There are far more primitives forms of communication than texting. I have yet to send my first text message via phone. In fact, I have yet to buy a cell phone of any kind. I checked out this article to look into buying a smartphone. After looking at the unbelievable costs, I don’t think I will…..ever.I’d rather retire early.

I have been with T-Mob since they began. I have a GalaxyS4 which gave me awesome service for the first year. Until recently I have not had a single problem with products or service (that’s for 12 years folks). I moved to a rural area last May. I get service, but, it is intermittent at best. Yes, I checked the coverage before moving here, and I admit I am on the border line of the towers, but the service has sucked for me since moving. I’ve asked for help, I’ve complained, I even tried to get out of my “contract” due to the lousy service and constantly using ATT towers. (ATT will allow data usage IF their customers aren’t already signed on – when they do – I get bumped off.) You would think they could ‘upgrade’ the service out here since there are quite a few folks that use T-Mob, and of course they “say” they’ve done all they can. But, My service still sucks, more than half the time I can’t even get signals through my Wi-Fi. They still want me to pay an ETF to get out of my “contract”. I even got a “signal booster” which hasn’t helped either.

I don’t know what’s been going on at TMob but as a LONG TIME customer of theirs, I am disgusted with the “Everywhere coverage” that is NOT and the lack of response from the Technical Team that is supposed to be ‘fixing’ the problems.

I really don’t want to move away from T-Mob, because they’ve served me extremely well for 12 years, but I’m paying $175 a month and I can barely use my phone. There is something VERY WRONG in this and so far – no one has helped get the problem fixed.

how did they waive it?

I thought the exact same thing when I read his post. :)

It all depends on what plans you had before. It’ll save my mom and sister about $40 a month. For me O
I came from an even more plus plane at $59.99 with 500 minutes unlimited data (slowed after 2.5gb but actually slowed after 4) and unlimited texts. I Now pay a penny more for unlimited minutes and everything else stays the same.

You do know how a business works right? Companies DO spent hundreds per phone to make (the iphone chepaest model costs over a 100 to make, for example)…look it up. Many independent companies actually tell you how much the parts cost an OEM to produce or buy.
Not to mention that they still have to cover overhead. You know that samsung call center you contact to bitch about not getting a free bluetooth with every phone purchase? It costs calls centers like that nearly 4 thousands dollars a month just to keep the lights on, not to mention water, heat, trash, rent of property, maintenance, staffing, red tape compliance, and more. Thats just for a call center. Then you have to consider their other locations, trucks for delivery, advertising budget, and more. In fact, most companies dont make a 99% pure profit like you suggest. Thats a big myth and one continued on with by the ill informed.

Not really. If you “bring your own device” you are still buying the device from somewhere. You can get a cheaper used phone online sometimes, but cost for most new devices are about the same. You might save 50 bucks, or something more if its an older phone. For example: the note 2 sold 679 through tmobile, and online new ones sold for 600-650. Still a few bucks less, but then you dont always have the benefit of the warranty (as OEM warranties are not transferable between owners) and you dont always initiate a qualifying period to add a protection plan. So it has its pros and cons.

Not to mention that even with the cost of a new phone, the new plans are cheaper than tmobile’s old plans, and even tmo’s old plans were cheaper than the competition already.

Actually to upgrade the phone that is not under contract would cost you only the down payment. T-Mobile has a thing called “Bridge to value” which allows customers, like yourself, who have some lines that can easily move to the value and some that cannot, to be able to at least get discounts on the lines that are no longer under contract, or at least apst the minimum 18 months since they last got a discount on a phone. This means that you can ‘upgrade’ that line, and pay the 20 per month financing, but you would also get a 20 per month DISCOUNT on your rate plan, in the way of 15 bucks off your data plan and 5 bucks off your voice plan. Meaning the bill WILL NOT GO UP 20 bucks, but instead remain the same cost, with the plan discount and finance cost balancing each other out. Then when the other lines are ready, they can move over to and increase the savings.