Sorry to bump this thread back up, but I've just had T-Mobile on the phone to me and wouldn't mind a spot of advice.
So I've come to the end of my current contract and asked for my PAC. They were naturally unhappy to hear this as I've been with them for nearly nineteen years and I'm probably the very definition of a loyal customer. I had a bit of a chat with them, and they've offered me the following:
Galaxy S4 for no upfront cost.
Full Monty 42 (24 month contract) - unlimited calls and texts.
30 minutes of international calls.
Unlimited data.
Including loyalty discount, £34 all in (including VAT).
I asked about tethering, and he told me that even though it's not included, their customers still do it and they don't say anything about it. I think I've only tethered once in my life, but I like to have the safety net if possible. It's not a massive dealbreaker as I have to be realistic about the likelihood of me using it. If the unlimited data is truly unlimited and not throttled, that will probably do me.
The Galaxy S4 will take advantage of DC-HSDPA technology, but I'd appreciate anyone's experience of this tariff on the S4.
My current phone is a Galaxy S2. My calls have been dropping loads recently, which the guy suggested could be because of mast work. He also said it might be something to do with the phone itself, and the S4 would likely have better reception. Because I'm not the most techie chap in the world, is the S4 likely to have better reception than the S2?
I also got offered the EE 4G plan for £36 a month, which is 1.5G of data and unlimited everything else. This would be for the Galaxy S4 and the handset would be free as well. I don't have any friends or family on T-Mobile, so I'm not sure I can beat them up for more data if I switch to EE.
I've never gone over 1.3G of data use (and that was mainly speed tests on my current phone). I'm not expecting anyone to mindread or guess my future data habits, but I'm a bit wary of having a data limit, even though I've never exceeded what they're offering me. I use Wifi at home and at work. The most I'd be likely to use it is streaming internet radio on long car journeys, which happen reasonably frequently. I'm not sure how quickly I'd go through 1.5G of data if I did that though - I will look it up.
Or I could go with my original idea, join Three and get a Galaxy S4 on the One Plan for £37 a month. My wife has just joined Three, so there might be some sort of discount available there (they asked her if any family were on the network when she joined). I'd love unlimited 4G data, but it seems a bit silly to throw away all that customer loyalty for something I have no idea if I'm going to use. Reception in my house isn't enough for us to ditch Sky Broadband, and we don't want to anyway.
This is more of a cathartic post than anything else as writing it all out is helping me to visualise everything. Actually, maybe I do have some questions if anyone has bothered to wade through this morass of confusion and still feels helpful:
1) What is the T-Mobile DC-HSDPA network like to use? Is it in any way comparable to Three's Ultrafast network?
2) Seeing as the vast majority of my downloading is done over Wifi, should I really be worried about a 4G data limit if I move to EE?
3) Is 4G significantly better than fast 3G if my streaming is limited to internet radio, Spotify and Sky Go? (this would be for choosing the One Plan over the Full Monty plan).
Thank you to all who have made it this far. Once again, I know it's a decision I'm going to have to make, but I'm always grateful for feedback or advice,
One thing I might see if I can do is ask EE if they'll do me a 10GB 4G data bundle for £41 instead of £46. I might also speak to Three and see if they can chuck in any extras on their offer if I've been recommended to join them by a family member, although I think most of their deals are on upgrades rather than existing customers.
1) You're not getting a huge discount. It's £8 a month and you're also saving the usual £30 upfront cost for the phone.
2) The sales rep is correct about tethering. They currently don't block it but obviously it's against the terms and conditions of your contract and they could choose to block it at any time. They really shouldn't be selling it on the basis that they look the other way.
3) Important point, this. The Full Monty plan is speed limited to 4Mb/s down and 1Mb/s up. So you ask about DC-HSPA, but you'll see no speed benefit from it because you'll be artificially restricted.
As I say, you're not getting much of a discount and you're tying yourself into a new two-year contract. On the T-Mobile website now, you can get a plan with 2000 minutes and unlimited texts and data for £37 a month, plus £50 up front. I don't think that has speed limited data, and it works out as £938 over the two years. Your offer works out as £816. I know that £122 is a saving, but over two years it's only £5 a month. Not a huge loyalty discount in my view.
