T-Mobile full monty questions

moox · 13-11-2013, 20:50

I called T-Mobile to request a PAC today, and of course the customer service rep went through the usual motions of recommending deals to try to get me to stay. I mentioned that I was intending to move to the 3 One Plan (sim only) and that tethering is important.

She then quoted that she could offer me something that looked like the full monty but at 17.50/month, and including tethering (mentioned something about unlimited usage on phone and 5GB while tethering).

I'm not sure if she was telling the truth as I was under the impression that FM did not allow tethering as of a recent tariff change. Is there an addon that can be applied to make it work (and give me 5GB of data for that?)

I'm tempted to stay if what they are offering is correct because it means I'll get the seamless 2G backup and possibly a less congested network. But I don't want to agree to a new contract and find out it's not what I was sold (could probably get out of it on that basis but it's a hassle I don't want).

So can someone who knows about all of this clarify whether what she said was true?

jabbamk1 · 13-11-2013, 20:56

It is the super internet booster which gives you 5GB tethering.

I'm pretty sure it caps your overall usage to 5GB though. So it's basically swapping unlimited for 5GB. Although i could be wrong. Also you get uncapped speeds.

Are you sure it was £17.50pm and not £19pm.

moox · 13-11-2013, 21:09

She quoted 17.50 for 'unlimited' and 13 for "3gb", perhaps the discount is variable depending on who you are (in my case, a SIM only customer who is out of contract and doesn't spend that much with them). I asked if the 17.50 tariff is a discounted full monty and she said it was.

It seems very confusing - the way she worded it, it sounded like browsing would be unlimited and "s tuff like youtube" would be part of the 5GB limit.

I've been burned before by T-Mobile's ridiculously complicated data packages (stupid 384k limit on ancient internet boosters but not on others) so perhaps I should get this in writing or something before I commit.

Zee_Bukhari · 13-11-2013, 21:18

full monty speed is also capped at 4Mbps while 3's is unrestricted. You'll also get free 4G on 3 which is a bonus

jabbamk1 · 13-11-2013, 21:20

That sounds like the Super Internet booster.

Are you sure it was on the full monty plan though? I'd get it confirmed in writing though. I doubt you can go over the 5GB limit at all. If you can go over it'll be £1 a day.

moox · 13-11-2013, 21:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zee_Bukhari

full monty speed is also capped at 4Mbps while 3's is unrestricted. You'll also get free 4G on 3 which is a bonus

To be honest I don't get excellent speeds on 3's network no matter where I am - getting anything over 5Mbps is a bonus, and in urban areas the performance is nothing great. I was in Reading earlier this week, getting anything over 1Mbit in the hotel I was in was an achievement and that's with a belting signal. This is with a 14Mbps HSPA device, I don't know if it would be better with a DCHSPA phone. My T-Mobile SIM in another phone did quite a bit better. Perhaps it's an excuse to get a Nexus 5.

The prospect of 4G is enticing provided that 3 do an aggressive rollout. Otherwise it's pointless if I'm not going to be able to use it where I am. I am in Cornwall and so far even EE have yet to get to Plymouth...

moox · 13-11-2013, 21:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by jabbamk1

That sounds like the Super Internet booster.

Are you sure it was on the full monty plan though? I'd get it confirmed in writing though. I doubt you can go over the 5GB limit at all. If you can go over it'll be £1 a day.

I can't be sure, but I did ask "is this a discounted full monty" and she did say yes. I think she's meant to call back in a day or two, so I'll ask about it then and definitely try to get something in writing.

IslandNiles · 13-11-2013, 22:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by moox

To be honest I don't get excellent speeds on 3's network no matter where I am - getting anything over 5Mbps is a bonus, and in urban areas the performance is nothing great. I was in Reading earlier this week, getting anything over 1Mbit in the hotel I was in was an achievement and that's with a belting signal. This is with a 14Mbps HSPA device, I don't know if it would be better with a DCHSPA phone. My T-Mobile SIM in another phone did quite a bit better. Perhaps it's an excuse to get a Nexus 5.

The prospect of 4G is enticing provided that 3 do an aggressive rollout. Otherwise it's pointless if I'm not going to be able to use it where I am. I am in Cornwall and so far even EE have yet to get to Plymouth...

