I have a phone on T-Mobile prepaid. It's been far less useful since
T-Mobile has lost so much roaming capability in the western region, but
I keep it because it's only $10 a year to keep it active. I only got it
because I needed a cheap quad-band GSM phone to take to Asia and Europe,
and T-Mobile's offering of a Motorola V195s for $25 with a $25 T-Mobile
prepaid card, was a good deal.
I wonder what AT&T will do regarding T-Mobile's prepaid service which is
far less expensive than AT&T's own prepaid. Of course I'd like to see
AT&T-like coverage at T-Mobile-like prices--if they do that, I'm all in
favor of this acquisition!
On Wed, 23 Mar 2011 15:51:21 -0400, SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:
> I have a phone on T-Mobile prepaid. It's been far less useful since
> T-Mobile has lost so much roaming capability in the western region, but
> I keep it because it's only $10 a year to keep it active. I only got it
> because I needed a cheap quad-band GSM phone to take to Asia and Europe,
> and T-Mobile's offering of a Motorola V195s for $25 with a $25 T-Mobile
> prepaid card, was a good deal.
>
> I wonder what AT&T will do regarding T-Mobile's prepaid service which is
> far less expensive than AT&T's own prepaid. Of course I'd like to see
> AT&T-like coverage at T-Mobile-like prices--if they do that, I'm all in
> favor of this acquisition!
"Rotsa Ruck!" as we used to say in junior high school :-) .
Cheers, -- tlvp
--
Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP
> I wonder what AT&T will do regarding T-Mobile's prepaid service which
> is far less expensive than AT&T's own prepaid. Of course I'd like to
> see AT&T-like coverage at T-Mobile-like prices--if they do that, I'm
> all in favor of this acquisition!
AT&T will kill off T-Mo prepaid as surely as the sun rises in the east.
They did the same with the old ATTWS Free2Go prepaid service after buying
ATTWS. They let you apply your balance to either their current prepaid s
vice, or let you apply it to a new or existing postpaid account. Folks
who refused to take either, IIRC, were eventually cut a refund check up
to some maximum payout ($200 maybe? I forget. HoFo's archives might
still go back that far.)
I've got a seven or eight year old Gold Reward line with nearly $200 on it.
(Another happy T-Mo customer service story- a number port accidentally
wiped out my Gold status on that line, and after a half-hour of trying to
reinstate it in their system with no sucess, the frazzled rep just put a
$100 credit on the line gratis to restore the GR status.)
> AT&T will kill off T-Mo prepaid as surely as the sun rises in the east.
> They did the same with the old ATTWS Free2Go prepaid service after buying
> ATTWS. They let you apply your balance to either their current prepaid s
> vice, or let you apply it to a new or existing postpaid account. Folks
> who refused to take either, IIRC, were eventually cut a refund check up
> to some maximum payout ($200 maybe? I forget. HoFo's archives might
> still go back that far.)
A refund is fine with me. I almost never use the T-Mobile prepaid phone
anyway. The 1 year expiration is great but the per-minute cost is still
comparatively high, and the coverage is relatively poor.
In <4d8c03fb$0$10607$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net> SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com> writes:
>A refund is fine with me. I almost never use the T-Mobile prepaid phone
>anyway. The 1 year expiration is great but the per-minute cost is still
>comparatively high, and the coverage is relatively poor.
Pick up one of the UMA phones, which will let you use
the service in your cellar dungeon. Might make it
worthwhile.
(Others have said, but I haven't personally verified,
that UMA works with the prepaid accounts).
--
__________________________________________________ ___
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]
>A refund is fine with me. I almost never use the T-Mobile prepaid phone
>anyway. The 1 year expiration is great but the per-minute cost is still
>comparatively high, and the coverage is relatively poor.
agree on per minute cost of prepaid T Mobile....it is
not very competitive
I use the $30 prepaid monthly plan from T-Mobile
though....mainly cause I love GSM phones better than
CDMA
In article <4d8c03fb$0$10607$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net>, SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:
>The 1 year expiration is great but the per-minute cost is still
>comparatively high, and the coverage is relatively poor.
