14GB I guess) hotspot data. Are you saying I was able to or will be able to do rollover on unused hotspot data?

I was always under the impression hotspot stashed based on tmo support forums posts, but I finally looked up the actual T&C and I was wrong, unlimited simple choice plans were ineligible for data stash. Hotspot only stashes if your phone data was metered too, since it was one bucket.

# ¿ Nov 12, 2015 18:38

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

PRADA SLUT posted:

At the end of the day, T-Mobile is a corporation just like any other, they want to charge the most they can and deliver the least they can get away with, the only difference is that their competition is so atrocious they seem like saints by comparison for offering even an average service for an average price.

Also, does Binge On apply to tethering? Can you tether and watch (throttled) video without using tethered data?

yes, when bingeon is active using any of the services over tether does not affect your quota and is subject to the same resolution restrictions.

# ¿ Nov 18, 2015 02:43

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

tonic posted:

Has anyone tried out the new LTE Cell Spot that T-mobile offers for a $25 deposit? The LTE service in my office is pretty spottty and I'm considering testing it out.

Beefstorm posted:

I have it. Calls are crystal clear. Except for this glaring problem of my voice dropping for the other person for 5 seconds at a time.

I've had nothing but success with WiFi calling-- at home with the cellspot and at work on an enterprise network with both a One M7, and an iPhone.

# ¿ Nov 19, 2015 18:11

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

wormil posted:

Need to confirm something, read on another forum that a phone must be Tmobile branded or wifi calling won't work. True? False?

As long as it's an iPhone, recent nexus or running marshmallow you're fine. If not, that's true-- some roms bake in the needed extensions and app though.

# ¿ Nov 30, 2015 05:19

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

BeastOfExmoor posted:

Does this apply to any Marshmallow phone? My phone is getting Marshmallow eventually and the lack of WiFi calling is my only complaint with it.

As I understand it, it's something that has to be enabled (in a stock rom) by something t-mobile pushes once it's on their network and they have tested the device. They have already started doing this for nexuses and HTC phones with marshmallow, but I don't know if the process is fast enough to get them all as M rolls out. Your best answer will probably come from t-mobile-- @askdes is usually pretty responsive.

If you don't mind romming, then I believe CM will have it globally.

# ¿ Nov 30, 2015 16:27

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

rngd in the womb posted:

So I just got a new job where I'll be working the graveyard shift. The company that I'll be working for is pretty strict when it comes to plugging new devices into the network.

If I wanted to keep myself busy, I'd have to tether. I'm on a grandfathered 4G "unlimited" plan that doesn't have talk, and am currently using a Nexus 4 without the LTE patch. There is a 5GB cap on it before I get throttled.

To get 4G tethering and no data cap, I'd have to get a new phone, switch to Simple Choice then upgrade to unlimited? That'd be like $80, right? What if I don't want talk on my plan? Is that setup possible?

There is no uncapped tether, unlimited LTE on a phone (to 21GB on a congested tower) is now $95 for a single line. If you intend to use audio/video services that participate in music freedom/binge on, those work over tether so you won't need unlimited.

# ¿ Dec 22, 2015 16:08

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

SeANMcBAY posted:

Doesn't bother me at all since you can turn it off.

This is the key. You pay for n GB and you get n GB of service-agnostic data.

If he price for n GB was wildly higher than the other carriers then people complaining might be a little more reasonable as there could be an argument that the neutral data had a price penalty.

But it's not.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2016 22:27

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

Vinlaen posted:

I'm looking at T-Mobile's prepaid internet plans and I see 2GB for $20/month. However, it also says "Unlimited data" all over the page except in the fine print it says data will be slowed to 2G speed after LTE data is used.

However, I just need enough bandwidth for server maintenance (SSH, maybe RDP) so I think 2G would be fine.

Am I correct in my understanding? Is it really $20/month for unlimited 2G data even with a hotspot?

only high speed data can be used for hotspot-- once you burn that up you'll have to buy more to keep using it.

# ¿ Apr 26, 2016 17:52

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

inklesspen posted:

I'm on T-Mobile Simple Choice North America right now. I want to change my phone's number, but I want to keep the old one around for a while. It looks like the best way to do that is to transfer the current number to Google Voice. How can I do that without canceling my service?

Current setup:
T-Mobile has a 415 number, Google Voice has a 424 number (which I don't mind losing)

Desired setup:
T-Mobile has a 808 number, Google Voice (or another similar service, which can forward calls and texts) has the 415 number.

What's the best way to get there from here?

I think you're going to have to "cancel" in a roundabout way. Add a second line with the 808 number, then port out and cancel the first line.

# ¿ May 12, 2016 18:42

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

I just took the stock �\_(ツ)_/�

# ¿ Jun 8, 2016 22:15

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

Tir McDohl posted:

I see that I have the option on for video. Does it work in browser on my phone, or do I have to use the app for any applicable streaming service for Binge On to apply? It's really unclear how this works.

Binge on works in browser, as well as on a tethered device.

# ¿ Jul 24, 2016 20:46

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

ilkhan posted:

So it's still an extra 25 for turning off bingeOn and turning on hotspot

How is that different?

Now at least it's _slightly_ better than the current $95 unlimited plan since you get unmetered hotspot instead of 14GB.

# ¿ Aug 29, 2016 17:55

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

Looks like with VZW announcing unlimited with throttled video, tmo is bumping 'One' video to HD to stay a step ahead. I thought it already had 10G of hotspot but maybe it didn't, but now it does.

# ¿ Feb 13, 2017 22:36

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

It's $300 for a 6S+. I have a 6S on EIP and I was offered $300 for it as part of the deal when I ordered the 8. I didn't take it, and didn't have to change my plan-- I don't know if taking the deal means you have to. I also have a several year back plan I wanted to keep.

# ¿ Sep 15, 2017 16:05

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

IIRC throttling is done at the tower level, based on historical usage in that area, so if you're in a place with low density or fewer tmo users you might not be.

# ¿ Oct 28, 2017 16:26

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

wormil posted:

Why do text messages for security reasons not work 75% of the time? Like when a company wants to verify it's you and sends a text message to your phone, it never works. Is that a t-mobile thing or does it not work for anyone? I get normal text messages just fine. It's been a problem as long as I've been with TM, so 10 years across many different phones.

I have problems sometimes on wifi calling, but not when on a cell tower.

# ¿ Jan 12, 2018 00:11

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

TraderStav posted:

For the free 1-hour of Gogo inflight wifi, is that only for the phone or can I also use that on my laptop? Has anyone used this feature before and anything I need to be aware of before I get airborne and unable to do?

Thanks!

I�ve used it on my iPad� they just prompt you for your phone number and then you get your hour.

# ¿ Jun 4, 2018 22:59

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

Maneki Neko posted:

Even as a direct T-Mobile customer I'm not aware of any way to report coverage issues in any meaningful way. The AT&T mark the spot app at least made me feel like I was doing something even if all they did was just go into a garbage can at AT&T.

I reported a dead spot to @tmobilehelp on twitter and got a dm asking for a google maps link. Couple months later it was fixed. Maybe I yelled into the void, maybe not.

# ¿ Apr 18, 2019 04:48

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

We have a whole stack of the previous gen inseego MiFis for work and they are great. Good reception and WiFi strength, lots of options in the admin panel, USB tethering Just Works with no drivers even on things like travel routers.

# ¿ Apr 8, 2023 17:47

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# ¿ May 8, 2024 08:58

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

The network is finally good enough to be just a regular carrier again.

# ¿ Jun 6, 2023 05:10

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > The T-Mobile/MetroPCS Megathread - Our CEO trolls your CEO.

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