4 ms·

IMO T-Mobile is somewhat of an exception there (or at least they have good marketing which makes me believe that they are an exception :).

by gst 10y ago

matt_wulfeck 10y ago
Even Tmo still employees questionable billing practices, where they try and pass off as many fees as possible as "taxes"
ericfrederich 10y ago
This was true years ago but less and less as time passes. Buy a phone from TMobile and it'll have the Android built-in tethering removed and their crapware installed. Today even with a Nexus phone from Google (no TM software installed) you still have to jump through hoops to tether. Also, their CEO is kind of a dick, and seems childish on Twitter after the whole EFF thing.
- lotyrin 10y ago
  Since when? TMobile US? I've had Nexus and iPhone devices on multiple TMobile plans, never had any trouble tethering: just turn it on like normal for the OS. The only thing I've had happen was I think I remember some years back, I was on a grandfathered unlimited plan from before smartphones and tethering were ubiquitous, they started new plans with unlimited data+tethering and if I tethered too much it'd redirect to a captive page saying "please don't" and throttle me pretty heavily to convince me to switch, but the Simple Choice plan I have now is actually cheaper than that plan was.
- unethical_ban 10y ago
  I also disagree. I have a 5X and hotspot works perfectly.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- MichaelGG 10y ago
  That's mostly Google's fault. They added a feature sometime in 4.x that respects some sort of flag set in the APN. It tells it to disable NAT. Root and manually add an iptables rule and you're good to go. Rather lame Google would intentionally cripple something on the client side.
- JohnTHaller 10y ago
  The Nexus 6 was sold by T-Mobile directly and has the stock standard tethering stuff within (with no T-Mobile-specific tethering software). I'm running one right now. Standard ROM it came with (OTA updated to 6.0.1 + May 2016 update), stock, unrooted.
- khedoros 10y ago
  > Today even with a Nexus phone from Google (no TM software installed) you still have to jump through hoops to tether. Hi, I turned on my direct-from-Google Nexus 5's hotspot, connected my laptop, and posted this comment. T-Mobile's my provider, and I don't have any of their software on my phone. I also haven't taken any special steps to enable it (just the usual change in the settings menu). I'm curious which "hoops" you're referring to.
covercash 10y ago
I've been nothing but impressed with TMO. Back in my Sidekick 1/2 days they were pretty good... jumped to ATT for original iPhone and stuck with them until iPhone 6 when I switched back to TMO. Very pleased with everything about them once again.
- i2shar 10y ago
  I've been a happy T-mobile customer for years. Am on their $30 prepaid (unlimited data 5G at LTE speeds, 100 minutes) plan on Nexus phones. Have never bought "subsidized" carrier phones. 100 MB tethering (excluding HTTPs and VPN traffic) is included, which serves my needs. Ported my main number to Google Voice and all my calls go over data. Coverage has never been an issue either. Highly recommend T-mobile.
  - gst 10y ago
    Yes - I used that plan too and it works great. Only minor issue is that it doesn't provide domestic data roaming in case there's no native T-Mobile coverage. But if you're in an area that has good T-Mobile coverage and if you're not doing a lot of phone calls this plan is definitely one of the best options. Also afaik T-Mobile officially states that only 100MB of tethering is included, but it seems that they haven't enforced this for some time now.
toomuchtodo 10y ago
Here here. Have been a happy customer of theirs for almost 17 years, and they never disappoint (Edge data in ~170 countries, BingeOn, etc).
brink 10y ago
T-Mobile locked my bootloader on my Galaxy S7. I was impressed with them up until then.
ryao 10y ago
Try signing up in a T-Mobile store without a credit check. My experience is that they will lie to you about it not existing until you go sign up on their website. Then they suddenly had always known about it. Then they will fail to automatically bill your credit card. They will disable your device each month requiring you to call them to straighten things out until you cancel. If the device is a hotspot that you use occasionally, this results in you never having it working until you need it. He when you cancel, they will send you a ~$6 refund on a gift card and then a bill for the ~$6. Then they will refuse to process payment over the phone should you fail to remember some number for a cancelled account because they think you might be trying to fradulently pay a bill. That was my experience with t-mobile in a nutshell. Also, their employees will lie about their credit check not being a hard pull on your credit report that harms your credit. The Internet has plenty of reports to the contrary. Having your credit run for a hotspot like they want to do is ridiculous. No MNVO ever required once from me. That said, T-Mobile's network is fairly good here in NY. Their customer service and sales are horrible though. I am not sure if the others are much better as I have not interacted with them much. My first cell phone was on Virgin Mobile USA, which spared me from experiencing this nonsense until later in life.
- jrockway 10y ago
  I went to a T-Mobile store in the Nexus 4 era to get a prepaid SIM card. No credit check. I gave them $80 and they gave me a SIM card with unlimited everything. When the 30 days were over it stopped working until I made an account to give them more money. No credit check.
  - ryao 10y ago
    In that case, my experience last year was not a hard rule. It definitely was one of the worst experiences that I have ever had with any company though.
Bluestrike2 10y ago
Even at their worst, T-Mobile is worlds beyond AT&T and Verizon. That's not really a very high bar to clear, but I'm a lot more comfortable after switching from AT&T to T-Mobile. It seems like every month I was fighting with AT&T's billing department over the same stupid issue.