This is pretty much what I've found when trying out a 3 SIM in an iPhone 5 for the last couple of weeks. I got 7Mbs in Barnsley today, and that's the highest I've seen. Other people seem to report incredible speeds quite often, but I'm mostly seeing speeds of between 2Mbs and 5Mbs in various areas of the north west and in London.

Having said that, my experience with T-Mobile FM hasn't been good at all. Lots of dropped calls, frequent periods of no data throughput, and now there's zero chance of an HD call because I can't remember the last time my phone didn't drop the 3G signal during a call.

ozz · 13-11-2013, 22:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zee_Bukhari

full monty speed is also capped at 4Mbps while 3's is unrestricted. You'll also get free 4G on 3 which is a bonus

I'm on the T-Mobile Full Monty plan since October 2012, not seeing any speed cap on my account. Limited to max 7.2 Mbps on my handset but speed tests average ~ 6 Mbps download and 1.5 Mbps upload. Tethering seems to work too???

jchamier · 13-11-2013, 22:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by IslandNiles

This is pretty much what I've found when trying out a 3 SIM in an iPhone 5 for the last couple of weeks. I got 7Mbs in Barnsley today, and that's the highest I've seen.

The best speeds on 3 are on the mobile broadband SIMs rather than the voice SIMs as they seem to have network priority (e.g. tablet) - but you don't get unlimited on those

qasdfdsaq · 13-11-2013, 23:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zee_Bukhari

full monty speed is also capped at 4Mbps while 3's is unrestricted.

Which is such a great advantage if they deliver 25Mbps in the city centre where you are for a few minutes a day, but never more than 2Mbps where you actually live and want to use it.

danielmeah · 14-11-2013, 07:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by jchamier

The best speeds on 3 are on the mobile broadband SIMs rather than the voice SIMs as they seem to have network priority (e.g. tablet) - but you don't get unlimited on those

i've seen people saying that nonsense for some time. but i have both and never seen a difference in performance. infact i see faster on my phone in general probably because of MIMO

jchamier · 14-11-2013, 07:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by danielmeah

i've seen people saying that nonsense for some time. but i have both and never seen a difference in performance. infact i see faster on my phone in general probably because of MIMO

Interesting - I've seen the difference in my area, with a MiFi unit and a HTC one - and assumed it was down to local load.

Chris1973 · 14-11-2013, 11:49

Quote:

i've seen people saying that nonsense for some time. but i have both and never seen a difference in performance. infact i see faster on my phone in general probably because of MIMO

In my personal experience of both, I would agree with that also. I tend to get 5 - 6 mbps from a '3' branded Mi-fi with a mobile broadband sim, but 10mbps pretty routinely from a tethered £100 Chinese Cubot GT-99 phone with the One Plan Sim.

jabbamk1 · 14-11-2013, 12:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by danielmeah

i've seen people saying that nonsense for some time. but i have both and never seen a difference in performance. infact i see faster on my phone in general probably because of MIMO

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris1973

In my personal experience of both, I would agree with that also. I tend to get 5 - 6 mbps from a '3' branded Mi-fi with a mobile broadband sim, but 10mbps pretty routinely from a tethered £100 Chinese Cubot GT-99 phone with the One Plan Sim.

Well that would make sense if the phone supports DC-HSPA+ and the Mi-Fi doesn't.

danielmeah · 14-11-2013, 12:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by jabbamk1

Well that would make sense if the phone supports DC-HSPA+ and the Mi-Fi doesn't.

Yes. however it was about network priority not the device itself

jabbamk1 · 14-11-2013, 12:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by danielmeah

Yes. however it was about network priority not the device itself

I know but you'd have to test two devices with the same hardware support to see network priority properly.

danielmeah · 14-11-2013, 12:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by jabbamk1

I know but you'd have to test two devices with the same hardware support to see network priority properly.

to an extent yes. but you wouldnt for example expect a huge difference between hspa and dc-hspa or LTE.

Meaning if DC-hsdpa was doing 10Mbps hspa and LTE should be able to do that too if not it would be obvious throttling or QoS.

qasdfdsaq · 15-11-2013, 16:21

There's way too much variation between phones simply in terms of radio and firmware performance to draw any concrete conclusions without swapping the same SIM card(s) between the two under the same conditions. You don't just want to test two devices with the same hardware support - you really want to test one individual device with multiple SIMs. Case in point - Galaxy S2 vs. Galaxy S3, both rated as 21Mbps down, 5.76Mbps up, HSPA+ 3GPP release 7. 0.3Mbps on the S2, 7.4Mbps on the S3 on O2, same location, same SIM.