2) The sales rep is correct about tethering. They currently don't block it but obviously it's against the terms and conditions of your contract and they could choose to block it at any time. They really shouldn't be selling it on the basis that they look the other way.
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The sales rep is wrong. Some people have been taken to a tethering blocked page on full monty and some heavy users have been asked to stop.
It's really down to pure luck, because as you say they don't seem to care. Yet some people have still been blocked. So it's really hit and miss. I would not take up the full monty with the idea that i could tether as T-Mobile could enforce their T&C's at any time.
The sales rep is wrong. Some people have been taken to a tethering blocked page on full monty and some heavy users have been asked to stop.
It's really down to pure luck, because as you say they don't seem to care. Yet some people have still been blocked. So it's really hit and miss. I would not take up the full monty with the idea that i could tether as T-Mobile could enforce their T&C's at any time.
Yeah sorry, I misspoke there. I should have said my personal experience is that tethering isn't blocked. But yeah, I think we reach the same conclusion: Don't go for FM if tethering is important to you, because it could be blocked at any time.
3) Important point, this. The Full Monty plan is speed limited to 4Mb/s down and 1Mb/s up. So you ask about DC-HSPA, but you'll see no speed benefit from it because you'll be artificially restricted.
And that is the deal breaker, as far as T-Mobile is concerned. I could live without tethering, but not with speed restrictions.
I said to hell with it on Friday evening, rang up Three and chose an S4 on The One Plan. Got it for £35 a month instead of £37 as my wife is a customer (albeit of a fortnight).
I used her phone to ring, and it was a pleasure to be able to speak to them from the comfort of my sitting room. Both times I spoke to T-Mobile, I had to go outside and stand very still so I didn't lose signal.
I'm going to lose out on some things, but gain on others - I imagine that's the same for every person here though. At the end of the day, I'm not going to go over my call or text allowance and I will have lovely Ultrafast 3G and 4G for free when it comes.
I said to hell with it on Friday evening, rang up Three and chose an S4 on The One Plan. Got it for £35 a month instead of £37 as my wife is a customer (albeit of a fortnight).
I used her phone to ring, and it was a pleasure to be able to speak to them from the comfort of my sitting room. Both times I spoke to T-Mobile, I had to go outside and stand very still so I didn't lose signal.
I'm going to lose out on some things, but gain on others - I imagine that's the same for every person here though. At the end of the day, I'm not going to go over my call or text allowance and I will have lovely Ultrafast 3G and 4G for free when it comes.
I think I've made the right choice.
Have you checked your signal with Three before hand? how is it on your wifes phone?
Have you checked your signal with Three before hand? how is it on your wifes phone?
The calling quality at home is fine in every room of the house. The 3G is around 3MBPS, but that's down to the house itself and we'll use Wifi anyway.
I called my wife at the weekend when she was on a remote beach in Wales, and I got through. The call dropped, but again that was my T-Mobile connection in my house in West London.
Comments
So I've come to the end of my current contract and asked for my PAC. They were naturally unhappy to hear this as I've been with them for nearly nineteen years and I'm probably the very definition of a loyal customer. I had a bit of a chat with them, and they've offered me the following:
Galaxy S4 for no upfront cost.
Full Monty 42 (24 month contract) - unlimited calls and texts.
30 minutes of international calls.
Unlimited data.
Including loyalty discount, £34 all in (including VAT).
I asked about tethering, and he told me that even though it's not included, their customers still do it and they don't say anything about it. I think I've only tethered once in my life, but I like to have the safety net if possible. It's not a massive dealbreaker as I have to be realistic about the likelihood of me using it. If the unlimited data is truly unlimited and not throttled, that will probably do me.
The Galaxy S4 will take advantage of DC-HSDPA technology, but I'd appreciate anyone's experience of this tariff on the S4.
My current phone is a Galaxy S2. My calls have been dropping loads recently, which the guy suggested could be because of mast work. He also said it might be something to do with the phone itself, and the S4 would likely have better reception. Because I'm not the most techie chap in the world, is the S4 likely to have better reception than the S2?
I also got offered the EE 4G plan for £36 a month, which is 1.5G of data and unlimited everything else. This would be for the Galaxy S4 and the handset would be free as well. I don't have any friends or family on T-Mobile, so I'm not sure I can beat them up for more data if I switch to EE.
