Comment by finite_jest | Hacker News Reader

Comment by finite_jest | Hacker News Reader

I think you should avoid T-Mobile if you can. Not just as a matter of principle, but also pragmatism. They have an extremely crude SMS censorship/anti-spam system [1] which even blocks links to lichess.org, the popular online chess website.

They have poor security practices like storing passwords in plaintext [2], and they had a large data breach (probably about 100M customers affected) last year. [3]

A̶n̶d̶ ̶n̶o̶w̶,̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶s̶e̶e̶m̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶r̶o̶w̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶t̶o̶c̶o̶l̶ ̶b̶l̶o̶c̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶o̶o̶.̶

PS: This isn't protocol blocking at the packet/port level, so I may have used "protocol blocking" a bit inappropriately. Apparently Apple allows the carriers to prevent people from enabling iCloud Private Relay, and T-Mobile is doing that. Apple is probably doing so due to the pressure by the carriers. In August, four carriers (Vodafone, Telefonica, Orange and T-Mobile ) signed a letter urging the European Commission to stop Apple from providing Private Relay. (According to a report by The Telegraph: https://archive.fo/BRUS4#selection-915.74-925.194) This, of course, still quite preposterous.

[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29744347

[2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16776347

[3]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28192423 (The first comment by @jonathanmayer has a list of other recent T-Mobile security incidents)

I would love to leave T-Mobile, but they are the only carrier in the US who offers such a core piece of functionality for me: International service included out-of-the-box.

I love to travel, and nothing beats being able to land in (pretty much) any country in the world, turn on your phone and have working service just like that. No SIM cards, no different numbers, no local pre-paid cards, and no crazy international fees.

As someone who enjoys work/travel for weeks to months at a time, every other major carrier is not feasible for this (think 10$/day, which becomes unreasonable when you're out of the country for 3+ weeks).

Unless somebody else could recommend another option it seems I'm stuck with T-Mobile for now.

I have AT&T and it's a toggle to turn it on but you're right about the $10/day. I've felt the sting many times.

Google fi? service probably isnt as good as t mobile though

Google Fi is T-mobile service in the US (and Sprint, which T-mobile acquired).

Google Fi uses T-Mobile in the background. Depending on what you mean by "service probably isnt [sic] as good", you may either be wrong or be making a niche point.

Google Fi does everything you ask for (and works with more phones that just those that Google manufactures).

As someone who used Google Fi for a while internationally, DO NOT get Google Fi! So many problems on an iPhone 7. Little to no connectivity in many places where they advertised having connectivity. This was ~2018-2020, so maybe it has improved, but I had such a bad experience with them.

I have a newfangled 5G phone that doesn't do 5G even though I'm in Los Angeles, so I was glad to switch from VZW to TMo, to make them buy my phone, then I switched back to VZW because TMo doesn't have 5G either, no matter the maps they show on TV.

I'd do Cincinnati Bell in a heartbeat, if I could.

If you're talking about UWD 5G, that shit is DTLA and a few other areas. Try it out! It's fast as shit when you can get it.

What if you never go international? That seems like a bad reason for -everyone- to drop them.

Oh god, their service was EVEN worse in the United States!! In major metropolitan cities, in San Francisco especially! I have never had a worse experience with a cell provider. And I use AT&T!

Google Fi is an MVNO of T-mobile/Sprint (last I checked anyways). so if T-mobile blocks the private relay for their network, it could affect them too.

Also, Google Fi kinda sucks. They used to be the cheapest, but nowadays you can get better prices from other services. For example, Google charges $10/gb/mo, whereas Mint Mobile (another T-mobile MVNO) charges 4gb for $15/mo, or $30 for unlimited.

Google Fi is only cheaper if you use less than 1.5gb of data per month, and the service quality is probably the same.

...and that's not even mentioning all the privacy concerns attached to Google.

The difference is that Google Fi runs at the top network priority. You can find loads of dirt-cheap MVNOs, but your data is at the back of the line if there's any congestion.

Getting top priority isn't worth that much of a premium.

It's exciting to watch how many years in a row they can stay at $10/GB, and not in a good way.

If that's a concern, you should just go with T-mobile directly then. They have a $60/mo plan with unlimited data, incl' 50gb of high priority data.

Fi caps out at $60/mo (so 6gb), after which you get unlimited data for "free". However, you only get 15gb of high priority.

I think Fi is trying to take advantage of the Google brand to sell MVNO service at a crazy markup.