Even then moving a device a few centimetres or changing its orientation can more than quadruple your speeds so it's still meaningless without an appropriate control (e.g. fixed location stand).

qasdfdsaq · 15-11-2013, 16:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by danielmeah

to an extent yes. but you wouldnt for example expect a huge difference between hspa and dc-hspa or LTE.

Meaning if DC-hsdpa was doing 10Mbps hspa and LTE should be able to do that too if not it would be obvious throttling or QoS.

Uh yes you would.

If DC-HSDPA was doing 10Mbps you'd expect HSPA to be doing 5Mbps. LTE could easily do 40Mbps under the same conditions.

danielmeah · 15-11-2013, 17:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

Uh yes you would.

If DC-HSDPA was doing 10Mbps you'd expect HSPA to be doing 5Mbps. LTE could easily do 40Mbps under the same conditions.

No. if you read what i said and my follow ups you would understand, dont just read 1 line. or part of it

qasdfdsaq · 15-11-2013, 18:12

The only thing there is to understand is you've completely twisted the subject beyond recognition.

danielmeah · 16-11-2013, 02:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

The only thing there is to understand is you've completely twisted the subject beyond recognition.

Nope, You SHOULD READ IT!

13-11-2013, 20:50	#1
moox Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 14,645	T-Mobile full monty questions I called T-Mobile to request a PAC today, and of course the customer service rep went through the usual motions of recommending deals to try to get me to stay. I mentioned that I was intending to move to the 3 One Plan (sim only) and that tethering is important. She then quoted that she could offer me something that looked like the full monty but at 17.50/month, and including tethering (mentioned something about unlimited usage on phone and 5GB while tethering). I'm not sure if she was telling the truth as I was under the impression that FM did not allow tethering as of a recent tariff change. Is there an addon that can be applied to make it work (and give me 5GB of data for that?) I'm tempted to stay if what they are offering is correct because it means I'll get the seamless 2G backup and possibly a less congested network. But I don't want to agree to a new contract and find out it's not what I was sold (could probably get out of it on that basis but it's a hassle I don't want). So can someone who knows about all of this clarify whether what she said was true?

13-11-2013, 20:56	#2
jabbamk1 Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: London, UK Posts: 8,759	It is the super internet booster which gives you 5GB tethering. I'm pretty sure it caps your overall usage to 5GB though. So it's basically swapping unlimited for 5GB. Although i could be wrong. Also you get uncapped speeds. Are you sure it was £17.50pm and not £19pm.

13-11-2013, 21:09	#3
moox Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 14,645	She quoted 17.50 for 'unlimited' and 13 for "3gb", perhaps the discount is variable depending on who you are (in my case, a SIM only customer who is out of contract and doesn't spend that much with them). I asked if the 17.50 tariff is a discounted full monty and she said it was. It seems very confusing - the way she worded it, it sounded like browsing would be unlimited and "s tuff like youtube" would be part of the 5GB limit. I've been burned before by T-Mobile's ridiculously complicated data packages (stupid 384k limit on ancient internet boosters but not on others) so perhaps I should get this in writing or something before I commit.

13-11-2013, 21:18	#4
Zee_Bukhari Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2013 Posts: 1,319	full monty speed is also capped at 4Mbps while 3's is unrestricted. You'll also get free 4G on 3 which is a bonus

13-11-2013, 21:20	#5
jabbamk1 Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: London, UK Posts: 8,759	That sounds like the Super Internet booster. Are you sure it was on the full monty plan though? I'd get it confirmed in writing though. I doubt you can go over the 5GB limit at all. If you can go over it'll be £1 a day.

