T-mobile and lack of overages

[JoshKidding]

Heya,

I've been looking into mobile internet recently and I've been reading here and other places about what the best options may be. Clearly I've been leaning towards Verizon as it gets the gold standard pretty much everywhere. Currently I have a mobile plan and tablet through spring however and I have a little over a year left on that contract. Ill be using the hotspot to game from a shore powered desktop. I could just bump my data plan with sprint and usb tether from my tablet, but I'm told sprint has terrible service and bad latency problems. While I was doing research, I noticed that T-Mobile doesn't use any overage charges when you go over data. Yea, you get throttled but at least you could very slowly still have internet access. Assuming I would always be close to the coverage area does anyone think it would be worth considering? I'd buy the device so I don't have to go on contract as I'm really just waiting on a jailbreak for iPhone ios 8.3 so I can just use TetherMe to use my unlimited cell phone data plan on sprint.

 

[akrvbob]

If you are going to spend most of your time in the city, it doesn't matter who you get, they all work pretty well so get the cheapest.

If you are going to be away from the city Verizon gets an A+ for coverage and ATT gets a B. Everyone else get a D-.

What good is a cheap plan if it doesn't work where you are?
Bob

 

[JoshKidding]

Bob- Really I'm just looking for something to hold me over until I can jailbreak anyways. Then it's unlimited tethered data without a data plan cost.

 

[highdesertranger]

x2 on what bob said. highdesertranger

 

[Canine]

Actually, Bob is too generous, I give T Mobile an F for coverage... In big cities they are fine.

I left AT&T due to costs and coverage, about the same coverage as T Mobile and 2x the cost for my plan. Its been very frustrating on this (so far) 2,200 mile trip to have so much "no service" in the western states, and on mostly major highways too!

 

[blars]

T-mobile coverage is spotty, but suprisingly good in some places. My t-mobile phone works fine in eastern Imperial County, California 40 miles from the nearest city. They also purchased more spectrum from verizon to improve coverage a year ago.

 

[Suanne]

I have a T-Mobile smart phone (voice and data) and a Verizon JetPack (data).  In my snowbirding in AZ and UT these past 4 months, I found that Verizon data was far superior to T-Mobile data coverage, but my T-Mobile voice was sometimes better than friends' Verizon voice.

If I were living in a location where T-Mobile's data was strong, it'd be a no brainer to stick with T-Mobile because of their lack of overage charges.

Suanne

 

[RVTravel]

T mobile has both lack of overages and lack of coverages...lmao

 

[highdesertranger]

ha ha ha good one RVtravel. highdesertranger

 

[offroad]

T mobile unlimited voice can be had for $30 a month. Then you get a verizon data jet pack with 10 gigs a month for $100. -- you might be good with everything.

 

[Reducto]

Virgin has a $35/mo plan with 300 minutes and unlimited data, throttled after 2.5 gigs. They use the Sprint network, so it's great in cities and nonexistent most everywhere else. It's served me well on the few occasions I need a phone and the data comes in handy when I'm running low on my Verizon hotspot.

They also have a $20/mo wifi access only phone if you're always near your hotspot or another wifi source.

 

[offroad]

That's what my son uses and has for years. Can't argue with $35 per month.

 

[K1ngN0thing]

I'm looking into T-mobile for affordable internet. They offer 1gb of LTE for $20/month. Once that gig is up, do I still have unlimited throttled data, or do I have no data at all?

 

[LeeRevell]

I cannot wrap my head around using the terms "Unlimited" and "Throttled" together. UNLIMITED means no restrictions. THROTTLED is restricted. Once you introduce ANY restriction, it is by definition, limited. False advertising at the very least.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

republic wireless gives 5 gig for 25 if you can live with sprint coverage. i use thier calls text and wifi for 10, no towers here :/
have to use a small selection of moto phones

 

[offroad]

AT&T just got busted by the FCC for deceptive selling on unlimited throttled data plans. Will cost them $100m fine.

 

[K1ngN0thing]

I think I'd be fine with throttled data if it were 256Kbps, but 128 seems to be the standard. Elon Musk's free satellite internet can't come soon enough.

 

[offroad]

256kbps is fast enough for the lowest YouTube steaming speed? Is that why you would be okay with that, if we all got throttled to that?

I know I can listen to audio streaming at 56kbps and never have an issue.

 

[K1ngN0thing]

256kbps is fast enough for the lowest YouTube steaming speed?  Is that why you would be okay with that, if we all got throttled to that?  

I know I can listen to audio streaming at 56kbps and never have an issue.

This and gaming. I think 128Kbps might be fast enough for the games I play but I know it won't always be as high as 128Kbps. It's insane to me that literally no company is offering higher throttled speeds despite obvious demand. I guess they all have a tacit agreement to offer equally slow service so everyone gets a nice big slice of the pie. Unfortunately, a $100m fine is nothing compared to their $6.2b net profit in 2014. The FCC would need to make it a recurring fee that ramps up until they change their practices.

 

[akrvbob]

I have 30 gigs unthrottled on Verizon, it never slows down.

They all tell you now if it is throttled and slows down. The fine was for being deceptive not for throttling, so they are no longer deceptive.
Bob