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
The $30 plan is prepaid and the activations that come with buying an iPhone from T-mobile are all postpaid. You can't get the $30 plan at a T-mobile store, only from T-mobile online. First step is to get a SIM card.

http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/phone-sim-card

They only offer full size and micro (not nano) SIMs for prepaid. I got a full size and bought a cutter from eBay. You can cut without a cutter, but I didn't want to take a chance.

Then go here to activate:

http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans

Click the Activate button on the upper right side of this page. Notice that the $30 plan receives little fanfare at the bottom of the page. And, in fact, there are two $30 plans, so make sure you select the right one. If you select the other one, you can't ever change to the one you want. If you tried to activate in a store they will give you the other plan as well as it is the only $30 plan they can give you. You can get the 5GB 100minute plan only online this way.

If you buy a new iPhone and want hotspot, you will have to also select the $15 hotspot option. If you use an older iPhone without the new carrier update you will likely get hotspot free. This you can select later if you want to wait.

Your initial SIM will have $3.34 in credit on it, so you will have to recharge with at least $26.66 to activate your plan for the first month. Again, I'd recommend choosing to get a new number to try it out. Once you are happy you can call T-Mobile customer service and port your VZ number over. When I did it it happened instantly...I was on the phone with T-mobile from my ATT number and it dropped the call (as ATT service was cut immediately) while I was speaking to customer service! I popped in my T-mobile SIM and got a text that my number had changed.

Nice, I actually have two tmobile SIM cards already. Got them for free when they offered free with free shipping just for the hell of it lol. Maybe I'll try out the tmobile service. I honestly don't pay much for Verizon I'm on a family plan with my mom and just pay her 50$ a month for my added phone, I just would like to have my own plan in my name and it wouldn't hurt to have a lower rate as well. I feel spoiled sometimes though with Verizon service I have service literally everywhere I go! Which is awesome lol.
 
Nice, I actually have two tmobile SIM cards already. Got them for free when they offered free with free shipping just for the hell of it lol. Maybe I'll try out the tmobile service. I honestly don't pay much for Verizon I'm on a family plan with my mom and just pay her 50$ a month for my added phone, I just would like to have my own plan in my name and it wouldn't hurt to have a lower rate as well. I feel spoiled sometimes though with Verizon service I have service literally everywhere I go! Which is awesome lol.

Just be careful canceling your number on VZ.....you or you mom may get hit with an early termination fee if you got your iPhone 5 from them 6 months ago on a 2 year contract.

Also you can find deals on t-mobile refill cards and save some money as well as probably avoid sales tax. Search tmobile refill on eBay. I have seen warnings that these codes may not be legit so you may not feel comfortable with that. I have also had good experience with www.refillmobi.com 10% off and no tax.
 
Just be careful canceling your number on VZ.....you or you mom may get hit with an early termination fee if you got your iPhone 5 from them 6 months ago on a 2 year contract.

Also you can find deals on t-mobile refill cards and save some money as well as probably avoid sales tax. Search tmobile refill on eBay. I have seen warnings that these codes may not be legit so you may not feel comfortable with that. I have also had good experience with www.refillmobi.com 10% off and no tax.

Yea Im month to month used another phones upgrade on the family plan and activated it on my line. Only way to keep my unlimited data, and also I don't have the two year contract for my line. Thanks for the advice!
 
Yea Im month to month used another phones upgrade on the family plan and activated it on my line. Only way to keep my unlimited data, and also I don't have the two year contract for my line. Thanks for the advice!

Sounds like you know what you're doing! In that case I wouldn't hesitate to activate one of your SIMs and give T-mobile a try to see if it would work for you. Since you have 2 SIMs already, you could actually do what someone here suggested....start with one of them on just the $3 a day plan for a couple of days (just load enough balance on your account for those days)....drive around to where you normally are and check out the service with your current iPhone. Then if you like it you could let that SIM expire and activate the other one on the $30 plan. You might see some holes where you drop to 2G/Edge speed, but most of those would be filled in if you actually switched to a T-mobile iP5. So judge first if you can live with T-mobile speeds where you get high speed, then decide if you need further coverage area (in which case you may also want to get the T-mobile iP5 and you could sell your VZ one to subsidize it). For me 3G/4G is sufficient for most mobile uses including VOIP calling. LTE is nice to have, but overkill unless you plan to watch tons of video, but if that's the case then 5GB won't be enough for you anyway.

----------

this is the best plan. using it on my iPhone 4S. i dont talk much anyways so 100 minutes is more than sufficient for me.

Totally agree! It's been working well for me since December. I'm just avoiding doing the carrier upgrade so as not to lose free hotspot. But even if I did, it would be hard to find a competitive plan for $45 including all of that and hotspot. I don't need more voice minutes either.
 
Sounds like you know what you're doing! In that case I wouldn't hesitate to activate one of your SIMs and give T-mobile a try to see if it would work for you. Since you have 2 SIMs already, you could actually do what someone here suggested....start with one of them on just the $3 a day plan for a couple of days (just load enough balance on your account for those days)....drive around to where you normally are and check out the service with your current iPhone. Then if you like it you could let that SIM expire and activate the other one on the $30 plan. You might see some holes where you drop to 2G/Edge speed, but most of those would be filled in if you actually switched to a T-mobile iP5. So judge first if you can live with T-mobile speeds where you get high speed, then decide if you need further coverage area (in which case you may also want to get the T-mobile iP5 and you could sell your VZ one to subsidize it). For me 3G/4G is sufficient for most mobile uses including VOIP calling. LTE is nice to have, but overkill unless you plan to watch tons of video, but if that's the case then 5GB won't be enough for you anyway.