13-11-2013, 21:30	#6
moox Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 14,645	Quote: Originally Posted by Zee_Bukhari full monty speed is also capped at 4Mbps while 3's is unrestricted. You'll also get free 4G on 3 which is a bonus To be honest I don't get excellent speeds on 3's network no matter where I am - getting anything over 5Mbps is a bonus, and in urban areas the performance is nothing great. I was in Reading earlier this week, getting anything over 1Mbit in the hotel I was in was an achievement and that's with a belting signal. This is with a 14Mbps HSPA device, I don't know if it would be better with a DCHSPA phone. My T-Mobile SIM in another phone did quite a bit better. Perhaps it's an excuse to get a Nexus 5. The prospect of 4G is enticing provided that 3 do an aggressive rollout. Otherwise it's pointless if I'm not going to be able to use it where I am. I am in Cornwall and so far even EE have yet to get to Plymouth...

13-11-2013, 21:31	#7
moox Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 14,645	Quote: Originally Posted by jabbamk1 That sounds like the Super Internet booster. Are you sure it was on the full monty plan though? I'd get it confirmed in writing though. I doubt you can go over the 5GB limit at all. If you can go over it'll be £1 a day. I can't be sure, but I did ask "is this a discounted full monty" and she did say yes. I think she's meant to call back in a day or two, so I'll ask about it then and definitely try to get something in writing.

13-11-2013, 22:25	#8
IslandNiles Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 13,091	Quote: Originally Posted by moox To be honest I don't get excellent speeds on 3's network no matter where I am - getting anything over 5Mbps is a bonus, and in urban areas the performance is nothing great. I was in Reading earlier this week, getting anything over 1Mbit in the hotel I was in was an achievement and that's with a belting signal. This is with a 14Mbps HSPA device, I don't know if it would be better with a DCHSPA phone. My T-Mobile SIM in another phone did quite a bit better. Perhaps it's an excuse to get a Nexus 5. The prospect of 4G is enticing provided that 3 do an aggressive rollout. Otherwise it's pointless if I'm not going to be able to use it where I am. I am in Cornwall and so far even EE have yet to get to Plymouth... This is pretty much what I've found when trying out a 3 SIM in an iPhone 5 for the last couple of weeks. I got 7Mbs in Barnsley today, and that's the highest I've seen. Other people seem to report incredible speeds quite often, but I'm mostly seeing speeds of between 2Mbs and 5Mbs in various areas of the north west and in London. Having said that, my experience with T-Mobile FM hasn't been good at all. Lots of dropped calls, frequent periods of no data throughput, and now there's zero chance of an HD call because I can't remember the last time my phone didn't drop the 3G signal during a call.

13-11-2013, 22:34	#9
ozz Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Rutland Posts: 564	Quote: Originally Posted by Zee_Bukhari full monty speed is also capped at 4Mbps while 3's is unrestricted. You'll also get free 4G on 3 which is a bonus I'm on the T-Mobile Full Monty plan since October 2012, not seeing any speed cap on my account. Limited to max 7.2 Mbps on my handset but speed tests average ~ 6 Mbps download and 1.5 Mbps upload. Tethering seems to work too???

13-11-2013, 22:49	#10
jchamier Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2000 Location: This forum Posts: 3,392	Quote: Originally Posted by IslandNiles This is pretty much what I've found when trying out a 3 SIM in an iPhone 5 for the last couple of weeks. I got 7Mbs in Barnsley today, and that's the highest I've seen. The best speeds on 3 are on the mobile broadband SIMs rather than the voice SIMs as they seem to have network priority (e.g. tablet) - but you don't get unlimited on those

13-11-2013, 23:41	#11
qasdfdsaq Inactive Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 3,286	Quote: Originally Posted by Zee_Bukhari full monty speed is also capped at 4Mbps while 3's is unrestricted. Which is such a great advantage if they deliver 25Mbps in the city centre where you are for a few minutes a day, but never more than 2Mbps where you actually live and want to use it.

14-11-2013, 07:15	#12
danielmeah Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Liverpool(L15)l, UK Posts: 458	Quote: Originally Posted by jchamier The best speeds on 3 are on the mobile broadband SIMs rather than the voice SIMs as they seem to have network priority (e.g. tablet) - but you don't get unlimited on those i've seen people saying that nonsense for some time. but i have both and never seen a difference in performance. infact i see faster on my phone in general probably because of MIMO

14-11-2013, 07:40	#13
jchamier Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2000 Location: This forum Posts: 3,392	Quote: Originally Posted by danielmeah i've seen people saying that nonsense for some time. but i have both and never seen a difference in performance. infact i see faster on my phone in general probably because of MIMO Interesting - I've seen the difference in my area, with a MiFi unit and a HTC one - and assumed it was down to local load.

