Thinking about switching to T-Mobile with my Nexus 4

[Shotlimesalt]

I am currently on my parents family plan on AT&T and looking to be on my own and T-Mobile has my eyes set on some of their 4G unlimited plans.

But here is my problem. I am currently on a 2GB cap with AT&T so I always watch myself so that I don't go over and get bitched at by my parents, because it has happened many a times. There's no telling how much data I'd go through if I had the freedom to do whatever I wanted. T-Mob does have good 4G service in my area as I am in the St. Louis region.

90% of my music is on G music and I am always on Pandora when I am driving and at the gym. I travel a lot for work so Pandora is on majority of that time and also from my experience hotels I have stayed at have shitty WiFi so another question was how 4G on T-Mob compares to decent WiFi. If 4G is better than WiFi then I may never use it? (depending on location I know)

I know it's hard telling how much data I'll need depending on my usage, but I would really like to hear from someone that's using the Nexus 4 on T-Mob and what data plan you are currently using/recommend.

Thank you.

 

[Rcarnes91]

It all depends on location but t-mobiles HSPA+ network gets 5-20 megs down depending where you are, upload speeds are not as good. wifi will only be used when you want to save bandwidth or have a poor signal or uploading things

 

[cvu524]

Go to t- mobile.com and check the coverage for your area. I'm from San Jose, CA and the coverage here in the bay area is excellent. Doing a Speedtest, I usually get anywhere between 15-21mbps on the download on my Nexus 4. Upload speeds aren't too great: 1.5-2.2 Mbps. In addition, since the N4 supports HSPA+, it saves on battery unlike LTE which is quite a battery hog. Im currently using the Value Plan with 500 min, unlimited texts and unlimited data because I too am data heavy (as in all-you-can-eat data; NOT the one with a data cap and then you get throttled data). Good luck!!

 

[Bob Loblaw1]

I've got the monthly $60 500min/unlimited data and text and it's perfect for me. I use my N4 as a hot spot and stream Pandora all day long to my iPad which I hook up to external speakers in my work truck and it's awesome. I need the minutes otherwise I would consider the $30 pre-paid plan. I am usually just getting HSPA 10 which I guess isn't great but my speeds are around 10mg and way faster than what I'm used to.

oh and there is talk of possibly accessing T-Mo LTE when it's available but I've heard speculation that it may not work on a pre-paid plan.

 

[hstroph]

I've got the monthly $60 500min/unlimited data and text and it's perfect for me....

Of course you probably wouldn't want to save $120 every year , but Welcome | NET10 provides unlimited voice, text and data for $50/month, and it uses both T-Mobile and AT&T, which can be handy when travelling.

 

[Bob Loblaw1]

Of course you probably wouldn't want to save $120 every year , but Welcome | NET10 provides unlimited voice, text and data for $50/month, and it uses both T-Mobile and AT&T, which can be handy when travelling.

Anybody else use this? Sounds pretty good. Any downside?

 

[hstroph]

... Any downside?

Yeah, you'd probably just spend that $120/year on better-quality beer. :beerglass:

Really though, all seriousness aside, the only drawback I've found is that support calls are answered in Guatemala, and some of the accents are difficult for my ears to understand, especially when they use boilerplate dialogue patterns. Thankfully, support is seldom needed.

 

[HereticSins]

Yeah, you'd probably just spend that $120/year on better-quality beer. :beerglass:

Really though, all seriousness aside, the only drawback I've found is that support calls are answered in Guatemala, and some of the accents are difficult for my ears to understand, especially when they use boilerplate dialogue patterns. Thankfully, support is seldom needed.

Does it tap into their HSPA+ speeds?

 

[hstroph]

Does it tap into their HSPA+ speeds?

I sure hope so, but I'm still waiting for my backordered N4. Already have the SIM card and service plan, so I may have to eat humble pie ... we'll see. Still, I don't see anything in the service agreement that indicates HSPA+ won't be available.

 

[NeXuS4]

I left MetroPCS after three years for this phone on T-Mobile personally. I'm on the $30 value plan (unlimited text/data throttled at 5GB, 100 min) because I couldn't resist paying less than a grand for a tier 1 phone and a year of service.

 

[yfan]

Go to t- mobile.com and check the coverage for your area. I'm from San Jose, CA and the coverage here in the bay area is excellent. Doing a Speedtest, I usually get anywhere between 15-21mbps on the download on my Nexus 4. Upload speeds aren't too great: 1.5-2.2 Mbps. In addition, since the N4 supports HSPA+, it saves on battery unlike LTE which is quite a battery hog. Im currently using the Value Plan with 500 min, unlimited texts and unlimited data because I too am data heavy (as in all-you-can-eat data; NOT the one with a data cap and then you get throttled data). Good luck!!

Hey, I'm in San Jose as well! Small world!

While that plan does look like the most appropriate one for people who must have unlimited full speed data, it's worth noting that to stream audio, as the OP's main concern seems to be, high speed data is not really a requirement. At throttled, 2G speeds, audio will stream just fine (I have had to do this not because I went over my data cap, but because the reception inside my gym is never better than 2G). If you're not talking a lot on the phone (i.e. if 100 minutes will do), I might suggest the OP look into the $30/month, 5GB prepaid plan from T-mobile.

 

[aurora40]

Of course you probably wouldn't want to save $120 every year , but Welcome | NET10 provides unlimited voice, text and data for $50/month, and it uses both T-Mobile and AT&T, which can be handy when travelling.

Are you sure they use both carriers? I thought Net10 was on AT&T, though maybe they allow roaming onto T-Mobile?

On their "How it Works" page, it says this:

BRING AN AT&T OR T-MOBILE COMPATIBLE GSM PHONE, OR AN UNLOCKED GSM PHONE
Make sure it operates on our compatible frequencies (850 and 1900 MHz)

The frequencies suggest your phone will be on AT&T's network.

 

[suprmallet]

Of course you probably wouldn't want to save $120 every year , but Welcome | NET10 provides unlimited voice, text and data for $50/month, and it uses both T-Mobile and AT&T, which can be handy when travelling.

I'm curious about this, as the page doesn't give much information. When they say unlimited, do they mean Sprint levels of unlimited, or AT&T levels of unlimited (i.e. 2 GB of 3G and 5 GB of LTE)? Most of the links I clicked on that page gave me page errors, which isn't a good sign.