yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[General Topics] dazz87:
Confused about the extra minutes, if we ran out of the 100 minutes pre month. I thought from reading this thread and other forums that it was $0.10 a minutes. So if i add 10 bucks to my account I get an additional 100 minutes to use. Then today i check the site and in order for $.10 a minute you need to add $100.00 to your account. If you add $10.00 then you only get 30 minutes...

http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans
[General Topics] wideasleep1:
You're looking at Pay As You Go (PAYG) not this $30/100 minute plan.
[General Topics] patass:
Somehow I'm blowing through my 5 gigs a month and have to renew a few days early every time, and every single time the morons on the t-mobile support line take a god damned hour minimum to figure this crap out. The lady I'm talking to now says I'm on a promotional plan through wal-mart and they can't renew it early because it doesnt exist anymore. Wal-mart has never had anything to do with my service or my phone or anything. I got my sim from a t-mobile store, signed up through a t-mobile store, etc. This is stupid. Can I just manage this through the website somehow?
[General Topics] Noble Six:
I refill on their website with a CC, I don't do autopay and I don't get charged tax.
[General Topics] Letitride:
As wideasleep1 noted, the $100 refill is for PAYG by the minutes plan - for 1,000 minutes @ 10 cents/min. good for 1 year with "Gold" status, do not confuse that plan with this $30 plan. Once you activate and register your prepaid account, the details will be spelled out nicely online. Extra minutes used will be charged & deducted from your account's available balance & applied.

I still have a T-Mo prepaid line on the PAYG plan with Gold status, calls are 25 cents per minute and only require $10 a year refill to keep it active, it's for emergency/backup access use only tied to WiFi only calling.

I manage 3 T-Mo lines online myself and seldom deal with CS, just register as it will simplify your lives (https: // my . t-mobile . com) - It will display your renewal date for next refill, minutes used/balance & data used, etc. Plus, you have options on refills, including auto-refill or auto-pay, etc. including use of refill cards or PiN codes.
[General Topics] TiltedAz:
Yes, that's another advantage - only paying for the service. No state tax, federal tax, no junk fees to help the disadvantaged, etc. I read the government is looking to add another $5/yr per cellphone for schools.
[General Topics] parkson:
Just refilled on mytmobile site with a credit card one time payment. Didn't see any mention of taxes and fees until after I hit pay button. Total came up to $32.43. (State of SC)
[General Topics] dazz87:
I signed up for auto pay and no tax. 30 flat. Is the price different between refilled vs auto pay
[General Topics] msgfromside3:
Is this purely $30 prepay thread or $30 repay plan related to Nexus thread? It sounds like the former and I am wondering why such a general topic exists in Nexus 5 forum. :)

Has anyone upgraded to 4.4.1 and has the issue with the radio? I just got my Nexus 5 and I haven't gotten the upgrade yet, and I am holding until I get OTA because I have been hearing people having the issue after sideloading the update.

Thanks.
[General Topics] sorindobrin:
Everybody...please keep this in mind...with this plan they will not renew it earlier than your 30 days, you blow through your 5GB you're stock with 2G. I'm having this plan for 2 years now, and managed to renew it earlier than 30 days only once( in the beginning ), couldn't do it ever since, in another 4 attempts. They don't do it anymore...You might run into one service rep that will do it for you...but that's the exception.
[General Topics] robstunner:
20 days left with on my current att plan. I think I've settled with this plan for me and the wife and an ooma for at home. Should be a monthly savings around $80 a month, and more data between us (pre throttle)
[General Topics] catnarok:
Others have answered already but yeah its $.10/min after the 100 min. I usually just refill 35 or 40$ instead of 30$ and its plenty extra. Found myself running out of minutes frequently when I was doing minimum refills ($30).

Anyways, I've been living in LA, Tucson, and San Diego. 0 complaints on this plan in LA and SD but living near Tucson mountains was pretty rough with coverage. At least when I'm at home/work I can leave gmail on and receive all of my calls through my PC for convenience, better "coverage," and save minutes as well.
[General Topics] sirxdroid:
You can also try and run GrooveIP on your phone (yes, I know it's going away in May), turn the cell radio off and just leave wifi on. If signal is poor this approach will also improve battery life by a lot. You can automate all this with Llama or Tasker, e.g. when you get home and connect to your wifi, turn cell radio off. When you disconnect from wifi turn cell radio on.
[General Topics] catnarok:
Yeah I used to rely heavily on grooveIP and talkatone a year or so ago but to my understanding Google will be blocking those "VoIP" apps that abuse Google voice/gmail calling next year, so I've been getting used to not relying on those apps :)
[General Topics] roger67:
Does Callingmart have an auto-pay feature similar to what is offered by T-Mobile?

