What do you think of the T Mobile Family Mobile Plan. $45 for the first line $35 for the second line Unlimited Talk, Text, and Data- Shared 250MB 3G data and unlimited 2G data $10 upgrade for 1GB 3G data $20 upgrade for 3GB 3G data GSM phones (phones with SIM cards) can be used with plan. Does that mean I can use an unlocked iPhone?
I might not normaly consider them but their coverage in my area is ratted higher than the 3 major carriers. They have 4 towers in my area compared to Verzon 2, Sprint 1, AT&T 0.
You have to be careful with unlocked phones... T-Mobile is the only carrier operating at 2100mhz, an unlocked phone will work on the overlapping 1700/1900 spectrum. But any services on 2100mhz will only be available on T-mobile branded (or 2100mhz compatible) phones. What is affected will depend on specific coverage and frequencies in your region. Typically their high speed data network is on the 2100mhz so an unlocked iphone from AT&T will only have 2G data. Althought 4G LTE is going to be on 2100mhz across all the carriers, so eventually you should be good with an unlocked iPhone 5s or iPhone6.
Basically supersonic's mumbo jumbo is saying that the current iphones will work if you unlock it but you'll be stuck with shitty data speeds cuz you'll only get EDGE since T-Mobile uses a weird frequency. If that's worth it to you, then you'll be fine. Otherwise, you'll have to find a pentaband phone such as the Galaxy Nexus.
LTE for T-Mobile? They originally had no plans for LTE until recently. Then they changed their mind and said they'll start launch by 2013. No word on when in 2013.. and that's just the beginning of the rollout. It'll probably only launch in like 4-5 cities too.. so don't count on LTE on T-Mobile being available for you. I don't even think Walmart Family Mobile even uses T-Mobile's 4G hspa+ network. But T-Mobile will be moving their 4G hspa+ to the 1900Mhz band later in the year so maybe that's what you heard? What that means is that you can use unlocked ATT phones on T-Mobile and they'll have access to 3G/4G on T-Mobile.
Hmmm. Okay. I'll have my wife call you if she has any questions. I'll go with a Android phone. Whats the used market like?
Nothing wrong with it. I actually got my current one used from craigslist. If you were on a CDMA network, then it'd be scary grounds, but GSM is easier. Just pop in your SIM card before you pay them and make sure it all works. Just make sure you don't get a crappy phone.
Gsm is awesome for phones. Keep $500 in escrow (paypal) and you can rock the latest and greatest phone almost weekly. When I had ATT, I would buy a phone on ebay use it for a couple of days sell it and buy another one, essentially using the same $500. Its one of the reasons I'm so picky. I know the features almost any brand offers.