t-mobile or att?
 

Which servive for blsckberry

They both work with the Blackberry phones. A friend uses T-Mobile with his 8800 and I have AT&T with my 8300. I get reception when he cannot, but not vice verse. I used T-Mobile several years ago and found their coverage spotty in the cities I was visiting at the time (CLT, SFO, and SJU). Cingular/AT&T had great coverage in those cities. YMMV

AT&T usually works well overseas. Have used it in China, South Africa including a safari camp, much of Europe, Canada and Mexico. Almost always has phone available. Data was also generally good but sometimes had to manually change networks. Domestic service for me has been above average. Have never used T-mobile.

You need to somehow find out which one has a stronger signal in the areas you spend the most time. That will be the most important difference between the two. Don't believe the carrier maps - talk to people with each service.

check out howardforums for cell phone questions.
I thought Tmobile piggy backed off of AT&T towers in some areas? And since Tmobile on works on 1800/1900 MHz, where AT&T runs dual band 850 & 1800/1900 I would think AT&T would usually have better coverage (if your phone supports both signals)

I think that T-Mobile data plans are considerably cheaper than AT&T's.

I used to have AT&T, now I have T-Mobile. The reasons I switched are:

AT&T charged me for $72 worth of calls I didn't make, and wouldn't credit them back even though their own records show they took place 1,200 miles from where the phone was ten minutes earlier.

T-Mobile international roaming is 99¢; AT&T charges $1.29 unless you pay them $5.99 per month, in which case it's 99¢ (and if you have the service turned on for one day in a billing period, it's still $5.99).

T-MobileWeb (unlimited surfing, including Gmail) is $5.99 per month; AT&T charges by the bit.

If both carriers have adequate coverage in your area, I can't think of a single reason why you should go with AT&T. As of this writing, if you sign up for T-Mobile service with Wirefly, you can get a $400 quad-band Wing PPC for free! Click here.

If you go with TMO, you might want to wait a couple of weeks for the rumored Hotspot@Home enabled BB.

My choice would be T-mobile. Customer service and billing are vastly superior. I also find voice quality superior and use both services regularly (T-mobile with an E65 and AT&T with an N75/iPhone.)

Before you do anything though, go to Target/Wal-Mart and invest $20. Buy a prepaid package from the carrier most attractive to you. Make calls and try the service out in the areas most critical to you. If service sucks, spend another $20 and buy a package from the other carrier. Dunno about T-mobile but AT&T sells the junky Motorola C137 with $10 in airtime credit for $20 at Target. Sure you have 14-30 days to return and cancel but why spend all the time doing the credit check, etc when this is so much easier? You also then end up with an oopsie phone you can shove in a drawer and use as needed.

Or just sign up for a new line with both carriers. They each give you 14 days to return for a full refund (less the airtime you use).

30 days in California.

I've used both and by far my choice would be T-Mobile for the following reasons:

- plans are MUCH cheaper
- customer service is MUCH superior

I have not been anywhere (with the exception of the basement of a building in downtown Manhattan) that my t-mobile blackberry did not work.

I have to admit that I am sorry to see ATT go down in flames the way they have. I was with them for years, starting with my first ATT "one rate" when they first started it, but IMHO they have forgotten who their market is, what customer service is, and how to compete and they are now just trying to survive based on their brand name.... :(

Oh, yeah. Wirefly also has a T-Mobile Blackberry deal.

Walgreen's is showing a Nokia with prepaid T-Mobile for $30 this week.

I use T-Mobile and have for the last several years. I have found T-Mobile's coverage maps to be pretty accurate, at least for some of the mountaineous areas in the Front Range. There are several particular places where I know what my phone's signal strength is (or where there is no service) and that agrees with what TM shows when I zoom in.
http://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/

When roaming, GPRS has worked for me on AT&T and on USA 430(?), IIRC. It did not work a few weeks ago when I was roaming via Sprint (which surprised me that I was able to roam on a Sprint network at all since I did not think Sprint and T-Mo were using the same technology; shows how much I have been keeping up).

In the US, T-Mobile uses 1900, but has roaming agreements with some carriers that use 850 (including AT&T in some places). AT&T uses both 1900 and 850.

900 and 1800 are used in many places outside of the Americas.

I don't know about you; I'd rather shoot myself than subject myself to opening two new mobile accounts, and subsequently closing one, returning the phone, dealing with terminating the account and the invariable billing hassles, collection agencies, etc.

Prepaid is easy. You talk to no one. You activate online. You toss it when you're done. My time is worth WAY more than the $50 this will cost for both carriers.


