Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Your take on T-Mobile $30 Prepaid plan (100 min, unlimited text, 5GB of 4G data)

  • Something like this would be great for me

    Votes: 356 79.1%
  • Not for me

    Votes: 94 20.9%

  • Total voters
    450
OK, so I just need some clarification on a couple of things.

1) If I get a t-mobile unlocked iphone 5s from apple.com, will I be able to buy the prepaid nano-sim and pop it right into the phone, then activate?

2) On the t-mobile prepaid website, it only lets you buy 2 SIM cards at a time. Does this mean that 2 is the limit of lines on the t-mobile account? I am hoping to add 3-4 iPhones to an account and have them all on the $30 plan, but if this doesn't work, I will be wasting tons of money.
 
OK, so I just need some clarification on a couple of things.

1) If I get a t-mobile unlocked iphone 5s from apple.com, will I be able to buy the prepaid nano-sim and pop it right into the phone, then activate?

2) On the t-mobile prepaid website, it only lets you buy 2 SIM cards at a time. Does this mean that 2 is the limit of lines on the t-mobile account? I am hoping to add 3-4 iPhones to an account and have them all on the $30 plan, but if this doesn't work, I will be wasting tons of money.

Yes, you can use the card in that unlocked iPhone and activate it with no problems.

They will only allow you to order two sims at a time. I have:

2 data only Nano sims for my iPad though only one is paid and in use for now, the other I sometimes use in my iPhone 4S.

1 Micro sim for the $70 unlimited,
2 Micro sims for the $30 100 minute plan, only one is currently paid and in use.


All of them are good to go at anytime and all I have to do is make a payment so yes, you can have many many accounts.
 
Operators that always bundle unlimited SMS annoy me. I don't send SMS, I don't want to pay for that.

Operators that offer a reasonable amount of data only for expensive subscriptions are even more annoying.
 
Not here.

Well I git tired of paying AT&T nearly $80/month when I could barely get edge speeds at my house and I would only use about 50 minutes per month. I was lucky to use 100MB because the speeds were so bad.

In the end, I had over 4,000 roll over minutes that I could never use and it was like that for six years.

Finally T-Mobile comes around with a plan I can actually use and I get excellent speeds at my house. I even get 28-21Mbps down on LTE for my iPad.

People text these days more than they ever make calls.
 
Well I git tired of paying AT&T nearly $80/month when I could barely get edge speeds at my house and I would only use about 50 minutes per month. I was lucky to use 100MB because the speeds were so bad.

In the end, I had over 4,000 roll over minutes that I could never use and it was like that for six years.

Finally T-Mobile comes around with a plan I can actually use and I get excellent speeds at my house. I even get 28-21Mbps down on LTE for my iPad.

People text these days more than they ever make calls.

I was not saying anything specific about this case, just complaining about when there's no alternative.
 
I was not saying anything specific about this case, just complaining about when there's no alternative.

I understand. I hate the other carriers for making people pay too much for what they don't need. If it means I don't get a new iPhone very often, I'm good with that.
 
They will only allow you to order two sims at a time.

Would I be able to make 2 orders in one day to get all 4 sims in the same day or would they just not allow it? The 2 card at a time limit makes no sense to me. Also, would I be able to get a data only card for my iPad too? It is GSM AT&T and I didn't even think about that until now!
 
Would I be able to make 2 orders in one day to get all 4 sims in the same day or would they just not allow it? The 2 card at a time limit makes no sense to me. Also, would I be able to get a data only card for my iPad too? It is GSM AT&T and I didn't even think about that until now!

I tried making two orders in nod day and it rejected the second one. I waited a week and ordered again. Those sims on the website will work in iPads too, you just have to call to set up sim and activate the iPad.

Also, you will need an iPhone or other phone to place the sim in afterwards to create the online account for payments. You need the phone because it will send a text message to verify the account and the iPad can't get them.
 
Also, you will need an iPhone or other phone to place the sim in afterwards to create the online account for payments. You need the phone because it will send a text message to verify the account and the iPad can't get them.

I have one set up and running on my Galaxy S4. So you say I can take the SIM card out of my galaxy and put it on my iPad have it running on the iPad?
 
I tried making two orders in nod day and it rejected the second one. I waited a week and ordered again. Those sims on the website will work in iPads too, you just have to call to set up sim and activate the iPad.

Also, you will need an iPhone or other phone to place the sim in afterwards to create the online account for payments. You need the phone because it will send a text message to verify the account and the iPad can't get them.

Thank you for all of the help! I will be getting 3-4 iPhones soon!
 
...Also, you will need an iPhone or other phone to place the sim in afterwards to create the online account for payments. You need the phone because it will send a text message to verify the account and the iPad can't get them.

So you need to use the iphone (vs a laptop) to access T-Mobile website to activate the $30-prepaid plan? (Not good, old 3Gs iphone browsers barely work for T-Mo hog sites).

Or just need the phone nearby for sim placement/receive text msg? (No problem if that's what you meant!) :)

Thank you!
 
...or GoSmart, which is owned by T-Mobile.

Thank you, acore. I see GoSmart's "high speed" means 3G up to 5gig then 2G-speed, for $45, including unlimited text/talk, & the sims they sell are Standard (for a 3Gs) or micro. And they show my location as "Very Strong" (their 2nd-to-top on coverage map).

