I am thinking of getting a smart phone. I don’t really use the phone itself, I can get by with under 10-20 texts a month and probably less than 100 talk minutes. But I’d want unlimited data since I like to search online and stream video, I think I’d go through 2GB a month pretty fast, I think netflix streaming on 480p quality is about 1GB an hour.
I’ve heard Tmobile has a $30 unlimited data plan. Any experience with them?
What about joining a family plan (my brother is on a plan, maybe I can join that). Like I said, I don’t need many talk or text minutes, I just want data.
I’ve used Metro PCS for one year. Unlimited everything (text, minutes, GPS, browsing, data), 4G Android, $35 per month.
It’s actually a bit cheaper than that because I have two employees on my plan and get $5.00 off for each additional line. Three smart phones, with unlimited data, on my plan costs $108.50 per month.
Cons: Have to pay full price for phones. And the coverage can be a bit spotty at times.
Pros: Everything else, plus the cost.
I’m doing the Virgin Mobile $30 unlimited deal. I’m not a fan of VM and paying full price for my iPhone, but I am saving a lot of money by not doing the 2-year contract thing.
Cricket wireless claims to have unlimited data for $25/month (I think they throttle at 2.3GB). Plus you get text and 300 talk minutes (like I said I don’t use a lot of talk).
I’m trying to figure out what the catch is on some of these plans that offer unlimited data for $25-35 month when so many others are charging $60/month.
Metro PCS starts at $40/month when I check the website, and they start throttling the data at 250MB. Virgin mobile is $35 and throttles at 2.5GB.
I am wanting unlimited data because I like to watch movies on netflix and think I’d go through 2GB a month. Netflix on the lowest level of quality is about 0.3GB per hour. So that is about 7 hours of viewing per month.
However even if Cricket or Virgin mobile throttle, as long as I can still get the 0.3GBph speeds I’d need to watch netflix I’d be ok with it. That works out to 0.67Mbps to stream at those speeds, I’m hoping the throttled speed is still up to that.
That’s why I’m with them. Quality of the network is lower and coverage may be an issue when I travel, but I’m paying $30/mo (with the auto-pay) and saw nothing that could beat it.
ETA: I’m not a heavy data user, so I can’t say that I’ve experienced any throttling. Yet.
I’ve got the Tmobile $30 unlimited* 4g data plan that comes with unlimited texts and 100 voice minutes (only .10 a minute if you go over) a month.
“Unlimited” means no limit to the *amount *of data (you are never charged any extra for going over), but after the quite ample 5gigs a month, they throttle you down from being able to use the full 4g speeds. (Though, there are workarounds possible on at least some phones.)
I highly recommend Tmobile in general, and this plan in particular, if you don’t use a lot of voice minutes but want to be able to use data liberally without paying an arm and a leg. The other thing to look forward to is that Tmobile and MetroPCS have merged, so if you are in an area where Metro has a presence, you can expect near-future bandwidth improvements (and LTE) to Tmobile’s already pretty awesome (IME) level of reception and speeds. (MetroPCS users can expect even more drastic future improvements from the deal, since quite frankly, their network previously sucked!)
As for what phone to get, if you don’t want to hunt for used bargains and want to get new at a reasonable price, I highly recommend Google’s Nexus4. (Go for the slightly more expensive model with more memory, since memory isn’t upgradeable later, which is the only real con to its many pro’s… WTF Google, that’s Apple territory!)
If you need truly unlimited data the best deal in the US is Sprint’s current employee referral plan. You will need an employee email and ID, but russ.s.mcguire@sprint.com and 383 currently work. You will pay significantly more for truly unlimited data than you would with a prepaid plan.
The other downside is that although Sprint has decent coverage areas they don’t have the fastest network in the States. They are, however, currently rolling out LTE at a decent rate. Check the Sprint 4G Rollout Update site to see whether your area is currently being upgraded or scheduled to be upgraded in the near future.
Personally, I’d choose voltaire’s plan to order a Nexus4 from Google to use on T-Mobile’s fairly generous plan and try to stay under the data cap, but Sprint is an option.
I’ve been with Virgin Mobile for I think over 10 years and have been extremely happy with them. I’m only paying $25 a month but I think maybe that’s the rate when I first signed up and I’m grandfathered in or something.
I read virgin mobile offers a $5/month discount if you set up autopay. Do any of you subscribers know if that is the case? If so, that would cut it down to $30/month for me.
I agree with voltaire on T-Mobile. I got my daughter the unlimited data/text plan for $30 a month on the 4G (as a service added to my family 1000 minutes talk plan). She being 20, you can imagine the amount of data and texts she can go through, and she’s never complained about slowdowns. She is currently using the Galaxy Blaze, but that is (I believe) an older model, and she loves it.
As a bonus, I think T-Mobile’s Customer Service is top notch - I’ve never had an issue with them, they were always on top of what I needed, fixed the couple issues I had quickly and easily, and had to replace a phone once - shipped out to me overnight with barely any fuss (had to return bad phone of course).
Where is the T Mobile unlimited plan? I am getting quoted about $70 via them for a data plan. I can’t find anything on their website, but I did find this at walmart.com
Looking at it, I don’t think it is throttled until 5GB (vs 2.5GB for virgin mobile), which should be enough for when I want to watch netflix movies on my phone.
Are there any other fees? Is the $30 plan with 100 minutes and data a stand alone plan where all you do is provide the phone, or is this a perk you have to add this onto an existing T mobile plan? Because I would want the $30/month one as a stand alone plan and have that be my only bill.
Tmobile maintains their contract and prepaid on different, segregated websites. This is important since when you go to order a SIM card, you MUST get the prepaid SIM if you want the aforementioned $30 plan.
And yeah, there are no other charges for the $30 plan besides sales tax and .10 a minute if you go over the 100 minutes. You can even dodge the sales tax (and get an additional small discount) if you buy refills through callingmart.com, but I just do the autopay for the convenience factor.
ETA: And yeah, I think it actually has to be a standalone, new plan. From what I’ve heard, they don’t like cannibalizing their own customers with this $30 plan, so they try to prevent existing customers from switching to it. And I think that if you get it, then switch to a different plan, they make it hard/impossible for you to switch back, at least with that same phone number.
PS: If you get the Google Nexus4 phone I recommended, you’ll need the **Micro **SIM card from the above link. If you get a different phone, you’ll need to figure out which type of SIM it takes. A lot of newer models are coming with the micro variety these days - most older phones use regular SIMs. Though, if you get a regular SIM, you can always cut it and convert it into a micro.
