Appleinfo: Re: [apple-iphone] Advice on Switching Carriers [T-Mobile]

Hi,

I switched from AT&T to T-mobile last December. Not because I had bad service, I had great service, but because I wanted the ability to tether (hotspot) my phone to another device without having to pay another $20 or $50 a month and loose my unlimited data plan. I am very sorry I switched. We travel a lot on the interstate I-95, I-4 and I-75 (have not been on I-10) and the service along the interstate is very spotty. There are many places on the interstate that I have no service. Before switching I looked at their coverage map and it said I would have excellent LTE service at my house, along my route to work and other places that I frequently spend any length of time. It even showed excellent LTE service traveling from central Florida to Gainesville along the interstate (we travel this route once per month). This is not the case. My house is 1/4 of a mile from the nearest tower and I only get 1 bar of 4G or LTE it fluctuates. I was dropping calls so they sent me a cell-fi to boost my signal, now I get 2 bars of 4G (the cell-fi is only 4G enabled).

I can't tell you how many times I have picked up my phone and said well I'm only on E so I can't check. That never happened with AT&T.

As soon as my local AT&T store gets the iPhone 6 models we want in stock we are switching back to AT&T. They now have the ability to tether for no additional charge on their Mobile Share plans. I will take the loss on my two iPhone 5s because I still owe $350 on each.

As far as T-Mobile as a company and their support. Whenever I called in a trouble ticket with AT&T that person would either help me or transfer me to someone who could. The problem was usually resolved that day or within a day. With T-mobile I have called in approximately 5 trouble tickets. Each time the person took a ticket and said the problem would be fixed in 4 business days, I was not transferred to a technician. In most cases I had to call back to find out when the problem would be fixed. That's unacceptable! One time when I called in to check the status of a ticket after the 4 days had gone by and the problem still wasn't fixed I was told it would take longer because it was over a holiday weekend. Ok, I called in the ticket the Wednesday before Easter. Easter is on a Sunday and yes it is possible that their employees have Good Friday off. I work for a Telecommunications company not everyone works on Good Friday but there is enough technicians to work issues. 10 days later after numerous calls to check on status I finally got someone to tell me they had checked everything and it was my phone that was causing the problem and I needed to have Apple replace it. I did, it wasn't the phone, got a new SIM card and that resolved the problem. Again, this is unacceptable.

I can't explain what they mean by their network unless they are referring to not roaming.

This is my opinion, others might have a better experience with T-Mobile.

On Saturday, November 15, 2014, daldridge78@yahoo.com [apple-iphone] <apple-iphone@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

We have finally had it with AT&T and are contemplating moving over to T-Mobile. Is there anything we should watch out for when choosing a plan or making the decision to switch?

We are in Houston and travel across the south to southern California from time to time, so we are slightly concerned about the coverage there along I-10 across the southwest. Anyone have experience with this?

Also, they talk about being on "their network" versus 4G/LTE, in that when on "their network" your data use is not counted against your monthly total. Of course we will ask them about this, but it seems like a topic perfect for the double-talk we are so accustomed to from AT&T. Can anyone here give me a simple explanation?

I've searched the messages here and haven't really seen anyone express an opinion about T-Mobile. I know it really depends on where you live, but as a company, do you love them or hate them?

Thanks in advance!