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

[doug in albq]

Thanks everybody for helping this slow-guy, tonight.

I had mixed up my Straight Talk Sim with my T-Mobile BYOD sim pack...



Sorry everybody. Sorry T-mobile support staff.

I put the correct sim in, called t-mobile, and no problem, all good now.

 

[BruiserB]

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

iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus (Verizon) are NOT CURRENTLY SUPPORTED on this plan.

I have this plan on my old iphone 4 and I just bought an iPhone 6 at full price (Verizon) and put the nano sim in from the original BYOD sims T-Mobile sent me (the iPhone 4 uses the bigger sized sim, therefore still had the nano sim). Called T-mobile to have my $30 plan switched to the new sim/phone and they would not do it and they would not say it was because it was an iPhone 6.

However after looking at the check for your device to order a sim page...
http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/sim-card


This plan currently supports all iPhones except the 6/Plus. (at least the Verizon ones)

and coming from the iPhone 4 I cannot simply swap a same-sized sim.

the small print on the page currently says this:

Not all iPhones and iPads are compatible with the T-Mobile network. Only T-Mobile and AT&T iPhones, and Verizon’s & Sprint’s iPhone 5 will work on our network; other iPhones may have limited functionality, including coverage limitations. Capable device required for 4G speeds; capable iPhone may achieve 4G speeds in limited areas.

Anyone have any suggestions?

EDIT: I was the ID10T on this one...mixed up a straight talk sim with a T-mobile sim...all good now

It works fine....I think that is super old info. The iP5 was the first phone that was officially supported by T-Mobile and only certain ones made after April 2013 had all of the frequencies T-Mobile uses. These statements are more about warning that certain old iPhones don't work. I'm using the plan on an ATT 6+. The VZ model has all the same bands and will work fine. I first signed up for this plan on my iPhone 4 and have simply moved the SIM to a 5, 5S, and 6Plus with no issues at all.

Why are you calling T-Mobile at all? Just move your old SIM to your new phone. If it's the wrong size, then just call customer service and say you lost your SIM card and need to move your service to the new card you already have. They will move the service. Don't say anything about having a new phone. Alternatively go to a cell store that sells phones for lots of carriers...many of them will have a cutter that can cut your old SIM down to a nano SIM. With GSM carriers your service is totally contained to your SIM and is meant to be portable from phone to phone....you don't need to contact a carrier.

 

[B.A.T]

My contract with Verizon ends at the end of this month and I plan to use this plan at that time. I have a couple of questions.

1) I know that my iPhone 5 will work on T-Mobile but my understanding is that I can only get 2g speeds with it? If so, I'll sell it and buy a 5S.

2) When I port my number over to T-Mobile will that automatically cancel my Verizon service?

 

[BruiserB]

My contract with Verizon ends at the end of this month and I plan to use this plan at that time. I have a couple of questions.

1) I know that my iPhone 5 will work on T-Mobile but my understanding is that I can only get 2g speeds with it? If so, I'll sell it and buy a 5S.

2) When I port my number over to T-Mobile will that automatically cancel my Verizon service?

1) You may want to try it on your 5 first...it may work better than you expect. If you are in an area that has implemented LTE, then it's likely that T-mobile has also refarmed other frequencies so that you may get "4G" which is HSPA+ on your VZ iphone. In some areas this is nearly as fast as LTE. If you aren't happy, you could then get a 5S.

2) Yes. Also you may want to make sure to do it near the end of your paid month on VZ. I don't know their policies, but ATT does not give prorated monthly service refunds, so I'll bet it's similar for VZ. But once you port, it will automatically cancel your VZ service.

If you have any doubt about wanting to use T-mobile, you can also sign up for the $30 plan with a new phone number and try it for a few days (maybe do this a week before the end of your VZ month). Then once you are happy, you can actually call T-mobile customer service and say you want to port your VZ number to this account. They will do that for free and your ported VZ number will replace the new trial number you used for the first few days. That way, if for some reason you don't like what you get from T-mobile, you'll only be out $30 and your VZ service will be in tact.

 

[brendu]

I think its an excellent plan for people who don't talk much. Unfortunately, 100 minutes isn't enough for me.

