Coverage: Their coverage can be spotty in a few areas around the United States and Mexico, but not as bad as most people proclaim it to be. If you live in a major metropolitan area it is likely you will have comparable coverage to AT&T and Verizon in most areas. One benefit of being a smaller carrier means you are likely competing against less customers for network capacity. T-Mobile now has the best 4G coverage and its great to be a customer with fewer people competing for coverage on the HSPA+ network. This usually results in less data and voice congestion problems when you are at a stadium or on a crowded freeway. Their most concentrated coverage is in the eastern United States, although there is quite a large zone in New York and Georgia that gets limited or no coverage. Nevada and some of the mountain states are some notable dead zones in their coverage network and even California and Oregon have quite a few miles where service is not available. T-Mobile has network coverage in every state except Alaska, reception in rural areas can be spotty. Also, as with all carriers, reception will vary due to location. International coverage is available in more than 187 countries.Their website does have a nice feature that allows you to check coverage areas by inputting your zip code and overlaps nicely with dead zones reported on our map on the right. If you travel a lot, they do have international service options, but it will cost you as roaming charges do apply. Plans: T-Mobile leads these carriers in free minutes and value now offering unlimited plans without long term contracts. For the money, they offer the most free minutes of any plan and likely the most value depending on where you live. T-Mobile offers more plans that are typically less expensive, particularly for Web access, text and multimedia messaging services. They offer several plans including business plans, pre-paid, family and individual plans. They do offer free phones subsidized phones, including camera phones, but if you want to choose a different phone than the one they offer you will have to pay for it. Plans available below:
- No offering unlimited plans without long term contracts is a great selling point
- As a GSM carrier and a subsidiary of Germany's Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile has extensive international roaming and thousands of Wi-Fi hotspots in the United States and Europe.
- Of the major carriers, T-Mobile received the highest customer service rating by J.D. Power and Associates for several consecutive years.
- T-Mobile is the only major carrier not to offer push-to-talk services.
- We recommended you monitor your text messaging usage closely and get on an unlimited plan so you don't get charged the outrageous .25 cents per message if you go over.
- Has 3G Coverage now in most major cities.
- T-Mobile has the Android phone with unlimited data plans. We highly recommend it!
Other Reviews:
Feedback is always welcome. Please submit your comments below.
Feedback is always welcome. Please submit your comments below.
Posts
I live in Temecula CA and travel throughout San Diego county. In the valleys and areas where I had no reception from Verizon I actually get reception from TMobile. I read a lot of reviews and it seems like they must be outdated because here in my neck of the woods TMobile is great. Plus I never have to worry about going over my minustes and I don't have to spend my hard earned money on overpriced service.
I just got t-mobile and the coverage is horrible in CA (san jose) - I will be switching back to AT&T soon. T-mobile 3g just doesn't work.
T-mobile coverage in the US is very spotty. I travel a lot, and more often than not it seems that everyone around me is using their phones, yet I do not have coverage. For example, at JFK, T-Mobile has a ridiculously large dead zone. I will be switching to AT&T or Verizon as soon as my contract is up.
I live in California and drive the 580 from Dublin to Berkeley M-F, approximately 40 mins on a freeway through the suburban and urban environments. Calls will drop no less than 3 times. They drop when I leave Dublin and enter Castro Valley, they drop when I leave Castro Valley and enter San Leandro, The drop when I am driving the freeway through Oakland. I am not out in the "sticks" this is ridiculous.
I commute from rural Illinois to St Louis MO every day. coverage once I hit St louis city drops my side of the call several times per trip, and in Kirkwood, a large suburb, I can barely keep a call. People on Sprint and ATT say I am the only person whose calls drop. I am on FlexPay, they must use a crummier network to be so bad in a metropolitan area.
I heard T-Mobile's coverage in California, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego is pretty good when you don't have to compete for cell tower access. Less people on the network is good for the consumer.
T-Mobile (in Coronado, Imperial Beach, San Ysidro, Chula Vista ... basically southern parts of San Diego, especially near the border) ... Dropped Calls, Dead Zone, Int'l Roaming (Mexico)... Network Automatically Connects... Surcharges — BEWARE!
I agree with the above. I live in IB & my service goes on roaming about 50% of the time in town. Movistar in Mexico has a particularly strong signal that seems to override T-Mobile's signal in South San Diego county. I do have to say, though, that T-Mobile contacted me about a month after I moved here to let me know that I had abnormally high roaming charges (over $450!). I informed them of my new address & they reversed ALL of the charges. They even credited me an extra $50 for the inconvenience. Since then, my bill has been average, however the service is still spotty & I have to monitor my signal constantly to make sure I'm not on roaming when I call, text or use data services. I'll most likely be switching back to Verizon while I live here for convenience.
I must say that T-Mobile has excellent customer service! They offered me free upgraded phones just to keep me as their loyal customer! They also offer Teachers a 12% Discount of your monthly bill. I love T-Mobile. I did switch to Verizon, but their customer service was horrible and they have a lot of hidden surcharge fees. So, I went back to T-Mobile. I love it! My family loves it. We got the Family Plan with 1500 minutes per month and unlimited text. Awesome!
Tmobiles phones suck I went threw 5 G1s and I'm now on my 3rd cliq. Their network sucks I live in st. Paul mn and my phone drop calls all the time the 3g is horrible its SO slow. my 2 years is up next month and I'm done with them and their junk service and phones.
My advise find a different provider!
WHAT A JOKE-T-MOBILE IS.... I haven't had a good day since going with them! Oxnard CA is where I live. I'm in the 93036 zip code of North Oxnard. Every single one of my call's drops 20 or 30 seconds into the call. I've had Nextel which is now Sprint for 7 years, and verizon after that for 11 years. My friends have had AT&T for years. No complaints from them about bad connections.
I have to stand up to the window above my shower in my upstairs front of the house bathroom to get service at all or go stand in the corner of the master bedroom near the east facing window. Of course I can always "stand outside to make and receive all my call's" thank god the weather in Oxnard is mild year round.
I was stupid to switch up. If it ain't broke don't fix it right? Okay, hey times are tough on us all. And the only reason I switched was because I saw on their map that I would have good coverage in my area and around my house, AND I was TIRED OF PEOPLE TELLING ME VERIZON WAS A RIP OFF. I sunk to the peer pressure I guess you can say and look what I got now! What looked to be a wiser choice price wise ends up being a complete total nightmare of BAD NON service everyday! Before I at least had good coverage and could make and receive call's morning, noon, & nite where ever I pretty much traveled too I found with Verizon. Yeah I paid but I received in return! It's better to pay off their early termination fee @ 5.00 a month (make sure you don't go over 30 days between payments to them) til you've paid it off and get yourself hooked up with some real service from a true cell phone carrier! It ain't T-mobile for me!
chula vista, ca . great coverage! we love t-mo.