Develop Bugs

[Q] GSM...how does it work?

Currently I'm on Verizon and to be honest, I hate it. I'm in an area where Verizon doesn't have 4G and AT&T HSPA+ speeds are much higher at my house on my girlfriend's phone.
I'm thinking about going GSM when my Verizon contract is up in August.
Here's my question/s:
How does GSM work and how do you pay for your phone service?
How much data do you pay for?

Just pop my t mobile sim card in and go. I'm on contract with them and pay 30 bucks for 5 gb
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Exodian said:
Just pop my t mobile sim card in and go. I'm on contract with them and pay 30 bucks for 5 gb
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
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But you don't have to be on contract with a carrier to use a GSM phone correct?

nklenchik said:
But you don't have to be on contract with a carrier to use a GSM phone correct?
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Click to collapse
Correct, if you provide your own phone, they will provide a sim card and you pick your plan
Don't bait the trolls.

Depends if you subsidize and sign a contract. Best deal right now is get $30 T-Mobile plan, gnex $400 goggle play and get best phone ever. The catch with T-Mobile plan is 100 voice minutes and 10c minute overages which isn't bad if you don't talk a lot or use Google voice or something. T-Mobile also offers very competitive regular plans. If T-Mobile isn't great in your area Atnt has some decent alternatives especially if you can get a corporate discount. Or try the other carriers. There's a good thread on it somewhere in gnex forums.
teach a man to fish, you feed him for life. teach a man to fastboot, and you create competency. and less threads on xda.

nklenchik said:
Currently I'm on Verizon and to be honest, I hate it. I'm in an area where Verizon doesn't have 4G and AT&T HSPA+ speeds are much higher at my house on my girlfriend's phone.
I'm thinking about going GSM when my Verizon contract is up in August.
Here's my question/s:
How does GSM work and how do you pay for your phone service?
How much data do you pay for?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have some serious reading to do. I think you're confusing "GSM" and "Prepaid"... GSM is a network technology used around the world on hundreds of carriers. Prepaid is a type of service.
nklenchik said:
But you don't have to be on contract with a carrier to use a GSM phone correct?
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Click to collapse
No, its your choice. You don't have to have a contract with Verizon or Sprint either... You just have to buy a phone full price and no one will force you.
If you're going to pay full price for a device, I would recommend going with an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) which runs off of AT&T or T-Mobile's network, but saves you about 50% of the cost of running on AT&T or T-Mobile proper. These are "Prepaid" with no contract. You save money because they're not subsidizing prices of phones, and they often have little or no customer service.
As @rbiter mentioned above, there is a great service plan (which I use) from T-Mobile that is only $30 monthly but of course has severely limited minutes. The other front runner on AT&T's network is "Straight Talk" which offers UL Talk/Text and "Unlimited" (actually like 2gb) data for $45. Above that, T-Mobile offers similar prepaid plans with 2gb throttles for $60 or 5gb throttles for $70. Other options include Simple Mobile which has similar plans/pricing.
I recommend reading the Prepaid thread in General. LOTS of people are doing this with the Galaxy Nexus. Read through and ask in there we'd be happy to help with the specifics.

[Q] Question about tmobile and S3

Hello, I want to buy an SGS3 from Tmobile, but I dont want to buy it with 2 years contract. Can I pay the full price and use it in Prepaid?. I'm a foreign student in US and I want it usable in my country, so, it's difficult to get the unlock code from Tmobile?
Thanks in advance

Yes you can buy it and use it for pre pay. They have a 60 dollar a month plan that would work pretty good for it. Unlimited everything. 4G data speeds up to 2 GB. 70 dollars a month for up to 5 GB. I'm not sure about unlocking it. Someone will probably answer that soon.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

just need to retain your receipt and call customer care. they will let you know what else you need to unlock your GS3. other than that, you should be golden.

