Question about the $30 T-Mobile Unlimited data (Walmart) plan

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srkelley

Senior Member
Apr 5, 2012
62
3
It appears to be option A. I just put my phone into 2g only mode, checked data usage through T-Mobile.com, and ran a few speed tests on 2g. Checked the T-Mobile site again and data usage had increased.

Sorry to disappoint. It's still a great plan. I use almost all of my data each month due to having no Wi-Fi at work, but have yet to go over.
Thank you! It's great to finally have an answer to this question. It would have been awesome with option B, but at least I know what to expect now.
 

martonikaj

Senior Member
Nov 20, 2010
7,867
1,670
Seattle, WA
I've been searching all over the web for an answer to the question below. I may just suck at searching, can anyone help me out?


I was looking at the pre-paid T-Mobile plan with 100 minutes and unlimited data (up to 5 gigs, 2g speeds after). This seems like a good deal as I use little voice and nave Google Voice if necessary (via data network).

Just assume I'm speaking about the $30, 5GB Unlimited plan.

How does T-Mobile measure data usage on their Monthly 4G plans?

A. The first 5 gigs period count towards that 5GB limit.
B. Only the first 5 gigs of HSPA+ use count towards the 5GB limit.

If it's B, then that works out great for me. I'd be happy to set my phone to just use EDGE for sync/when the screen is off. That way I'm only tapping into their faster speeds when I actually want to use it.

I know that I can stop sync and become more vigilant on usage, but if I could plan around when I'm actually using data that's going towards my high speed limit, I could more reasonably enjoy using my phone. Let the slower data network handle sync while I get to use the faster one for services that make sense. Like video streaming gaming on a console/handheld via tethering.

Option A. 5GB is 5GB.
 

jaybeeunix

Senior Member
Aug 11, 2009
75
39
Urbana, Illinois
Unless you're REALLY, REALLY anxious for that 5GB of data, I'd recommend buying the activation kit directly from T-mobile.com: It costs $0.99 + free S/H and comes with a credit of $3.34 on the account. The free shipping is listed as "2-4 business days" (I received mine in three business days).

The only wrinkle I had was that the automated systems (neither the web and touch-tone one) would recognize my activation code, but the touch-tone system forwarded me instantly to a CSR and I was activated in ~5mins. The entire conversation with the CSR was "Where did you buy your activation kit? We have known problems with direct-from-the-Internet activation kits, so I'll be happy to activate it manually. What's your SIM card's number and your activation kit's number? What's the PIN for your refill card? Here's your new phone number..."

That's a lot less hassle than buying a phone I'm not going to use from Wal-Mart, or, worse, trying to return a phone to them after I've taken the activation kit and SIM out of it.
 

spikex

Member
Dec 8, 2010
28
1
Hello guys

im from germany and driving through the country right now. I bought a galaxy nexus and need a prepaid kit. shipping is not an option. i really want the t-mobile prepaid plan, however can any one tell me what i need to buy at walmart (which prepaid phone i guess) to get the sim + activiation code? im stopping by there later.

thanks in advance!
 

urinsane

Senior Member
Feb 28, 2006
316
105
Maui
Hello guys

im from germany and driving through the country right now. I bought a galaxy nexus and need a prepaid kit. shipping is not an option. i really want the t-mobile prepaid plan, however can any one tell me what i need to buy at walmart (which prepaid phone i guess) to get the sim + activiation code? im stopping by there later.

thanks in advance!

Any of the cheap "T-Mobile Prepaid" phones should work. They will probably be hanging on a separate display or near the contract phones and should be clearly marked as Monthly 4G or prepaid. I think this was the cheapest one at the store local to me:
http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-phone/LG-GS170-RED-Prepaid-Refurbished

There will be a sim card and activation code inside the box. I'd activate it myself online rather than having them do it for me, but that's your call.
 
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noneone

Senior Member
Apr 30, 2012
115
44
Hello guys

im from germany and driving through the country right now. I bought a galaxy nexus and need a prepaid kit. shipping is not an option. i really want the t-mobile prepaid plan, however can any one tell me what i need to buy at walmart (which prepaid phone i guess) to get the sim + activiation code? im stopping by there later.

thanks in advance!

I have used a $25 walmart t-mobile pre paid flip type phone to activate this plan.

I have also used a $19 activation kit (no phone) from Best Buy to activate this plan.

Online with shipping the activation kit is only $1 ..... but sometimes some folks just need it now, with cash. Walmart or BB both work then.

GL!
 

OmgitzFire

Senior Member
Nov 28, 2011
438
182
Quick question , I've heard that if you don't pay for a month using this plan , that will cause you to lose this plan (4g unlim text/web) is that true ?

For example I'm currently paying but lets say next month I'll be out of the states and don't want to be charged but then when I come back will this plan still be available ?
 

c0LdFire

Senior Member
Mar 6, 2011
319
69
Quick question , I've heard that if you don't pay for a month using this plan , that will cause you to lose this plan (4g unlim text/web) is that true ?

For example I'm currently paying but lets say next month I'll be out of the states and don't want to be charged but then when I come back will this plan still be available ?

I believe so - it's for "new activations only". With that being said, you can grab a new $1 SIM and re-activate the plan that way. You're still saving $29 if you go that route.
 

iceshark

Senior Member
Apr 4, 2010
502
50
Seattle Washington
Okay, 10 year TMOBILE DM here and I just went to Verizon. However I can clear some air for how the $30 Wally world plan works and clear some wrong info.

1.It is ONLY for new activations and you must either buy prepaid phone and chuck it and use sim and activation code or better yet order from Tmobile the 3 buck activation kit. REMEMBER IT MUST HAVE ACTIVATION NUMBER. Having just a new sim wont do it.

