Author Topic: Is Transitioning from Verizon Mobile to T-Mobile worth it?  (Read 6130 times)

zv3r

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Is Transitioning from Verizon Mobile to T-Mobile worth it?
« on: March 19, 2014, 08:17:20 AM »
Hello Mustachians,
I have just started reading the blog and the forums and find them very useful.

I have 5 cellphones that cost $255/month with the family plan. I looked on the T-mobile site and i can get a family plan for $120/month and they will pay the early termination fees. However, i have to buy the phones. I calculated the costs for both and i will be breaking even around month 8 and will save roughly $4000 in 2 years. The problem is that i heard T-mobile does not have good coverage or customer support. Does anyone have any experience with it?

Thanks,
Zv3R

ketchup

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Re: Is Transitioning from Verizon Mobile to T-Mobile worth it?
« Reply #1 on: March 19, 2014, 08:25:20 AM »
I've never had to deal with customer support for either, so I can't comment on that.

The one place I haven't had T-mobile coverage was 30 miles north of Albany, NY.  It was really spotty up there.  But everywhere else I've ever been has been fine.  Verizon overall has better coverage, but that's irrelevant as long as you know how coverage is where you'd actually use it.  Ask around locally for people with T-mobile and ask them how service is in your area.

rocksinmyhead

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Re: Is Transitioning from Verizon Mobile to T-Mobile worth it?
« Reply #2 on: March 19, 2014, 08:35:46 AM »
it might depend on what part of the country you're in. I've had T-Mobile literally my whole cell-phone-using life (still on the family plan, and my family isn't really the "shop around" type), so since ~2003. I've lived in the Twin Cities, central Pennsylvania, and now Tulsa, and I've never had serious coverage issues, other than the occasional travel to very rural locations and/or inside my office building (which are both situations in which most people around me didn't have coverage, regardless of carrier). I haven't really dealt with customer service, so no comment there.

seattlecyclone

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Re: Is Transitioning from Verizon Mobile to T-Mobile worth it?
« Reply #3 on: March 19, 2014, 08:39:32 AM »
I have been with T-Mobile for about eight years. The maps Verizon shows on their commercials are accurate: they have coverage in more places. However, the places Verizon covers that T-Mobile doesn't tend to be extremely sparsely populated areas away from major highways. If you live in a city, even a small one, and spend most of your time in them or traveling between them on major highways, you'll have fine coverage with T-Mobile.

I've only had to speak with customer support once in that whole time, and the experience was pleasant. No complaints there.

Have you read I. P. Daley's superguide? None of the big carriers (Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint) tend to be the best deal for people who are wiling to use their cell phones moderately.

rubybeth

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Re: Is Transitioning from Verizon Mobile to T-Mobile worth it?
« Reply #4 on: March 19, 2014, 09:33:27 AM »
Have been with T-mobile for nearly 10 years. Have always had good to average customer service, and coverage is fine if you're not in a super rural area. It also seems they're always adding towers in my region (Minnesota), so what might not have been good coverage a year ago now is fine. I really like not having a data plan. I am on a family plan with my DH, parents, and sister, and we each pay $25/mo, and they just increased the amount of data before it is throttled. I keep WiFi turned on for my iPhone constantly, as well.

zv3r

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Re: Is Transitioning from Verizon Mobile to T-Mobile worth it?
« Reply #5 on: March 19, 2014, 09:35:34 AM »
Thank you all for the responses. I am gathering the coverage info right now. I went to the T-Mobile store and they checked my iPhone 5s and it was compatible with the T-mobile SIM so i dont have to spend 688 to get a new phone. I'll check all the other phones later on tonight.

@seattlecyclone: i have not read the IP Daley's superguide. Thanks for linking. I will read it later on.

Best regards to everyone.

Cromacster

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Re: Is Transitioning from Verizon Mobile to T-Mobile worth it?
« Reply #6 on: March 19, 2014, 09:41:08 AM »
I switched from verizon to Tmobile.  I am on the 30$/month with 100 minutes.  I don't talk much on the phone, but tend to be a data hog, with some texting mixed in.

I'm happy with it.  Reception has been good.  I have not had to deal with customer support.

One suggestion I have would be to look at the cost of paying your own cancellation fees and buying used phones.  Not sure if you would come out ahead or not, but might be worth a look.

kimmarg

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Re: Is Transitioning from Verizon Mobile to T-Mobile worth it?
« Reply #7 on: March 19, 2014, 10:19:26 AM »
.
it might depend on what part of the country you're in. I've had T-Mobile literally my whole cell-phone-using life (still on the family plan, and my family isn't really the "shop around" type), so since ~2003. I've lived in the Twin Cities, central Pennsylvania, and now Tulsa, and I've never had serious coverage issues, other than the occasional travel to very rural locations and/or inside my office building (which are both situations in which most people around me didn't have coverage, regardless of carrier). I haven't really dealt with customer service, so no comment there.