I could only find the RTR/Top-Up Auto Load to Phone on Callingmart but this still requires logging into the Callingmart website every time a payment needs to be made. Maybe I'm missing something?

If not Callingmart, then are there any other retailers (besides T-Mobile) that offer auto-pay?
[General Topics] Gaffadin:
Login to your CM account and click the following: https://www.callingmart.com/account/Auto-PurchaseManagement.aspx

You can set up recurring automatic payments there, such as auto load to phone, which will mean you won't have to go and pay manually every month.
[General Topics] roger67:
Great! Thanks for the info! :D
[General Topics] harveydent:
I just renewed this plan a week early since I blew through my minutes this month because of the holidays
[General Topics] Fire Ball:
Why didn't you just add more minutes?
[General Topics] herosemblem:
I've been on the Tmo $30 plan for one week now. Thanks to all who assisted me with the process.

I was assigned a Tmo number and now would like to port my ATT number over. Tmo cust service reps tell me I need to provide them with my ATT acct # AND my "ATT password". I can see why Tmo might require this info...but doesn't this seem like a terrible thing to do?

I would like to hear from people who have actually been through this process where they gave Tmo their private information and passwords. Thanks guys!
[General Topics] dazz87:
You will need your pin # not your password to your account. That Tmo CS is wrong. When I ported my Gophone (at&t) I couldnt find my account # so I had to call AT&T to get it. I create a pin # on my account (at&t) online. Make sure you have all the info before porting over.

1. Your phone #

2. Acct number (not your phone #)

3. Pin # (4 digital)
[General Topics] herosemblem:
Thank you, Dazz. PIN it is, then. My concern stands nonetheless- giving my new carrier (Tmo) my ATT acct # and ATT PIN...

It seems there is no way around this, and my best bet will be to provide Tmo with that private/required info, and immediately afterward, call ATT to change the ATT PIN. In my case, the ATT plan will remain active. I'm just a member of that family plan who wants to jump ship to Tmo.
[General Topics] dazz87:
You have to call AT&T and ask them that you are planning on porting your number (cancel your line) if there is a ETF fee on your line. I had an issue back in Oct when I move my parents number over to lycamobile. I ported both numbers and I was three weeks from finishing my contract (family plan). I still had my line with tmobile when i ported my parents number, I asked if I was going to get a ETF even tho there was still one line active with Tmobile. They said No. In Nov for my final bill from tmobile I received a $250.00 fee for ETF. I eventually had tmobile remove the ETF. So make sure you will not be hit with a ETF fee from at&t when you port over to tmo.
[General Topics] herosemblem:
Good advice. Fortunately, I've got that research out of the way and should not incur an ETF from ATT.

Looks like I just have to suck it up and give Tmo my Att account # and Att PIN, then change my Att PIN right afterward.
[General Topics] abhipati:
I would suggest porting to google voice (20$ one time cost ) .That way you keep changing carriers and do not worry about losing number or porting with them
[General Topics] cephaus:
how do you guys like Tmobile? im split between the $30 plan or hopping on my AT&T Family plan
[General Topics] Letitride:
As ex-VZW customer w 2 family lines, grandfathered text & unlimited data plan, etc. for 20 years since NYNEX Mobile/Bell Atlantic era - who've ditched AT&T once before, we are very please, happy & satisfied since our switch to the $30 plans, savings offset to pay for 2 new Nexus 5 in less than a year. Look at it this way, there is no activation fees, micro-Sims are now free online (again) and if you are in a good T-Mo coverage area where you do most of the calling, and you aren't locked into other cellular contracts - you get 5GB of mobile data & unlimited texting and 100 airtime minutes to try it for 30 days - even Edge/2.5G speed if over the cap is very much usable. HSPA/+ and 4G or LTE speed is just rocket blazing fast, and one of the best contract-free device, the Nexus 5 to do it all with.

