Very helpful article. We all like to complain about Apple's product pricing, but at least with Apple it's very clear what you are paying and there is a finite limit on your out of pocket expenditures. These service providers are in an entirely different universe. You pay, then you pay some more, and pay some more, and the paying never ends and the expenses just keep going up with added fees and special deals that get sloughed off once you're "locked in" and they aren't courting you as a new customer anymore. For folks with fewer than 4 lines the savings are nothing, zero, zilch, you're paying full price for everything and amortizing nothing.
Hey, at least if you are buying an iPhone and strapping it to one of these blood sucking leeches you still have an awesome device that you love and enjoy owning. This provides some consolation when all the other cards are stacked against you and your wallet is hemorrhaging cash. But yeah, in the grand scheme of life, it's all a bit crazy, but this is what keeps capitalism in the 21st century rolling along.
I have 8 lines on a no longer offered Unlimited Plus Family Plan and plan on getting some iPhone 12 Pro Maxes next month, but my problem is that I have 3 actually unlimited hotspots on my plan. If I fiddle with my account the online tool forces me to change the hotspot plans and the only offer is 15GB/mo with $10/2GB overages... We live in the sticks with no actual broadband, so 250-500GB a month on each line is not unusual.
Anyone AT&T savvy and know if I can peel off the lines I want to get 5G phones for and leave the rest on the old plan?
T-Mobile’s Magenta Military is a no-brainer for anyone who qualifies for it. We have 3 lines of Magenta Plus-equivalent perks for $90, taxes and fees included. And any line we add after that is $10 each.
Not that most people can take advantage of it right now, but T-Mobile also has free international roaming in many countries. This was one of the biggest improvements for me after finally ditching AT&T a few years back. Got in for $60/mo all paid with the extra in flight pass and HD streaming addon, think that rate is for life.
I prepay mint $300 then never think about it again for another year. Cant justify another $900 for mobile service and a $1000 for a 5g phone on top of the $800 i pay per year for Wifi for my Mac, iPad and work PC. No thanks. It all adds up very very quickly.
Interesting that my T-Mobil plan for old farts (55 & over) does not include 5G. To get 5G I'd have to switch to a standard plan at a substantial increase: 2 lines on my old farts plan costs $55 a month but the regular "essential" plan that includes 5G would cost $90 - almost 2/3's more!
But, to be fair, the 55 plan was always cheaper so not all of that could be tied directly to 5G. But for me, it would still be a substantial increase.
I would think T-mobile would allow 5G on the 55 and over plan since they rolled it out first on the sub frequency that should improve coverage in rural areas. If not for the speed, at least make sure the 55+ plus plan has good service coverage with 5G for these people to have service and make calls when needed. After all they agreed to increase rural area coverage as part fo the sprint merger. I guess I will find out if the coverage with sub 5G is better sometime today since I am in that rural area.
All, Mint Mobile uses the T-Mobile network, so check out their options or other MVNOs to save $!
This article is myopic because it doesn’t integrate cost options from MVNOs like Comcast‘s Xfinity mobile! Their unlimited is sub $48/mo waxes/fees out the door...
This article sets out to do exactly what it has done. While we keep an eye on them, we don't generally include MVNO options in pieces like this, because they change by the minute, can change geographically, and often have different carrier prioritizations for traffic than the parent network. We also (intentionally) didn't integrate bundles from the carrier, like Verizon FiOS and Verizon wireless.
For instance, while we did find your $47.75 offer in one geographic region, the same Comcast Xfinity mobile unlimited is $64 a month and $71 a month in two other regions that we spot-checked earlier today.
And there is Mint Mobile using the TMobile network at $30/mo. unlimited...
Will these 5G plans eventually supplant 4G plans, or will 4G plans continue to exist and be cheaper?
It's not so much the plan that will go away but the protocol. A few months back carriers began purging 3G which was about 10 years old from their networks. Those with 3G phones (likely flip phones) had to upgrade.
Will these 5G plans eventually supplant 4G plans, or will 4G plans continue to exist and be cheaper?
It's not so much the plan that will go away but the protocol. A few months back carriers began purging 3G which was about 10 years old from their networks. Those with 3G phones (likely flip phones) had to upgrade.
I'm sure it will be many years before 4G-only phones are rendered obsolete, so in the meantime my question remains valid... will existing 4G plans continue to exist and be cheaper?
Will these 5G plans eventually supplant 4G plans, or will 4G plans continue to exist and be cheaper?
It's not so much the plan that will go away but the protocol. A few months back carriers began purging 3G which was about 10 years old from their networks. Those with 3G phones (likely flip phones) had to upgrade.
I'm sure it will be many years before 4G-only phones are rendered obsolete, so in the meantime my question remains valid... will existing 4G plans continue to exist and be cheaper?