2.You do not have go thru Walmart. You can order activation kit from TMobile, Amazon, Ebay or pay 19.99 for it at Best buy if your in a hurry. YOU MUST HOWEVER ONLY ACTIVATE IT ONLINE AT TMOBILE WEBSITE TO GET THE PLAN! you will see a choice for it when you activate!

3. You must re-fill or auto pay to keep plan going. IF YOU ARE OFF FOR 90 DAYS or more you can not start back up the plan! You would have to buy another activation kit and get new phone number. Just dont let it get turned off for 90 days and you can keep plan forever.

4. You can use any phone that will work on TMOUS system. I DO NOT THINK VERIZON GNEX WILL WORK ON TMOUS HSPA but maybe I am wrong?

5. There is an issue many times when during activation it asks for your phones IMEI number. To bypass this simply put in 9 zeros or nines!
It works everytime!

6. Yes after 5g you get slowed down to 2g or slower like snail! Good luck with even trying to use mail. ITs snail slow!

7. You can not buy extra Data and must wait till next start of new billing to get back phone.

8. GOOGLE VOICE DOES NOT GIVE YOU FREE MINUTES! So many people are wrong about this! However there are free phone internet plans that will give you free minutes over the 100 you get from TMOUS> But they work with Voice and they suck most of the time!

9. TMous prepaid is the best around as you get full cell tower useage and if your in strong TMOUS area its the same service quality as contract customers. Unlike Sprint and ATT that suck eggs on prepaid.

Any questions let me know.
 

martonikaj

Senior Member
Nov 20, 2010
7,867
1,670
Seattle, WA
4. You can use any phone that will work on TMOUS system. I DO NOT THINK VERIZON GNEX WILL WORK ON TMOUS HSPA but maybe I am wrong?

Only GSM phones with 1700/2100mhz 3G bands. Aka a T-Mobile branded device, or one of the few pentaband unlocked devices like the Galaxy Nexus. No Verizon phones will ever work on T-Mobile without serious hacking of a worldphone model. Just stick to GSM phones.

6. Yes after 5g you get slowed down to 2g or slower like snail! Good luck with even trying to use mail. ITs snail slow!

You can actually get away with most background data and push notification services when throttled. You get a capped speed of 60kbps down / 150kbps up. You can even switch to "2G only" (EDGE) in network settings and get faster speeds, but with higher ping times. Its completely passable for everything but streaming and non-mobile site web browsing.

7. You can not buy extra Data and must wait till next start of new billing to get back phone.

Incorrect. At any time you can call T-Mobile and have them re-start your plan from that day forward. You'll remove your throttle and get another 100 minutes for the regular price of $30.

9. TMous prepaid is the best around as you get full cell tower useage and if your in strong TMOUS area its the same service quality as contract customers. Unlike Sprint and ATT that suck eggs on prepaid.

Wouldn't necessarily throw all other prepaid carriers under the bus here. Straight Talk (running on AT&T or T-Mobile) and Simple Mobile (T-Mobile) are well accepted and I've not heard any issues with quality of service on them.
 

iceshark

Senior Member
Apr 4, 2010
502
50
Seattle Washington
Buddy I am not incorrect working years for the company it clearly states in the rules you get 90 days to renew off the plan under the Walmart or you will absolutely be canceled and have to buy new activation kit, NO IF's ANDs or BUTTS! I know what I'm talking about!

Oh and straight talk and all Walmarts plans do you suck big time compared to T-Mobile's prepaid that is fact. Read the reviews. As long as you have Tmobile 4g in your area its prepaid can not be beat and not by those contract thru us like Walmarts plan.

You might want to actually read the rules, You will be converted to Pay as you go (like all our pre-paid plans) if you do not pay and let go dormant. Only differance with our $30.00 for 1500 minute and text plan and or our $30.00 Walmart 5g data plan is after 90 days if dormant YOU MAY NOT RE UP on the plans.) We do that to get people off those plans when we can. Its a loss leader so we find ways to dump you. Not fair but fact,

You are in Bellingham. So you know the area. I worked out of corp office in BVue. We had the test towers and even with the best speeds you are correct on your cap speeds. However thats awful speeds. Try doing anything with them. We used to laugh as we would watch our store csr's tell people they would get good 3g speed when throttled. You and I know thats untrue and its edge. It is awful speeds. But hey, its still faster then 4g Wimax on Sprints cell coverage. LOL

I as a district manager might just know alittle more then you on this subject my friend.

http://instoresnow.walmart.com/tmobile.aspx

http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/monthly-4g-plans-faqs

---------- Post added at 06:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:30 PM ----------

Sorry had to wait to get off road and took a look at your reply again. I see I thought you were talking about loosing service not if you ran out of data early.

However your still incorrect! Before we started the monthly Walmart plans we called our pre-paid 'Pay as you Go". For those plans you could at ANY TIME refill or load,. If over 100 bucks you got gold status.

THESE PLANS DO NOT FALL UNDER THAT WINDOW! They are 30 days until auto or manual refill. You can not pay early to restart. And why would you want to? You paid for a month! If you used your data you can not refill data until next bill cycle. However you may add Pay as you go minutes at anytime by adding with a prepaid card. So your partially correct. But you can not add data! You run our then too bad so sad till next billing cycle.

Thats the fact jack!

Lastly, Not trying to get in a pissing match. I have tons of respect for you as I see how much you help people. You know much more then I on most things XDA in development. Thats where I have been happy learning from people like you for 2 years. I however am very versed in the billing as I had to handle upset customers that were given false or missleading information for years. That is my game to play..... Peace

Before I left to Verizon recently. The biggie that I can go on for pages is on what actually has to happen for Tmous to actually blacklist an IMEI or phone. Thats the area where all kinds of wrong info gets out.... Just ask and I will post a thread on that.
 