You can use it for T-Mobile right now, and a few weeks before you return, if there hasn't been any progress in unlocking it with an app or something, and T-Mobile doesn't want to give you the code, you can purchase one from eBay or other sellers.
So, you'll be fine regardless.

Yes you can. I bought my white S3 of T-Mobile because in the long run it'll be cheaper.
Here's a rundown of their prepaid plans
$30- 100 minutes, unlimited text & unlimited data with 5GB of 4G data
$50 Unlimited Talk, Text, & Data with 100MB of data
$60 same as $50 plan but with 2GB of 4G data
$70 same but with 5GB of 4G data

Get one on craigslist for $400 and buy unlock code on ebay $8.

First what's the main purpose of the phone? To use T-Mobile or use your countries' carrier? Both?
There are many better alternative to T-Mobile if you're doing prepaid. Unless you don't need a lot of minutes then that $30 plan is a steal
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Teo032 said:
First what's the main purpose of the phone? To use T-Mobile or use your countries' carrier? Both?
There are many better alternative to T-Mobile if you're doing prepaid. Unless you don't need a lot of minutes then that $30 plan is a steal
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
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Well the main purpose is to use T-Mobile and use in my country's carrier. Currently I have a Nexus S (i9020A with AT&T 3G bands, so my phone is running on EDGE) but I want to upgrade my phone so, do you recommend me the SGS3 from T-Mobile?. I am OK with T-Mobile service and the plan's price is right for me (I have the 50$ prepaid plan).

dnad3363 said:
Well the main purpose is to use T-Mobile and use in my country's carrier. Currently I have a Nexus S (i9020A with AT&T 3G bands, so my phone is running on EDGE) but I want to upgrade my phone so, do you recommend me the SGS3 from T-Mobile?. I am OK with T-Mobile service and the plan's price is right for me (I have the 50$ prepaid plan).
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Click to collapse
Buy full price get T-Mobile straight talk sim 45 bucks a month or unlock it and use it on att straight talk still 45 a month both get decent decent download speeds
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[Q] T-Mobile Note2 on GoPhone $50/month plan?

Anyone try the TMoble Note2 on the $50/month GoPhone plan?

Are you talking about the T-Mobile prepaid plans? GoPhone is a registered trademark of AT&T. I'm using the $30 for 100 minutes, unlimited text and unlimited data plan. Everything's been working perfectly. All I had to do was buy the activation kit to get the activation code. I activated it online using the code and the micro-SIM that was included with the phone. The activation kit also comes with a micro-SIM in case you don't have one. The $50 a month plan isn't worth it. You only get 100MB at 4G and then you're throttled to 2G. The $30 one gives you 5GB at 4G and if you run out of minutes you can just use GrooVe IP to talk.

RabidMonkeyOnCrack said:
Are you talking about the T-Mobile prepaid plans? GoPhone is a registered trademark of AT&T. I'm using the $30 for 100 minutes, unlimited text and unlimited data plan. Everything's been working perfectly. All I had to do was buy the activation kit to get the activation code. I activated it online using the code and the micro-SIM that was included with the phone. The activation kit also comes with a micro-SIM in case you don't have one. The $50 a month plan isn't worth it. You only get 100MB at 4G and then you're throttled to 2G. The $30 one gives you 5GB at 4G and if you run out of minutes you can just use GrooVe IP to talk.
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The 30$ plan is T-Mobile prepaid or att prepaid?
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pezlomd said:
The 30$ plan is T-Mobile prepaid or att prepaid?
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app
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tmob Web & Text with 100 Minutes Talk
$30per month
Talk
100 minutes Text
Unlimited Web
Unlimited*
*First 5GB at up to 4G speeds
Great for video chat, streaming music/movies/TV, playing online games, and more.
New activations only. Available exclusively in-store at Walmart, on Walmart.com, and Tmobile.com

