Gave T-Mobile the boot and went with Google Fi


 
Jay D in Jersey

Jay D in Jersey

TVWBB Wizard
After 20 years for me and the last 6 for my family, including my SIL, gave T-Mobile the boot and switched to Google Fi. Daughter and husband went to Verizon business plan for her practice.
3 lines unlimited everything $80 plus I picked up a Pixel 7a 5g phone free after 2 years billing credits.
Got fed up with the drama and nonsense with T-Mobile.
Google Fi is T-Mobile 5g ....so same coverage, towers and speed for $100 less per month. I can use any form of payment I choose like, credit card or PayPaI...no bank account or debit card requirement.
Only regret is not doing it sooner.
 
Good luck. MVNO services don't actually get same coverage though. They may use the "backbone" of Verizon as in Xfinity, AT&T (Consumer) ot TM as in G-Fi but they actually don't give the same full coverage. For likely 90% of the time you may not know. But, those MVNO services can only access the "native" towers. I've seen it. I live in a "sketchy" area for AT&T and Verizon. T-Mobile has very strong native service at my house as there is a tower I can nearly see from my house.
Anyway when I had both Verizon and then AT&T friends would come by who used MVNO running on the Big V or AT&T and they would be DOA for service while I showed full strength. So it's in those type of areas you may black out unless G-Fi has other carrier agreements to fall back on in fringe areas.
I just use the T-Mobile senior plans. Still quite pleased and got wife the new Samsung Glaxy Z Flip 5 a short while ago when it first came out. Never had any drama with them.
Sadly the onlything I had to go away from them for was T-M home internet. My house is like a faraday cage. And try as I might I could not get the 5G signal to the gateway reliably. If they would have had the external antenna gateway sent to me it would be different but my house relies on good solid internet access. Not necessarily the fastest but solid. Between my cameras working correctly and even my HVAC system not to mention my home entertainment since we cut the cord and went all streaming or OTA TV. So sadly I had to go back with XFinity (yuk I just threw up in my mouth a little). Yeah I hate them that much. But, I give the devil his due
 
LMichaels said:
Good luck. MVNO services don't actually get same coverage though. They may use the "backbone" of Verizon as in Xfinity, AT&T (Consumer) ot TM as in G-Fi but they actually don't give the same full coverage. For likely 90% of the time you may not know. But, those MVNO services can only access the "native" towers. I've seen it. I live in a "sketchy" area for AT&T and Verizon. T-Mobile has very strong native service at my house as there is a tower I can nearly see from my house.
Anyway when I had both Verizon and then AT&T friends would come by who used MVNO running on the Big V or AT&T and they would be DOA for service while I showed full strength. So it's in those type of areas you may black out unless G-Fi has other carrier agreements to fall back on in fringe areas.
I just use the T-Mobile senior plans. Still quite pleased and got wife the new Samsung Glaxy Z Flip 5 a short while ago when it first came out. Never had any drama with them.
Sadly the onlything I had to go away from them for was T-M home internet. My house is like a faraday cage. And try as I might I could not get the 5G signal to the gateway reliably. If they would have had the external antenna gateway sent to me it would be different but my house relies on good solid internet access. Not necessarily the fastest but solid. Between my cameras working correctly and even my HVAC system not to mention my home entertainment since we cut the cord and went all streaming or OTA TV. So sadly I had to go back with XFinity (yuk I just threw up in my mouth a little). Yeah I hate them that much. But, I give the devil his due
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Our area is T-Mobile coverage rich...so is our beach house and almost all points in between. There's a T-Mobile tower close to our house as well.
I grew tired of the annoying changes...forced plan migration, pay only with debit card, no deals on phones for the last 3 years or so.
T-Mobile Tuesdays is just marketing, data gathering trash...do no benefit there.
All phones ported over easily including two iPhones and every line is getting 5g. There's no downside. I will wait and see if data throttling is an issue, if it is I'll pay a few bucks more and up the plan. Will still be far less expensive than T-Mobile. Also, T-Mobile owns Mint MVNO and can do whatever they want with it, I doubt they'll play games or mess with Google.
 