Speaking as one who might use ten or twelve minutes a month: what's any
better?
Per SMS:
>A refund is fine with me. I almost never use the T-Mobile prepaid phone
>anyway. The 1 year expiration is great but the per-minute cost is still
>comparatively high, and the coverage is relatively poor.
I'd be looking for another provider where the annual rate for
somebody who uses almost zero minutes would compete with tMob's
$10.00.
Two of our phones are in the hands of stone technophobes who use
them only occasionally - and ten bucks a year is about as close
to free as I've been able to find.
--
PeteCresswell
At 25 Mar 2011 16:50:49 +0000 Arthur Shapiro wrote:
> In article <4d8c03fb$0$10607$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net>, SMS
<scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:
> >The 1 year expiration is great but the per-minute cost is still
> >comparatively high, and the coverage is relatively poor.
>
> Speaking as one who might use ten or twelve minutes a month: what's any
> better?
Depends on your POV. The attraction of T-Mo for low-use prepaid users
like myself is the $10 year minimum to keep an account alive after you
attain Gold status. Page Plus Cellular (a Verizon reseller) has more
coverage and a lower per-minute rate, but the minimum "buy" is $30/year
instead of T-Mo's $10, and $6 of that $30 is lost to PP's $0.50 monthly
fees. (An inconsequential amount to a higher volume user, but it's
effectively an extra $0.05/minute to someone who uses 10 minutes a month,
wiping out much of PP's per-minute rate advantage.)
T-Mo also offers cheap new phones available anywhere (Walmart, Target,
Walgreens, etc.), where most of Page Plus' offerings are old refurbs
available on their website or used Verizon phones from a ragtag
collection of dealers.
I use both- the Verizon-based PagePlus phone is a backup for the lesser
coverage of my monthly T-Mo account, and the T-Mo prepaids are for my
kids to use when needed.
At 25 Mar 2011 03:02:40 +0000 danny burstein wrote:
> In <4d8c03fb$0$10607$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net> SMS
<scharf.steven@geemail.com> writes:
>
> >A refund is fine with me. I almost never use the T-Mobile prepaid
phone
> >anyway. The 1 year expiration is great but the per-minute cost is
still
> >comparatively high, and the coverage is relatively poor.
>
> Pick up one of the UMA phones, which will let you use
> the service in your cellar dungeon. Might make it
> worthwhile.
>
> (Others have said, but I haven't personally verified,
> that UMA works with the prepaid accounts).
That helps with the coverage issues, but not T-Mo's per-minute rate- GSM
or UMA you still pay the same rate.
> AT&T will kill off T-Mo prepaid as surely as the sun rises in the
> east.
Probably but nobody knows for sure. I think it's wise to do nothing
right now as it seems to be agreed among those who know that it'll
take a year or longer for the merger to work it's way through the
approval process.
Expecting the worst and making a backup plan is a very good idea
(I've made mine) but implementing that plan now could be a costly
mistake.
arrrrrrrrgh............
--
Blinky No Blinky
Killing all posts from Google Groups killed me
The Smell Of Dead Shark Improvement Project
Need a new news feed? Go **** yourself
At 25 Mar 2011 12:25:03 -0700 XS11E wrote:
> Todd Allcock <elecconnec@AnoOspamL.com> wrote:
>
> > AT&T will kill off T-Mo prepaid as surely as the sun rises in the
> > east.
>
> Probably but nobody knows for sure. I think it's wise to do nothing
> right now as it seems to be agreed among those who know that it'll
> take a year or longer for the merger to work it's way through the
> approval process.
>
> Expecting the worst and making a backup plan is a very good idea
> (I've made mine) but implementing that plan now could be a costly
> mistake.
I agree completely- I intend to ride it out with T-Mobile as long as
possible. I'm just predicting the future based on past performance. If
anything, waiting until AT&T sweetens the deal might make sense- IIRC,
the offer of cash refunds for ATTWS prepaid balances didn't surface until
much later. I also agree having your exit strategy planned out ahead of
time is a great idea.
Prepaid T-Mobile and Transition to AT&T 
Linear Mode