when you say 30$ at month this include tax? is 30$ with all?
FIREONHIGH said:
tmob Web & Text with 100 Minutes Talk
$30per month
Talk
100 minutes Text
Unlimited Web
Unlimited*
*First 5GB at up to 4G speeds
Great for video chat, streaming music/movies/TV, playing online games, and more.
New activations only. Available exclusively in-store at Walmart, on Walmart.com, and Tmobile.com
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I'm talking about this ATT prepaid plan for dumb phones. $50/month, unlimited voice/data/text. Att usually blocks smart phones but some slip through the cracks. I currently have 2 smart phones on it and it works great for me. My TMobile Note2, will arrive on the 28th.
I guess I will know soon enough.
I will say TMobile customer service is absolutely horrible, ATT's prepaid customer service is so much better. I jumped on TMobile's $49.99 Note2 deal which ended up being a fiasco for many people. I figured I would give TMobile a shot, with a $200 etf, how could I go wrong. So far the deal seems to be working out well for me.

satru said:
when you say 30$ at month this include tax? is 30$ with all?
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It's $30 total. You'd probably want to add insurance, that's another $7 so total is $37 no taxes or any other fees.
OP, you bought the phone on contract and got the $300 rebate and now you're doing a $200 ETF? Well you got the phone for cheap so that's a good thing. Either way, whatever you choose AT&T still throttles just like T-Mobile does. T-Mobile has no limits on what phones you can use on what plans and theirs is cheaper if you don't care about minutes. I haven't had any problems with customer service but if that's your main draw to AT&T then go with them.

gedster314 said:
I'm talking about this ATT prepaid plan for dumb phones. $50/month, unlimited voice/data/text. Att usually blocks smart phones but some slip through the cracks. I currently have 2 smart phones on it and it works great for me. My TMobile Note2, will arrive on the 28th.
I guess I will know soon enough.
I will say TMobile customer service is absolutely horrible, ATT's prepaid customer service is so much better. I jumped on TMobile's $49.99 Note2 deal which ended up being a fiasco for many people. I figured I would give TMobile a shot, with a $200 etf, how could I go wrong. So far the deal seems to be working out well for me.
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Does the T-Mobile Note 2 work with this $50/month, unlimited voice/data/text? AT&T will flip LTE for this plan next month in June 2013

Leaked info Tmo POST PAID not PREPAID no contract no cap anyday

We will all be seeing a very nice thing march 28th from tmobile... soon thanks to a big mouth rep .
Postpaid 4g no caps on data no "contract" Truly unlimited.
This is like a contract without the contract.
Get a device with out contract just as u would with one .
Pay it off on monthly payments, this is like metro pcs no Data caps, but faster data and pay minimal down toward a new device NO CONTRACT.
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lojak29 said:
We will all be seeing a very nice thing march 28th from tmobile... soon thanks to a big mouth rep .
Postpaid 4g no caps on data no "contract" Truly unlimited.
This is like a contract without the contract.
Get a device with out contract just as u would with one .
Pay it off on monthly payments, this is like metro pcs no Data caps, but faster data and pay minimal down toward a new device NO CONTRACT.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
Seems like they are starting to implement "merge changes" from their deal with metro.
this...is my BOOM stick!

lncoln said:
Seems like they are starting to implement "merge changes" from their deal with metro.
this...is my BOOM stick!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This doesn't have anything to do with metro, this has more to do with them trying to pioneer something new. More of a European business model, for people that see the value of it it will be a great thing. Some people still think that getting a phone cheap with a contract is better no matter what though. They rather pay out the ass then save money by buying a phone full price. I for one hope it's insanely successful because if it is not only is it good for tmobile but we might see manufacturers finally compete to have lower cost devices rather than, all these carriers charging an arm and a leg just so they don't lose profit subsidizing handset. The reason I said this doesn't have to do with the metro thing is because tmobile is keeping prepaid around and credit will still be required for you to be trusted with a phone payment plan on postpaid. Tmobile is trying something new and if it catches on then we should see nice growth for tmobile and carriers having to change up there prices and stuff to compete.
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Its kind of like the value plan they have now. That is what I have for over 3 years now. I pay cheap on monthly plan and unlimited everything '5gb' and when ever I update phones I pay a down of like $200 and then $20 per month for the phone till is paid off with no interest rate
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda premium