Get a new T-Mo # if you don't want to port out immediately as it's only offered for new activations, and if you like it - then, port out your existing # later on & use a new micro-Sim to do a new activation, the transfer of our numbers took 1.5 hours on one line and 8 hours on line #2 during the overnight hours, and we're good to go. Between our 2 lines, we get 10GB of data on the go - and I do not mind paying 10 cents a minute for excess airtime on voice calls - it is still saving 50% of our monthly bills over Big Red's CDMA statement with taxes, fees & surcharges, etc.

Here in NYC, T-Mo is even getting the "attention" of many AT&T customers over their poor track records on missing calls & coverage, despite all the claims - and "they" are all more expensive as we've spend months doing competitive comparision.
[General Topics] bcote311:
I am actually liking it a lot so far. I only signed up this weekend because I was waiting for my Verizon contract to expire but so far so good. I live just south of Atlanta and I have gotten LTE in all the areas I did with Verizon and it is super quick. I know overall the coverage is not as wide spread but for my daily usage this is going to be perfect. I just paid my last Verizon bill which was $87! The amount of money I am going to save makes the times I may have a weak signal all worth it. I say give it a shot and try it out. You have nothing to lose really since you can cancel it if you don't like it.
[General Topics] coorsleftfield:
I can't get any T-Mobile signal at my desk at work or in many buildings so that is a deal breaker. For $15 more straighttalk has unlimited minutes and uses AT&T which has better coverage indoors. Downside is they throttle your data at 2.5g instead of 5.
[General Topics] bcote311:
That's a shame. I am in a 42 story building right now on the 25th floor and I have two bars of LTE. This is actually better than I was getting with Verizon although I think that was more due to the Galaxy Nexus issues rather than provider service.
[General Topics] dazz87:
Love it!. I had GoPhone which I was getting horrible signal at home and work. Getting great signal at home (which also a plus with your battery life) and I'm paying half the price on tmo vs at&t. 5 GB of LTE per month. I blew through 500MB watching SUnday night football on my phone while waiting in line (in n out drive through) last night and I still have about 2GB left of LTE speed left on my acct. I'm using grooveip for talk time when I'm on wifi. Never went over my 100 minutes
[General Topics] whitedragonz83:
With LTE (and not moving) I've had good luck with VOIP calling. LTE is pretty powerful and low latency. Very nice combo for VOIP.
[General Topics] coorsleftfield:
I wish T-Mobile would put their wifi calling feature into the nexus 5. My coworkers are on T-Mobile and on our company wifi could function fine and seamless until they upgrade to the nexus 5. Without the built-in wifi calling feature they have no calling /Sms in the building.
[General Topics] lazydognet:
It's been good for me and my wife....we have two phones on it and have good coverage here in Sacramento, CA (of course, that is the key really....what coverage is like where you are).

LDN
[General Topics] herosemblem:
I like the $30 deal, but I've found that the signal reception is sickeningly horrendous from Sonoma County, CA and into Sacramento, CA. 80% of the time (at all locations), I have one bar with no lettering, and once in a while I will get a bar or two of LTE for about 90 seconds. A lot less cost than ATT, but also extremely poor signal. Also, I get one bar at home, and no bars at work.
[General Topics] ohthesepaws:
Can I be that guy and ask for the OP to be fixed to include links and instructions? I can't seem to find the right sim kit
[General Topics] whitedragonz83:
Lots of information here.

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1646755

Nexus 5 uses a micro though.
[General Topics] Wired66:
I live in Sonoma Valley and the signal is actually not bad and almost always have LTE or HSPA+. But I just drove through Petaluma and Rohnert park for the first time yesterday since getting T-Mobile and was surprised to see I was almost always stuck on edge even with full bars so I see what your saying.
[General Topics] wideasleep1:
This happens to me on drive thru's on 101, but once I stop and work my way into town my radio stabilizes and LTE connects.

