$2/Day Unlimited Talk, Text & 2G Web Question

[lmcjipo]

I'm going to the US tomorrow.

I have an unlocked phone which is not compatible with T-Mobile's 3G/4G band (but is compatible with AT&T's 3G/4G band).

With this phone, would I get the exact same data that I would get with the $3/day plan (except for the 3G/4G speed which on my phone wouldn't work with T-Mobile's 3G/4G network)?

Does this $2/day just give me "web browsing" access or would it work with the data applications on my non-Blackberry smartphone (iPhone or Android) such as e-mail, GoogleMaps, etc.)?

I remember that last year when I used the ~$1.49/day data pass (it has been discontinued), it worked with all my phone's data applications for one day. Do these $2/day and/or $3/day plans allow for the same thing in terms of data access?

For me, if the only difference between the $2/day plan and the $3/day plan is whether you have access to the 3G/4G network, I will go with the $2/day plan since my phone is limited to EDGE on T-Mobile's network and there is no point in me paying the higher price and still getting EDGE speed. If the $3/day plan gives "more access to data instead of just web browsing", I will go with the $3/day plan even if I will only get EDGE speeds with my phone.

[shushwap]

From what I understand... You will only be able to use the edge network... Data and what not will work just at a slower speed

[simho]

^ I echo and add that from my understanding, it's only speed that's different between the $2 and $3 per day charges.

"more access to data instead of just web browsing" isn't the case.

[Dx3]

As a Canadian who also used T-Mobile in the US, I can answer the OP's question.

I traveled to the US with an unlocked iPhone 2G and used it on the $2 plan. All applications worked without issue. It was limited to EDGE.

Another thread in this forum discussed the difference between the $2 and $3 plans. Basically, it was concluded that the $2 plan is just a throttled version of the $3 plan. If you are not using an AWS phone, the $3 plan does provide marginally better speeds on EDGE, but not 50% better. Both plans can connect to the 3G/4G network, but the $2 plan is throttled down to EDGE speeds.

In the OP's case, I'd go for the $2 plan.

[cmstlist]

The $2 plan is throttled to slower than the highest EDGE speeds you can get on T-Mobile. So the $3/day plan is actually faster anyway, but only by a smaller factor.

[Chop-Chop]

The daily plans will work for web browsing, data apps, etc just loike the 1.49 day pass worked for you. The only difference is how they bill the new 2 dlls a day plans vs the old 1.49 data pass. The new daily plans always expire/renew at midnight I believe. So

[lmcjipo]

Thanks everyone for your comments/posts/help.

I'm in the US right now and before I left I switched to the $2/day plan. I decided to use my Samsung Nexus-S (Fido version which is 100% compatible with AT&T network but limited to EDGE speeds on T-Mobile (talking is fine). When I arrived in the US (Las Vegas), I turned my phone on and at first I couldn't get data to work even though my phone did lock onto the T-Mobile network.

I did some minor tweaking (not sure if it is related) but eventually my data worked at 2G. So now I'm getting unlimited calling to the Canada/US for $2/day (with the help of Google Voice). I had contemplated using my iPhone 3GS with my T-Mobile SIM (which I did last year) but decided to go with my Nexus-S. I've been using this $2/day plan and it works relatively well for what I want from it.

Tethering also works (obviously only works at 2G) but it is good enough for me to connect my Blackberry to it when I need to send an e-mail and don't feel like using the touchscreen keyboard on my Nexus and want to use a real keypad on my Blackberry.

I just have to remember to switch plans at around 8:30pm Pacific Time before I fly back to Canada because my T-Mobile number is an Eastern Time Zone based and I don't want to be charged an extra $2 for less than 2 hours of usage.

[shushwap]

Thanx for letting us know how it worked

[cmstlist]

I've been told the 24 hours are based on your actual location, not the time zone of your number. So if you're connected on the West Coast when Eastern midnight rolls around, your package lasts until Pacific midnight.

Sent from my HTC Glacier using Tapatalk

[Freighter]

From the t-mobile FAQs:

When do I incur charges with a Pay By The Day plan?
A: Plan charges are applied to your account only on the days that you use your service. All services expire at 11:59pm. (local time) Days that your service is not in use, your account will not be charged.

[cmstlist]

Right, and it's "local" in terms of location rather than area code.

Although I suppose it it expires for you on the East Coast and then at 12:01 AM ET you hop into a ridiculously fast supersonic jet such that you end up on the West Coast before midnight, you might confuse the system

[lmcjipo]

I've been told the 24 hours are based on your actual location, not the time zone of your number. So if you're connected on the West Coast when Eastern midnight rolls around, your package lasts until Pacific midnight.

Sent from my HTC Glacier using Tapatalk

That's good news since my flight the West coast (Pacific Time) at 11:30pm. I can keep the phone on until I board the plane and not when I arrive at the airport (at least 2 hours before my flight).

[lmcjipo]

Right, and it's "local" in terms of location rather than area code.

Although I suppose it it expires for you on the East Coast and then at 12:01 AM ET you hop into a ridiculously fast supersonic jet such that you end up on the West Coast before midnight, you might confuse the system

It can still get confusing because let's say that you are from the east coast (New York City) and you fly to the west coast (Las Vegas). You switch to the $2/day plan and at 8:00am, you receive a call (which deducts $2 from your balance and gives you the internet and unlimited nationwide calling until 11:59pm. You then get aboard your plane and fly to Las Vegas, arriving in Las Vegas at Las Vegas time at 4:00pm which is 7:00pm in New York City where you received your call.

Now, do you gain an extra 3 hours since NYC is 3 hours ahead of LV and you started your plan in NYC but ended up before the day was up in LV? This means that at 11:59pm EST (NYC), it is only 8:59pm PST (LV).

[shushwap]

My head hurts after reading that last post lol....
How bad is the edge speed... Like dial up slow... where it takes 2 min for a page to load

[lmcjipo]

My head hurts after reading that last post lol....
How bad is the edge speed... Like dial up slow... where it takes 2 min for a page to load

No. I think that it is better than dial-up speed but it has been such a long time since I've used dial-up that I might be mistaken.

On my Nexus-S, it takes ~15 seconds for a picture to load fully from my Facebook album which can sometimes get annoying when I am trying to show an entire Facebook album to someone.

I tried to use Speedtest.net on my Nexus-S and it crashes during the upload speed test. The download speed test from my current location (Las Vegas) in my room which is on the 37th floor is 275ms ping and 0.10 Mbps download (crashes during upload test).