Trying T-Mobile

September 14, 2015 11:45 AM

My contract with AT&T just ended. I've pre-ordered an unlocked iPhone 6s from Apple. I want to try T-Mobile, but keep my AT&T account meanwhile (it's unlimited data). T-Mobile's "Test Drive" program is backordered 6 weeks, so what's the cheapest way to get a T-Mobile SIM to test their voice and data coverage? Pre-paid? Pay-as-you-go? I understand I won't have use of my usual phone number while testing with their SIM.
posted by Quisp Lover to Technology (7 answers total)

Best answer: You could purchase a sim from a T-mobile MVNO. Coverage should be exactly the same. Find one that will be as close as you can get to pay for what you use.
posted by Sleddog_Afterburn at 11:52 AM on September 14, 2015

Best answer: How long are you envisioning your trial period to be?

Walmart partners with T-mobile for a $30 unlimited talk-text + 1 GB of 4G data, but it's tricky (but not impossible) to get around the $25 price for the SIM card if you are a new customer.

Their pay-as-you-go is pretty cheap if you are thinking a week or less of trial data.
posted by muddgirl at 12:46 PM on September 14, 2015

Best answer: T-Mobile periodically offers the SIM card starter kit for a buck or less (e.g.). I just subscribed to a SlickDeals deal alert for T-Mobile and started getting emails when they came up -- seemed to happen about once a month.

I've been very pleased with T-Mobile's $30 5GB data prepaid plan. Only 100 voice minutes, but between various VOIP options (Google Hangouts, GrooveIP, etc.) it's not hard to stay under the limit, and even if I go over, it's cheaper than most postpaid plans unless you go *way* over.
posted by tonycpsu at 1:01 PM on September 14, 2015

Response by poster: =====
T-Mobile's $30 5GB data prepaid plan. Only 100 voice minutes
=====

That sounds perfect. Even my "unlimited" data plan on AT&T throttles me above 5gb. And I'd need to work hard to talk 100 mins per month in this century.

Does that plan give me T-Mobile's great International data and call rates? That's a big draw of T-Mobile; I travel abroad a lot, and would rather not buy local SIMS.
posted by Quisp Lover at 1:17 PM on September 14, 2015

Is everyone completely sure that the MVNOs are allowed access to the same LTE bands that the primary carrier uses?

I had TMO with an iPhone4 and when I moved to the 6+LTE, coverage was seriously different. Just sayin'.

Sadly TMO used to have a trial program where you could walk around with an iPhone 5s+LTE for a month and then bring the phone back, but that program is gone.
posted by JoeZydeco at 1:29 PM on September 14, 2015

You don't get international roaming with the $30 plan . You have to at least the $40/month prepaid plan for that.
posted by cnelson at 1:54 PM on September 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Just got the SIM card starter kit for 99¢. That should be a good start. Thanks, all.
posted by Quisp Lover at 7:40 AM on September 15, 2015