AT&T said its 700 MHz systems are now essentially fully interoperable with those of some smaller carriers, making good on a vow it made to the FCC more than three years ago. And that’s likely good news for T-Mobile and some other operators.
The nation’s second-largest wireless network operator said in September 2013 that it would begin to support 700 MHz interoperability and would begin to offer Band-12 capable devices, marking a surprising about-face from its previous claims that such a move would be costly and unnecessary. AT&T followed that up in March 2015 when it disclosed in an FCC filing that it was working with several smaller carriers to follow through on its commitment to support interoperability between Band Class 17 and Band Class 12 in the 700 MHz band.
AT&T has consistently declined to name those smaller carriers, but they likely include T-Mobile and U.S. Cellular, perhaps among others. In its progress report with the FCC, AT&T said it had met the goal of supporting interoperability in the lower band of 700 MHz airwaves.
AT&T also said that it had completed deployment of multi-frequency band indicator (MFBI) software on its 700 MHz airwaves, which enables its network to operate simultaneously in both Band 12 and Band 17, supporting devices in both band classes.
I guess they want you to call them because they have a fairly long list of plan offerings (both prepaid and postpaid) which is good and bad I guess.
I want to understand their native offerings before I jump to an MVNO.
Offerings include:
T-Mobile ONE Voice
The All-In plan. Get unlimited talk, text and 4G LTE high-speed data on America’s best unlimited network with taxes and fees included. Plus, you can upgrade you experience by adding T-Mobile ONE Plus, or T-Mobile ONE Plus International! Learn more!
T-Mobile ONE Military
T-Mobile ONE™ Military gives service members all the benefits of our unlimited plan─that’s unlimited talk, text and 4G LTE high-speed data on America’s best unlimited network with taxes and fees included─at a specially discounted price. Get our biggest discount ever for families, with 50% Off family lines. Learn more!
See terms
T-Mobile ONE Unlimited 55+
T-Mobile ONE™ Unlimited 55+ is our sweetest unlimited deal on America’s best unlimited network, created especially for customers aged 55 and older. Get up to 2 lines of unlimited talk, text and high-speed data with taxes and fees included for less than T-Mobile ONE (age verification required). Learn more!
T-Mobile Essentials
With T-Mobile Essentials™, you get a straightforward plan option with only the necessities: unlimited talk, text and smartphone data on a great network. Learn more!
Unlimited Talk & Text
Don't need data? Unlimited Talk & Text plan provides unlimited minutes and messages with taxes and fees included. Learn more!
No Credit Check with 10GB High-speed data
Up to 5 lines of unlimited talk, text and data with 10GB of high-speed data for your phone – no credit check required! Taxes and fees not included. Learn more!
T-Mobile ONE Prepaid
The All In experience you want without any strings attached. Get all the talk, text and high-speed data you want on America’s best unlimited network. Learn more!
And some of these have sub-categories with different amounts of data. Not sure why they wouldn't just let me drill down myself on the site though...
Pre-paid offerings. Cheapest on there is $45/mo per line for 4GB and unlimited talk/text. Or $55/mo per line for 6GB and unlimited talk/text. At $45 x 2 that is basically what we are paying now and it would be more data. I don't really need more data. I am looking to decrease my monthly expenditures. They may have better post-paid deals, which I still have no pricing on.
Also on the roaming stuff, I've seen as little as 200MB of roaming allowed on some T-Mobile plans (info I have been able to find). Other times it just says roaming, which implies there is no cap. But 200MB isn't going to augment your plan really. Like if your house has AT&T coverage but not T-Mobile, that 200MB of roaming isn't going to go very far (though you'd have WiFi anyway). Or maybe like, if your parents or sibling's house has AT&T but not T-Mobile coverage, and you don't have their WiFi password, you could burn through that 200MB showing a few YouTube clips. I'd be more concerned with call/text continuity than data roaming.
You can also buy more data instead of living with reduced speeds. An extra 1GB costs $10. An extra 3GB costs $20. I don't know why you'd do that when you can also upgrade to the next tier which is a better deal. Oh, I see why (read on).
Yes! You you can upgrade your 4G LTE data size mid-cycle by paying the difference between your current plan and the upgraded plan. You are also able to set the change to occur when your current plan ends. You cannot switch down data, though.
The downgrade restriction must refer to the length of the commitment (i.e. if I bought the 10GB plan for 12 months, I couldn't downgrade to 5GB or 2GB before that 12 months was over). In which case I see why the one time upgrades exist. This all makes sense.
- For just 5, we’ll send you two SIM cards—download our free Mint Mobile app to activate the first SIM and test Mint where you live, work, and play
- Trial includes 100MB of 4G LTE data, 100 text messages, and 100 minutes of talk—all of which is good for 7 days after activation
- Once you know we're a match, choose the plan that's right for you and use the second SIM to transfer your current phone number to Mint (or keep your new number with the first)
- We’ll even credit the 5 back when you purchase any full Mint Mobile plan through the Mint app after your trial, which means you get premium wireless service for just 15/month AND the credit—score!
Damn. You even get the $5 back. I think I am going to get the starter SIM and see. A commenter makes a good point. Don't run speedtests on the starter. I am more concerned about the number of bars as I know T-Mobile's LTE is pretty fast.
I think this is one of the best ways to summarize what you get, and what you don't get, with a discount MVNO such as Mint:
I would probably attribute most of the 1-star reviews on here to the inability to follow instructions and/or having unrealistic expectations of a low-cost MVNO. The instructions / process can be tricky depending on your level of tech-savvy and reading comprehension. If you want things to "just work" and don't want to get your hands dirty, stop reading this and go to a Verizon store. If you are able to do some light research/googling, don't mind rolling up your sleeves a little bit during the trial and activation process, are in a good T-Mobile coverage area and the trial SIM works well for you, this might be a good bet. If you do your research and put in the effort, you can save quite a bit of money on your wireless service. But that means a certain amount of do-it-yourself. If you want retail-level customer service, that is what the mainstream carriers will provide you-- and you will pay for it accordingly. Bottom Line - Don't buy a ticket on Spirit Airlines and then wonder why you didn't get a Vodka/Tonic and warm towel before takeoff.