IMO T-Mobile is somewhat of an exception there (or at least they have good marketing which makes me believe that they are an exception :).

by gst 10y ago

IMO T-Mobile is somewhat of an exception there (or at least they have good marketing which makes me believe that they are an exception :).

matt_wulfeck 10y ago

Even Tmo still employees questionable billing practices, where they try and pass off as many fees as possible as "taxes"

ericfrederich 10y ago

This was true years ago but less and less as time passes. Buy a phone from TMobile and it'll have the Android built-in tethering removed and their crapware installed. Today even with a Nexus phone from Google (no TM software installed) you still have to jump through hoops to tether. Also, their CEO is kind of a dick, and seems childish on Twitter after the whole EFF thing.

lotyrin 10y ago
Since when? TMobile US? I've had Nexus and iPhone devices on multiple TMobile plans, never had any trouble tethering: just turn it on like normal for the OS. The only thing I've had happen was I think I remember some years back, I was on a grandfathered unlimited plan from before smartphones and tethering were ubiquitous, they started new plans with unlimited data+tethering and if I tethered too much it'd redirect to a captive page saying "please don't" and throttle me pretty heavily to convince me to switch, but the Simple Choice plan I have now is actually cheaper than that plan was.
unethical_ban 10y ago
I also disagree. I have a 5X and hotspot works perfectly.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
MichaelGG 10y ago
That's mostly Google's fault. They added a feature sometime in 4.x that respects some sort of flag set in the APN. It tells it to disable NAT. Root and manually add an iptables rule and you're good to go. Rather lame Google would intentionally cripple something on the client side.
JohnTHaller 10y ago
The Nexus 6 was sold by T-Mobile directly and has the stock standard tethering stuff within (with no T-Mobile-specific tethering software). I'm running one right now. Standard ROM it came with (OTA updated to 6.0.1 + May 2016 update), stock, unrooted.
khedoros 10y ago
> Today even with a Nexus phone from Google (no TM software installed) you still have to jump through hoops to tether. Hi, I turned on my direct-from-Google Nexus 5's hotspot, connected my laptop, and posted this comment. T-Mobile's my provider, and I don't have any of their software on my phone. I also haven't taken any special steps to enable it (just the usual change in the settings menu). I'm curious which "hoops" you're referring to.

covercash 10y ago

I've been nothing but impressed with TMO. Back in my Sidekick 1/2 days they were pretty good... jumped to ATT for original iPhone and stuck with them until iPhone 6 when I switched back to TMO. Very pleased with everything about them once again.

i2shar 10y ago
I've been a happy T-mobile customer for years. Am on their $30 prepaid (unlimited data 5G at LTE speeds, 100 minutes) plan on Nexus phones. Have never bought "subsidized" carrier phones. 100 MB tethering (excluding HTTPs and VPN traffic) is included, which serves my needs. Ported my main number to Google Voice and all my calls go over data. Coverage has never been an issue either. Highly recommend T-mobile.
- gst 10y ago
  Yes - I used that plan too and it works great. Only minor issue is that it doesn't provide domestic data roaming in case there's no native T-Mobile coverage. But if you're in an area that has good T-Mobile coverage and if you're not doing a lot of phone calls this plan is definitely one of the best options. Also afaik T-Mobile officially states that only 100MB of tethering is included, but it seems that they haven't enforced this for some time now.

toomuchtodo 10y ago

Here here. Have been a happy customer of theirs for almost 17 years, and they never disappoint (Edge data in ~170 countries, BingeOn, etc).

brink 10y ago

T-Mobile locked my bootloader on my Galaxy S7. I was impressed with them up until then.

ryao 10y ago

Try signing up in a T-Mobile store without a credit check. My experience is that they will lie to you about it not existing until you go sign up on their website. Then they suddenly had always known about it. Then they will fail to automatically bill your credit card. They will disable your device each month requiring you to call them to straighten things out until you cancel. If the device is a hotspot that you use occasionally, this results in you never having it working until you need it. He when you cancel, they will send you a ~$6 refund on a gift card and then a bill for the ~$6. Then they will refuse to process payment over the phone should you fail to remember some number for a cancelled account because they think you might be trying to fradulently pay a bill. That was my experience with t-mobile in a nutshell. Also, their employees will lie about their credit check not being a hard pull on your credit report that harms your credit. The Internet has plenty of reports to the contrary. Having your credit run for a hotspot like they want to do is ridiculous. No MNVO ever required once from me. That said, T-Mobile's network is fairly good here in NY. Their customer service and sales are horrible though. I am not sure if the others are much better as I have not interacted with them much. My first cell phone was on Virgin Mobile USA, which spared me from experiencing this nonsense until later in life.

jrockway 10y ago
I went to a T-Mobile store in the Nexus 4 era to get a prepaid SIM card. No credit check. I gave them $80 and they gave me a SIM card with unlimited everything. When the 30 days were over it stopped working until I made an account to give them more money. No credit check.
- ryao 10y ago
  In that case, my experience last year was not a hard rule. It definitely was one of the worst experiences that I have ever had with any company though.

Bluestrike2 10y ago

Even at their worst, T-Mobile is worlds beyond AT&T and Verizon. That's not really a very high bar to clear, but I'm a lot more comfortable after switching from AT&T to T-Mobile. It seems like every month I was fighting with AT&T's billing department over the same stupid issue.