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codesplice

Senior Member
Jun 17, 2008
2,678
951
Huntsville, AL, USA
Buddy I am not incorrect working years for the company it clearly states in the rules you get 90 days to renew off the plan under the Walmart or you will absolutely be canceled and have to buy new activation kit, NO IF's ANDs or BUTTS! I know what I'm talking about!

Oh and straight talk and all Walmarts plans do you suck big time compared to T-Mobile's prepaid that is fact. Read the reviews. As long as you have Tmobile 4g in your area its prepaid can not be beat and not by those contract thru us like Walmarts plan.

You might want to actually read the rules, You will be converted to Pay as you go (like all our pre-paid plans) if you do not pay and let go dormant. Only differance with our $30.00 for 1500 minute and text plan and or our $30.00 Walmart 5g data plan is after 90 days if dormant YOU MAY NOT RE UP on the plans.) We do that to get people off those plans when we can. Its a loss leader so we find ways to dump you. Not fair but fact,

You are in Bellingham. So you know the area. I worked out of corp office in BVue. We had the test towers and even with the best speeds you are correct on your cap speeds. However thats awful speeds. Try doing anything with them. We used to laugh as we would watch our store csr's tell people they would get good 3g speed when throttled. You and I know thats untrue and its edge. It is awful speeds. But hey, its still faster then 4g Wimax on Sprints cell coverage. LOL

I as a district manager might just know alittle more then you on this subject my friend.

http://instoresnow.walmart.com/tmobile.aspx

http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/monthly-4g-plans-faqs

---------- Post added at 06:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:30 PM ----------

Sorry had to wait to get off road and took a look at your reply again. I see I thought you were talking about loosing service not if you ran out of data early.

However your still incorrect! Before we started the monthly Walmart plans we called our pre-paid 'Pay as you Go". For those plans you could at ANY TIME refill or load,. If over 100 bucks you got gold status.

THESE PLANS DO NOT FALL UNDER THAT WINDOW! They are 30 days until auto or manual refill. You can not pay early to restart. And why would you want to? You paid for a month! If you used your data you can not refill data until next bill cycle. However you may add Pay as you go minutes at anytime by adding with a prepaid card. So your partially correct. But you can not add data! You run our then too bad so sad till next billing cycle.

Thats the fact jack!

Lastly, Not trying to get in a pissing match. I have tons of respect for you as I see how much you help people. You know much more then I on most things XDA in development. Thats where I have been happy learning from people like you for 2 years. I however am very versed in the billing as I had to handle upset customers that were given false or missleading information for years. That is my game to play..... Peace

Before I left to Verizon recently. The biggie that I can go on for pages is on what actually has to happen for Tmous to actually blacklist an IMEI or phone. Thats the area where all kinds of wrong info gets out.... Just ask and I will post a thread on that.

I appreciate that you probably have some good information to contribute but your tone could really use some work. Calling the guy who has contributed the most in these prepaid threads a liar is pretty bad forum form. He and several others have spoken from personal experience about being able to restart their cycle early (and thus get another batch of data to play with). It may not be what is supposed to happen but it does happen, and that's a fact buddy.
 

noneone

Senior Member
Apr 30, 2012
115
44
Sorry had to wait to get off road and took a look at your reply again. I see I thought you were talking about loosing service not if you ran out of data early.

However your still incorrect! Before we started the monthly Walmart plans we called our pre-paid 'Pay as you Go". For those plans you could at ANY TIME refill or load,. If over 100 bucks you got gold status.

THESE PLANS DO NOT FALL UNDER THAT WINDOW! They are 30 days until auto or manual refill. You can not pay early to restart. And why would you want to? You paid for a month! If you used your data you can not refill data until next bill cycle. However you may add Pay as you go minutes at anytime by adding with a prepaid card. So your partially correct. But you can not add data! You run our then too bad so sad till next billing cycle.

Thats the fact jack!

Note to self, rhyming doesn't make one's statements factually accurate.

I have used up my data and / or minutes, and called T-moblie, and THREE TIMES they have simply reset my account, took the $30 out that day, and started a new month from that day forward.

In fact, I did it just today, 8/6/2012.

So, you may know some stuff, but, you're just wrong on others. I just "restarted" my $30 a month plan. Maybe they're not supposed to, maybe you know company policy, but, THE FACT IS I've done it 3 times already. Recently, too.

And why would you want to? DUH because I used up my minutes and data. Alternatively, I could simply have TWO sim cards, use one for 15 days till its capped, THEN use the other for 15 days, and so on, and get a 200 minute 10 GB plan for $60 still a good deal.

BUT, I don't need to get two sim cards, cause Tmo just restarts me when I call them.

GL with your new Verizon relationship.
 
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urinsane

Senior Member
Feb 28, 2006
316
105
Maui
Oh and straight talk and all Walmarts plans do you suck big time compared to T-Mobile's prepaid that is fact. Read the reviews. As long as you have Tmobile 4g in your area its prepaid can not be beat and not by those contract thru us like Walmarts plan.
So is it 4g or 5g now? ;)

Anyways I'm sure you have plenty of experience with the customer care side, but if you read this thread and on other forums you will see quite a few people enjoying straight talk / net10 / simple mobile / etc. I believe the OP has been on straight talk for months and hasn't come back to complain yet. As long as you have the right expectations going in (clearly outlined in the OP.. basically don't expect customer service) it is a very good deal.