But I use 1 gig of data a month. Why would I want to double my cell phone bill for exactly the same service?

That's still $30 a month when other MVNOs will give you 4GB for $15

The difference is that Google Fi runs at the top network priority. You can find loads of dirt-cheap MVNOs, but your data is at the back of the line if there's any congestion.

What are you going to do with 1gb of high priority data per month?

Get my vaccination card at the entrance to a stadium. Messaging, email, access my NAS at home through my VPN. Download a podcast or audiobook. I mean, the answer to that question is literally "anything except watch videos".

My car has an "unlimited" plan with AT&T, and holy crap, it's worthless. If I actually need to do something, like, now, usually I have to turn off my phone's wifi if the car's on.

And this isn't me modifying my behavior. If I had a habit of watching YouTube or Netflix from all over the place, I'd get a different phone plan. I'm not like penny pinching here. It's just that my current phone plan works, I like how easy it is to administer, and switching providers in a huge PITA for a family of 4, so something else better be damn good.

Google Fi has had alternative plans to the $10/GB one for a while now. Works out to be similar (slightly less) cost than going to T-Mobile, Verizon or another carrier direct. Still very happy with the service personally but they do also block iCloud Private Relay.

> ...and that's not even mentioning all the privacy concerns attached to Google.

Fi does not feed usage information or otherwise into the ad machine. See the privacy notice on https://fi.google.com/about/tos/

Google Fi has been blocking iCloud Private Relay for longer than T-Mobile. I’m a subscriber and it stopped working after the new iOS went to GA, but worked during the Developer Beta period.

Works for me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

This is the only reason I switched to T-Mobile originally and the only reason I still have them. Their coverage is so poor that I get no LTE service sitting in my house in a core part of the major metro area. I'm only able to maintain them because they were an early and ardent adopter of WiFi Calling. On a recent trip in the US I had no service off major interstate highways. Internationally though, T-Mobile is amazing. I honestly wish my experience in the US was as good as my experience while traveling... there's not much point in having uncapped LTE when you get 1 or 0 bars of service, at least internationally I get great service even if it is speed capped at 256kbps.

FWIW, I found the coverage to get a lot better when I got a 5G phone.

Does your phone support band 71 (600 MHz)? This band is only a few years old, and T-Mobile has been deploying it as their primary long-range, building-penetrable band. It's unsupported on phones made before approximately 2018.

Band 12 fulfills the same role in some areas, and is supported on most phones, but T-Mobile doesn't have a nationwide license for it.

When I travel anywhere for more than 5 days, I typically just buy a local sim card when I land. Usually saves a lot of money.

Sure, people can't call me on my usual number, but I see that as an additional benefit. I'm on vacation.

If you’re traveling for work, not being able to use your usual number is a problem.

That's why many phones come with two SIM slots, and eSIM is starting to get popular ( on top of one or two physical slots). That way you can keep both your usual number and your local card in use simultaneously.

I now do Unlocked phone that supports eSim + Airalo app for intl data packs + Mint Mobile for the US, this works extremely well and is very cost effective.

With Wifi calling + texting, you can even use your US number internationally since it will work off the eSim data.

Have you considered Google Fi? I've used it for the better part of a decade now and its always been great, especially internationally. The plane touched down, I turn off airplane mode, and I get a notification from the Google Fi app, "Welcome to The Netherlands!"

Plus, it's primarily the T-Mobile network anyways with the addition of the US Cellular network and the old Sprint network.

And go where? I've had bad experiences with service with AT&T and Verizon in my area, Washington State. It's shockingly spotty.

On Lopez Island T-Mobile is pretty much the only thing I been able to use. This is in the village area too, not just south end. And T-Mobile gets service on most of the ferry ride to Anacortes. When you are waiting in line for 90 minutes for a ferry ride in your car, cell service is really appreciated.

Counterpoint to the anecdata: I carry both TMobile (work) and AT&T (personal) phones most of the time. Often the only way to get any data response in a major metro is to tether the TMobile one to the AT&T phone - this is in a major metro area, and largely the reason I switched away from Google Fi (though it turns out Apple Watch cellular is so useful that Google Fi isn’t an option at all anymore).

Yes, at our place in Southern California my ATT service is much better then my T-Mobile service.

avoid T-Mobile and join AT&T or Verizon? i'm sure they have their fair share of shady/borderline illegal things they do.

> i'm sure they have their fair share of shady/borderline illegal things they do.