I've never gone over 1.3G of data use (and that was mainly speed tests on my current phone). I'm not expecting anyone to mindread or guess my future data habits, but I'm a bit wary of having a data limit, even though I've never exceeded what they're offering me. I use Wifi at home and at work. The most I'd be likely to use it is streaming internet radio on long car journeys, which happen reasonably frequently. I'm not sure how quickly I'd go through 1.5G of data if I did that though - I will look it up.
Or I could go with my original idea, join Three and get a Galaxy S4 on the One Plan for £37 a month. My wife has just joined Three, so there might be some sort of discount available there (they asked her if any family were on the network when she joined). I'd love unlimited 4G data, but it seems a bit silly to throw away all that customer loyalty for something I have no idea if I'm going to use. Reception in my house isn't enough for us to ditch Sky Broadband, and we don't want to anyway.
This is more of a cathartic post than anything else as writing it all out is helping me to visualise everything. Actually, maybe I do have some questions if anyone has bothered to wade through this morass of confusion and still feels helpful:
1) What is the T-Mobile DC-HSDPA network like to use? Is it in any way comparable to Three's Ultrafast network?
2) Seeing as the vast majority of my downloading is done over Wifi, should I really be worried about a 4G data limit if I move to EE?
3) Is 4G significantly better than fast 3G if my streaming is limited to internet radio, Spotify and Sky Go? (this would be for choosing the One Plan over the Full Monty plan).
Thank you to all who have made it this far. Once again, I know it's a decision I'm going to have to make, but I'm always grateful for feedback or advice,
One thing I might see if I can do is ask EE if they'll do me a 10GB 4G data bundle for £41 instead of £46. I might also speak to Three and see if they can chuck in any extras on their offer if I've been recommended to join them by a family member, although I think most of their deals are on upgrades rather than existing customers.
1) You're not getting a huge discount. It's £8 a month and you're also saving the usual £30 upfront cost for the phone.
2) The sales rep is correct about tethering. They currently don't block it but obviously it's against the terms and conditions of your contract and they could choose to block it at any time. They really shouldn't be selling it on the basis that they look the other way.
3) Important point, this. The Full Monty plan is speed limited to 4Mb/s down and 1Mb/s up. So you ask about DC-HSPA, but you'll see no speed benefit from it because you'll be artificially restricted.
As I say, you're not getting much of a discount and you're tying yourself into a new two-year contract. On the T-Mobile website now, you can get a plan with 2000 minutes and unlimited texts and data for £37 a month, plus £50 up front. I don't think that has speed limited data, and it works out as £938 over the two years. Your offer works out as £816. I know that £122 is a saving, but over two years it's only £5 a month. Not a huge loyalty discount in my view.
The sales rep is wrong. Some people have been taken to a tethering blocked page on full monty and some heavy users have been asked to stop.
It's really down to pure luck, because as you say they don't seem to care. Yet some people have still been blocked. So it's really hit and miss. I would not take up the full monty with the idea that i could tether as T-Mobile could enforce their T&C's at any time.
Yeah sorry, I misspoke there. I should have said my personal experience is that tethering isn't blocked. But yeah, I think we reach the same conclusion: Don't go for FM if tethering is important to you, because it could be blocked at any time.
And that is the deal breaker, as far as T-Mobile is concerned. I could live without tethering, but not with speed restrictions.
That's just the full monty plan though. other plans are uncapped and you can buy more data now (daily pass)
I used her phone to ring, and it was a pleasure to be able to speak to them from the comfort of my sitting room. Both times I spoke to T-Mobile, I had to go outside and stand very still so I didn't lose signal.
I'm going to lose out on some things, but gain on others - I imagine that's the same for every person here though. At the end of the day, I'm not going to go over my call or text allowance and I will have lovely Ultrafast 3G and 4G for free when it comes.
I think I've made the right choice.
Have you checked your signal with Three before hand? how is it on your wifes phone?
The calling quality at home is fine in every room of the house. The 3G is around 3MBPS, but that's down to the house itself and we'll use Wifi anyway.
I called my wife at the weekend when she was on a remote beach in Wales, and I got through. The call dropped, but again that was my T-Mobile connection in my house in West London.