Yeah, Tmo is not the only one not giving a discount any more for using a CC. Verizon, XFinity, AT&T and many other services are doing this. It's because CC companies have gone unbridled nuts with service fees to merchants. So the merchants are "rebelling". As for equipment deals, we tend to keep stuff a long time anyway. And the Pixel 7 series is already a generation behind now. So yeah deals will be found on that. On our plan I can get an upgrade free every year. I have not done that. Wife just now got a VFlip 5 (latest toy from Samsung) but she was still using a 3yo S20FE. I'm on S22 Ultra which will soon be 2 gens old. They said I can upgrade for free. But changing phones is a bit of a hassle (all the reentry of security, app updates and so on) it's days before everything is back the way it was. Only upgrade I may do is to the new Galaxy S6 watch. which just came out. Only because I would like a bigger watch face.
But, quite honestly the only "drama" I've endured from them is the CC thing. Rock solid service otherwise. Not gonna switch to any MVNO because I can't give up the security, since we have no other telecommunication devices. Not worth the risk to me for MAYBE a couple $$$. Everyone has to weigh out their own risk to value factor. That one is mine. We have no phones other than our 2 TM lines
 
LMichaels said:
Yeah, Tmo is not the only one not giving a discount any more for using a CC. Verizon, XFinity, AT&T and many other services are doing this. It's because CC companies have gone unbridled nuts with service fees to merchants. So the merchants are "rebelling". As for equipment deals, we tend to keep stuff a long time anyway. And the Pixel 7 series is already a generation behind now. So yeah deals will be found on that. On our plan I can get an upgrade free every year. I have not done that. Wife just now got a VFlip 5 (latest toy from Samsung) but she was still using a 3yo S20FE. I'm on S22 Ultra which will soon be 2 gens old. They said I can upgrade for free. But changing phones is a bit of a hassle (all the reentry of security, app updates and so on) it's days before everything is back the way it was. Only upgrade I may do is to the new Galaxy S6 watch. which just came out. Only because I would like a bigger watch face.
But, quite honestly the only "drama" I've endured from them is the CC thing. Rock solid service otherwise. Not gonna switch to any MVNO because I can't give up the security, since we have no other telecommunication devices. Not worth the risk to me for MAYBE a couple $$$. Everyone has to weigh out their own risk to value factor. That one is mine. We have no phones other than our 2 TM lines
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Ran up against another T-Mobile annoyance this AM. Called to closeout the account and get my debit card info. removed. Oh no, unless I can remember the 6-12 digit PIN which I likely created 5 years ago, I need to go to a T-Mobile store to get that done. Really??
I'll report the card lost to Wells Fargo and be done with it and T-Mobile once and for all.
I'm really liking the Pixel 7a so far. It's 6" which is definitely big enough gor me, in fact, I like the smaller phones. It moves from Wi-Fi to cellular seamlessly. Battery life is very good. I was able to get a decent case with a built-in screen protector( I just like those). Moving everything over from my LG Velvet 5g was easy. Haven't tried the camera much yet but I think the Pixels in general are known for excellent cameras and picture quality.
 
Yeah their cams are pretty good. I use an Otterbox on my S22 Ultra. It's saved my bacon so many times. Can't tell ya how many times that thing has taken a header (face down, corner down, etc) and it just bounced off. No small feat for a heavy $1200 phone :oops: Thank heaven I had an Otterbox on my Note 9 as well prior. Day I was dropping it off to trade in on the S22 Ultra it fell outta my pocket face down on the asphalt. Dusted it off and turned it in. Done. I REALLY like wife's Flip 5 but I love my cameras in the S22 Ultra more. Hopefully one day Samsung will get a Flip with cameras more like the S2X series phones. I'll likely hang on to my Ultra until then.
And re it being a PIA to go into a store to do that. With so many security issues now (SIM Swapping, ID Theft, and so on) and tech companies like TM being placed in the center of it. Yeah, I don't blame them one bit. How would it have been if they didn't require that, and your accounts got hacked because someone else claimed to be you?
Quite honestly I'll take that minor inconvenience for my security ANY day of the week.
I know you got a boil in your butt on them (TM) but security is far more important. At least IMO.
Cheers!
 
