What plan is this?

**aurora40** · 06-09-2012, 08:38 AM

In this comparison, they mention a $50 monthly plan with unlimited minutes/text and 5GB of data:

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/compe...usvthem-030512

I've never seen a plan like that on TMo's website, just the 100MB one.

**adam1991** · 06-09-2012, 09:43 AM

Originally Posted by aurora40

In this comparison, they mention a $50 monthly plan with unlimited minutes/text and 5GB of data:

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/compe...usvthem-030512

I've never seen a plan like that on TMo's website, just the 100MB one.

I see what you mean. VM isn't being completely honest there.

To be fair, t-mo no-contract *is* unlimited data. They simply move the point where they throttle your speed down from 4G, that's all.

For $30, the t-mo plan with unlimited text and unlimited data (first 5 GIGABYTES at 4G speeds!) with 100 minutes voice is killer--because you can add Vonage Mobile to it and for now, talk free using the data connection or your wifi connections.

Even when Vonage starts charging, it'll no doubt be a better deal to pay Vonage to use their minutes over that big honkin' data connection than to pay t-mo a dime a minute for whatever you use over 100 minutes. Here's the smart plan: save those 100 minutes/month for incoming calls. All outgoing calls, use Vonage Mobile. For now it's free, and even after it's not free it'll be something like a penny a minute--which is DIRT cheap.

And if someone calls you, just say you'll call right back and then call back over the Vonage connection.

And here's the kicker: when you fund your Vonage Mobile account, those funds don't expire and can be used on whatever schedule you need. Unlike the typical cellco "use it or lose it" that the t-mo 100 minutes represent, put five bucks into your Vonage account and get 500 minutes you can use immediately, or save for a rainy day, or whatever. You get to fund and use your minutes based on YOUR schedule, not t-mo's monthly schedule.

I bought an Exhibit II used for $100. I pay $28.50 per month (via callingmart) to fund the $30/month requirement. Over two years, that's $784. Sure, that's only 100 minutes/month voice, but it *is* unlimited data and the first 5GB is 4G. Compared to the Virgin Mobile $1140, that's $356 cheaper.

That $356 can buy you, at a penny a minute, 35,600 talk minutes--to be distributed whenever YOU want. Over two years, that's an average of 1483 minutes/month. Or you could use it zero minutes for five months, then have 7416 minutes you can use the hell out of. Whatever.

So really, you're comparing the t-mo plan with unlimited text, unlimited data, and ~1600 minutes/month total voice (on average) with the Virgin Mobile plan that gives unlimited data and ONLY 300 MINUTES/MONTH VOICE. In addition, with VM you have to suffer the Sprint "4G" network, which really isn't. That's two strikes for the price of one.

Let's see, save $356 and use Vonage Mobile and have complete flexibility and control with respect to your voice usage, or pay $356 extra for...nothing, really.

Also, I'm looking at the coverage maps; if anything, t-mo's coverage is better than VM's. It's certainly no worse (with the usual caveats: it all depends on specifically where YOU live and use the service).

**mustang123** · 06-10-2012, 07:07 AM

Thanks adam..very nicely put. The only thing is the process of getting the walmart plan and porting the number..why cant t-mobile make it simple..I am so confused and there are tons of threads here in this site regarding that topic.

**adam1991** · 06-10-2012, 07:56 AM

Getting the "wal mart" plan is easy--simply get an activation kit from t-mo (currently 99 cents), then activate on the web. That plan is available only at wal-mart or via web activation.

That will give you a number. No big deal.

If you're already on t-mo, moving you existing number over appears to be a crapshoot.

If you're not on t-mo, porting in is porting in. You have an active phone with an account and a number, and you follow the standard port process. That will close your account with your existing vendor, move the number over to t-mo, and replace the initial number you got at signup with the number you're porting over.

To be fair, t-mo never intended for the wal-mart plan to be something that t-mo customers move to. It's intended to be for new customers.

I think the best way to solve that problem, now and for other situations like this that may arise, is simply to get a google voice number--or port your known number to google voice. At that point you'll have one number you can forward to anywhere, and you're in a good position to play the cell phone company games like this. You won't care what number they give you, it just won't matter.

**luther349** · 06-10-2012, 08:16 AM

virgin does the same thing but there cap is at 2.5 gb they throttle you to 25kb after. t-mobile you get more data and better coverage then virgin but there cap is harder at 6kb you can get to around 12kb switching back to edge but edge is well spotty with its data speeds some days it will barely get dial-up others it can be nearly as fast as 3g. but 12-13 kb is the avg.

**aurora40** · 06-10-2012, 08:44 AM

From what I have heard, the VM USA throttle is like 256Kbps, not 25. There were many times I'd have been quite happy to get 256Kbps consistently on my Triumph, without being anywhere near the cap.

Also, the plan they refer to is not the Wal-Mart plan, as that is not unlimited minutes. So is there no plan that matches the one they show? No contract, unlimited talk/text, 5GB of data for $50?

Maybe they misunderstood the "unlimited" part of the $50 100MB plan, and thought after your 100MB at "4G" speeds, you would naturally get 3G speeds. Which of course is not true, and it sounds like you'd be lucky to get EDGE speeds once you hit the cap.

I'd also say I don't expect VM to compare to buying a used GSM phone, and VOIP for minutes. That's not apples to apples.

**luther349** · 06-10-2012, 05:09 PM

256 kilobits is 32 kilobytes. i was just giving the number you would see downloading stuff.

**aurora40** · 06-11-2012, 05:26 PM

usually a capital "B" is used to signify bytes vs bits. But fair enough, I misunderstood. Usually people talk networks speeds in bits/sec.

**luther349** · 06-13-2012, 08:58 AM

well with vm/sprint/boost 256Kbps is pretty much there 3g speed if you ever used them. some cases the guy on edge is going that fast and its not even 3g.