EDIT: Forgot which prepaid thread I was in. I was referring to the OP for this thread:
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1455014
 
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iceshark

Senior Member
Apr 4, 2010
502
50
Seattle Washington
So is it 4g or 5g now? ;)

Anyways I'm sure you have plenty of experience with the customer care side, but if you read this thread and on other forums you will see quite a few people enjoying straight talk / net10 / simple mobile / etc. I believe the OP has been on straight talk for months and hasn't come back to complain yet. As long as you have the right expectations going in (clearly outlined in the OP) it is a very good deal.

Fair enough.> I may be jaded as I was with TMOUS for so long. However I trained the Walmart mini DM for W. WA and can tell you Straight talk and Simply Mobile are terrible. Net 10 is of course just really Trac Phone. And if you think Trac Phone is good then oh my. But again, if people are happy then I wish them well.

PlusI am with Verizon now. They to seem to have a decent prepaid. The 2 buck unlimited for only days used it decent. I do not like there extra 15 bucks per gig of data though


As for 4g. Of course we both know its not true 4g. That said it test faster them Sprint WIMAX by triple. And beats ATT on same system. Only Verizon LTE tops out faster but has poor signal indoors and on hand off from towers.... So ya, Your right in picking on it. But its still the best in the PNW I think. Even over Verizon in metro areas of PNW.

---------- Post added at 10:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:04 PM ----------

I appreciate that you probably have some good information to contribute but your tone could really use some work. Calling the guy who has contributed the most in these prepaid threads a liar is pretty bad forum form. He and several others have spoken from personal experience about being able to restart their cycle early (and thus get another batch of data to play with). It may not be what is supposed to happen but it does happen, and that's a fact buddy.

What the F! Do NOT try and tell me how to talk here. I too am a senior member and that really means crap! I posted a thread to help people based on my history with Tmous and HE responded with a POMPUS INCORRECT! I have a right to set the record straight. It was not rude in anyway! So if you want peace love and granola then move to the west coast. God knows we have enough of that crap here.

Now back to the thread. As for the users claiming to pay before term. That is against the policy. HOWEVER of course if you call in ( you can not do this online) and stupidly ask to pay for another month 2 weeks in to your paid month they are going to take the funds! While I wlll make a call to verify this I do not doubt it. Many of us including myself loved TMOBILE since Voice Stream days. However the German board of directors hates Tmobile and are loosing money daily so again I am not suprised they now are breaking there own rules when it comes to making any more extra money from people crazy enough to want to pay another 30 bucks before months end.... Thats just plain foolish.. Even a dying company will take the foolish player if it puts money into the bottom line. As for dual Sim cards. Again does not take a brain surgeon to figure out thats foolish as well....

In fact, hey friend paying all that money. Here is an idea. Why not go to the UNLIMITED calls, text and 5gig for just 70.00 a month? Hell, your already paying 60 bucks for 200 minutes total and 10g data. Who uses 10g data.... Sounds like you should look at the other prepaid option,.. Just trying to help. Oh and I WORK AS A DM for Verizon. Not just a customer relationship move if thats what you were thinking.... I still prefer Tmobile service over my new companys. Tmobile customer service is second to none!

What would be a better solution is to push for Tmobile to sell extra Data time so you could add it for say 10 bucks a gig or less. But hey, You keep paying 30 bucks every couple weeks and make em stay afloat till all my friends in corp find other jobs like many of us already have.

Now RELAX! This is a response not a war...:cowboy:
 
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martonikaj

Senior Member
Nov 20, 2010
7,867
1,670
Seattle, WA
Fair enough.> I may be jaded as I was with TMOUS for so long. However I trained the Walmart mini DM for W. WA and can tell you Straight talk and Simply Mobile are terrible. Net 10 is of course just really Trac Phone. And if you think Trac Phone is good then oh my. But again, if people are happy then I wish them well.

Well you gotta realize that Straight Talk and Net10 (which are both subsidiaries of TracFone) are all just buying and reselling AT&T and T-Mobile services. Of course they're doing some QoS control and things like that, but there's absolutely no evidence whatsoever that Straight Talk is offering worse service than T-Mobile Prepaid is. I don't see where you are bringing this information from. Its blatant FUD, there's no reason whatsoever that people shouldn't consider all MVNO carriers when looking for prepaid service.

I'm as big of a T-Mobile fanboi as anyone else, but even I don't think that T-Mobile's Prepaid is some how greatly superior to any other MVNO out there. There's a reason why Straight Talk has some 25 million customers.

What the F! Do NOT try and tell me how to talk here. I too am a senior member and that really means crap! I posted a thread to help people based on my history with Tmous and HE responded with a POMPUS INCORRECT! I have a right to set the record straight. It was not rude in anyway! So if you want peace love and granola then move to the west coast. God knows we have enough of that crap here.

There's a general code of conduct (and personal decency) that you should try to follow. Be nice and polite and don't go off on people when they've done nothing wrong. You may think you're "setting the record straight" and I'm sure you're very knowledgeable, but you're saying a lot of stuff that is just completely false and incorrect, leading me to believe that you need to settle down a bit and put things in perspective. You attract more bees with honey than vinegar...

Now back to the thread. As for the users claiming to pay before term. That is against the policy. HOWEVER of course if you call in ( you can not do this online) and stupidly ask to pay for another month 2 weeks in to your paid month they are going to take the funds! While I wlll make a call to verify this I do not doubt it. Many of us including myself loved TMOBILE since Voice Stream days. However the German board of directors hates Tmobile and are loosing money daily so again I am not suprised they now are breaking there own rules when it comes to making any more extra money from people crazy enough to want to pay another 30 bucks before months end.... Thats just plain foolish.. Even a dying company will take the foolish player if it puts money into the bottom line. As for dual Sim cards. Again does not take a brain surgeon to figure out thats foolish as well....

