I have an iPhone 4S that I bought unlocked a couple of months ago and I currently have £15 sim only deal with Three where I have 300 mins, 3000 Texts and All you can eat (Unlimited Internet) which I am very impressed with although the initial set up was annoying.

However three's signal in Newport City Centre can be bit pants at times and I could do with more minutes which is why I am tempted to take T-Mobile's current Full Monty Sim-Only Deal of £21 per month which is advertised as unlimited everything (Calls, Texts and Data)

So what are T-Mobile like nowadays? Are they as bad people make out? What networks can you not call on T-Mobile? Is everything truly unlimited as advertised or is there a fair use policy?

Totally unlimited but no 08,09 numbers. Tethering is not offically allowed but I think it works. You will have the use of t mobile/three and orange 3G network as well as both t mobile and orange 2g networks. I would say its the best network around. Only negative is that you will have your speed capped to 3.8 meg but who cares. It's fast enough.

Just changed to T-mobile from o2. Really good so far, much, much more 3g coverage than o2 and the ability now to use both T-Mobile and Orange networks - I'd happily recommend them, they're possibly the best network to be on these days. If you want to tether to your mobile, just remember that the £21 sim only Full Monty plan doesn't include tethering, only the Full Monty 24 month plans with a phone.

Also you can not call people on lebara or lyca + other MVNO's. But yes, everything is truly unlimited and you can get tethering on the sim only if you ask CS apparently. Although i don't think it's essential for you as you can't tether on your current plan.

T-Mobile is the best to be on right now if you get a good plan (which £21 for everything is)

What about other (or should I say common) MVNO'S such as Virgin, Tesco, Talk mobile and giff gaff? Can you call them without any extra charges?

Yes. Just started a 24 month contract with them with an iphone 4 on the full month at £26 per month.

Yeh those common uk based ones are fine. Its just lebara and a few others that are non uk based that do not come under inclusive minutes. T mobile are the only network to do this but it doesn't really matter if no one is on lebara etc...

what's really annoying they don't notify you before the call that this call is chargeable, left t-mobile because of this.

That's not quite true.
It's certain number ranges that aren't included, so if those numbers are ported to a different network they remain chargeable. Equally, if someone ports an 'ok' number in to Lyca or Lebara, then you would be still be able to call it for free.

huh, never knew that. Thanks step.

Thats really bad to be honest. Like ramzez said, it would be good if you were notified before the call. Thankfully all the people i know on lebara use it as a secondary line just for calling international and not for taking in calls.

To be honest, I think they'd get in a lot of trouble if they did based on the network and not the number itself - charging based on the network would make it very difficult for people to know whether a number was free or not before calling/texting because you'd need to know what network the other person was on and that simply isn't reasonable/practical, charging based on the number itself does at least allow you to look up the list in advance of making the call.

Obviously, as has been pointed out, there are infinitely superior solutions to informing customers but that would be less profitable...


edit: in case some people don't know how to check, this is the list of non-inclusive 07 numbers for tariffs introduced on or after the 1st of Feb this year and this is the list of non-inclusive 07 numbers for older tariffs.
To T-Mobile's credit, they have reduced it quite a bit.

Actually, Full Monty and "next generation" (Introduced in February) DO cover Lyca/Lebara. If you're on an older pay monthly plan, you may be able to migrate to a newer plan if you call TMobile customer services,without increasing your contract commitment.

I was on sim-only 30 days, and if i would have changed i would loose "unlimited" internet bundle with iphone tethering and would have to pay more...

plus reception was awful in my place, so i moved back to vodafone.

Use T-mobile for my Note and I have no complaints at all. Always a healthy signal down in the usually forgotten South West Wales area.

the signal now is far better. I know Redditch was terrible on T-mobile with a notorious blackspot right by the McDonalds and old TJ Hughes and several others in the shopping centre most of which have been plugged. My parents are still in a bit of a hole in Birmingham but thats all networks far as I can tell

A couple more questions.

1. With Unlimited Mins, do you have to ring off before 60 mins if you do not want to get charged like with the home telephone plan we have with BT

2. I have an iPhone 4S which I bought unlocked a few months ago from amazon. I already have a 3 Sim Card in it but I have heard that I may have problems putting in a different network's sim card in it Is that the case?

3. How long does it take porting your number over to T-Mobile?

ANSWERS
1. No
2. No problems, jusr reboot the 'phone
3. Seems to vary depending which network you're porting from. When I ported from Tesco (a virtual network on O2's infrastructure) it took 1 working day. Ditto when my flatmate ported from Giffgaff last year. I hear 3rd-hand horror stories, but I now work in a TMobile store and have never had a customer complain of unacceptable delays.