I use this plan and go over the 100 minutes often. As long as you have money in your account it will charge you 10 cents/ min. So you get another 100 mins for $10. I have never gone over 200 mins so I figure I'm still paying way less than anyone on contract. This plan is so good it's unreal (assuming you can get T-Mobile lte where you are).

Edit: I apoligize for not looking at the length or age of this tread and replying to your two year old post.

 

[B.A.T]

Thank you BruiserB

 

[Hal~9000]

I use this plan and go over the 100 minutes often. As long as you have money in your account it will charge you 10 cents/ min. So you get another 100 mins for $10. I have never gone over 200 mins so I figure I'm still paying way less than anyone on contract. This plan is so good it's unreal (assuming you can get T-Mobile lte where you are).

Edit: I apoligize for not looking at the length or age of this tread and replying to your two year old post.

Target MVNO Brightspot Mobile has 300min / unlimited txt / 3gb plan for $29 a month after giftcards + target red card discount. Good for those who might need a little more balance.

 

[KingArthurVI]

I'm currently on this plan. LTE coverage around my place is great

 

[themyst]

I was strongly considering this plan... but no nights and weekends, no mobile to mobile, nothing but 100 minutes? Can't do it. If it were 200-300 minutes for a few bucks more I could do it.

Does T-Mobile offer bonus minutes or something?

 

[jjfad]

I was strongly considering this plan... but no nights and weekends, no mobile to mobile, nothing but 100 minutes? Can't do it. If it were 200-300 minutes for a few bucks more I could do it.

Does T-Mobile offer bonus minutes or something?

I have this plan. The only way I stay under 100min is by using VOIP alternatives eg Skype, Hangouts etc. kind of a pain. I frequently think about switching to TMo postpaid just so I won't have to deal with this anymore...

 

[brendu]

Target MVNO Brightspot Mobile has 300min / unlimited txt / 3gb plan for $29 a month after giftcards + target red card discount. Good for those who might need a little more balance.

What carrier do they piggyback on?

----------

I have this plan. The only way I stay under 100min is by using VOIP alternatives eg Skype, Hangouts etc. kind of a pain. I frequently think about switching to TMo postpaid just so I won't have to deal with this anymore...

Yeah when I stay under its because I use FaceTime audio with a lot of people. It sucks when you have to call customer service somewhere and get put on hold for 10 or more minutes knowing you're just burning through those minutes.

 

[rui no onna]

I was strongly considering this plan... but no nights and weekends, no mobile to mobile, nothing but 100 minutes? Can't do it. If it were 200-300 minutes for a few bucks more I could do it.

Does T-Mobile offer bonus minutes or something?

Rate is 10c/min so if you regularly use 200-300 minutes, it'll cost you an extra $20-30 per month. Still not a bad plan all in all. If you need more minutes, though, Cricket offers unli talk/unli txt/5GB LTE data for $50/mo ($45 w/auto pay).

 

[Hal~9000]

What carrier do they piggyback on?

T-mobile.

 

[brendu]

T-mobile.

Hmm good to know about

 

[MrXiro]

Hmm good to know about

It's not Piggybacking... it IS T-mobile FYI.

 

[Eileen89]

This plan was perfect for me, however, T-Mobiles network coverage was not. Too many areas still with EDGE and even a few with no service at all.

 

[IrishVixen]

Had no idea this existed until I saw this thread and a few other posts. My TMobile SIM arrived last night so I can compare to my current AT&T coverage; activated with the $30 plan online with no issues, except that there were no numbers available in my area code, which was mildly annoying.

Coverage in my area so far is equal to AT&T...at half the price I currently pay. I rarely use 100 minutes most months, so a combination of keeping a little extra in my account for overages and using Google Voice through the Hangouts app for outbound calls when I'm on wifi should work perfectly--especially since I'm on wifi nearly all the time anyway. Now I just need to port my number over from AT&T and pay ETF for the last four months of my contract. I'll still save money even after paying that off.

It works fine....I think that is super old info. The iP5 was the first phone that was officially supported by T-Mobile and only certain ones made after April 2013 had all of the frequencies T-Mobile uses. These statements are more about warning that certain old iPhones don't work. I'm using the plan on an ATT 6+. The VZ model has all the same bands and will work fine. I first signed up for this plan on my iPhone 4 and have simply moved the SIM to a 5, 5S, and 6Plus with no issues at all.