Yeh, I would think so. Look how long 3G hung around and eventually (after several years) got cheaper and cheaper (especially from resellers like Consumer -- since it was mostly only used by flip phones. But, as things become more dependent on 5G then 4G phones will become more limited -- just like 3G phones did.
Since I have an iPhone 12 Pro coming this afternoon, I decided to check on T-Mobile's 5G in my town (I don't really care if it is available but it's interesting.)
Wow, is the coverage weird. There are many tiny areas that claim 5G with either a weak or strong signal. There seems to be no particular reason why one of these small areas gets 5G and the surrounding areas don't. Some relatively small towns seem to get good 5G coverage while other much larger areas are missing. This could be because the location is on a major highway but not all larger towns on the same highway get 5G.
Obviously this will get better through 2021-2022 but it seems almost completely random at the moment.
With the Sprint merger I expect T-Mobile’s service is in even more a state of flux than other carriers.
Not that most people can take advantage of it right now, but T-Mobile also has free international roaming in many countries. This was one of the biggest improvements for me after finally ditching AT&T a few years back. Got in for $60/mo all paid with the extra in flight pass and HD streaming addon, think that rate is for life.
Yes - compared with $10 per line per day on Verizon and ??? On AT&T. If you travel internationally t mobile has a huge advantage.
The other thing I like about T-Mobile is that they are consistently more clear and upfront about their plans and pricing. You need a graduate degree in cryptography to understand Verizon or AT&T’s plans, and good luck actually finding the information on their web pages.
So I received my iPhone 12 Pro yesterday and today I drove around until I found a strong T-Mobile 5G signal. I wanted to test if 5G was much faster than LTE.
Short answer: not much faster. This was on a likely low-band 5G tower. I don’t know if T-Mobile has any mid-band 5G anywhere near me. I tried all three modes on the cellular options: 5G auto, 5G on and LTE. I got the same results for all 3; about 60 Mbps down and about 14 Mbps up. LTE was about 59 Mbps.
I might go looking for a mid-band tower sometime. If anywhere it would likely be near a highway because that is where Sprint coverage was best.
I would say 5G isn’t a particularly important reason to get an iPhone 12 on T-Mobile right now for most people.
So I received my iPhone 12 Pro yesterday and today I drove around until I found a strong T-Mobile 5G signal. I wanted to test if 5G was much faster than LTE.
Short answer: not much faster. This was on a likely low-band 5G tower. I don’t know if T-Mobile has any mid-band 5G anywhere near me. I tried all three modes on the cellular options: 5G auto, 5G on and LTE. I got the same results for all 3; about 60 Mbps down and about 14 Mbps up. LTE was about 59 Mbps.
I might go looking for a mid-band tower sometime. If anywhere it would likely be near a highway because that is where Sprint coverage was best.
I would say 5G isn’t a particularly important reason to get an iPhone 12 on T-Mobile right now for most people.
Out of curiosity, where do you live? That matches the reports I’ve seen comparing 5G speeds - perhaps a nominal increase in speed. Did you test latency? Also, have you noticed any difference in connectivity/signal strength between 4G and 5G?
Edit: regarding price differences and how long 4G will be available, my daughter is on Verizon and they currently charge an extra $10 per month for 5G access. Given Verizon’s horrible 5G coverage that’s excessive. I would expect it to be like 4G was; an extra charge for the next year or two until it becomes the standard.
3G service was available for roughly 20 years. The technology still works fine but it got to the point that there weren’t enough devices using it so the carriers sunsetted 3G coverage so they could use the spectrum for 5G and other services.
So I received my iPhone 12 Pro yesterday and today I drove around until I found a strong T-Mobile 5G signal. I wanted to test if 5G was much faster than LTE.
Short answer: not much faster. This was on a likely low-band 5G tower. I don’t know if T-Mobile has any mid-band 5G anywhere near me. I tried all three modes on the cellular options: 5G auto, 5G on and LTE. I got the same results for all 3; about 60 Mbps down and about 14 Mbps up. LTE was about 59 Mbps.
I might go looking for a mid-band tower sometime. If anywhere it would likely be near a highway because that is where Sprint coverage was best.
I would say 5G isn’t a particularly important reason to get an iPhone 12 on T-Mobile right now for most people.
Out of curiosity, where do you live? That matches the reports I’ve seen comparing 5G speeds - perhaps a nominal increase in speed. Did you test latency? Also, have you noticed any difference in connectivity/signal strength between 4G and 5G?
I live 25 miles west of Boston—known around here as Metrowest.
The pings were about the same at around 24 ms. Most places around were I live have good coverage on T-Mobile. I never saw less than 2 bars for both LTE and 5G.
One interesting thing is that I tested my LTE speed once I got home and found out that it is much faster than the 5G in the neighboring town. From inside my house I got 108 Mbps down and 28 Mbps up. So there isn’t much point in getting 5G on T-Mobile until the mid-band towers are available.
Since I have an iPhone 12 Pro coming this afternoon, I decided to check on T-Mobile's 5G in my town (I don't really care if it is available but it's interesting.)