Depends where you live - in my area (rural New England) the reception is so horrible you might as well just get rid of the phone. YMMV - I'd talk to someone in your area about coverage.

geekette

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Re: Is Transitioning from Verizon Mobile to T-Mobile worth it?
« Reply #8 on: March 19, 2014, 10:34:19 AM »
Coverage definitely depends.  BIL switched from Verizon to T-Mobile, and is happy in his slice of the west coast, but there's no coverage in more rural places around here, so he's dead in the water on visits.

I got the 200mb free data for life on our old iPad via T-Mobile, and my three calls to customer service were all just fine.  It works just fine in town, but again, not in most rural areas.

BigRed

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Re: Is Transitioning from Verizon Mobile to T-Mobile worth it?
« Reply #9 on: March 19, 2014, 01:57:11 PM »
We switched from Verizon to T-Mobile, and other than the 50% reduction in our bill, I haven't noticed any difference.  We did buy new phones, but we had saved up to do that at that time anyway.  So, very glad we did it.

Thegoblinchief

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Re: Is Transitioning from Verizon Mobile to T-Mobile worth it?
« Reply #10 on: March 19, 2014, 03:29:29 PM »
Reasonably happy with T-Mobile pending resolution of a phone that got bricked my a software update. Allegedly the replacement will get here this week still.

If your Verizon phones are still newish, though, have you researched Verizon based MVNOs?

oldtoyota

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Re: Is Transitioning from Verizon Mobile to T-Mobile worth it?
« Reply #11 on: March 19, 2014, 03:34:30 PM »
Hello Mustachians,
I have just started reading the blog and the forums and find them very useful.

I have 5 cellphones that cost $255/month with the family plan. I looked on the T-mobile site and i can get a family plan for $120/month and they will pay the early termination fees. However, i have to buy the phones. I calculated the costs for both and i will be breaking even around month 8 and will save roughly $4000 in 2 years. The problem is that i heard T-mobile does not have good coverage or customer support. Does anyone have any experience with it?

Thanks,
Zv3R

Sorry, Seattlecycone--That is not the case. I live right outside DC and could not get Tmob service at my house.

Tmob is horrible. You can search the forums for my trials with them. Their coverage sucks. Their customer service sucks. I did not have coverage at my house for six months. They said I did, yet told me to use my wifi to make phone calls. Um. If they are telling me to use my wifi, that would indicate I DO NOT have coverage, right?? They just did not want to let me pass on paying the ETF.

Their idea for "solving" the problem of no coverage in my home was to ask me to exchange my new phone for an old one. ????? I paid for a new phone. Why would I send it to them to get a used one??

I live in MD too and AirVoice Wireless works very well. I pay $10/month.

Also, Google the "Technical Meshugana superguide" and read through it for great advice.





« Last Edit: March 19, 2014, 03:36:45 PM by oldtoyota »

Cassie

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Re: Is Transitioning from Verizon Mobile to T-Mobile worth it?
« Reply #12 on: March 19, 2014, 04:23:25 PM »
Coverage sucks in Nevada too.

mjb

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Re: Is Transitioning from Verizon Mobile to T-Mobile worth it?
« Reply #13 on: March 19, 2014, 05:18:58 PM »
I switched from AT&T to T-Mobile last year. I travel a 50% of the year for work.

Service in major American cities is great. On the highway, in between towns, it's abysmal. (AT&T was fantastic for long drives between cities.)

That said, I mostly do fly dates now rather than vans and tour buses so this doesn't bother, and the included international data is a godsend.

Rube

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Re: Is Transitioning from Verizon Mobile to T-Mobile worth it?
« Reply #14 on: March 19, 2014, 07:41:39 PM »
We got VZW in 2003 and it was a serious upgrade from Sprint in every way. Eventually I got a smartphone from work.

Just last year, to save money we upgraded her flip to a smartphone put my wife on her parents' T-Mobile plan which is $45 a month until the phone is paid off and then $25 after that for unlimited everything. Yes, the smartphone is less than we were paying for that flip phone. 

It's fine for what she needs but there's no doubt that T-Mobile is still the #4 major carrier. Sometimes there are dropped calls, sometimes there's a huge delay for texts and sometimes there isn't any coverage. We live in the 6th biggest suburb in our area. A few miles away it gets pretty rural which also happens to be the way to her parents house and I make her check in with me if she's headed there alone.

On our cross country trip a couple of weeks ago it was terrible but oddly enough actually exceeded my expectations. It was better on the rural roads we traveled than on the interstates.  My VZW phone also didn't have service in a few sections of interstate, more often than I thought it might happen.

The one clear advantage to T-Mobile is wifi calling which would come in handy on another continent.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!