No, iPhone Probably Not Coming to T-Mobile Next Week Merrill Lynch Says It's Coming, Ignoring That N

[Poke]

Good news for T-Mobile users who been waiting for the I-Phone.

http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/No-iPhone-Probably-Not-Coming-to-TMobile-Next-Week-122233

 

[Anole]

one point of view

The reason for iPhone users to go to t-mobile has historically been to cut monthly costs. ($90-120)
Now with Straight Talk on AT&T, you pop in their BYOP sim ($15) and save.
Same AT&T network, same HSPA+, no jailbreaking, half the price ($45/mo, & NO taxes!).

Of course, with t-mo coming out with a $30/mo plan (see Walmart web site - not unlimited talk), and refarming to get 1900mhz HSPA+ into some markets, they may have a new enticement for iPhone owners.

T-mobile likely to announce they're selling iPhones any time soon?
You'd have better chances on winning the lottery .
The NEXT iPhone? Maybe. Summer 2013, perhaps.

 

[Foxbat]

Apple has unlocked iPhone 5 models now, so any GSM Nanosim should work.

 

[lparsons21]

Of course, with t-mo coming out with a $30/mo plan (see Walmart web site - not unlimited talk), and refarming to get 1900mhz HSPA+ into some markets, they may have a new enticement for iPhone owners.

T-Mobile has had a $30/month plan for quite some time. But it is different than the one Walmart is selling, and at the time I signed up was only available from the 2nd month onward via the T-mo website. My $30 plan is 1500 text/talk, 30mb data, which fits my useage just fine.

That one that walmart is selling would be great for those that don't talk/text much it seems.

 

[yourbeliefs]

There's been leaked T-Mobile documents and memos detailing staff to help people with unlocked iPhones to run on their network. At this point I don't think that getting the iPhone is going to help things over there. Their network in my opinion is just lacking tremendously. My wife has T-Mobile and on many occasions I would see that she just had Edge coverage or no signal at all while my AT&T phone more often than not had no problems whatsoever. Their 4G network is fast and all but much like AT&T's LTE network, speed without good coverage isn't that great. Still, getting an iPhone that can run on their 4G network with their PaYG plans is quite appealing if you can stomach that first investment of at least $649

 

[Anole]

Yea, there are two $30 prepaid plans.
See both Tmo & Walmart sites.
Look to see if either fits your needs.

I had Tmo send me two sims to test with.
Sims we're at first $1, but next day when I ordered they were free.
Supposed to come with 10 minutes, which is good to check coverage.
I have to think it wiil be fine all over the Los Angeles suburbs.

Not sure if these starter sims can be used on the Walmart deal.

But on the subject of buying unlocked phones for full price, do the math:
- the monthly plan with discounted phones are $80-120/mo
- you are generally locked in for two years
- don't forget outrageous taxes on post-paid plans $5-15/MO!
- remember to add the discounted phone price, too ($200+tax iPhone!)
- how many months @ $30-45/mo does it take to break even?
(generally about a year)

 

[yourbeliefs]

Yea, there are two $30 prepaid plans.
See both Tmo & Walmart sites.
Look to see if either fits your needs.

I had Tmo send me two sims to test with.
Sims we're at first $1, but next day when I ordered they were free.
Supposed to come with 10 minutes, which is good to check coverage.
I have to think it wiil be fine all over the Los Angeles suburbs.

Not sure if these starter sims can be used on the Walmart deal.

But on the subject of buying unlocked phones for full price, do the math:
- the monthly plan with discounted phones are $80-120/mo
- you are generally locked in for two years
- don't forget outrageous taxes on post-paid plans $5-15/MO!
- remember to add the discounted phone price, too ($200+tax iPhone!)
- how many months @ $30-45/mo does it take to break even?
(generally about a year)

I agree that long term, doing non-contract is a better deal. However, an entry fee of $650 may be too steep for people to deal with. I hate that I have to do a contract with AT&T but none of the PaYG plans provide me with what I need. I'm not doing one of the Sprint based ones like Virgin Mobile because the network sucks around here and the Verizon and AT&T ones are so expensive it's barely worth it.

 

[Anole]

Well, I was talking smartphone plans @ $30 - 45/mo, but not necessarily unlimited.

If you just need basic communications for a (non-spoiled) kid, there are pre-pay phones for $20 every Xmas.
That's the cost of the handset. Then you have to buy minutes.

Few years back, I got one on AT&T for $10-20 with a $10-20 rebate, making the handset free.
Right after that, my main RAZR v3i handset went in for warranty replacement, and I put my sim in the freebie for a while.

But smartphone prices are more palatable if you can trust a used one.
I got a couple broken ones and learned how to fix them.
Not a good general solution, but inexpensive and entertaining.

 

[robk299]

Looks like iPhone will come to T-Mobile next year.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/06/t-mobile-apple-2013/

 

[Anole]

Yea, a future model.
Apple *has* brought out products in the first quarter (iPhone 4 on Verizon), but I'd bet Tmo gets a non-unique model.
That (plus time for Tmo to build their LTE) would be more like 4th quarter.

The $64 question is, can the next GSM handset be saddled with the 1700 MHz band?
I wouldn't care to wager either way.