No contracts for service, they separated phone subsidies from phone service, and reasonably priced data plans. Does anyone use T-Mobile? How is their network?
The opt-out process for T-Mobile's DNS hijacking is not satisfactory:
> Note: In order for opt-out to work properly, you need to accept a "cookie" indicating that you have opted out of this service. If you use a program that removes cookies, you will have to repeat this opt-out process when the cookie is deleted. The cookie placed on your computer will contain the site name: "http://tmob.search-help.net.
Do you have more information about how this works? I cannot imagine how a cookie would affect whether the DNS server returns NXDOMAIN. The site could possibly do it by IP but then the cookie wouldn't need to exist. If opting out just changes the ads to a 404 that is still DNS hijacking.
The DNS server needs to return NXDOMAIN if a domain does not exist. Nothing else.
I have never had any problem with coverage in major cities, if you get out of populated areas you will see that you are typically bouncing off partner towers, so you may lose data service, but will almost certainly have cell service. Basically as long as you live in a large city you will be fine. I never have had any problems (at least noticeable enough for me to remember) with dropped calls, or flaky service where I live.
I assume other peoples experiences may vary, but I think they are hands down the best cell provider.
I never think T-Mobile is especially good until I hear others bitching about their carriers.
However there are a couple of things that do irritate me:
[1] They sniff the header of every web-request looking for desktop browser string. If found they sent you a warning text threatening to cut off your service. It sucks especially when you move to a new home with no immediate internet service and want to tether for a few days.
[2] Non-existent domains redirect to a page with ads (Similar to OpenDNS). Sucks on a mobile since you have to wait for it to load to find out while adding to your data usage.
The default includes only 500MB of "high speed" tethered data, but you can add higher amounts.
If your offer included promotional discounts on the monthly rates, you will lose those discounts.
I wonder why this isn't happening to everyone?
I'm in the Midwest and the coverage is good in urban areas (HSPA+ and good voice). Voice at best in rural areas though.
T-Mobile's network is nowhere near as good for me as AT&T's was. I hope that it improves. The biggest problem is looking at my phone and seeing "0 bars."
Also, the data plan doesn't work with one of my phones. Ironically, the same phone AT&T forced me to have a data plan for. Maybe it would have never worked.
No issues as far as service goes unless I go someone in the middle of nowhere Indiana.
TMobile isn't perfect, but they don't have me swearing at them every month like AT&T did. The fact that I can bounce anytime is a huge bonus in my opinion.
i wonder if my microcell will work with tmobile? i'm out of contract and have been thinking about switching.
It will not. Instead of a dedicated unit T-mo uses UMA to allow phones to make calls via any wifi connection.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_Access_Network
I believe it had previously been implemented in hardware (BB Curve etc.), these days it's implemented via software for Android handsets. Not yet supported on iphones.
I love the neighborhood, but the wireless situation sucks.
If its an AT&T phone, it's likely because AT&T uses different frequencies to T-Mobile. This is likely also the reason for your 0 bars- many AT&T phones will only ever get EDGE at best.
Coverage in the Bay Area is great. Out east it tends to be a bit spottier than most of the other networks - in rural areas or inside certain malls my relatives on AT&T or Verizon might get service but I won't. They're generally fine in major urban areas and around major highways, but somewhat sparser on the long tail.
OpenSignal and SpeedTest are the apps that I used.
Probably a typo. G is near B on QWERTY keyboards.
In summary; it's awesome. However, when I leave the city, coverage is definitely limited. I do so very infrequently, so it's fine for me.
When I happen to be in an iPhone 4 compatible cell, the 3G is pretty solid, often 6mbit down, 2mbit up.
Waiting for the 5S to upgrade - hoping the LTE and HSPA+ is good.
Unfortunately for you, that means that you can't make a phone call 30 miles from your city center (or in remote locations like Brooklyn, NY or the state of Maine) , or in the back of your home, or 1000 ft from the interstate, etc.
Their phone support has always been fantastic for me.
Right before they switched to no-contract mode, I called in to cancel a USB data card I wasn't using much anymore. I have a phone (no contract, unlocked nexus 4) as well as that card, that had finished its contract some time ago. They gave me ~40% off of my entire bill if I agreed to a 2 yr contract.
Then again, when I go out into some parts of the country, I get almost no signal. There was an HN post some time ago with a map of comparative cell-coverage.
Unlimited means they do weird stuff to prevent some content from working after one gigabyte per month - flash videos don't work, for example.
They throw up interstitial warning pages which break forms and the back button, which can be annoying.
They have fierce image compression proxies, but the Windows client (if you chose to use it, you don't have to) allows you to turn it off.
I carefully checked that it was unlimited, and I gave them fair warning that I consider myself a heavy internet user, and I made sure they knew before they took me on that I'd be hammering the bandwidth. And I do.
There are plenty of businesses nearby where I'll have a full signal outside, but once I'm indoors it drops off to Edge network.
There are also blank spots of little to no data coverage that have no reasonable explanation.
That said, I'm aware of this and think it's worth the trade-off. I'm not going to another network anytime soon.