Jay D in Jersey said:
I grew tired of the annoying changes...forced plan migration, pay only with debit card, no deals on phones for the last 3 years or so.
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I have had a T-Mobile plan for at least the last 15 years.

We currently pay $99 a month for five lines.

I have read about the “forced plan migration” so I keep an eye out for that.

From what I have read, in order to keep my current plan, I just need to “opt out” of any changes T-Mobile tries to make on my plan.

Annoying yes, but otherwise it’s a great plan and I doubt I could do better.
 
Yeah, read in my NewsFeed they're not doing this. IN my case I made a plan change to the newer plan (Go5G Senior) on my own. Nothing "forced". I get so much free stuff, free upgrades every year, and other discounts on stuff I use plus getting a $70 Costco gift card, not gonna drop them over a few minor things. Service otherwise is top notch. Honestly no complaints. It more than pays for itself.
 
John_NJ said:
I have had a T-Mobile plan for at least the last 15 years.

We currently pay $99 a month for five lines.

I have read about the “forced plan migration” so I keep an eye out for that.

From what I have read, in order to keep my current plan, I just need to “opt out” of any changes T-Mobile tries to make on my plan.

Annoying yes, but otherwise it’s a great plan and I doubt I could do better.
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They bailed on the forced migrations and making customers opt out.
I think they floated that balloon and customers reacted very negatively toward it so they covered their tails by stating it was erroneous info. miscommunicated and leaked.
$99 for 5 lines is tough to beat.
I was paying $260 for 5 lines all with unlimited talk,text,data.
T-Mobile coverage, for us, is excellent. Have the same coverage with 2 less lines for $80 plus my new phone which I paid $500 up front and then get $21 bill credits every month for 2 years. I'm good with that.
 
I was a sprint customer obviously now T Mobile we always had a weak spot in the house we got a signal but it was weak just in that inbetween with the towers I guess. I was running an iphone 8 upgraded to a used iphone 13 recently and the problem has gone away since the 13 supports 5g and the 8 did not. Their service is very good when you travel and have to say I am happy with them. I pay 100 bucks for 4 lines unlimited voice and text as well as data that was my plan under sprint using a credit card so they could get paid and when they bought sprint one of the conditions to get approved was they could not change the plan for 3 years. I don't have a problem keeping the $20 dollar discount using my bank account instead of the credit card. I lose some points but not the end of the world.

For internet I pay 75 bucks a month for 1gb service from ATT been happy with them for years once they went to fiber I was originally with Comcast but ATT was the first in my neighborhood for fiber and it was cheaper than Comcast. I also get free HBO which is one of the services I would actually pay for if they took it away as they spun that out but existing customers were grandfathered in for the moment. My wife's company does give them a dollar amount for the year towards internet.
 
I had been with US Cellular for 20 years. Then all of a sudden - no coverage at our house. Switched to T-Mobile 2 years ago. Never had so many texts and emails. Tried to opt out to no avail. Then the credit card discount was removed. Then the threat of plan migration. I called to voice my opinion and they told me to switch carriers if I wanted. So I did. Now with AT&T.
 
Dave Mazz said:
I had been with US Cellular for 20 years. Then all of a sudden - no coverage at our house. Switched to T-Mobile 2 years ago. Never had so many texts and emails. Tried to opt out to no avail. Then the credit card discount was removed. Then the threat of plan migration. I called to voice my opinion and they told me to switch carriers if I wanted. So I did. Now with AT&T.
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Same here. Never ending marketing texts. Texts to tell me I paid the bill. Texts to tell me my bill is ready. Texts hawking tablets .The debit card only issue. What I hate about that is I have to get T-Mobile to remove my payment information...I don't get why I can't turn that off through my bank. I don't care as about points or miles on a credit card, but getting billing issues straightened out with T-Mobile Mobile is a nightmare. Customer service sucks and I won't deal with their store personnel.
This Google Fi is simple and straightforward. Every time I've called with questions, a knowledgeable person has responded, answered my questions and sent an email with detailed follow-up information.
 