I will keep that in mind for the 3Gs iphone if the $30-prepaid doesn't work out for some reason. Already ordered 2 of the $30-prepaid Sim Kits from Walmart/already arrived, but haven't gotten 3Gs unlocked yet from ATT, nor decided which 2nd newer smartphone to buy (still simmering on the iph-5 at T-Mo).

QUESTION: Are Sims/Sim Kits time-sensitive?*ie, do they come w/any warning such as, "You must activate this within ___ days or it becomes invalid"(?) Hope not!

~~~

ANOTHER ALTERNATIVE TO NEEDING "TALK MINUTES" on Data Plan:

I could live w/o all "talk plans" as I bought a cheapo, non-internet, "throw away" pay-as-you-go T-Mo basic phone in '08 as a "talk phone if needed", back when I dumped Cingular's every month bill. So ONCE a year I go to T-Mo site & put $50 on that "throw away" basic phone, for like 400-minutes that roll over year to year, & hardly ever use any of them, like Jackie said. Talking on phones is for days gone by (especially as you get older it's no big deal).

You can pay more, more often, for more minutes if you need/want them for talking more.

Having a cheapo basic (non-internet) throw-away is cheap & can send text msg on it, too, if desperate (extra 10-25-cents or whatever), & it provides an extra ph # for sites & places that require a ph # but you don't want to give them your main/primary iphone #.

----------

No. Go back and read the post again.

Already had it in the 2nd paragraph:

Or just need the phone nearby for sim placement/receive text msg? (No problem if that's what you meant!) :)
 
Thank you, acore. I see GoSmart's "high speed" means 3G up to 5gig then 2G-speed, for $45, including unlimited text/talk, & the sims they sell are Standard (for a 3Gs) or micro. And they show my location as "Very Strong" (their 2nd-to-top on coverage map).

I will keep that in mind for the 3Gs iphone if the $30-prepaid doesn't work out for some reason. Already ordered 2 of the $30-prepaid Sim Kits from Walmart/already arrived, but haven't gotten 3Gs unlocked yet from ATT, nor decided which 2nd newer smartphone to buy (still simmering on the iph-5 at T-Mo).

I've used the Walmart Family plan in the past and wasn't happy with the reception, a direct plan from T-mobile gets better reception. Even though Walmart is powered by the T-Mobile network it doesn't get the same premium reception as T-Mobile. I would highly advise against wasting your money at Walmart.

I just ordered a T-mobile prepaid SIM for 99 cents using this code: TMOSIM (which expires tomorrow)
 
So i'm using the T-Mobile $30 pre-paid plan from Wal-Mart and i need to refill next month and specifically on the 4th. If i put $130 on it via online...will i still keep the plan? or will it convert me to pay as you go? i need a little more clarification on the gold status reward when you put it $100. But i only care about keeping the way the plan is instead of being converted to pay for whatever you use.
 
I'm looking to join in on this plan, too. Since I can't find any T Mobile iphone 5s phones available, would purchasing a verizon iphone 5s outright be a good option. Does the VZW 5s work on tmobiles 3G AWS frequencies and 4G non LTE, too? I guess I'm asking if it's compatible fully with their network because I know the VZW 5s is fully unlocked.

Thanks in advance.
 
So i'm using the T-Mobile $30 pre-paid plan from Wal-Mart and i need to refill next month and specifically on the 4th. If i put $130 on it via online...will i still keep the plan? or will it convert me to pay as you go? i need a little more clarification on the gold status reward when you put it $100. But i only care about keeping the way the plan is instead of being converted to pay for whatever you use.

if you fill $130, it'll deduct $30 for the plan and the remaining $100 will count towards voice minutes for those thirty days, so you'll have 1100 instead of the usual 100. then the next month, another $30 will be deducted from whatever you don't use.
 
I'm looking to join in on this plan, too. Since I can't find any T Mobile iphone 5s phones available, would purchasing a verizon iphone 5s outright be a good option. Does the VZW 5s work on tmobiles 3G AWS frequencies and 4G non LTE, too? I guess I'm asking if it's compatible fully with their network because I know the VZW 5s is fully unlocked.

Thanks in advance.

I believe that the Verizon iPhone 5S and 5C comes unlocked whether it's in-contract or not. Also both supports T-Mobile's LTE Network if your area that you live in have been converted.

if you fill $130, it'll deduct $30 for the plan and the remaining $100 will count towards voice minutes for those thirty days, so you'll have 1100 instead of the usual 100. then the next month, another $30 will be deducted from whatever you don't use.

So it won't change into the Pay As You Go feature?
 
I believe that the Verizon iPhone 5S and 5C comes unlocked whether it's in-contract or not. Also both supports T-Mobile's LTE Network if your area that you live in have been converted.
?

What about their faux 4G HPSA+ network? Their AWS network too? The thing with the VZW 5 is that it won't work with tmobile LTE or faux 4g and would bounce down to their edge network.
 
What about their faux 4G HPSA+ network? Their AWS network too? The thing with the VZW 5 is that it won't work with tmobile LTE or faux 4g and would bounce down to their edge network.

The verizon 5S/5C supports all bands..AWS/LTE. The Verizon iPhone 5 supports Tmobile LTE but doesn't support AWS 3g
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.