Can you hear me now?.... Nope!
Written: May 12 '05
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Pros: More minutes for the $, 1 year contracts
Cons: poor reception, limited national coverage, high phone prices, many dropped calls, works mostly around cities
The Bottom Line: The price of plans are good but what good are all the extra minutes if you can't make a call?
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| focusboy0383's Full Review: T-Mobile Phone Service in Philadelphia |
I live in the Lehigh Valley and have had T-Mobile for 9 years now. I have gone through Omnipoint being bought out by Voicestream and then the T-Mobile buying them out. Each time the service in the area has stayed about the same, poor. The signal strength can go from 5 bars down to 1 by merely turning your head sometimes. I cannot use my phone in my house even though friends with Verizon and Cingular can. Calls constantly echo your voice which is very annoying. When driving I lose signal on the North East extension of the PA Turnpike and on parts of Route 22 so I have to time when/where I make calls from or else I drop the call.
I go to Kutztown University which is not a major metropolitan city by any stretch but all the other carriers seem to work there... but not T-Mobile. In selective places outside you can get a few bars but inside the building there is nothing. I watch in envy as others phones go off in class because I know they have a better service.
The poor reception is not only in Kutztown. I often find myself yelling to the person I'm talking to on the phone anytime I am not directly in Allentown. In many of the suburbs and farther out the signal is weak and can not always support a call.
The 24 hour customer service is usually helpful and friendly considering they can't make all your dropped call problems go away. The direct T-Mobile store is a different story. When going there I usually run into long line and customer service reps that don't seem to care about your situation. Most come across being not very knowledgeable about the plans and service. Even though they are a direct corporate store they do not honor corporate specials on phones and usually try and push certain phones on you.
There are a few bright spots with T-Mobile although there is not many. T-Mobile offers only 1 year contracts unlike the 2 year contracts that many of the other providers require. While you are not locked in a contract as long you pay for it by having higher phone prices. Other carriers can subsidize the price of the phones when you sign up for 2 years of service. As a result look to shell out $100 or more for a semi decent phone. Since T-Mobile works off of a GSM network an alternative to high priced retail phones would be getting a GSM phone off of ebay. I purchased an Ericsson phone from Europe that works fine. Another plus to T-Mobile's GSM network is that if you go overseas they can turn your overseas service on by just calling customer service. When I went to France last year I did this.
As I stated before the service is not the best but you really cant beat the prices. The price plans are much lower $ per minute wise then the other carriers. I pay $39.99 a month for 1000 anytime minutes, free nights and weekends and free mobile to mobile(free to other t-mobile cust). Then I pay an additional $2.99 for 300 txt messages. Verizon for example charges $39.99 for 450 minutes and they charge $2.99 for only 100 txt messages.
I personally stay with T-Mobile because since I have been a subscriber for so long they comp me minutes every month and I receive discounts. For most people though I would say that unless you live right in a city and don’t make calls on the road that much, consider other providers. There is a reason that T-Mobile has the highest customer turnover rate.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 39.99
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Epinions.com ID:
focusboy0383
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Location: Allentown, Pa, United States
Reviews written: 6
Trusted by: 0 members
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