14-11-2013, 11:49	#14
Chris1973 Forum Member Join Date: May 2013 Posts: 667	Quote: i've seen people saying that nonsense for some time. but i have both and never seen a difference in performance. infact i see faster on my phone in general probably because of MIMO In my personal experience of both, I would agree with that also. I tend to get 5 - 6 mbps from a '3' branded Mi-fi with a mobile broadband sim, but 10mbps pretty routinely from a tethered £100 Chinese Cubot GT-99 phone with the One Plan Sim.

14-11-2013, 12:02	#15
jabbamk1 Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: London, UK Posts: 8,759	Quote: Originally Posted by danielmeah i've seen people saying that nonsense for some time. but i have both and never seen a difference in performance. infact i see faster on my phone in general probably because of MIMO Quote: Originally Posted by Chris1973 In my personal experience of both, I would agree with that also. I tend to get 5 - 6 mbps from a '3' branded Mi-fi with a mobile broadband sim, but 10mbps pretty routinely from a tethered £100 Chinese Cubot GT-99 phone with the One Plan Sim. Well that would make sense if the phone supports DC-HSPA+ and the Mi-Fi doesn't.

14-11-2013, 12:09	#16
danielmeah Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Liverpool(L15)l, UK Posts: 458	Quote: Originally Posted by jabbamk1 Well that would make sense if the phone supports DC-HSPA+ and the Mi-Fi doesn't. Yes. however it was about network priority not the device itself

14-11-2013, 12:16	#17
jabbamk1 Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: London, UK Posts: 8,759	Quote: Originally Posted by danielmeah Yes. however it was about network priority not the device itself I know but you'd have to test two devices with the same hardware support to see network priority properly.

14-11-2013, 12:18	#18
danielmeah Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Liverpool(L15)l, UK Posts: 458	Quote: Originally Posted by jabbamk1 I know but you'd have to test two devices with the same hardware support to see network priority properly. to an extent yes. but you wouldnt for example expect a huge difference between hspa and dc-hspa or LTE. Meaning if DC-hsdpa was doing 10Mbps hspa and LTE should be able to do that too if not it would be obvious throttling or QoS.

15-11-2013, 16:21	#19
qasdfdsaq Inactive Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 3,286	There's way too much variation between phones simply in terms of radio and firmware performance to draw any concrete conclusions without swapping the same SIM card(s) between the two under the same conditions. You don't just want to test two devices with the same hardware support - you really want to test one individual device with multiple SIMs. Case in point - Galaxy S2 vs. Galaxy S3, both rated as 21Mbps down, 5.76Mbps up, HSPA+ 3GPP release 7. 0.3Mbps on the S2, 7.4Mbps on the S3 on O2, same location, same SIM. Even then moving a device a few centimetres or changing its orientation can more than quadruple your speeds so it's still meaningless without an appropriate control (e.g. fixed location stand).

15-11-2013, 16:23	#20
qasdfdsaq Inactive Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 3,286	Quote: Originally Posted by danielmeah to an extent yes. but you wouldnt for example expect a huge difference between hspa and dc-hspa or LTE. Meaning if DC-hsdpa was doing 10Mbps hspa and LTE should be able to do that too if not it would be obvious throttling or QoS. Uh yes you would. If DC-HSDPA was doing 10Mbps you'd expect HSPA to be doing 5Mbps. LTE could easily do 40Mbps under the same conditions.

15-11-2013, 17:53	#21
danielmeah Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Liverpool(L15)l, UK Posts: 458	Quote: Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq Uh yes you would. If DC-HSDPA was doing 10Mbps you'd expect HSPA to be doing 5Mbps. LTE could easily do 40Mbps under the same conditions. No. if you read what i said and my follow ups you would understand, dont just read 1 line. or part of it

DS Forums

T-Mobile full monty questions

15-11-2013, 18:12	#22
qasdfdsaq Inactive Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 3,286	The only thing there is to understand is you've completely twisted the subject beyond recognition.

16-11-2013, 02:09	#23
danielmeah Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Liverpool(L15)l, UK Posts: 458	Quote: Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq The only thing there is to understand is you've completely twisted the subject beyond recognition. Nope, You SHOULD READ IT!