That might be true, but at least AT&T doesn't block private VPNs, nor has plans to do so.

Here is what your comment boils down to:

"A."

"But B!"

>> "But still, A." <<

How do you know what AT&T is planning? Are you involved in their internal discussion of how they handle VPN traffic?

If so, maybe you shouldn't be saying you/att have no plans to. And if not, maybe you shouldn't be saying they have no plans to

I have T-Mobile, they don't block my VPN traffic. Cox however... My VPN does not work on any Cox network.

> How do you know what AT&T is planning? Are you involved in their internal discussion of how they handle VPN traffic?

I'm part of AT&T Cybersecurity.

Are there public statements from ATT describing their intent to not block private vpns for the foreseeable future?

There’s no VPN blocking in place, and there are no plans to do so.

But if you want proof of what AT&T isn’t going to do, it’s going to take a while to compile.

It’s probably just my cynicism :( but I usually just assume most corps will do it if they thought it would make them more money.

This is where we must all realize that 3 (and only 3) companies competing is not competition. It is oligopoly.

Or that competition only worth anything if it is made in a very well regulated environment (as per Adam Smith himself). If the playing field had customer-friendly laws in place, none of these giants could be this scummy.

It looks like T-Mobile isn't actually preventing or blocking Private Relay, but that it doesn't function while T-Mo's Content Filtering is enabled. Here's more information on that.

https://tmo.report/2022/01/t-mobile-blocking-icloud-private-...

tl;dr - disable T-Mo Content Filtering on your account and PR will work just fine

Good point. I upvoted your comment, and I wish I could edit my comment to add this. It seems that I can't edit the comment anymore though.

PS: The 9to5mac article has an update which indicates that the blocking is _not_ exclusive to users who have "filtering and blocking features enabled".

This is the way... (until they fix it)

I'd like to switch, but after testing Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint (prior to the merger) with SIMs in my unlocked iPhone, none of them had reliable coverage at my house. T-Mobile was the only provider that gave me a good signal. I'm in city limits, so it's not what I expected, but I guess the problem is very localized.

Unless someone can spare me $70,000 so I can pay the install fee for a Comcast Internet connection to my home in downtown Chicago, I have to stick with T-Mobile for my main Net connection.

Starlink (if/when available)?

When I was shopping around there was a huge backorder on the receivers because of the chip shortage. In the end, for a wireless connection, the 5G T-Mobile one works out better in bandwidth and latency.

Are you new to the area?

Because there is no reason to get internet from any of the big boys if you're in downtown Chicago. All you need is fiber to the big brick building next to McCormick Place, and there is fiber under every El track, in the old freight tunnels, along the Metra tracks, and just plain old every street.

https://silverip.com

This is probably the best of the dozen choices you have. When I lived downtown, I got gigabit internet for $15 a month.

You've got to be kidding me if you think you want Comcast.

Huh. Thank you. I'd never heard of these guys before. I'll give them a call.

Good luck, I've had great experiences in two different condo towers.

Dude, t-Mobile is leagues better than AT&T or Verizon.

AT&T essentially bankrolled OANN, Trump's propaganda network. Verizon has done tons of shady stuff in the past as well.

Plus my bill for TMO has been constant (like the same) for years straight - no overages or surprise bills. Not going back to ATT/VZ for a long time if ever.

I've come to really regret my recent switch to Verizon Prepaid. They are very over-provisioned, which means anyone not on post-paid (i.e. MVNOs and to my disappointment, vzw prepaid) will get deprioritized to practically zero even with plenty of data available in the plan. I am unable to load even the simplest of web pages when this happens, which is a terrible state to be in when one is trying to check-in to a store to pickup an order, for example. I feel I would have gotten more enjoyment out of the money I am paying them if I had set it on fire. I am frantically looking for a less nasty alternative.

Where is this happening? We've had no problem using xfinity mobile, which is a verizon MVNO, in the Bay Area.

AT&T and Verizon have very checkered pasts, advocating to switch to them is ridiculous. That's not to say T-Mobile is perfect or even great, but at least for me they are the significantly lesser evil. That might just be down to the fact that they've only been around for 2 years.

I also can't complain that I get 8 lines of unlimited everything for $150.

> That might just be down to the fact that they've only been around for 2 years.

What? I was using T-Mobile in 2018 in the US.

That was a typo, I meant 20 years.

Ah! That makes more sense then. Although as Facebook proves, plenty of companies under 20 years old have developed the evil gene.

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