FWIW..and I know I've seen it mentioned before but didn't believe it until I saw it for myself..but I ran out of 5GB data last night but am able to surf slowly and stream Google Music just fine today...radio says LTE but just slowed way down. Wonder if it's only http traffic throttled and rtsp etc. remain unaffected?
[General Topics] adrman:
That really is the "mother" thread for this plan and the various ways to set it up. It's long, but well worth the time.
[General Topics] troutforbrains:
If you change your PIN immediately after giving it to TMO for the automated system to process your port, you're gonna have a bad time. I'm not sure what the paranoia is, but this PIN exists pretty much only to protect porting numbers. Relax, let them do their thing.
[General Topics] Piero88:
Is there a workaround to go past the 2.5gb of hotspot?
[General Topics] BinkXDA:
I think you mean 100MB of hotspot.
[General Topics] :
Has anyone dropped AT&T for T-Mobile? I hate having a $160 phone bill when I only use less than 50 minutes a month.
[General Topics] ohthesepaws:
I'm about to jump over when I get the activation kit card thing from tmo next week. Just hoping I ordered the right one.... Lol

I don't understand how people blow through 5g of data. I have 2.5 and barely use that. We'll just have to see though how much data VoIP uses...
[General Topics] :
Are you already off contract? AT&T wants me to pay $350 for ETF. Trying to figure out how to get out of paying that.
[General Topics] dazz87:
Streaming. Was stuck in line (In n Out drive-through) for 20 mins blew through 500 MB in 20 minutes watching Sunday nite football...
[General Topics] rrumi001:
I'm guessing everyone here talks more than 100 minutes, but using another app like groove IP. How's the call quality from GrooveIP? Or is there another method/app?
[General Topics] herosemblem:
Thanks, Trout. For some reason I was thinking that with an account number and PIN, someone would basically have what they needed to alter my service, plan, or other nefarious things.
[General Topics] Letitride:
Been using GV with Talkatone for voice calling - go back & start reading from around Post #150 for details & discussions on how to - sound is good to acceptable over WiFi and also on mobile data. If you have good LTE coverage, try switching it to 3G only, yes - HSPA/+ only so that you balance speed with reliability on holding a good signal when NOT on a WiFi - as LTE is sometimes not as solid when moving (riding or driving in a car/bus/train, etc.) I use Talkatone to dial into T-Mo's Voice Mail system (805-xxx-xxxx) and it worked perfectly almost everytime on playback & listening.

At the end of the current 30 days cycle, looks like I will only exceed mobile minutes by 25 or less - so $2.50 in "excess" charges at 10 cents/minute - I am very pleased with that.

Have fun & enjoy the savings - your results will vary, of course.
[General Topics] Piero88:
Yea...is there a way to get past this?
[General Topics] wideasleep1:
Please read the tether block thread.
[General Topics] slowpok22:
I ran out of minutes and it would not let people call me.
[General Topics] Letitride:
Do you have a balance in your account (check under T-Mo My Account ) aside from your initial or subsequent $30 refill, you need to have additional credit/refill available for it to deduct airtime minutes from ...

Call 611 or CS & speak with them if there is an error.

Postscript / comments (12/21/) - as of yesterday, I've ran out my 100 mobile minutes on the plan and since I have a $20 unused balance already deposited in My Account, I continued to have incoming & outgoing airtime minutes and charged 10 cents per minute/deducting from the My Account (so far, only 50 cents for 5 additional minutes) It's easier for me when dialing out to others, to use Talkatone/Google Voice than for others used to "ringing" my regular mobile # - like 80's mom to switch to GV # (that is, until I decided on whether to port that old mobile # to GV for a one-time $20 fee) Call quality on Talkatone over WiFi is good to excellent, one call was dropped while it was ringing & unanswered - calls while on Mobile data is good as well, especially when I'm not moving (as when driving or riding in a car / bus or train/subway, etc.) Just 4 more days to the next 30 days refill, so I will probably use no more than 25 to 50 minutes this billing cycle ($2.50 to $5 extra) I will have Callingmart auto-fill the next $30 to fund it for 30 days, and so on - keeping the remaining unused $15 or more already added as reserve to draw upon for extra air times in the next 30 days cycle - as all of it will get rolled over.
[General Topics] slowpok22:
I I'm on auto renew, I went and added $10 on there site and it treated it like a partial payment, once I did that it showed that I only owed $21 and some change on my renew date.

It did allow me to call out though. Guess I'll have to figure out how to add without it thinking I partial paying for the next month
[General Topics] svengalis:
I think I am just going to switch to straight talk. It's only $15 more cause those 100 minutes go fast. Vonage and groove ip both suck.
[General Topics] Shinyhead:
The only bad thing I heard about ST is the streaming issue. But yeah ST is a great option.
[General Topics] 954wrecker:
http://phandroid.com/2013/09/30/straight-talk-2-5gb-data-throttle/

Keep in mind unlimited data is really only 2.5gb before throttling down to edge. Not sure they give you LTE like T-Mobile prepaid does. Extra minutes over 100 are only ten cents.