How is it foolish? If you need the data and you want to extend, you do it. Again, I find it hard to believe that you're involved and knowledgable of this industry if you keep saying things like this that are common knowledge. Calling T-Mobile support and having them renew your month extends your usage another 30 days, and gives you another 100 minutes and 5GB of data. It doesn't just give you the data and keep your same renewal date. It literally gives you a completely new month from that point forward. As the poster above noted, he and many others do this often and it is a completely viable way to keep your service going and offering the data/minutes you need.

In fact, hey friend paying all that money. Here is an idea. Why not go to the UNLIMITED calls, text and 5gig for just 70.00 a month? Hell, your already paying 60 bucks for 200 minutes total and 10g data. Who uses 10g data.... Sounds like you should look at the other prepaid option,.. Just trying to help. Oh and I WORK AS A DM for Verizon. Not just a customer relationship move if thats what you were thinking.... I still prefer Tmobile service over my new companys. Tmobile customer service is second to none!

Some people need more data. Just because some don't (I surely don't need that much) doesn't mean that you need to berate someone and call them stupid because they use more. That's just downright rude.

Now RELAX! This is a response not a war...:cowboy:

No, you need to relax. These are well-established threads with extremely well covered and vetted information that has been covered time and time again. User testimonials and regular check-ins give me much more info than you have. We don't need people chiming in out of nowhere acting like they know something more than we do, when its clear that you do not.

If you have something constructive to add to this thread, there's a way to do that. I'll just let you know right now that you're not doing it the right way. We have had several employees at different carriers and retailers chime in with extremely useful information before, and they do it the right way. You're not doing a whole lot to change my preconceived notion of how knowledgeable I think carrier employees are :rolleyes: .
 
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urinsane

Senior Member
Feb 28, 2006
316
105
Maui
I'm not trying to feed into this, but iceshark, I suggest you also read through the following thread if you have not already. (My apologies as my earlier post was meant to reference this in regards to the OP.. forgot which prepaid thread I was on)
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1455014

It goes back to about January and has many many reports of users on all different prepaid GSM carriers. You will see a range of reports from "I got kicked off after using 50mb of data in a day" to "AT&T STRAIGHT TALK RULEZ!". Some of us have read through hundreds of reports about prepaid. Hell, I have a Google Alert set up for new articles about prepaid, and most of the articles are nowhere near the level of collective knowledge you will find here. Posters like martonikaj have answered questions like "Can I renew my plan after 2 weeks if I run out of data?" dozens of times, and for the most part we are not talking out of our asses. "Straight Talk sucks in WA" is not very useful, and doesn't even get into the issue of which Straight Talk network is the one that sucks (TMO? AT&T? Verizon?). If you have experiences with Straight Talk on all 3 of their networks and can let us know why they are bad, I would like to hear about that (although the Verizon network doesn't pertain here, obviously).

I sold cell phones for about 3 years. I sold AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile. I can say that I felt the overall training was poor for all 4 companies, and that I learned more from these forums (and HoFo). Most of the good training I received was sales oriented rather than technology. Much of the training could be learned simply by reading the customer brochures. I had several training reps provide what turned out to be false information after researching online. Considering the way they treat prepaid sales, I would be even more hesitant to trust anything they told me in that regard. As you see with the ability to renew this plan mid-month by anyone who calls to request it, just because someone has a T-Mobile (or AT&T, or Verizon, or....) shirt on does not mean someone else is wrong.

(Note: I did have a few very knowledgeable reps, and they too turned to the internet rather than their company for a lot of their info.)

If you can show us another way to get 10gb of data, 200 mins, and unlimited messaging for $60 a month (and no contract), please do share, as I am not seeing how this is "foolish". Remember, you could use this for a tablet or portable hotspot as well, and good luck finding a tablet/hotspot plan for this price. (Just checked, T-Mobile wants $80/mo for 10gb... and a contract!) Some people need more data than others, and for those that do, there is nothing that even comes close. I'm not in that boat, but if someone needs 10gb why should I have a problem with it? Just the opposite in fact, as there is going to be a need for even more data use for everyone in the very near future, and I hope the carriers see that people are willing to pay for it as long as it remains reasonable. Unless technology decides to stop progressing, that is. (whats that old quote? something like "640kb of RAM ought to be enough for anybody."?)

I don't think anyone is trying to put you down, but between these 2 threads we have gone hundreds of pages without bickering, and I think most of us would appreciate if we could maintain the discussion without the negativity. I'm sure you do have a lot of helpful information, but please don't assume you are correct just because a trainer told you so. Run a quick search or go back a few pages and you'll see that no one is really in the habit of responding to posts with incorrect information. Thanks!

Question: Do the T-Mobile reps still hand out Starbucks gift cards like candy? I swear it seems like I didn't pay for coffee for almost the entire 3 years. :p



Back on topic: I'm switching off of the $30 plan next week and moving to Net10 (AT&T network) for the month. I make the choice to move to a Tracphone company (actually America Movil) after reading about it and deciding that I can deal with perhaps poor customer service and slightly lower data speeds that may get throttled if I go over an arbitrary limit. I'm tired of subconsciously trying to keep my calls short, and AT&T does get better coverage out here. I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep under their data limit, but if it becomes an issue I'll probably try Simple Mobile next. (Only time I have coverage issues are when I'm camping, and that's not such a bad thing.) I have had absolutely no issues with TMO prepaid over the past 4 months, and this included number porting as well as transferring the account from one SIM card to another (lost my phone about a month into service, called in to give them a new SIM card #, back up and running immediately). Their customer service was very professional both times I spoke to them, and I would highly recommend this plan to anyone who does not use very many minutes (or is able to find a VOIP solution that works well for them). Hell, I might even be back when they change up their plans or if the other carriers don't work out for me. That's why we love Prepaid GSM! :D

edited for clarity....
 
