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Is this it? http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-monthly-plans http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-monthly-plans "$30 per month — Unlimited web an

Is this it? http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-monthly-plans http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-monthly-plans "$30 per month — Unlimited web and text with 100 minutes talk... First 5GB at up to 4G speeds... This plan is only available for devices purchased from Wal-Mart or devices activated on T-Mobile.com". That sounds good, except that I recently tried to activate a new, unlocked iPhone on t-mobile.com — and it didn't go well at all. The web site simply couldn't do it. Neither could the phone reps. It took a trip to a B&M store before I could get the phone activated, even though it came from Apple with a t-mobile SIM card already installed. So this $30 plan may not be a practical option if you want a specific phone. That said I am pretty happy with t-mobile so far, using a post-paid plan. Connectivity has been better than I expected. International roaming was an amazing value on my last trip, but that might not be available on the $30 plan either.

mikeash 12y ago
The $30 plan is an odd duck. They clearly don't want it to be too visible. I guess it's an attempt at market segmentation. People who aren't willing to go out of their way to track it down will go for a more expensive plan instead. But I think it's available to anything that'll take a SIM card if you can jump through all the hoops and twist the right arms.
- Zak 12y ago
  It's not difficult to get in my experience using it myself and recommending it to two international visitors. They just don't market it, so people only learn about it through word of mouth.
Zak 12y ago
I helped a friend activate the $30 plan on an iPhone. There were no issues aside from the activation website having display issues on mobile browsers that made filling out the forms impossible. Odd that a mobile provider wouldn't put more effort in to that. It may be that the preinstalled SIM only works with postpaid plans, as they do seem to separate the two business models quite a bit (separate websites and such). International data roaming is not available on the prepaid plans, but swapping in a local SIM can be a good option for some use cases.

mikeash 12y ago

The $30 plan is an odd duck. They clearly don't want it to be too visible. I guess it's an attempt at market segmentation. People who aren't willing to go out of their way to track it down will go for a more expensive plan instead. But I think it's available to anything that'll take a SIM card if you can jump through all the hoops and twist the right arms.

Zak 12y ago
It's not difficult to get in my experience using it myself and recommending it to two international visitors. They just don't market it, so people only learn about it through word of mouth.

Zak 12y ago

I helped a friend activate the $30 plan on an iPhone. There were no issues aside from the activation website having display issues on mobile browsers that made filling out the forms impossible. Odd that a mobile provider wouldn't put more effort in to that. It may be that the preinstalled SIM only works with postpaid plans, as they do seem to separate the two business models quite a bit (separate websites and such). International data roaming is not available on the prepaid plans, but swapping in a local SIM can be a good option for some use cases.