----------



Totally agree! It's been working well for me since December. I'm just avoiding doing the carrier upgrade so as not to lose free hotspot. But even if I did, it would be hard to find a competitive plan for $45 including all of that and hotspot. I don't need more voice minutes either.

Last question the hotspot feature is like if I wanted to connect my laptop or tablet to the Internet using my phone right? Can you get that with tmobile 30$ plan? If so how much? Thanks
 
Sounds like you know what you're doing! In that case I wouldn't hesitate to activate one of your SIMs and give T-mobile a try to see if it would work for you. Since you have 2 SIMs already, you could actually do what someone here suggested....start with one of them on just the $3 a day plan for a couple of days (just load enough balance on your account for those days)....drive around to where you normally are and check out the service with your current iPhone. Then if you like it you could let that SIM expire and activate the other one on the $30 plan. You might see some holes where you drop to 2G/Edge speed, but most of those would be filled in if you actually switched to a T-mobile iP5. So judge first if you can live with T-mobile speeds where you get high speed, then decide if you need further coverage area (in which case you may also want to get the T-mobile iP5 and you could sell your VZ one to subsidize it). For me 3G/4G is sufficient for most mobile uses including VOIP calling. LTE is nice to have, but overkill unless you plan to watch tons of video, but if that's the case then 5GB won't be enough for you anyway.

----------



Totally agree! It's been working well for me since December. I'm just avoiding doing the carrier upgrade so as not to lose free hotspot. But even if I did, it would be hard to find a competitive plan for $45 including all of that and hotspot. I don't need more voice minutes either.
What are your apn settings for the hotspot on the $30 plan?
 
Last question the hotspot feature is like if I wanted to connect my laptop or tablet to the Internet using my phone right? Can you get that with tmobile 30$ plan? If so how much? Thanks

If you just pop in the T-mobile SIM and activate and follow the manual configuration instructions here,

http://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-2383

the hotspot should work. Only thing to do different...on step 9, instead of pcweb.tmobile.com, type epc.tmobile.com just as you did in step 7. Then the hotspot should work for free.

Make sure you set this carrier info up manually on your phone and don't accept the automatic carrier update that T-mobile may send you. If you accept the update, T-mobile will autoload their settings and you won't be able to manually reconfigure them. In that case, you can still tether, but it will require you to pay their official charge of $15 a month for the service. Your VZ iphone should work without the extra charge, but if you buy the iP5 from T-mobile, it will likely already have the locked down settings on the phone that will require you to subscribe.

----------

What are your apn settings for the hotspot on the $30 plan?

epc.tmobile.com
 
T-Mobile's 4G isnt even true 4G, nevermind their "LTE", its basically HSPA. Their service is a joke here in my area by Disneyland. Calls drop like nothing and I used to have to walk outside just to get service in most places. You should probably stay FAR away from any carrier that has to invent "Wifi calling" because their service is so terrible, many people cant even use their phone in their house.
 
You should probably stay FAR away from any carrier that has to invent "Wifi calling" because their service is so terrible, many people cant even use their phone in their house.

i think t-mobile's wifi calling solution was a lot easier and simpler than the femtocell solution of the other three carriers (sprint's airrave, at&t's microcell, and verizon's network extender) which required you to buy extra hardware. all the carriers had solutions for bumping up poor reception. it wasn't just t-mobile.
 
It's a great deal.
It is a great deal. Overage minutes are 10 cents. Months I talk 100 minutes or less, my bill is $30. Months I talk more, I pay a little bit more. My biggest bill thus far has been $50. You get 5GB full speed data and unlimited texts as well.

I pay for what I use, instead of paying for what you don't use.

Take into account that the bill INCLUDES tax, it's a great deal. Don't forget the tax and fees on the postpaid bills, in some states the fees and tax can equal 20-25% more.

Some people like a steady bill, and pay more for it. I prefer saving money.

Smart phones are expensive, so you either pay for it "monthly", or use this novel idea called "saving" and actually owning the device. Sadly, people buy things "monthly" instead of owning them these days.
 
Can someone post their speed with this plan? This is my lte speed I love it, but cost more than double! ImageUploadedByTapatalk1365752186.884700.jpg
 
I think this is the BEST deal in the industry.

I couldn't afford an iPhone (or any smartphone for that matter) if it wasn't for this plan. The average person doesn't understand that it's not the price of the phone at full retail price that expensive, it's the monthly plan.

Let's do some math comparing Verizon and T-Mobile.

Verizon charges about $100 a month for unlimited minutes, text, and 2GB of data and $200 for 16GB iPhone with a 2 year contract. So that's

($100 x 24) + $200 = $2600 over the course of 2 years, and that's not even including tax and fees.​

Now with T-Mobile's plan it's

($30 x 24) + $650 = $1370​

THAT'S ALMOST HALF THE MONEY!

Another great feature of this plan is that there's no taxes and fees, just $30 a month.
 
^ and if you're one of those rare people who keep your phone for 3 years instead of only 2 (like me), you save an additional $840 every year on those monthly payments :) $1200 (plus tax) vs $360 (no tax). I love T-Mobile :D
 
^ and if you're one of those rare people who keep your phone for 3 years instead of only 2 (like me), you save an additional $840 every year on those monthly payments :) $1200 (plus tax) vs $360 (no tax). I love T-Mobile :D

I agreed. I know lots of people who are still using 3GSs.
 
I got an iPhone 3G from AT&T can I just activate it with the tmobile SIM card? Or do I have to do anything else first?
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.