Last edited:

iceshark

Senior Member
Apr 4, 2010
502
50
Seattle Washington
I'm not trying to feed into this, but iceshark, I suggest you also read through the following thread if you have not already. (My apologies as my earlier post was meant to reference this in regards to the OP.. forgot which prepaid thread I was on)
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1455014

It goes back to about January and has many many reports of users on all different prepaid GSM carriers. You will see a range of reports from "I got kicked off after using 50mb of data in a day" to "AT&T STRAIGHT TALK RULEZ!". Some of us have read through hundreds of reports about prepaid. Hell, I have a Google Alert set up for new articles about prepaid, and most of the articles are nowhere near the level of collective knowledge you will find here. Posters like martonikaj have answered questions like "Can I renew my plan after 2 weeks if I run out of data?" dozens of times, and for the most part we are not talking out of our asses. "Straight Talk sucks in WA" is not very useful, and doesn't even get into the issue of which Straight Talk network is the one that sucks (TMO? AT&T? Verizon?). If you have experiences with Straight Talk on all 3 of their networks and can let us know why they are bad, I would like to hear about that (although the Verizon network doesn't pertain here, obviously).

I sold cell phones for about 3 years. I sold AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile. I can say that I felt the overall training was poor for all 4 companies, and that I learned more from these forums (and HoFo). Most of the good training I received was sales oriented rather than technology. Much of the training could be learned simply by reading the customer brochures. I had several training reps provide what turned out to be false information after researching online. Considering the way they treat prepaid sales, I would be even more hesitant to trust anything they told me in that regard. As you see with the ability to renew this plan mid-month by anyone who calls to request it, just because someone has a T-Mobile (or AT&T, or Verizon, or....) shirt on does not mean someone else is wrong.

(Note: I did have a few very knowledgeable reps, and they too turned to the internet rather than their company for a lot of their info.)

If you can show us another way to get 10gb of data, 200 mins, and unlimited messaging for $60 a month (and no contract), please do share, as I am not seeing how this is "foolish". Remember, you could use this for a tablet or portable hotspot as well, and good luck finding a tablet/hotspot plan for this price. (Just checked, T-Mobile wants $80/mo for 10gb... and a contract!) Some people need more data than others, and for those that do, there is nothing that even comes close. I'm not in that boat, but if someone needs 10gb why should I have a problem with it? Just the opposite in fact, as there is going to be a need for even more data use for everyone in the very near future, and I hope the carriers see that people are willing to pay for it as long as it remains reasonable. Unless technology decides to stop progressing, that is. (whats that old quote? something like "640kb of RAM ought to be enough for anybody."?)

I don't think anyone is trying to put you down, but between these 2 threads we have gone hundreds of pages without bickering, and I think most of us would appreciate if we could maintain the discussion without the negativity. I'm sure you do have a lot of helpful information, but please don't assume you are correct just because a trainer told you so. Run a quick search or go back a few pages and you'll see that no one is really in the habit of responding to posts with incorrect information. Thanks!

Question: Do the T-Mobile reps still hand out Starbucks gift cards like candy? I swear it seems like I didn't pay for coffee for almost the entire 3 years. :p



Back on topic: I'm switching off of the $30 plan next week and moving to Net10 (AT&T network) for the month. I make the choice to move to a Tracphone company (actually America Movil) after reading about it and deciding that I can deal with perhaps poor customer service and slightly lower data speeds that may get throttled if I go over an arbitrary limit. I'm tired of subconsciously trying to keep my calls short, and AT&T does get better coverage out here. I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep under their data limit, but if it becomes an issue I'll probably try Simple Mobile next. (Only time I have coverage issues are when I'm camping, and that's not such a bad thing.) I have had absolutely no issues with TMO prepaid over the past 4 months, and this included number porting as well as transferring the account from one SIM card to another (lost my phone about a month into service, called in to give them a new SIM card #, back up and running immediately). Their customer service was very professional both times I spoke to them, and I would highly recommend this plan to anyone who does not use very many minutes (or is able to find a VOIP solution that works well for them). Hell, I might even be back when they change up their plans or if the other carriers don't work out for me. That's why we love Prepaid GSM! :D

edited for clarity....

First off thank you for the honest and fair reply. I am not a hot head as Mr. Bellingham who needs an enema might suggest.. I will just put him on ignore for now until he pulls his head out (IMO).

As for you, I appreciate your candor and reply.. Just an FYI, I as a Corp 10 year DM and TRAINER for Tmobile in Bellevue WA corp office know the rules backwards and forwards and know the plans. From our days of Family Favs , To Ever More fiasco and to the new shared and prepaid (both pay as you go and monthly) are versed in every aspect. Also as a trainer and DM for Tmobile I ran over 20 stores with over 1000 Csr's and managers. I know the game and know it well. We have to stay up on competion and know the others. TracPhone has the most subscribers based on its reach to those who are unemployed, bad credit and or the "Name Value". Trac phone uses the last tiers on the towers as well as smart talk and others and are last choice to be allowed on for service. This is usually not an issue but can be! In fact they are not even allowed on our towers if the capacity of contract customers are reached or limits set... When it works it works great. But you are not a top tier customer like a contract customer. That is fact! Some areas of the USA are terrible. Some the use of prepaid is seemless.

Tmobile has in my eye's the BEST prepaid monthly plans out there. Only walmarts plan (on Tmobile) is similiar to the dollar but still if you look at it closely the Tmobile plan is better. However I am not trying to bring customers to Tmobile. Just giving them the facts as I know them. Not saying I am perfect as you the user of prepaid seem to know the shortcuts and if that works for you great!

