No big troubles with T-Mobile
Eight months after leaving AT&T, few complaints — and easier on pocketbook
After ending a 20-year relationship with AT&T, Techburger editor has no regrets so far.
Back in April, I quit as a longtime AT&T wireless customer and made the leap to using T-Mobile for my family’s cellular provider. I was lured by a much smaller price tag, much faster data speeds and a muchimproved service footprint for the nation’s third-largest carrier.
Eight months later, it’s time for an update. In fact, I’ve had quite a few emailed and social-media requests for a report on how it’s working out. So, here’s a scorecard:
Pricing: A
My main reason for ending a 20-year relationship with AT&T was price. I was paying $175 a month for two phone lines; data access for two Apple Watches; and an allowance of 16 gigabytes of data.
T-Mobile offers those 55 and older a great deal: two lines with unlimited data, text and voice for $70 a month. The Apple Watches added $10 each to make the final price $90, saving us $85 a month over AT&T.
Near the end of December, T-Mobile was offering a promotion that allowed us to add our daughter to our 55+ plan for just $20 a month, bringing our total payment to $110 a month. She had been on an AT&T prepay plan for $25 a month, but with no data. I was told by a T-Mobile rep via chat that this is not a promotional price that will go up. We’ll see. (The extra-line promotion, by the way, is no longer available.)
Also, note that these prices include a discount if you use AutoPay. If you choose not to use it, each line costs an additional $5.
Data speed: A-
T-Mobile consistently outperforms the speeds I was seeing with AT&T in the places where I live, work and play. On speed tests taken periodically at my various stomping grounds, I’ll get anywhere between 40-95 Mbps downloads when I’ve got a full four bars. There are some exceptions, however.
I frequently travel between Houston and my parents’ home in Corpus Christi, and there are several spots along that route where T-Mobile’s service drops to a weak one bar, or I get the dreaded “No Service” notification. Fortunately, the dropouts don’t last long. Occasional dropouts were also an issue on a trip earlier this year to San Antonio.
I’m particularly happy with upload speeds, which handily beat the paltry 5 Mbps uploads I get with my Comcast broadband connection.
Upload speeds are often near or just below download speeds. Often, if I need to upload something large, I’ll use my iPhone rather than a computer connected to Comcast at home to get the job done.
As with other carriers, T-Mobile may slow your speeds on its “unlimited” accounts after you reach a certain threshold — but that limit is much higher. On AT&T, Verizon and Sprint, you may be slowed once you pass 22 gigabytes of data. On T-Mobile, the threshold is 50 GB.
Unfortunately, I’m not as happy with one particular aspect of T-Mobile’s speeds.
Mobile hotspot: C-
The carrier’s standard T-Mobile One account gives you a mobile hotspot, allowing you to connect other devices via Wi-Fi to share data. But unlike AT&T’s mobile hotspot feature that connects at full LTE speeds, T-Mobile throttles its users back to 3G speeds.
If all you are doing is checking email, sending messages or using another text-based application, this lack of speed is merely annoying.
But if you are looking at websites, sending or receiving photos or video, or trying to stream music, T-Mobile’s hotspot is almost useless, particularly if you have two or fewer bars.
There is a way to get full LTE speeds on a hotspot, however, by paying more. T-Mobile lets you upgrade to its One Plus service for an additional $15 a month, with a limit of 20GB of LTE hotspot data.
One Plus gets you other benefits, including full HD streaming and faster data speeds when traveling to any of 210 countries. I wish T-Mobile would break out the hotspot boost — I’d pay another $5 a month to get faster hotspot speeds.
Voice calls: B+
For the most part, voice calls are of good quality, particularly when using Wi-Fi calling, or the enhanced LTE feature known as HD Voice. When those aren’t present, though, TMobile’s voice calls sometimes don’t match up to what I experienced with AT&T, but those times are rare.
I do get the occasional dropped call with T-Mobile, but then again, I did with AT&T, too. And you can never be sure whether the issue is on your end or on that of the person you’re talking to.
Customer Service: A-
I have only had to use T-Mobile’s customer service a few times, but so far it has been very good. Representatives contacted via chat and phone have been knowledgeable and efficient. Any issues I had were addressed quickly and to my satisfaction.
One small gripe: T-Mobile’s website and app don’t always allow the same kind of self-service capabilities as AT&T. For example, when I wanted to add my daughter with the $20-a-month service, I had either to call or go to a T-Mobile store — it couldn’t be added online.
Extras and perks: B
T-Mobile offers a lot of extra incentives, but not all of them are available with the Unlimited 55+ account. For example, regular TMobile One customers get a free Netflix account, but that’s not available for 55+ users.
The carrier also has an app called T-Mobile Tuesdays, which has a new set of freebies every week. Many of these don’t interest me — discounted concert tickets, for example — while others are intriguing. But, they’re not enough to keep me opening the app every Tuesday to see what’s new. Others, though, may find them worthwhile.
Overall grade: B+
The final grade is dragged down by T-Mobile’s hotspot issues, but if that’s not a big deal for you, then consider the general score to be an A-.
We’re very happy we’ve made the switch, and look forward to seeing how TMobile handles the upcoming transition to 5G.
(Read my original story about switching at houstonchronicle.com/tmobileswitch)