Wow, is the coverage weird. There are many tiny areas that claim 5G with either a weak or strong signal. There seems to be no particular reason why one of these small areas gets 5G and the surrounding areas don't. Some relatively small towns seem to get good 5G coverage while other much larger areas are missing. This could be because the location is on a major highway but not all larger towns on the same highway get 5G.
Obviously this will get better through 2021-2022 but it seems almost completely random at the moment.
With the Sprint merger I expect T-Mobile’s service is in even more a state of flux than other carriers.
Not that most people can take advantage of it right now, but T-Mobile also has free international roaming in many countries. This was one of the biggest improvements for me after finally ditching AT&T a few years back. Got in for $60/mo all paid with the extra in flight pass and HD streaming addon, think that rate is for life.
Yes - compared with $10 per line per day on Verizon and ??? On AT&T. If you travel internationally t mobile has a huge advantage.
The other thing I like about T-Mobile is that they are consistently more clear and upfront about their plans and pricing. You need a graduate degree in cryptography to understand Verizon or AT&T’s plans, and good luck actually finding the information on their web pages.
Thanks for the info.
And, I'll second that about T-Mobile's clear pricing policies. They try to make things simple. AT&T & Verizon seem to take the opposite approach -- and my suspicin has always been they do that in order to squeeze a few more dollars out of you.
I would love to see an article that compares actual plan costs, because otherwise it’s impossible to determine relative value. When I was on AT&T (and Verizon before that), I remember that I ended up paying significantly more than the advertised plan price, but with T-Mobile I pay exactly the amount they told me and not a penny more. I know the article here refers to that disparity, but knowing that the actual prices for some carriers may be $10+ more than the advertised price makes any mention of price essentially meaningless when comparing plans across multiple carriers. It may vary from state to state, but an average markup or a representative example would really help.
So I received my iPhone 12 Pro yesterday and today I drove around until I found a strong T-Mobile 5G signal. I wanted to test if 5G was much faster than LTE.
Short answer: not much faster. This was on a likely low-band 5G tower. I don’t know if T-Mobile has any mid-band 5G anywhere near me. I tried all three modes on the cellular options: 5G auto, 5G on and LTE. I got the same results for all 3; about 60 Mbps down and about 14 Mbps up. LTE was about 59 Mbps.
I might go looking for a mid-band tower sometime. If anywhere it would likely be near a highway because that is where Sprint coverage was best.
I would say 5G isn’t a particularly important reason to get an iPhone 12 on T-Mobile right now for most people.
Out of curiosity, where do you live? That matches the reports I’ve seen comparing 5G speeds - perhaps a nominal increase in speed. Did you test latency? Also, have you noticed any difference in connectivity/signal strength between 4G and 5G?
I live 25 miles west of Boston—known around here as Metrowest.
The pings were about the same at around 24 ms. Most places around were I live have good coverage on T-Mobile. I never saw less than 2 bars for both LTE and 5G.
One interesting thing is that I tested my LTE speed once I got home and found out that it is much faster than the 5G in the neighboring town. From inside my house I got 108 Mbps down and 28 Mbps up. So there isn’t much point in getting 5G on T-Mobile until the mid-band towers are available.
Thanks. The article I read indicated you need to have a latency of about 10ms for it to really be worthwhile (but 25ms is still better than 100.) This confirms to me that there's not much point in worrying about 5G for the time being. My Xs is still woking quite well and I'll probably keep it another 2-3 years. By that time 5G might actually be relevant.
Comments
Hey, at least if you are buying an iPhone and strapping it to one of these blood sucking leeches you still have an awesome device that you love and enjoy owning. This provides some consolation when all the other cards are stacked against you and your wallet is hemorrhaging cash. But yeah, in the grand scheme of life, it's all a bit crazy, but this is what keeps capitalism in the 21st century rolling along.
Anyone AT&T savvy and know if I can peel off the lines I want to get 5G phones for and leave the rest on the old plan?
And there is Mint Mobile using the TMobile network at $30/mo. unlimited...
It's not so much the plan that will go away but the protocol. A few months back carriers began purging 3G which was about 10 years old from their networks. Those with 3G phones (likely flip phones) had to upgrade.
Yeh, I would think so. Look how long 3G hung around and eventually (after several years) got cheaper and cheaper (especially from resellers like Consumer -- since it was mostly only used by flip phones. But, as things become more dependent on 5G then 4G phones will become more limited -- just like 3G phones did.
Short answer: not much faster. This was on a likely low-band 5G tower. I don’t know if T-Mobile has any mid-band 5G anywhere near me. I tried all three modes on the cellular options: 5G auto, 5G on and LTE. I got the same results for all 3; about 60 Mbps down and about 14 Mbps up. LTE was about 59 Mbps.
I might go looking for a mid-band tower sometime. If anywhere it would likely be near a highway because that is where Sprint coverage was best.