1) I know that my iPhone 5 will work on T-Mobile but my understanding is that I can only get 2g speeds with it? If so, I'll sell it and buy a 5S.

1) You may want to try it on your 5 first...it may work better than you expect. If you are in an area that has implemented LTE, then it's likely that T-mobile has also refarmed other frequencies so that you may get "4G" which is HSPA+ on your VZ iphone. In some areas this is nearly as fast as LTE. If you aren't happy, you could then get a 5S.

I'm using my unlocked AT&T iPhone 5 from January 2013, and I'm getting LTE in some areas--and at speeds faster than my AT&T service provides. (Sadly, not in the house--but I rarely hit LTE speeds in the house with AT&T either. For me, they're pretty comparable in terms of voice and data signal--they equally suck at home, but are still usable.)

So to those worried about speed on an iPhone 5, if your phone is already GSM unlocked, definitely get a SIM and just try it out--even if you go with the per day rate for a few days, you should be able to get a feel for whether or not it will work for you. TMobile pretty frequently has sales on their SIM online; two weeks ago it was free, up until a couple of days ago it was 99¢.

(And their coverage doesn't work well for you, as others have mentioned, Cricket Wireless has a comparable prepaid plan running on AT&T's network.)

 

[cjake]

It works fine....I think that is super old info. The iP5 was the first phone that was officially supported by T-Mobile and only certain ones made after April 2013 had all of the frequencies T-Mobile uses. These statements are more about warning that certain old iPhones don't work. I'm using the plan on an ATT 6+. The VZ model has all the same bands and will work fine. I first signed up for this plan on my iPhone 4 and have simply moved the SIM to a 5, 5S, and 6Plus with no issues at all.

Why are you calling T-Mobile at all? Just move your old SIM to your new phone. If it's the wrong size, then just call customer service and say you lost your SIM card and need to move your service to the new card you already have. They will move the service. Don't say anything about having a new phone. Alternatively go to a cell store that sells phones for lots of carriers...many of them will have a cutter that can cut your old SIM down to a nano SIM. With GSM carriers your service is totally contained to your SIM and is meant to be portable from phone to phone....you don't need to contact a carrier.

I drove straight to my nearest T-Mobile store after picking up my new iPhone 6 Plus at FedEx. I had the $30/5GB plan for quite a while with a 3GS, so needed a new SIM.

As soon as the T-Mobile guy saw that the phone already had a SIM, he just reassigned my existing number to the 6 Plus SIM. No charge for doing so.

Note: This is a no-contract T-Mobile version iPhone 6 Plus purchased from the Apple store.

 

[andyx3x]

I just bought a buddy's iPhone 5 and want to get this plan. How do I go about it? I had it over a year ago but switched to Virgin for a year. The last time I just called customer service and asked if I could have it and the guy gave it to me. I can't believe it's that easy all the time.

I have multiple Wal Marts in the area so I can go there and I know Walgreens is having a special on T-Mobile sim cards this week but I don't know if that'll work.

What do I need to do? Thanks.

 

[andyx3x]

You can buy just the sim kit for the $30 plan at Walmart. I believe it comes out to be roughly $32. This is the plan I use with my 5S.

Does this sim kit come along with a $30 prepaid card, or is it just $32 for the sim card and you have to buy a $30 activation card too?

 

[MBHockey]

Just got my t-mobile iPhone 6 in the mail and put the SIM with the $30 plan from my 5C into the 6 and it works perfectly.

Might be a silly question but -- Any down side to using a year-old SIM from a 5C rather than the one that came with the 6?

 

[617aircav]

Just got my t-mobile iPhone 6 in the mail and put the SIM with the $30 plan from my 5C into the 6 and it works perfectly.



Might be a silly question but -- Any down side to using a year-old SIM from a 5C rather than the one that came with the 6?

No. Why would there be.

 

[jackwills]

Loving the plan... it is just perfect for me

 

[ivnmetal]

Great plan! Especially when you use Hangouts or Wifi-calling (iPhone 6, in my case)

 

[MBHockey]

No. Why would there be.

That was my question