The $30 unlimited everything (kind of) wireless plan that you should have

[TopWargamer]

You've probably seen me tell people to buy this wireless plan before, but there was one down side to it: It only gave you 100 minutes for calling. That all changes today with the introduction of Hangouts letting you call any USA or Canada number for free, with international calls being very cheap.

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Here are the details of the plan

-5GB of 4G/LTE data, then unlimited 2G speeds after that (still usable for basic web browsing, email checking, social media, and whatnot)

-Unlimited national (USA) texting (I believe you get unlimited international texting as well?) 

-100 minutes for calling (we're fixing this...keep reading) 

-All for $30 plus tax (comes to just under $33 per month) 

-Runs on T-Mobile's network

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That's an amazing plan for only $30 a month, but the only downside are the amount of minutes you get. Well guess what, with the new Google Hangouts update you can make free calls (using data/WiFi) to any Hangouts user AND ANY USA or Canada phone. Pretty cool, eh? The downside? Your phone number comes up as 'Unavailable' (if somebody finds a work around, please tell me) and this does not work with incoming calls (if somebody finds a work around, please tell me). 

 

So here's how you should use this plan when it comes to minutes. Use up your regular minutes for the month. Once you do that, tell your friends to use Google Hangouts to call you. That way you're not charged for going over your minutes (although that wouldn't happen anyways unless your card was on file) and you can have the luxury of talking to people once your minutes run out. If you or any of your friends use a Windows Phone, sorry, but Hangouts isn't for that platform.

EDIT: Or just get a Google Voice Number and use that. 

 

Either way, if you want to save some money and get the cheapest/best wireless plan in the USA, then bam, there you go. 

 

Very important links and information

You can buy the SIM kit for this plan from either WalMart or Amazon. It is a prepaid plan, so you will have to bring your own device. The initial SIM kit does costs $35 (plus tax and shipping), but comes with both your micro-SIM card and a full month of service. 

WalMart link - http://www.walmart.com/ip/T-Mobile-Micro-SIM-Activation-Kit/24099996

Amazon link - http://www.amazon.com/T-Mobile-Micro-Starter-Initial-Activation/dp/B00DFSORCQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410406498&sr=8-1&keywords=t-mobile+sim+kit

 

You can only use Hangouts calling in v2.6, which is being rolled out in update. If you're impatient, you can download the APK and install it manually. You will also need to install the Hangouts Dialer application from the Play Store.

Download links (scroll down) - http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/09/10/dedicated-hangouts-dialer-app-hits-play-store-phone-calling-functionality-google-voice-integration-requires-hangouts-v2-3/

Hangouts Dialer - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.hangoutsdialer

 

EDIT: And yes, I use this plan myself. Been using for quite some time now, and I must say, I am extremely satisfied with T-Mobile's network. I am in one of their LTE cities though, so do keep that in mind. Is their network perfect? No, but they are actively fixing that. This is not the same TMo from a few years ago. 

[Aniallation]

Canadians: https://www.windmobile.ca/plans-and-devices/plans/mobile-plan-details/phone-plan-wind-35

[Thebman712]

Canadians: https://www.windmobile.ca/

nope, they dont provide to more than a few citys

[Syntaxvgm]

5GB and 2g speeds after that? Hmm...tempting.

I mean lol I'm on a 2gb plan.

Is 2g fast enough to stream music over pandora and whatnot? Cause if so I'm totally on it. But I fear if memory serves me right it may not be.

[Aniallation]

nope, they dont provide to more than a few citys

Many of the major cities have it. Perfectly fine here in Calgary

[Thebman712]

Many of the major cities have it. Perfectly fine here in Calgary

yeah but almost no where in the east or Saskatchewan

[Deletive]

... sometimes i wish I lived in america.

wind is good for 30$ a month but sucks for the underground.  
 

 

yeah but almost no where in the east or Saskatchewan

 

they have it in toronto. they should really expand, or atleast ask for some bell/telus towers. along the highways because it's useless if you're driving and you need help.

 

[Aniallation]

yeah but almost no where in the east or Saskatchewan

Ontario, Alberta, and BC are the only ones with it AFAIK

[TopWargamer]

5GB and 2g speeds after that? Hmm...tempting.

I mean lol I'm on a 2gb plan.

Is 2g fast enough to stream music over pandora and whatnot? Cause if so I'm totally on it. But I fear if memory serves me right it may not be.

I've never tried streaming music over 2G speeds before, because I've never gone over 5GB. I'm sure it'll be fine though, because those streaming apps/websites use the not-so-FLAC versions of the songs, which range from 1MB to 3MB, more or less. Should be fine, but if I get around to it, I'll post my results. 

[Aniallation]

... sometimes i wish I lived in america.

wind is good for 30$ a month but sucks for the underground.  

In the past few years it's gotten way better. In my house and in my school, it gets better reception then Rogers

[Thebman712]

Ontario, Alberta, and BC are the only ones with it AFAIK

and they have said that there are planbs for more places for 2 years and nothing has happend, so im going to get a sasktel plan

[Aniallation]

and they have said that there are planbs for more places for 2 years and nothing has happend, so im going to get a sasktel plan

Yeah but they couldn't get the towers up due to political reasons, etc

 

However where their network is available they've improved massively over the past two years. Before in my basement I couldn't even get signal, now I get better signal then my dad on Bell

[Deletive]

Yeah but they couldn't get the towers up due to political reasons, etc

 

However where their network is available they've improved massively over the past two years. Before in my basement I couldn't even get signal, now I get better signal then my dad on Bell

Thats the same problem with the vancouver underground. Telus build their (Telus has a good monopoly over the downtown core) in the skytrain canada line and bell and rogers brought (or got piggybacked) and WIND has to pay a lot to get in because it's pretty much the big 3 versus the small little guy. It's super annoying. but their service is always getting better for me so thats great

[Syntaxvgm]

I've never tried streaming music over 2G speeds before, because I've never gone over 5GB. I'm sure it'll be fine though, because those streaming apps/websites use the not-so-FLAC versions of the songs, which range from 1MB to 3MB, more or less. Should be fine, but if I get around to it, I'll post my results.

Basically I'd want to stream music for my car from the cloud or pandora. Nothing super quality.

I'd probably use up the 5gb cap myself on other things (I need to tether NOW emergencies, I mean my Comcast internet goes out at least once a week), but I still want to be able to stream music/not worry about overages, just throttles. I mean it's still an upgrade from what I have.

I need unlimited minutes, but I would be willing to have this separately.

[TopWargamer]

Basically I'd want to stream music for my car from the cloud or pandora. Nothing super quality.

I'd probably use up the 5gb cap myself on other things (I need to tether NOW emergencies, I mean my Comcast internet goes out at least once a week), but I still want to be able to stream music/not worry about overages, just throttles. I mean it's still an upgrade from what I have.

I need unlimited minutes, but I would be willing to have this separately.

That reminds, T-Mobile has caps on all of their plans for tethering. All of their plans have a 100MB tethering limit (it seriously sucks, but I've only had to use it a couple of times) and their unlimited plans has a 2.5GB cap. 

 

Anyways, if you're concerned about the speeds being too slow, you could always download the songs... I use a program that lets me download just the audio from a YouTube video. There's also a website that does, but I've noticed that it caps the audio on some songs, which is why I don't use it anymore. 

[Syntaxvgm]

That reminds, T-Mobile has caps on all of their plans for tethering. All of their plans have a 100MB tethering limit (it seriously sucks, but I've only had to use it a couple of times) and their unlimited plans has a 2.5GB cap. 

 

Anyways, if you're concerned about the speeds being too slow, you could always download the songs... I use a program that lets me download just the audio from a YouTube video. There's also a website that does, but I've noticed that it caps the audio on some songs, which is why I don't use it anymore.

I have a motox and 14 GB of music in my colleciton. Fuck google and their no SD card slot bs.

lol anyway I considered the unlimited plan from tmobile, I can see nothing about limits on the 80$ a month plan. The 70$ a month is 5GB

Yes, they do mention a tether limit though, 5GB. I can just root my phone and use a third party tether app though.

They also mention a few apps like pandora don't count against data

Gotta be some bs though, is it actually unlimited or do they throttle you or something?

[TopWargamer]

lol anyway I considered the unlimited plan from tmobile, I can see nothing about limits on the 80$ a month plan. The 70$ a month is 5GB

Yes, they do mention a tether limit though, 5GB. I can just root my phone and use a third party tether app though.

They also mention a few apps like pandora don't count against data

Gotta be some bs though, is it actually unlimited or do they throttle you or something?

Oh ya, forgot that TMo bumped the cap for tethering on the unlimited plan. As for those 3rd party apps to get around it... I've tried it, you can't...or at least I can't. If you find a way around this, please tell me.

As for throttling and whatnot, they'll only throttle you if you're on a tower with high congestion. This makes sense, because this way the tower won't be "over flowed". Going off of what I've heard, so I'm not 100% sure.

[Syntaxvgm]

Oh ya, forgot that TMo bumped the cap for tethering on the unlimited plan. As for those 3rd party apps to get around it... I've tried it, you can't...or at least I can't. If you find a way around this, please tell me.

As for throttling and whatnot, they'll only throttle you if you're on a tower with high congestion. This makes sense, because this way the tower won't be "over flowed". Going off of what I've heard, so I'm not 100% sure.

How would they detect a wired connection tether? Makes little sense. I mean I get if you are downloading massive crap they'll flag your account, tether or not.

I mean I'm pretty certain someone I know uses a wire tether for that. No root I believe as well.

[RatedBlam]

Is this a phone plan?

I have 4g, no data cap and so many calls a month I could never use them all for 20 euros

[TopWargamer]

Is this a phone plan?

I have 4g, no data cap and so many calls a month I could never use them all for 20 euros

Yes, it's a phone plan. USA only.