Sprints prepaid or should I say Boost and Virgin are based on Sprints towers. Until recently Boost used the old Nextal towers. Both Boost and virgin are pathetic yet have the by far best rates going for customers. Its only there 3g EVO and is awful. Never would advise a customer to use them. Verizon we have some very fair plans for prepaid. however we too do not give prepaid full use of all towers and you are put on low priority. Not a problem here in PNW but is in other areas. Price is good however you have harder time buying phones. Of course it is becoming harder at Tmobile as they are now starting to be more aggresive at blacklisting IMEI and lots of people are buying dead phones on Ebay and Craigslist.(but thats for another post)

So If I offended you and your choice of data plan or prepaid I am sorry. However 200 minutes to most is awful. I would push the unlimited with 5g for the 70 bucks as the best Prepaid monthly plan for service and price going. Plus you can not put insurance on your Tmobile prepaid phone and soon the prepaid folks will be able to purchase NEW androids for about half of what they have to pay now. That is rolling out soon!

Your a good person for sticking up for your thread and people. I am not an enemy and am friends to many here! I just will not stand by while Mr. Bellingham trys to be mr know it all. (he does know alot by reading his posts, but does not know everything) trys to push his wieght around. I am not the kind of person that will stand by and take it. So I will do the bigger thing and just ignore him.

Have a great day!
Off to sell some VERIZON SHARED PLANS!
 

codesplice

Senior Member
Jun 17, 2008
2,678
951
Huntsville, AL, USA
First off thank you for the honest and fair reply. I am not a hot head as Mr. Bellingham who needs an enema might suggest.. I will just put him on ignore for now until he pulls his head out (IMO).

I'm not a hothead, but here let me trash talk one of the leading contributors to prepaid discussion on XDA... Right, dude. Sorry, I'm not convinced - and honestly disappointed that a carrier representative feels the need to come on here and talk trash rather than contribute politely to the conversation.

Tmobile has in my eye's the BEST prepaid monthly plans out there. Only walmarts plan (on Tmobile) is similiar to the dollar but still if you look at it closely the Tmobile plan is better. However I am not trying to bring customers to Tmobile. Just giving them the facts as I know them. Not saying I am perfect as you the user of prepaid seem to know the shortcuts and if that works for you great!

Which Walmart plan is that - the $30 plan which is the subject of this entire thread, and that I purchased directly through T-Mobile? The other "Walmart plans" I know of are Straight Talk / Simple Mobile - which are viable options if you don't feel like paying for 5GB of data on T-Mobile's $70 plan but still need unlimited minutes.

However 200 minutes to most is awful. I would push the unlimited with 5g for the 70 bucks as the best Prepaid monthly plan for service and price going.

It obviously depends on the user and their needs; this thread is (based on the title) about the $30 5GB data plan, which is perfect for people (like me) who need more data than minutes or are able to make VoIP solutions work to make up the difference. If you need more minutes, $.10 per isn't too bad and you can use up to 500 minutes total before you would be better served by the $70 plan. And, as previously mentioned, you can always pay another $30 to restart your cycle early if you run out of data..

Plus you can not put insurance on your Tmobile prepaid phone

Yes, you can. There are plenty of folks around the board who have done just that.

Your a good person for sticking up for your thread and people. I am not an enemy and am friends to many here! I just will not stand by while Mr. Bellingham trys to be mr know it all. (he does know alot by reading his posts, but does not know everything) trys to push his wieght around. I am not the kind of person that will stand by and take it. So I will do the bigger thing and just ignore him.

I guess you should add me to your ignore list too. My initial response to you was not intended to be antagonistic at all, but it seems to have set you off anyway (All I picture in my mind is Tom Smykowski screaming "I have people skills! I am good at dealing with people! Can't you understand that? What the hell is wrong with you people?"). I'm glad to see folks contributing and trying to provide good information about prepaid, but much of what you have contributed from the company perspective is the complete opposite of what we (as prepaid users and enthusiasts) have experienced. You don't win simply because you have an employee badge; it doesn't automatically indicate that you know everything. In fact, many would argue that it usually indicates just the opposite.

And, for the record, the "bigger thing" is not first talking trash and then ignoring him (and now me, I suppose). The bigger thing would have been to contribute to this thread in a polite and constructive manner rather than jumping in just to show how much more you know.
 
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    D
    Deleted member 2842059
    For what it's worth I just met with our Rep. Everything is as I posted a couple back. All signage, end caps and promo material are correct and will continue to be correct for the future. I take it as is. Hope that helps.
    3
    Hi!

    Follow up to my earlier post, seeing some folks having trouble signing up ...

    There are so many different combinations of phones, sim cards, plans, and Tmo csrs, it appears it can be confusing. :)

    As mentioned earlier, I signed up with an activation card from BestBuy, and signed up on line. I had NOTHING to do with Walmart. I like walmart, best buy was closer. :)

    I did NOT need to buy a $30 refill card, I in fact started my account with a $50 prepaid card. I DID need to sign up on Tmo, but, as long as I was starting a new $30 a month plan, they didn't care I filled up the first time with $50.

    I did have one issue, that may help folks out.

    I signed up online, went all the way to the end. I didn't want to use my credit card, and I couldn't get the web site to take my prepaid card .......

    /facepalm

    SO, there are some T-Mobile prepaid cards, that mostly just say T-Mobile, THAT ARE NOT COMPATIBLE with the sign up webiste. I'm not sure if they're a new vendor (lots of vendors sell refill cards for many of the pay per month services).

    SO, I simply called tmo, they explained it to me, took the number from the back of the card, my account got credited, and I was all set.


    GL!