Not sure why all you people getting all this stuff. I get none of this. Nearly zero trash calls. Since leaving AT&T all that crap went down by 95% and now I get basically none of it. Could be your phones? IDK. All the newer phones have settings to filter out all that stuff and it's a free service with TM unlike AT&T which charged me for it.
 
LMichaels said:
Not sure why all you people getting all this stuff. I get none of this. Nearly zero trash calls. Since leaving AT&T all that crap went down by 95% and now I get basically none of it. Could be your phones? IDK. All the newer phones have settings to filter out all that stuff and it's a free service with TM unlike AT&T which charged me for it.
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No. The texts were from T-Mobile directly. Spam calls are flagged by Google Fi and it works well.
 
Jay D in Jersey said:
No. The texts were from T-Mobile directly. Spam calls are flagged by Google Fi and it works well.
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I have never and still don't get anything like this. IDK what the issue is really. Only thing I get is from friends/family or necessary info. Never anything, I feel is trash. Occasional wrong number for a couple neighbors who have numbers only a digit or two off or same digits but different order.
 
Man I don’t like hearing this🤣 I’ve been looking to go to T mobile.

I’ve been a Verizon customer from my very first cell phone in 2002. Back when kids didn’t have cell phones🤣 I’ve been having nothing but issues with Verizon, I don’t get anything for signal, I can’t go to the park at lunch and watch YouTube like I used to be able to, coverage is atrocious. And I can’t make a 911 call when I need to….and nothing when I called. Just got a “thanks for being a customer….”
 
Jay D in Jersey said:
No. The texts were from T-Mobile directly. Spam calls are flagged by Google Fi and it works well.
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Spam calls from T-mobile are flagged as for the texts your bill is coming up or you paid it or whatever not really sure what the problem is. All my credit cards are set to tell me when is my payment due, anything over 50 bucks that I spend text me text me when I make a payment and you received it.
 
TimA said:
Man I don’t like hearing this🤣 I’ve been looking to go to T mobile.

I’ve been a Verizon customer from my very first cell phone in 2002. Back when kids didn’t have cell phones🤣 I’ve been having nothing but issues with Verizon, I don’t get anything for signal, I can’t go to the park at lunch and watch YouTube like I used to be able to, coverage is atrocious. And I can’t make a 911 call when I need to….and nothing when I called. Just got a “thanks for being a customer….”
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Google Fi offers a free 7 day trial. Give it a try. It's likely T-Mobile. See if it works. We're three days in and it's flawless thus far.
 
I'm in the same boat as Larry. Had tmobile for the last six years and don't get any spam calls/texts. Just the once a month text for telling me my bill is ready. I wonder what's going on for y'all?
 
TimA said:
Man I don’t like hearing this🤣 I’ve been looking to go to T mobile.

I’ve been a Verizon customer from my very first cell phone in 2002. Back when kids didn’t have cell phones🤣 I’ve been having nothing but issues with Verizon, I don’t get anything for signal, I can’t go to the park at lunch and watch YouTube like I used to be able to, coverage is atrocious. And I can’t make a 911 call when I need to….and nothing when I called. Just got a “thanks for being a customer….”
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Just do it. Especially if you're 55 or over. Honestly I am very pleased. I have not witnessed a single one of the issues some say. And everyone else I know get the same experience. However it's not a "passive" thing. You need to actively set your phone to use the services TM provides. If you don't then you will experience issues. For example. I had to turn off the services this past weekend as I was waiting for a call back from Animal Control and our local County Sherriff due to 4 or 5 loose very vicious and aggressive pit bulls that were loose and attacking people (nearly me incuded). But they call from blocked numbers so I had to turn off those services. I forgot to turn the services back on after the call and yeah I was inundated with garbage. Turned it back on. Phone is perfectly silent now unless I want the txt or the call. TM is to my knowledge the only company that does not charge for the services (but I could be wrong) and I am here to tell ya. It really does work IF use it
 
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