T-Mobile vs. Virgin Mobile?

[GAMESHARQ]

I am currently on Virgin Mobile's Beyond Talk plan which is $25 per month and has 3G speeds with unlimited web, data, messaging, and email plus 300 minutes.


T-Mobile has a plan that is $30 per month and has 4G speeds with unlimted web and text plus 100 minutes.


I'm thinking of making the switch from Virgin Mobile to T-Mobile. Anyone know how the service compares? It's $5 more per month and has less minutes, but I'm tempted by the 4G.

 

[zuben el genub]

TMO is also GSM. It means some things will be done differently. And it will depend on the bands on your phone. TMO uses the 1700 band, but the newer phones will do 1900. TMO does have value "bring your own phone" plans where you don't get charged for a subsidized amount.

 

[GAMESHARQ]

What does GSM mean?

 

[aysiu]

What does GSM mean?

For practical purposes, it means you won't be able to use the same phone on T-Mobile that you used with Virgin Mobile.

I'd been using T-Mobile for 2 1/2 years before I just canceled. Great customer service. Very reliable (no dropped calls or finicky connections). Better integration with Google Voice than Virgin Mobile (not sure if that matters to you). And the 4G speeds are fast (maybe not as fast as LTE, but fast still). I ended up switching just because T-Mobile's coverage in certain less-populated areas isn't that good, and I do sometimes visit some remote suburbs (not always in urban settings).

I don't know if this has changed, but when I used Virgin Mobile, it was renting its network from Sprint, and I think Sprint has better coverage than T-Mobile does (in terms of area).

 

[dwgjr330]

For practical purposes, it means you won't be able to use the same phone on T-Mobile that you used with Virgin Mobile.

I'd been using T-Mobile for 2 1/2 years before I just canceled. Great customer service. Very reliable (no dropped calls or finicky connections). Better integration with Google Voice than Virgin Mobile (not sure if that matters to you). And the 4G speeds are fast (maybe not as fast as LTE, but fast still). I ended up switching just because T-Mobile's coverage in certain less-populated areas isn't that good, and I do sometimes visit some remote suburbs (not always in urban settings).

I don't know if this has changed, but when I used Virgin Mobile, it was renting its network from Sprint, and I think Sprint has better coverage than T-Mobile does (in terms of area).

Hey I am thinking of switching from VM to TMO since vm is hardly breaking 1mbps. What kinds of speeds would you get from TMO (i am sure it would be a little better now since they are close to LTE). Also, how was the general coverage (3G/LTE vs 2G etc) as you went about your daily life?

Thanks

 

[Rush]

<Thread moved>

 

[breadnatty08]

Ugh, always kills me when I see how much folks pay for their plans. I have to bend over every month for Verizon.

 

[pantlesspenguin]

Ugh, always kills me when I see how much folks pay for their plans. I have to bend over every month for Verizon.

Ever hear the phrase "You get what you pay for?" There's a reason the plans are so cheap.

I was so tempted by their $30 monthly 4G plan that I jumped off a very grandfathered plan to take advantage of it. I was sworn to that nothing would change by way of level of customer service I was receiving. Bullsh*t. I came to find this was NOT the case. I always liked using their chat function to troubleshoot with tech when I had a problem. It kept my hands free so I coupd go through their steps on the phone. I don't know if it was just my account or if all of their customer service took a nosedive, but I found I was no longer able to chat with tech, and the troubleshooting chat reps could only tell me to pull the battery or do a factory reset.

So I took my phone into the store. The chick working the counter was like "Oh yeah I can fix that, give me a few minutes." I walk around the store for a few and she calls me back. The b*tch had moved all my apps to my sd card! She did NOT ask permission to do this! What's worse, many of my widgets and shortcuts were displaying errors! I told her to put everything back and set me up for a warranty replacement. First she told me my phone was out of warranty. It was an HTC Amaze that was just launched in NOVEMBER. She did a second look and found out I was right. Then she said in order to do a warranty replacement I would have to send in my phone first and take a loaner dumbphone in the meantime since I was now on the monthly 4G plan. Again, bullsh*t. I've done several warranty replacements while on T-Mo's post paid plans and they went flawlessly. That was the tipping point for me to switch to Verizon.

OP, take all this into consideration. But since you asked about speed, they are fast but coverage is a huge huge issue.

ETA: T-Mo recently laid off thousands of employees and shut down 7 call centers, including one just a few miles from where I live. While getting my account set up at Verizon I had to call T-Mo to get my account number to port my phone number over. THEY'VE OUTSOURCED THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!

 

[dwgjr330]

i am hearing very mixed reviews- some folks say they are awesome, others not so much- the '4g' is what i really like however i am concerned about coverage etc- i live in a pretty suburban area, no huge distances between centers of towns and populations etc so i am confident i would have great service, but still a little ehh

vm is great (for the most part) except the recent text outages and stuff like that- not sure what to do!! haha

 

[Gmash]

i am hearing very mixed reviews- some folks say they are awesome, others not so much- the '4g' is what i really like however i am concerned about coverage etc- i live in a pretty suburban area, no huge distances between centers of towns and populations etc so i am confident i would have great service, but still a little ehh

vm is great (for the most part) except the recent text outages and stuff like that- not sure what to do!! haha

Take any opinions or experiences on a forum like this with a grain of salt. ALL carrier coverage issues depend hugely on where you live and plan to use your phone. I have Cricket and have full bars everywhere in my building at work. A co worker has Verizon and barely gets a signal at all. It all depends where the towers are. Try asking people in your area about their service.

 

[rui-no-onna]

Hey I am thinking of switching from VM to TMO since vm is hardly breaking 1mbps. What kinds of speeds would you get from TMO (i am sure it would be a little better now since they are close to LTE). Also, how was the general coverage (3G/LTE vs 2G etc) as you went about your daily life?

Greatly depends on your location. At work inside my building/office, I get measly GPRS speeds (~50Kbps up/down). If I go outside to the parking lot, I get 1Mbps. At home 6Mbps.

 

[sc2dave]

i am hearing very mixed reviews- some folks say they are awesome, others not so much- the '4g' is what i really like however i am concerned about coverage etc- i live in a pretty suburban area, no huge distances between centers of towns and populations etc so i am confident i would have great service, but still a little ehh

vm is great (for the most part) except the recent text outages and stuff like that- not sure what to do!! haha

Maybe try RootMetrics | Measuring mobile performance for you, and with you to find out actual cell coverage?

 

[dwgjr330]

Greatly depends on your location. At work inside my building/office, I get measly GPRS speeds (~50Kbps up/down). If I go outside to the parking lot, I get 1Mbps. At home 6Mbps.

yeah i mean VM i am getting just about 1mbps anywhere and frequently way less- .7mbps to .5mbps at the lowest ive seen- its really sucky but i do have the $25/mo plan and the 300min while i dont use them all now is nice to have...

Its an issue of sacrificing ok coverage with godawful speeds for decent speeds and no coverage haha