The T-Mobile layover

[RaRa85]

So here's the deal. I'm a T-Mobile customer with an unlocked HTC Titan getting 4g coverage in 80% of my area. I want a WP8 phone but I'm stuck between getting a phone to hold me over until my 08/2014 upgrade date or going all out on a phone I WANT to keep for two years. Problem is (1) T-Mobile doesn't carry the Lumia 920(and I would consider switching to AT&T but would lose messaging to keep cost down) (2) the 8X is sexy but doesn't have enough storage to justify purchasing to keep for two years or as a layover device and is more expensive than most other Windows Phones off contract (3) torn between getting a midrange device but don't want to be held back by midrange limitations (mainly lower ram which will not run all games/services) (4) the HTC One is really sexy but it's Android and I'd like to stay in the WP family(and I need to see the camera for myself) (5) rumors of 920 variant for T-Mobile(best case scenario) (6) do I even need a new phone?(the Titan has been great) (7) do I get the Lumia 810 as a layover device until my upgrade next year. If you were in my shoes, what would you do?

 

[locokip]

RaRa,

I've been with T-Mo for over 10 years, but their infrastructure has been stagnant. Their "4G" is the slowest of the providers since it's really just their old 3G which was the fastest 3G a few years ago. They are about $20 a month cheaper for a family plan than AT&T, but their lack of service in many areas and terrible data issues when you get anywhere that has more than 10 people on the same tower drives me crazy.

Anyways, to stop venting and answer your question, I still have my HTC HD7 from 2 years ago on T-Mo and it still works fine enough for me to wait for my contract to run out. Yeah the camera is not that great anymore, but I lug around my nice SLR if I have anything really great I want to take pictures of. I really enjoy having 7.8 on my phone. It's brought a little bit of new life to the phone with the different tile sizes/colors and having the Bing picture change daily on the lock screen. Nothing too spectacular, but it's holding me over.

If you have a 2 year contract, you must have just bought your Titan if it has an upgrade date of 08/14 right?? Typically T-Mo lets you do a complete "Free" upgrade after 22 months in contract. They charge a lot for cancelling early too. It's something like a $200 penalty for anything over 180 days, then it goes down $50 every 60 days from then. If you really enjoy your Titan still, I'd load 7.8 on it and wait until at least the end of the year (Oct) when the next release of phones come out to see what's available.

 

[eric12341]

So here's the deal. I'm a T-Mobile customer with an unlocked HTC Titan getting 4g coverage in 80% of my area. I want a WP8 phone but I'm stuck between getting a phone to hold me over until my 08/2014 upgrade date or going all out on a phone I WANT to keep for two years. Problem is (1) T-Mobile doesn't carry the Lumia 920(and I would consider switching to AT&T but would lose messaging to keep cost down) (2) the 8X is sexy but doesn't have enough storage to justify purchasing to keep for two years or as a layover device and is more expensive than most other Windows Phones off contract (3) torn between getting a midrange device but don't want to be held back by midrange limitations (mainly lower ram which will not run all games/services) (4) the HTC One is really sexy but it's Android and I'd like to stay in the WP family(and I need to see the camera for myself) (5) rumors of 920 variant for T-Mobile(best case scenario) (6) do I even need a new phone?(the Titan has been great) (7) do I get the Lumia 810 as a layover device until my upgrade next year. If you were in my shoes, what would you do?

If storage is going to be an issue I would opt for option 5, otherwise go with the 8X. The storage isn't an issue for me as I stream almost all of my music and upload any pictures and videos I take to SkyDrive.

RaRa,

I've been with T-Mo for over 10 years, but their infrastructure has been stagnant. Their "4G" is the slowest of the providers since it's really just their old 3G which was the fastest 3G a few years ago. They are about $20 a month cheaper for a family plan than AT&T, but their lack of service in many areas and terrible data issues when you get anywhere that has more than 10 people on the same tower drives me crazy.

Anyways, to stop venting and answer your question, I still have my HTC HD7 from 2 years ago on T-Mo and it still works fine enough for me to wait for my contract to run out. Yeah the camera is not that great anymore, but I lug around my nice SLR if I have anything really great I want to take pictures of. I really enjoy having 7.8 on my phone. It's brought a little bit of new life to the phone with the different tile sizes/colors and having the Bing picture change daily on the lock screen. Nothing too spectacular, but it's holding me over.

If you have a 2 year contract, you must have just bought your Titan if it has an upgrade date of 08/14 right?? Typically T-Mo lets you do a complete "Free" upgrade after 22 months in contract. They charge a lot for cancelling early too. It's something like a $200 penalty for anything over 180 days, then it goes down $50 every 60 days from then. If you really enjoy your Titan still, I'd load 7.8 on it and wait until at least the end of the year (Oct) when the next release of phones come out to see what's available.

This isn't true, T-mobile is currently in the process of modernization of the network which includes:
1) Converting existing HSPA+ coverage over to the 1900mhz band.
2) rolling out LTE release 10 (more advanced than the LTE from other carriers.
3) rolling out HD Voice calls (already in some areas/ first carrier to do this)
4) expanding coverage.

The current HSPA+ network already has more backhaul and faster speeds than that of AT&T.

 

[RaRa85]

RaRa,

I've been with T-Mo for over 10 years, but their infrastructure has been stagnant. Their "4G" is the slowest of the providers since it's really just their old 3G which was the fastest 3G a few years ago. They are about $20 a month cheaper for a family plan than AT&T, but their lack of service in many areas and terrible data issues when you get anywhere that has more than 10 people on the same tower drives me crazy.


If you have a 2 year contract, you must have just bought your Titan if it has an upgrade date of 08/14 right?? Typically T-Mo lets you do a complete "Free" upgrade after 22 months in contract. They charge a lot for cancelling early too. It's something like a $200 penalty for anything over 180 days, then it goes down $50 every 60 days from then. If you really enjoy your Titan still, I'd load 7.8 on it and wait until at least the end of the year (Oct) when the next release of phones come out to see what's available.

True but I would be going to AT&T by myself which would be an automatic $100plus a month contract if I wanted to keep the services I have now. The Titan has 16gb of storage as well and I'm finding that I need just a little more breathing room only because of (1) the good but large 100mb games such as Final Fantasy and Sonic CD (2) movies I've downloaded from FlashVideos+TubeMusic which range from 300mb and up.

 

[RaRa85]

So after some looking around and researching I've decided to go with the Lumia 820 and unlock it for T-Mobile. The 820 is the perfect blend of design(interchangeable covers) and function(1gb of ram, 8mp camera and expandable storage). Also I found one for only $250 which is a decent layover price until August next year. Whatever comes out in the coming months was going to cost me more than that for an early upgrade anyway and I don't feel like there's too much compromise with the 820. I just hope the seller doesn't get an offer from someone else before next week. Fingers crossed...

 

[RaRa85]

Thanks for the feedback as well locokip and Eric.