310-430 is Cincinnati Bell. As for Sprint... you must've been out in Wyoming. Their Mobile Network Code has been reissued (310-020) to Union Telephone who's a regional carrier there and has very pervasive coverage. T-mobile just rolled out apparently in Laramie but coverage is reportedly spotty.

Very good deduction. I was in Cody, WY at the time I roamed on what was labeled "Sprint." As far as I recall, I had pretty good T-Mobile service in Cheyenne, Casper, and a few places around Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.

Does anyone know T-Mobile's policy on changing phone numbers? I signed up last December, and apparently the number they gave me used to belong to some guy who didn't pay his bills, so now I've got random doctor's offices and collection agencies calling me every day. :(

Call them immediately and explain the situation.

While T-Mobile is far from great, AT&T just sucks.

I have a At&T Blackberry (8700C) through my office, and a personal blackberry through T-Mobile (Pearl). I have used both fairly extensively overseas, and while I dont use voice on either one, the bottom line is cost. I have used both devices in Europe (UK, Spain, Norway, Germany, Austria etc), Iceland, South Africa, Mexico, Carribbean and Uruguay. Both work remarkably well, do what a blackberry is supposed to constant email, seamless replies. The only difference is that my company pays my AT&T and it is significantly more expensive for an international standalone blackberry plan (around $70, I believe). T-Mobile, I have a grandfathered stand alone blackberry plan at 29.99 a month, with the option to add the 19.99 unlimited international email as I please. At&T you cannot add and remove the international blackberry plan, I believe there is a atleast a year committment I believe. Even if you were to sign up with the new blackberry plan for $40 a month, plus $20 for the international blackberry plan it is still $10 cheaper than AT&T. It really comes down to price, and T-Mobile has AT&T beat from a standalone blackberry plan point.

Some people will say that there are places AT&T will give you better coverage (that might be true with voice, but I have not seen it with Data), but I have yet to see it. Then again I rarely leave major cities, although I just did attend a wedding out in Cheyenne, WY and both services worked great.

The initial suggestion of buying prepaid phones may not provide an accurate test of coverage. Both AT&T and T-Mobile have more roaming agreements over each others towers in place for post paid service.
In most cases, prepaid plans for testing of T-Mobile's service would probably show a more limited network.

If you're going to use the BB as a business lifeline, sign evaluation contracts with both carriers. Make sure that the agreement they sign stipulates that you can cancel within a certain period (usually 30 days, I think), owing only for the airtime you use. Try the coverage of both where you normally range. At the end of the test period, cancel the one that doesn't give you the service you need.

It's not an issue for BlackBerry users YET, but T-Mobile's lack of 3G in the US is what has kept me at ATT. I use a Samsung Blackjack for voice, push-email, mapping, other data, and tethered data on my laptop when traveling. The 3G speed makes tethering a viable alternative to pay wi-fi in airports and hotels. Living in Atlanta, Cingular service is solid and 3G is abundant. Other major cities have had abundant 3G coverage as well. Tethering is still possible on T-Mobile over edge but the speeds are more in-line with dial-up where 3G speeds compare favorably with high-speed (cable, dsl, fios).

To be sure, 3G puts up some impressive numbers
 

But for email and occasionally checking a reservation, T-MobileWeb's 45kbps (according to http://speedtest.net) is plenty fast enough for me. I like being able to use it any time and anywhere for $5.99 a month without worrying about running up extortionate data charges.

Didn't the tortoise win that race?

Let me echo the above. And, we've had a small business account and t-mobile and a sales guy sometimes will come to us to show us a new phone. We have a human being who answers the phones when we have problems (though sometimes they send us to help desk folks who have, stunningly, been pretty helpful, as have the blackberry folks).

I've been to places without T-Mobile service -- but some of those places, like the Laurentians, now have service. And, I've gotten calls in the lodge at Sunshine Village, which is inside Banff National Park in Alberta. [And you have to take a gondola to get to the lodge]. Coverage in the western suburbs of Boston has gotten much better.

I am a satisfied T-Mobile customer, having switched from AT&T as well a few years ago.

With respect to voice service, roaming is cheaper on T-Mobile but if you travel to far-flung locations, beware! Roaming is indeed $0.99/min in Europe ex-Russia but it ranges from $1.49 (Japan) to $2.99 (India) in Asia and can go up to $4.99/min in places like Togo (West Africa.) I found out the hard way about Togo earlier this year. :td: So if you travel all over the place like I do, make sure to check both carriers' roaming rates. And by the way, Russia is at $4.99 like Togo on T-Mobile. Go figure!!!