    ---------- Post added at 09:31 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:56 AM ----------

    Update on impressions:

    I've now had the plan a few weeks. Just in those few weeks, I've been in Chicago, Boston, Newark, southern NJ, and a number of places in IL. I have an HTC sensation (those can only use the 21 mpbs I think) that I picked up very cheap on craigslist. For reference, I also have a VERIZON (ya, I know, boo :) ) Galaxy nexus. Not used much, but available, I also have an ATT iphone 3gs.

    1) voice service - at least everywhere I've been, T-Mobile and verizon have the "most" coverage, sometimes ATT was hard to get. Sometimes Tmo had 4g where verizon didn't, sometimes verizon had when Tmo didn't. All 3 where pretty close where I went.

    2) verizon data is way faster, regularly get 25 MBS on verizon, MOST often I'm at 2.5 mbs data on tmo when it says 4g. Highest on tmo has been 6mbs at 4am in O'hare airport and Monomouth Mall in NJ. (I speedtest.net often :) . My home DSL is 6mbs, so, verizon a LOT faster, tmobile about half my home DSL, tmo is plenty fast enough for WOW and Diablo 3 hotspoted on my notebook. (I travel a LOT, gota have games on the road :) )

    3) 100 minutes .... is REALLY NOT a lot. I'm single, so no family to call every night on the road, and I pretty regularly use 250 minutes + - a month of voice, checking voicemails, calling mom once a week (30+ minutes right there ... you KNOW you need to call your mom more often ..... ) YES, I have the verizon + att phones so if needed could fall back to them, but, I'm trying to make Tmo 100 minutes work .....

    4) I have used talkatone + google voice to help get over the minutes hump. For me, it works perfectly fine, I get no complaints from mom or others when I'm on a dedicated wifi connection (hotel wifi seems to work fine). Talkatone does not have as good a voice quality over the TMO 4g data connection (about 2.5 mbs on average, but, in evenings very often about 1.5 mbs), and sometimes 2 second or so lag. Interestingly, talkatone is fine on the verizon lte 4g services hotspot service on my tmo phone, so, I'm guessing this is a speed issue, not sure if another VOIP besides talkatone would work better on a 1.5 mbs connection.

    5) SIDE NOTE on hotels .... /shrug, I often find hotel internet works fine with talkatone + tmo phone, but, does NOT work fine (terrible lag) for my games (wow, D3). Given the games need less overall bandwidth, I'm just guessing the hotels are running some type of QoS thing that prioritizes games (and youtube HD it seems) low.

    6) 100 minutes IS PERFECTLY FINE, for me, ymmv, for calls "on the run", and then I use the non tmo wifi connections + talkatone when I know I need to make longer calls, e.g. mom, etc..

    7) I HAVE been paying for the $15 pay as you go hotspot. I recently found out that apparently you need it for most phones, but NOT the HTC sensation. HTC sensation had "free" hotspot until the ICS upgrade. /shrug, who knew? :) As mentioned the hotspot works fine for most that I do, but tmo data DOES significantly bog down during high use times.

    8) Is 5gb high speed data enough? Well, mostly for me :). I game. 5gb is PLENTY for a few hours of wow or D3 EVERY NIGHT, and a couple more hours of web surfing forums, news, etc.. 5gb doesn't get you very many HD 1080P movie downloads though. Diablo 3 came out this last month ... 7GB download all at one time .......... SO, for MOST stuff I do, normal usage, 5gb is fine. I either wait till I'm at my home DSL connection, or, somewhere with a "free wifi" to download one time "big" stuff. E.g., I set up the D3 to download overnight on the hotel free wifi service, downloaded a Walking Dead TV HD episode at a restaurant ...




    SO overall, I'm very pleased with this deal, I spend $45 a month, get internet on my laptop, and the tmo gives me normal usage regular access to everything I want.

    I DO need to augment this plan with wifi for "big" downloads, and for "longer" voice calls, I use non tmo wifi + talkatone + google voice for these longer calls, as the Tmo 4g data + talkatone sounds "tinny" but, does work in a pinch.

    This really is a great deal, hope you all enjoy it!
    2
    So it is great. Should I go to wall mart for this? And will I have to buy a new phone for this? Can you give which way is best for my situation?
    Can someone write a brief summary. I will list my situation again.

    1. I'm a t-mobile individual plan user - $30
    2. I have Galaxy Nexus GSM from Expansys
    3. I don't want to change my number but I want to take the advantage of this plan.

    I think I will start by buying this one http://www.walmart.com/ip/Tmobile-30-Wireless-Airtime-Card/15443357

    If you can clear it up I will appreciate that.

    I PM'd you. That card isn't necessary. You can refill with a debit/credit card online just fine.

    What you will do depends on your current plan. If its prepaid, you might be able to get them to switch you to the other prepaid plan. If you're postpaid, same deal. But it could be harder. Its really dependent on the CS rep you get and how knowledgeable they are of the plans.

    The most fool-proof way to do it is just buy a Walmart phone or SIM activation kit and start the plan, then cancel your current one to "free up" the number, then port it to your new plan.
    2
    That was a while ago. I've been getting for a month or more now. 25 Mbps :D I have a T-Mobile Note 2 now, actually. And it does have LTE. If you don't care about wireless charging, it's better than the AT&T version because it does AT&T and T-Mobile LTE and HSPA+. You can mod the AT&T version to enable AWS for HSPA+ if you want to use it in a non-refarmed T-Mobile area.
    2
    thanks for the suggestion, i'll try it. just curious, what is the benefit of using epc until you nearly reach your cap before switching to the voicestream one?

    Lol. My friend is a manager at T-Mobile so i just follow her directions. She has been pretty good with helping me out in these "grey" areas. I always wondered it myself but it might actually not make any difference. I can't say for sure though. Sorry.

    I can tell you that i have been using and following those directions since the G2x came out though so it is pretty solid.

    Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium