Possible Switch from AT&T to T-Mobile... thoughts?

[CAC1291]

Hi all, 

 

My sister upgraded her iPhone 5 to a 6 as soon as it came out, using a regular subsidized upgrade in the process. My mom recently found out that this broke some type of contract or agreement with AT&T. Because my sister didn't upgrade via AT&T Next, or AT&T's pay-per-month upgrade plan, our monthly bill of $160/month for 10GB of data will now be almost $190 a month for the next two years. My mom isn't happy about it and I find it a bit shady. 

 

However, as far as we know there's nothing that can be done. So, we're thinking of switching to T-Mobile, since we could get a somewhat similar plan for $60 less and no contracts. They will even pay our early terminations fees with AT&T. But the only issue is I'm not sure how good AT&T's service is. 

 

I remember a few years ago hearing about how it was so atrocious, none of my friends using the service could get signal in Philadelphia. From basic research I've done (T-Mobile's site and this website called "opensignal.org", T-Mobile's service in the Philly suburbs (where my mom lives) is as strong as AT&T's. 

 

My only concern is me. I live in State College, PA, the only bastion of civilization in central Pennsylvania. From what I can tell (through "research" that includes a random reddit thread), the T-Mobile signal isn't too bad here, but then I also don't know where I'll be living a year from now after I graduate. 

 

Do you guys know of any more reliable ways to see/compare AT&T vs. T-Mobile service in my area? 

[Triavius]

I'm looking into making the same switch myself and ran across this:

 

http://explore.t-mobile.com/test-drive-free-trial

 

I haven't tried it so I don't know exactly how it works, but it may help you out.

[TopWargamer]

@CAC1291

For T-mobile, it really depends on where you live. I have T-Mobile and I live in Tampa, which is one of TMo's LTE cities. (The surrounding cities get LTE too.) According to T-Mobile's coverage map, State College, Pennsylvania DOES get LTE! Generally, if you're in an area where T-Mobile offers LTE, that means your coverage in that city.area is great, and you won't lose your data connection, at least I never have. 

 

Even if you don't get LTE in certain parts of the city (I even have this issue), at least TMo has the fastest 3G network. Seriously, the speeds are actually very speedy for 3G, and you can actually do something with it. 

 

T-Mobile has greatly improved over the last few years. They use to be horrible, but now they're actually really good, and they're the fastest growing wireless carrier in the USA. T-Mobile is only going to get better from here, so don't worry about it.

 

And as @Triavus said, try out TMo's Test Drive program. That's an excellent way to gauge how well the coverage in your area is.

[CAC1291]

Unfortunately the trial period requires delivering the phone in-store, and there are zero stores near State College, so I probably can't do that. But, the I asked a reddit thread and will continue to monitor people's responses from that. Thanks for your help! 

[beavo451]

Did you even go to AT&T and talk about the upgrade? There's nothing "shady" about it at all. 2 Year contract = $40/mo for a line. It's been like that for several years. She didn't "break" any prior agreements. She just started a new contract with a higher price. If she went with NEXT, there would have been a bill for the sales tax and a monthly payment depending on the length and model of the iPhone. Either way, you will be paying roughly the same over two years.

Also, if you switch, it requires you to trade in all your current phones and buy new ones from Tmobile either full price or on a payment plan.

[dylan43270]

Did you even go to AT&T and talk about the upgrade? There's nothing "shady" about it at all. 2 Year contract = $40/mo for a line. It's been like that for several years. She didn't "break" any prior agreements. She just started a new contract with a higher price. If she went with NEXT, there would have been a bill for the sales tax and a monthly payment depending on the length and model of the iPhone. Either way, you will be paying roughly the same over two years.

Also, if you switch, it requires you to trade in all your current phones and buy new ones from Tmobile either full price or on a payment plan.

