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AT&T >> T-Mobile

pkoutoul

Member
Aug 11, 2010
87
11
Anyone here recent converts from AT&T? Next month I will hopefully be ditching AT&T after 12 years and thinking of going to the new no commitment plan. I have four lines and with data it looks like I'll be saving about $50 a month. I love the idea of bringing my own phones and being free of long terms contracts. I was just wondering if anyone else has made the switch and knows of any "gotchas".
 
One thing I wish I knew about t-mobile pre-pay before switching over to it: There is no call forwarding. Thus, I can't use google voice.
You can get that call forwarding with the post pay "uncarrier" plan, requirements for that are same as for a contract, credit check etc.

Or if you want prepaid on tmo network a MVNO called Solavei does have call forwarding and unlimited data, 4gbs at full speed throttled after that.
 
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One thing I wish I knew about t-mobile pre-pay before switching over to it: There is no call forwarding. Thus, I can't use google voice.

As I understand it, he will be using the "Uncarrier" plans, which have call forwarding, and not pre-paid.

I think the only issue to really beware of is that T-Mobile has less overall coverage than AT&T -- so be sure you live in an area with good T-Mobile coverage. Of course, even in areas without T-Mobile coverage, you will still get roaming in areas that are covered by AT&T -- though then you will need to watch your usage or you could end up paying more. Additionally, LTE is not yet available in a lot of cities. While T-Mobile does seem to be doing a great job of getting LTE up and running, it is still a long way behind.

On the plus side, you will likely enjoy the fact that T-Mobile has HSPA+ 42 in many areas (compared to AT&T only having HSPA+ 21).
 
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I guess I'm lost here. :thinking:Don't mean to sound like a noob but I use GV as my primary number and I get all my voicemails fine. I never give out the actual cell phone number because I have jumped between phones too many times.

If you want to use Google Voice voicemail for your sim number you need conditional call forwarding. I planned on using my GV number for everything but the lack of MMS support was a deal breaker. I use both my sim and GV numbers - all my voicemail goes to GV.

T-Mobile postpaid has conditional call forwarding, so does Solavei. T-Mobile prepaid doesn't.
 
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I guess I'm lost here. :thinking:Don't mean to sound like a noob but I use GV as my primary number and I get all my voicemails fine. I never give out the actual cell phone number because I have jumped between phones too many times.

The reason you would need call forwarding is so all your calls, including any that are made to your cell phone number, end up going to Google Voice. What you are talking about works so long as all your calls are made to your Google Voice number.

As an example, while I give out my Google Voice number exclusively as my cell number, there are a few people I give my cell number to so they can send me MMS texts (since Google Voice doesn't support pictures in texts). While I've told them to call my GV number, they sometimes accidentally call my cell number.
 
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If you want to use Google Voice voicemail for your sim number you need conditional call forwarding. I planned on using my GV number for everything but the lack of MMS support was a deal breaker. I use both my sim and GV numbers - all my voicemail goes to GV.

T-Mobile postpaid has conditional call forwarding, so does Solavei. T-Mobile prepaid doesn't.



The reason you would need call forwarding is so all your calls, including any that are made to your cell phone number, end up going to Google Voice. What you are talking about works so long as all your calls are made to your Google Voice number.

As an example, while I give out my Google Voice number exclusively as my cell number, there are a few people I give my cell number to so they can send me MMS texts (since Google Voice doesn't support pictures in texts). While I've told them to call my GV number, they sometimes accidentally call my cell number.

Yeah, MMS is not a neccesity for me. Going from a postpaid contract to the very cheap $30 plan I knew I had to sacrifice something. GV with Spare Phone or Talkatone isn't perfect but it's not bad.

For voicemail on my actual cell phone number, I just use TMo Visual voicemail, which surprisingly works on my unlocked AT&T Galaxy Note. It helps me because the previous owner of my cell number gave out the number to alot of people and she hasn't even told them her number has changed. Then I use Mr. Number to block these people always calling her.

Makes sense now. Coming home late and being tired and sleepy doesn't make the brain function correctly :D
 
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I read someone else say this, they had to have voice mail actually removed from there account though for it to work, gv would pick up after 7 or more rings which if tmo voice mail was on it would pick up first.
No, I have both voice mails enabled. But I have my GV selected to forward to Gmail as opposed to by mobile number. So with GrooveIP set up and running, it will ring through that and if I don't pick up it leaves a voicemail in my GV inbox. If someone calls my mobile number, I get a T-Mobile voicemail.
 
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No, I have both voice mails enabled. But I have my GV selected to forward to Gmail as opposed to by mobile number. So with GrooveIP set up and running, it will ring through that and if I don't pick up it leaves a voicemail in my GV inbox. If someone calls my mobile number, I get a T-Mobile voicemail.
was talking about what the other person said

I never did this but I read that they used GV mail for both tmo number and GV number.
 
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@Petrah: You get voicemail through GV instead of T-Mobile without call forwarding?

Yup. I didn't even have to disable my VM with T-Mobile. All I did was skip that step in Google Voice.

No, I have both voice mails enabled. But I have my GV selected to forward to Gmail as opposed to by mobile number. So with GrooveIP set up and running, it will ring through that and if I don't pick up it leaves a voicemail in my GV inbox. If someone calls my mobile number, I get a T-Mobile voicemail.

Exactly. :)
 
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I switched this week after being with AT&T for over 10 years. The fact that I could bring in my own phone (I had just gotten a Nexus 4 from Google which was about $100 cheaper than getting it through T-Mobile) was a factor. Also a better service plan for the same amount each month (AT&T = 450 min, 200MB, no texting vs. T-Mobile = unlimited min, 2.5GB, unlimited texting). And apparently T-Mobile has no problems with hot-spot tethering. The sales rep made a point of mentioning that.

But as I learned after the fact (in spite of what coverage maps showed) is that I live in a small black hole surrounded by H+ coverage, so data is 1-2Mb (if at all) instead of 13-14Mb a couple of blocks away (grrr). I'm on Wi-Fi at home, so not a problem, but AT&T definitely has coverage beat in my area. The real test will be when I visit family in western Mass in a couple of weeks.
 
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I switched this week after being with AT&T for over 10 years. The fact that I could bring in my own phone (I had just gotten a Nexus 4 from Google which was about $100 cheaper than getting it through T-Mobile) was a factor. Also a better service plan for the same amount each month (AT&T = 450 min, 200MB, no texting vs. T-Mobile = unlimited min, 2.5GB, unlimited texting). And apparently T-Mobile has no problems with hot-spot tethering. The sales rep made a point of mentioning that.

But as I learned after the fact (in spite of what coverage maps showed) is that I live in a small black hole surrounded by H+ coverage, so data is 1-2Mb (if at all) instead of 13-14Mb a couple of blocks away (grrr). I'm on Wi-Fi at home, so not a problem, but AT&T definitely has coverage beat in my area. The real test will be when I visit family in western Mass in a couple of weeks.
With the nexus 4 set up LTE. See if in L.A. your coverage covers you at home.
Many people have said LTE coverage in L.A. is really good.
 
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With the nexus 4 set up LTE. See if in L.A. your coverage covers you at home.
Many people have said LTE coverage in L.A. is really good.

I've just been reading up on this (I'm assuming you mean flashing the .33 radio and doing the necessary edits). But I'm not holding my breath, as every map I've seen of my area - Los Felix/Griffith Park - LTE is fairly spotty. Couldn't hurt to try, though. ;)
 
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