I'm already on post paid unlimited plan with no data cap. The only thing I'm missing from my previous "unlimited" 5 gig plan is data tethering (hotspot feature) but they dont even offer it as an add on for note2
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app

I'll stick with my current prepaid plan, it's still cheaper and has better coverage. When Tmobile gets better coverage I'll consider it. In my area they are way too spotty. I do believe it's a step in the right direction.
Can you imagine how fast IPhone sales would drop if all the carriers stop subsidizing the phone purchase. I'm sure super Android phones would suffer too.

All prepaid as of 2 months ago is truly unlimited NO CAP after 5gigs , if anyone hasnt noticed this just tether all your devices, run up a gig a day after 5 gigs you'll see that your still pulling 10-16mg downloads depending on coverage.
The post paid will be just like prepaid but they will offer insurance on existing and new handsets same unlimited data NO CAPS even after 5gigs.
And you will be prioritized in the network coverage when the coverage becomes congested, this isn't the same for prepaid customers.
All in all unlimited hspa I call it not really 4g lte speeds but good enough, option to add something like 120 $ down extra to finance a phone into monthly payments and all this with NO Contract
March 28th they say Or so a tmobile corporate rep told me the day I went to reinstate my contract and he said why bother stay on prepaid for a few more weeks and reap the benefits of contract features without a contract!
This is about the best thing tmobile has implemented in some time now.
It's essentially same as if Verizon was to all sudden flick a switch and give everyone back there unlimited data .It's a great move by tmobile, giving back something they once took away.
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To reiterate, I was trying to say this new revision on tmobile data ,is in part like Metro pcs , in which up until recently Metro was the only carrier that gave u true 4g lte for" one set price a month" that's the key one set price..... For new customers, no contract which used to be 10gigs max on contract
Now tmobile has this since they did away with the 5g caps on the prepaid .They also did away with a data cap on contract plans , , essentially they are giving back truly unlimited this would make tmobile and Metro the only two carriers doing so for new customers , unless you are "Grandfathered in " with att or vzw on there UL data.
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I can comfirm this on the $30 plan. After 5gb still no cap. I love this. Truely unlimted 4g for $30.
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lojak29 said:
We will all be seeing a very nice thing march 28th from tmobile... soon thanks to a big mouth rep .
Postpaid 4g no caps on data no "contract" Truly unlimited.
This is like a contract without the contract.
Get a device with out contract just as u would with one .
Pay it off on monthly payments, this is like metro pcs no Data caps, but faster data and pay minimal down toward a new device NO CONTRACT.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
I'll go ahead and confirm this as well. I work for the company. There's going to be a HUGE switch on March 24th to be exact. Trade in programs. No contract plans. Unlimited everything. $50 starts you with unlimited talk and text with 500mb throttled data included already. $20 extra for just truly unlimited. Or $10 for every 2GB, pay per use. You do what you want. If you leave while paying off the device, you just get billed for the device. Family plans are the same way except it's 40 instead of 50 starting out. Add a line is simply $10 then $10 for data.
Huge question everyone is asking is can I move to this plan right away? Yes. You'll still finish your contract though. They won't just let everyone cut their contract. This only applies if you're already on the value plan (monthly installments). If you're a classic/legacy plan, they will charge a migration fee. But I'm pretty sure that'll negate your contract.
This is all leaked info already on the Web, so I'm not really doing anything bad here by disclosing this. Just making it easier for people to understand, I'm super excited about what these plans have to offer and you all should too. With them doubling their coverage this year and rolling out LTE with no contract, it's a great time to be a customer or an employee. If you have questions, ask!
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dannydv said:
I can comfirm this on the $30 plan. After 5gb still no cap. I love this. Truely unlimted 4g for $30.
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is this a contract plan or prepaid?