Sent from my HTC One XL
[General Topics] Cronis:
Yea they do... least they advertise as having AT&T LTE sims

I will try them out once I get the N5 if T-mo has bad coverage in my area.
[General Topics] wideasleep1:
I too had major issues on Vonage and paid GrooveIP...Skype solved it and those I call cannot tell the difference btw Skype and TMO
[General Topics] kangxi:
How is he "spamming" Solavei when it is just another viable option? People have mentioned Straight Talk and that's not nearly as good a deal as 4GB of 4G data for $49.

I've been using it since November and love it. I was going to suggest it but he did it first.
[General Topics] trsix:
umm

been using groove for months.

overall very good. few glitches.

maybe your wifi sucks.
[General Topics] geek_bear:
Keep in mind unlimited data is really only 2.5gb before throttling down to edge. Not sure they give you LTE like T-Mobile prepaid does. Extra minutes over 100 are only ten cents.

Sent from my HTC One XL[/QUOTE]

So is it 10 cents per minute for overages, or $10 for another hundred minutes? I've heard it both ways, and from what I have read on T-mobile's site I thought it was 10 cents/minute. I plan on dumping Verizon and going to this plan as soon as the Nexus 5 is available. If the overages are in $10 chunks, I may look more for other plans.
[General Topics] Greefus:
Does Straight Talk still accept new $45 a month AT&T users? I still have a micro sim from them..

I like Solavei for the speed and price. It's $58 after taxes and lets you use 4 GB, but I can't get indoor reception in big buildings since it's all PCS.

For N5 I'm thinking about switching to T-Mobile unlimited Simple Choice for $70 a month since there's no data limit, roams on AT&T, and has conditional call forwarding. CCF is mandatory for me for Google Voice Voicemail and Solavei is the only T-Mobile prepaid service that has it AFAIK. I can probably get a work discount of the Simple Choice plan too.

I'd be tempted to go back to $45 AT&T ST if it works via LTE, but I don't like the 2.5 GB per month limit. T-Mobile's HSPA+ has been very speedy for me though and I'm afraid both AT&T and T-Mobile's LTE won't be as good. I think I'd prefer T-Mobile to be the primary provider still since I can keep the LTE radio off and probably save some battery.
[General Topics] 954wrecker:
No this plan only charges per minute over 100. Never happened to me but it has happened to my wife. No tax here on the refills and we always get at least 10% off the refill cards when we buy them.

Sent from my HTC One XL
[General Topics] svengalis:
So is it 10 cents per minute for overages, or $10 for another hundred minutes? I've heard it both ways, and from what I have read on T-mobile's site I thought it was 10 cents/minute. I plan on dumping Verizon and going to this plan as soon as the Nexus 5 is available. If the overages are in $10 chunks, I may look more for other plans.[/QUOTE]

it may be 10 cents/minute but you still have to add at least $10 everytime your minutes run out.
[General Topics] 954wrecker:
I've noticed my actual data used and the amount T-Mobile shows are different over this past month. I haven't changed anything and I'm not complaining because I've basically got double the LTE so far this month. 10gb for ~$27 isn't a bad deal at all

Sent from my HTC One XL
[General Topics] stevvveo:
I'm with Big Red and started to get pissed with their phone selection and schemes to charge you out the A**. So I can either buy a phone like the LG G2 which is nice and all, but I'd be spending $600 bucks. I love how fast Verizon's LTE is and I have like a 23% employee discount with verizon but my bill is still $80 a month for my unlimited plan.

Is this $30 a month plan actually worth it, is the first 5gb really as fast as a contract Tmobile LTE connection?

Big decision here, I stream a lot.

Thanks in advance.
[General Topics] mr_blanket:
I wasn't sure if this has been posted before, so apologies if this has been answered...

I am a google voice user. In fact, my main number I give out to everyone is GV. My family, friends, employer, etc.

As I understand it, the Tmo prepaid options do NOT include call forwarding? So in that case, if someone calls my normal Tmo number (I plan on porting over my current number because some old friends still call it), it will simply roll over to the tmobile voicemail? Or does GV not work at all on Tmo prepaid?

I hope this makes since! Thanks.