With respect to data, you are dependent on having access to local carriers' data service, which is not always the case in some locations (I can think of a number of African and Asian countries where T-Mobile's roaming agreement is for voice service only.) With T-Mobile's data plan, you do have access to T-Mobile Hot Spots in Europe at no additional charge for the most part. I ran into an exception to that at Waterloo Station in London, and I am sure there are others.

Where did you get Hot Spot access? I've tried many places with no joy. Do you have to have anything besides International Roaming turned on?

But you're most certainly right about voice and data outside of Europe - unless you buy a local SIM, you're going to pay through the nose with either carrier. The T-MobileWeb trick only works if you're on one of their cell sites (not a partner).

My understanding is that Hotspot access only works with two of T-Mobile phones. I have the HotSpot@Home plan, and with 2500 minutes a month from home, that $10 (July deal) a month is a great price.

The two phones are 'low end' basic phones. No Blackberry. One is a Nokia. Now my minutes don't count in Starbucks, Kinkos, or any T-Mobile Hot Spot...so long as my phone connects to the network.

As an update, last week T-Mobile released the blackberry curve, which does work in conjunction with the hotspot at home service. Details are listed on the website below. If I used T-mobile for voice I would ditch my pearl in a heartbeat for the curve.

I also believe as comicwomen said the $10 deal is gone, I believe it is $20 a month now.
http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/phones/...c-4fd62ce2db70

Are you talking about VoIP service, or internet (email, surfing) access via free HotSpots in Europe? Or both? Or what?

I now have WiFi on my t-mobile Blackberry Curve. works at home. Will also try it at Starbucks to see if it works well.

They both have spell check.

If you are planning on buying prepaid service, T-Mobile wins, hands down. I have had my prepaid account by them since 2001 and have long since been put into their bonus rewards program. Their range of voice call costs anywhere between $0.32/min for $10 refills to about $0.06/min per $100 refill (in/outbound domestic U.S. text messages are a flat $0.10/msg).

Plus the best thing about T-Mobile ToGo is that this is the only U.S.-based cell carrier that allows it's roaming customers to roam internationally upon activation of account ... with no credit or background check of any kind.

I also have AT&T GoPhone prepaid. Unlike T-Mobile ToGo, GoPhone accounts can't roam internationally.

In terms of coverage, GoPhones can only access certain cell sites owned by AT&T that are site designated as a GoPhone accesible site, which means that your prepaid coverage is much more limited than regular AT&T post-paid. T-Mobile ToGo, however, can pretty much access any GSM cell site with no problems so their coverage is vastly superior.

Lastly, T-Mobile ToGo has a program called Gold Rewards that gives more minutes per refill once you're reach $100 worth of refills. Plus with that rewards program, once achieved, *all* refills have expiration dates of exactly one year since last refill. GoPhones also have a similar program, but the best term of retention period to keep the phone active is 90 days with a $100 card.

Would you mind posting a link to this? All I can find is about Canada and Mexico here.

It's not online. You would need to go to any T-Mobile corporate owned store or at certain retailers like Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Circuit City, or CompUSA to pick up and read their full brochure on their ToGo products as it explains this feature.

I just happen to know this anyways because this past May, I got a free text message on my ToGo phone stating that they now offer international roaming to over 290 countries. Canada and Mexico roaming has been available since summer 2006.

I have one as well, works at Starbucks, and worked great using the Hotel's wi-fi when I was in the UK... saved a fortune in roaming.

We're talking about this on prepaidgsm.net. Tmobile2go doesn't work in Germany which should be TMobile Central. Clearly, however, they are planning more roaming. TMobile UK prepaid SIMs work worldwide. Clearly the company has the expertise to pull this off.

I have ATT - bills when I am overseas, even with the extra data plan, are crazy. Go Tmobile if you get service by you.

I am thinking of dumping sprint after 8 years and switching to T-Mo, mainly to get the discounted wi-fi. Questions:

(1) If you get the $20/mo wi-fi addon, does that cover all devices, i.e. I have a cell, an iTouch and a laptop? Does wifi fee cover TMo hotspots outside USA?

(2) Does the wi-fi fee cover internet surfing from your cell, or is that another $5.99?

(3) What about blackberry (push email) service? Is that another add-on? (at sprint it is $40/mo!)

(4) What happens when you are roaming overseas? Is it 99cents/min for (a) incoming calls from USA (b) Outgoing to USA from Europe? (c) cellphone to cellphone within Europe?

(5) Any good promos we should watch for (e.g. $10/mo wifi, 1000minute deals, etc.)

Would also appreciate any thoughts on coverage within California.