Why the AT&T deal can’t be good for T-Mobile consumers: Pay double and get half | Hacker News Reader

Why the AT&T deal can’t be good for T-Mobile consumers: Pay double and get half

bitsandbuzz.com

25 pointsjeremychone21 comments

I am a T-mobile customer and up until now I was very happy with their service. The only reason I do not have an iPhone is because I did not want to go to ATT. Now, I have no choice but to go with Verizon, and I will.

It really isn't that much work to jailbreak your iPhone. Mine has been running on T-mobile very happily (but sans 3G) for over a year.

Yes, the problem is the different 3G band. Otherwise, you can just buy a unlocked iPhone from France (without having the jailbreak it). Obviously, this makes sense only if you go to France for other purposes.

My fingers are crossed that this doesn't go through. I've had T-Mobile for years and have been grandfathered into such an amazing family plan. $20 for unlimited web per person, lines 3-5 are free. $10 unlimited texting for the entire family. Unlimited mobile-to-mobile, nights, weekends, and my faves. Coverage used to be poor but it's only getting better.

It has to go through. T-Mobile is likely shedding business customers in record numbers. AT&T is offering businesses special deals to migrate all of devices from T-Mobile.

T-mobile throttles internet after 5GB. The writer of this article doesn't have "unlimited" everything.

What speed does it run at after throttling? It's still far superior to overage charges an order of magnitude over the base price.

I usually get around 5k/sec after throttling starts. Your speed will vary depending on the quality of the network. But obviously at speeds like this you can't do HD video streaming.

Thanks for the info. I just updated the blog post with this.

throttles is still much better than not having it or being over charged.

It's not that much better than dialup and certainly not within the unlimited use that your article suggested.

I guess its a matter of opinion. I prefer a connection that get slower rather than being overcharged for it, and I consider unlimited because I do not have to pay more for it.

AT&T does not lock anyone into 2 year contracts any more that T-Mobile does. Both of them offer month to month (on any phone) and both of them offer discounts on new phones if you get a 2 year agreement.

Do you have the link of the AT&T month to month? I found the pre-paid one (which is not the same)

If you bring your own (compatible) device, you can get a no-contract plan. The prices are exactly the same. If you want a no-contract plan, but don't have a device, you have to pay the un-subsidized price for the phone.

Ok, I found it now. If you select Sim Card, but they still ask you the IMEI number, and you can have only one phone per simcard. They tie it together.

With T-Mobile, just change phone, as long as it works for you, it works for T-Mobile.

I've never had a problem swapping SIM cards on ATT. Not sure if it's "supported", but I've done it in the past. The only phone where I've run in to restrictions was the iPhone. They ask you for the IMEI because they show "your device" in the ATT portal. I don't think it's used to restrict your access.

Not trying to make an argument out of it or anything :) but I figured since you're a T-Mobile customer, you're already in for a rough ride :( Thought I'd try to offer some consolation as we welcome you to the support group... I mean, network. Yeah, network.

First, thanks for the discussion. Always appreciated.

What type of restriction did you encounter with the iPhone. Let's say I buy an unlocked iPhone (from France for example), and then, add the AT&T simcard, would it work?

My ATT iPhone would only work with an "iPhone" SIM, not another ATT SIM. This was a first gen iPhone though. I don't know if this has changed with more recent iPhones.

Ok, I found the Simcard only option. They still require to give the IMEI number to link it to the SIMCard.

I updated the blog post appropriately.

Whatever the reason is, you need to realize that the current owner of the TMO, sold it because it was more lucrative to get the money ATT is offering rather than run the service. Which means the current price pressure was getting to them. Soon they would have escalated the prices anyways. With the ATT deal it might just happen soon.

I am not happy with this deal either but I am not disillusioned that TMO would have kept the lower prices around for long.

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