mitul2288 said:
is this a contract plan or prepaid?
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Click to collapse
Prepaid!
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XCrazedxPyroX said:
I'll go ahead and confirm this as well. I work for the company. There's going to be a HUGE switch on March 24th to be exact. Trade in programs. No contract plans. Unlimited everything. $50 starts you with unlimited talk and text with 500mb throttled data included already. $20 extra for just truly unlimited. Or $10 for every 2GB, pay per use. You do what you want. If you leave while paying off the device, you just get billed for the device. Family plans are the same way except it's 40 instead of 50 starting out. Add a line is simply $10 then $10 for data.
Huge question everyone is asking is can I move to this plan right away? Yes. You'll still finish your contract though. They won't just let everyone cut their contract. This only applies if you're already on the value plan (monthly installments). If you're a classic/legacy plan, they will charge a migration fee. But I'm pretty sure that'll negate your contract.
This is all leaked info already on the Web, so I'm not really doing anything bad here by disclosing this. Just making it easier for people to understand, I'm super excited about what these plans have to offer and you all should too. With them doubling their coverage this year and rolling out LTE with no contract, it's a great time to be a customer or an employee. If you have questions, ask!
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
My wife and I are on the 1000 minute family plan. Switching to this new plan would be a price jump for us. we both have 2 GB data plans. I guessing the soft cap on those won't go anywhere unless we change plans right? Also, if I want to get a unlimited data plan but keep my current plan will I need to make that move now? would I be forced to switch plans to get it after the 24th?

Poke_N_PDA said:
My wife and I are on the 1000 minute family plan. Switching to this new plan would be a price jump for us. we both have 2 GB data plans. I guessing the soft cap on those won't go anywhere unless we change plans right? Also, if I want to get a unlimited data plan but keep my current plan will I need to make that move now? would I be forced to switch plans to get it after the 24th?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You aren't forced to make ANY switches. You can keep your plan. But it's considered grandfathered as of the 24th. It should be cheaper. The plans aren't solid, but they're making them the cheapest they've ever been ever. Things are still up in the air and not definite.
If you decide to upgrade to unlimited data, you shouldn't have to change plans just to change your data package.
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XCrazedxPyroX said:
I'll go ahead and confirm this as well. I work for the company. There's going to be a HUGE switch on March 24th to be exact. Trade in programs. No contract plans. Unlimited everything. $50 starts you with unlimited talk and text with 500mb throttled data included already. $20 extra for just truly unlimited. Or $10 for every 2GB, pay per use. You do what you want. If you leave while paying off the device, you just get billed for the device. Family plans are the same way except it's 40 instead of 50 starting out. Add a line is simply $10 then $10 for data.
Huge question everyone is asking is can I move to this plan right away? Yes. You'll still finish your contract though. They won't just let everyone cut their contract. This only applies if you're already on the value plan (monthly installments). If you're a classic/legacy plan, they will charge a migration fee. But I'm pretty sure that'll negate your contract.
This is all leaked info already on the Web, so I'm not really doing anything bad here by disclosing this. Just making it easier for people to understand, I'm super excited about what these plans have to offer and you all should too. With them doubling their coverage this year and rolling out LTE with no contract, it's a great time to be a customer or an employee. If you have questions, ask!
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
Employee here! I second this! Truuue!
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so whats the best bet for me?
i pay $124 a month for
unlimited text/mms and 1000 shared minutes between 2 phones.
i'd like to cut my contracts and separate the phones. but my contract isn't up for two years.
what's my best plan of action.
also note - that i only get $124 because of my 15% educator discount or else i'd be paying somewhere
along the $180 mark for the above plan.