I love T-Mobile, but that is the only part that I don't like. Having to pay full price for a phone. You can transfer AT&T phones to T-Mobile as long as you can unlock it. I personally use a OnePlus One, which from now on I am going to go with phone makers at a cheaper price like the OnePlus or Nexus phones. I am still paying off my HTC M7 which I ended up giving to my dad because the camera was messed up.

[CAC1291]

Did you even go to AT&T and talk about the upgrade? There's nothing "shady" about it at all. 2 Year contract = $40/mo for a line. It's been like that for several years. She didn't "break" any prior agreements. She just started a new contract with a higher price. If she went with NEXT, there would have been a bill for the sales tax and a monthly payment depending on the length and model of the iPhone. Either way, you will be paying roughly the same over two years.

Also, if you switch, it requires you to trade in all your current phones and buy new ones from Tmobile either full price or on a payment plan.

 

Actually, my mom talked to them on the phone and they told her there was nothing she could do about it. That's how she knew the extra charge was specifically because of the subsidized upgrade.

 

The reason I find it odd is that the $40 a line isn't the way it's been forever. For the first 2 years we all had smartphones we were getting like 6gb/month for the family for a little over $200 a month. Then one day my mom got a call from AT&T talking about their new family plans. This was about 6 months to a year ago. Instead of signing up over the phone we went in-store and I asked them a bunch of questions. They told me that these were simply the new competitive prices and also mentioned that we would be able to use NEXT upgrades if we got this plan, but if we didn't, we would pay more and only be able to use the standard subsidized upgrades. We weren't really worried about the upgrades at the time because none of us were close to one, and they never explicitly said we wouldn't be allowed to do a subsidized upgrade. 

 

Plus, from what I understand, the amount you pay per month with NEXT upgrades can vary. That "pay in 2 years" monthly payment is the minimum required. So we could pay more at once and have our monthly bills be less later on down the line. Plus, when people trade in their phones, that gets deducted from the phone's total. So by "shady", I mean they didn't give us all the information or purposefully withheld information from us. I guess I should have scoured the offer first, but at this point there's nothing we can do about it. 

[beavo451]

Actually, my mom talked to them on the phone and they told her there was nothing she could do about it. That's how she knew the extra charge was specifically because of the subsidized upgrade.

The reason I find it odd is that the $40 a line isn't the way it's been forever. For the first 2 years we all had smartphones we were getting like 6gb/month for the family for a little over $200 a month. Then one day my mom got a call from AT&T talking about their new family plans. This was about 6 months to a year ago. Instead of signing up over the phone we went in-store and I asked them a bunch of questions. They told me that these were simply the new competitive prices and also mentioned that we would be able to use NEXT upgrades if we got this plan, but if we didn't, we would pay more and only be able to use the standard subsidized upgrades. We weren't really worried about the upgrades at the time because none of us were close to one, and they never explicitly said we wouldn't be allowed to do a subsidized upgrade.

Plus, from what I understand, the amount you pay per month with NEXT upgrades can vary. That "pay in 2 years" monthly payment is the minimum required. So we could pay more at once and have our monthly bills be less later on down the line. Plus, when people trade in their phones, that gets deducted from the phone's total. So by "shady", I mean they didn't give us all the information or purposefully withheld information from us. I guess I should have scoured the offer first, but at this point there's nothing we can do about it.

So you really expected to walk into the store and pay $200 for a flagship phone without something going up?

Unless you pay full price for the phone, your monthly bill WILL go up. There is nothing shady or deceptive about it.

[beavo451]

I love T-Mobile, but that is the only part that I don't like. Having to pay full price for a phone. You can transfer AT&T phones to T-Mobile as long as you can unlock it. I personally use a OnePlus One, which from now on I am going to go with phone makers at a cheaper price like the OnePlus or Nexus phones. I am still paying off my HTC M7 which I ended up giving to my dad because the camera was messed up.

From what I read on the T mobile website. In order for them to pay the ETF, the customer has to trade in a device from the competitor's service.

[Alimony]

Why not try Ting? You can see how the coverage is in your area.

 

http://ting.com/coverage