Amen for the Lte can anyone confirm that with the lte rollout we will see better coverage in dead zones , lte on new towers? I only ask cause it is spotty in many areas .Hoping the lte band will give better reception.
Any word on lte speed comparisons to the other two carriers ?
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You'll essentially be paying 70 per line for truly unlimited data txt calla so 140 $ .I'd say for the extra 16 $ its worth it .No hassle no contract still get insured on phones a lot of upside to the move .
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lojak29 said:
Amen for the Lte can anyone confirm that with the lte rollout we will see better coverage in dead zones , lte on new towers? I only ask cause it is spotty in many areas .Hoping the lte band will give better reception.
Any word on lte speed comparisons to the other two carriers ?
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Click to collapse
Well, right now in areas where they are preping LTE (like mine in OKC) HSPA+ has gotten a lot slower. If I have the 1900 Mhz refarm, it is fine, but otherwise it is down to 3-5 mb/s. I know that T-Mobile has AWS 1700/2100 in two groups in OKC. A 2x10 and a 2x5. My guess is that they moved the HSPA+ from 2x10 to 2x5 so the LTE can be on the 2x10. So right now they would be in testing on it and gradually hitting the 1900 refarm. Eventually, I think the goal is for most HSPA+ to be on 1900 with LTE on the AWS 1700/2100.
Getting back to your question and my point, I think LTE will improve existing coverage slightly as I think it does offer a little better transmission over HSPA+ at the same frequency. However, unless they roll it out in more towers/areas, it won't have a drastic improvement. The other possibilities is that pepping for it might be hurting your speeds as they have to free up space on the AWS 1700/2100 for the LTE. So that might be part of the problem for you.

Nexus 7 LTE on T-Mobile phone vs tablet plan?

I currently have a Nexus 7 (2012) and am looking to upgrade because I'm a spendthrift when it comes to tech gadgets. (Actually it has the screen lift issue out of warranty and it looks like it's pretty expensive to get it repaired. Plus it's a good excuse to me).
I'm trying to decide between the WiFi and LTE models, and I was looking at the plans available with T-Mobile. If I try to add a tablet/"internet device" to my account, the plans are 500MB for $20 and 2.5GB for $30. If I try to add a new phone instead of a tablet, the price is only 500MB for $10 and 2.5GB for $20. Has anyone tried using one of the cheaper phone plans with a Nexus 7? I'd probably just deal with tethering my N4 rather than pay $20, but for $10 I might like the convenience.

You get a $10 discount adding a tablet plan to an existing T-Mobile postpaid phone plan. So you would actually be paying $10 for the 500mb plan and $20 for the 2.5Gb plan. And if you're an incredibly light user, you can get 200mb free.

TDBearCT said:
You get a $10 discount adding a tablet plan to an existing T-Mobile postpaid phone plan. So you would actually be paying $10 for the 500mb plan and $20 for the 2.5Gb plan. And if you're an incredibly light user, you can get 200mb free.
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That's great to know, thank you. I'll probably go ahead with the LTE model then.
I would still be interested to know the answer though since no unlimited plan is offered for tablets.

raptir said:
That's great to know, thank you. I'll probably go ahead with the LTE model then. I would still be interested to know the answer though since no unlimited plan is offered for tablets.
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Actually, the new T-Mobile plans are unlimited-- you pay for the amount of 4G (HSPA+/LTE) you use, the rest is unlimited but throttled to 2G speeds.

TDBearCT said:
Actually, the new T-Mobile plans are unlimited-- you pay for the amount of 4G (HSPA+/LTE) you use, the rest is unlimited but throttled to 2G speeds.
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Click to collapse
Right, but 2G speeds are certainly not enough for even streaming music.

I don't have T-Mobile. If I buy the N7 LTE from, say BB or Google, can I just order the Tablet SIM card directly from T-Mobile and use it as "PAY AS YOU GO"?
I don't want a contract or pay the data plan every month (hence I am not buying directly from T-Mobile), just want to use the data when I need it.
BTW, is the N7 LTE use Nano or Micro SIM card?