Thinking Of Joining T-Mobile & Getting the Radar

[johnny hotsauce]

Happy Holidays!

I'm considering giving T-Mo's Monthly 4G a test drive, right now I'm with Sprint and I'm getting a little fed up with them and all their changes lately as well as slow as mollases data speeds and I'd like to be a "free agent" for a little bit before I decide to get married to another carrier. Right now my ETF with Sprint is only $90 so to me it's well worth it to me to consider paying them off and looking at parting ways and try something else for the time being.

I live in the Chicago Market and I hear T-Mo's coverage here is pretty decent and the data speeds are supposedly doing much better than Sprint's here. I'm trying to hunt down an HTC Radar on Craigslist, I played with one in my local T-Mo store and I really liked what I saw, WP7 is an amazing experience. I used to have all the old WM phones (5-6.5) and I couldn't stand them however MS really outdone themselves with WP7 IMO. Right now I'm on an iPhone 4S and I came from Android prior and done everything there is to do with that platform so been there and done that...LOL.

I'd really love to hear any feedback from anyone that uses T-Mo in the Chicagoland area especially if you have a Radar and your opinion of how it works on T-Mo's network in regards to call quality, reception/network reliability, data speeds, etc. I think I'm going to give the $30 100 min/5GB data Monthy 4G plan a try along side my Sprint service before I decide to cancel out.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!!

 

[palandri]

I had T-Mobile in Chicago for a while and their coverage in the Chicagoland area is very good.

 

[Winterfang]

I'm thinking of jumping to T-mobile to get the Radar, since my carrier have zero signal at my job and that's when I make 80 percent of my daily calls. ( Not the mention I can't send or receive any text in there, no data either ) But the Radar is just so underwhelming with it's tiny screen and 8GB of memory. I just can deal with so little memory even though I got a whopping 12gigs left out of my 16 original ones.

If T-mobile gets something sexy like the Lumia 900 I'll be jumping in.

 

[masherro]

I'm thinking of jumping to T-mobile to get the Radar, since my carrier have zero signal at my job and that's when I make 80 percent of my daily calls. ( Not the mention I can't send or receive any text in there, no data either ) But the Radar is just so underwhelming with it's tiny screen and 8GB of memory. I just can deal with so little memory even though I got a whopping 12gigs left out of my 16 original ones.

If T-mobile gets something sexy like the Lumia 900 I'll be jumping in.

Don't forget the 25GB of storage on SkyDrive.

The Radar is an amazing phone!! You will love it

 

[Winterfang]

I don't know, it doesn't seem that much better than my Optimus 7 and if I'm going to get stuck with another 2 year contract + cancelling fees at my carrier it needs to be something amazing for real.

 

[jrdatrackstar1223]

I'm in the same boat as the OP. I got lucky and found a Radar for 250 on Craigslist. I came from Sprint also, and had the exact same complaints....

TMobile speeds are way better (their 2.5g is like as fast as Sprints 3G), and I actually get the 4g I'm paying for and its nice. I have only had a few problems with spotty coverage, and that can be solved by getting my unlock code from Tmobile and then pop in a cheap at&t SIM at times when I drop signal.

I never needed all the space, and although there is a cap (5gb that I was worried about), I find I will never hit it because I actually get in and out of my phone now since the signal actually works now and speeds are reliable. I honestly cant see myself going back to contracts until Sprint fixes their towers and I can actually use what I'm paying for; actually 3g and real speed. At&t is too expensive, so the only way I will make the effort with them is either prepaid or if a good enough phone comes out that will get me to sign the contract (REALLY don't ever see this happening tho). I can afford them just fine...its just the principle. That company has terrible customer service, is against net neutrality, etc....; I really hate AT&T's cockiness ever since they got the first iPhone, and when I actually did use a Focus (OG) on their prepaid service i couldn't watch YouTube for squat. It was as if they knew i was using a Windows Phone and were reducing my speeds because everything was just fine using my work phone (an iPhone 4).

If the 8gb space doesn't bother you then I say get it if the price is right. I didn't mind paying 250 because my plan is flexible because i can change it at anytime, and being a free agent with an unlock code is way worth it IMO.

Just my 2 cents....

 

[masherro]

You have to remember that T-mobile has the most prepaid customers of any carrier. Believe it or not, I use prepaid on my Radar (which is my floor demo model when I'm selling.) My customers never know that its prepaid. I have no real complaints about the service. Even my GV account links in.

I doubt you will have any real complaints with Tmobile prepaid

 

[johnny hotsauce]

Thanks for the feedback everyone, it's appreciated! I keep hearing mostly positive experiences from T-Mo customers, at least in regards to their network in my neck of the woods so that makes me feel a bit better.

So far, the only thing holding me back from pulling the trigger is the 8GB of internal memory which is more like 6GB free with the rest dedicated to the OS. If this thing had 16GB, I wouldn't have any second thoughts. I still have a feeling I'll end up trying it our anyway

 

[Xtian.Castro]

I was in Chicago a couple weeks ago and have a radar with the $30 plan. The coverage was excellent and I never had an issue with speed or call quality.

I will say the 8 gigs is a little limiting, I stream my music, but it was bit of a bummer when I barely had room to store some music locally for the train or airplane. Like other people have mentioned a person could make pretty good use of SkyDrive for photos and videos.

 

[brmiller1976]

I live in California (Bay Area) but after four years with Sprint, I couldn't take it anymore! The EVDO network is crawling due to overload, and the only Windows option was the Arrive. I switched to T-Mo's $49.99/month plan and couldn't be happier. Coverage is about the same as I got with Sprint, but the data speeds are orders of magnitude better. I average about 6 MB/second -- 50 to 100 times faster than Sprint EVDO during peak hours. And the plan is cheaper to boot.

The Radar has great battery life, works well with Tango, and charges along quite nicely on the network too. If you've got good T-Mobile coverage, I can't see any point in not giving it a try, especially after Sprint's announcement that it doesn't plan to look at anything other than Android and iOS.

 

[jrdatrackstar1223]

I live in California (Bay Area) but after four years with Sprint, I couldn't take it anymore! The EVDO network is crawling due to overload, and the only Windows option was the Arrive. I switched to T-Mo's $49.99/month plan and couldn't be happier. Coverage is about the same as I got with Sprint, but the data speeds are orders of magnitude better. I average about 6 MB/second -- 50 to 100 times faster than Sprint EVDO during peak hours. And the plan is cheaper to boot.

The Radar has great battery life, works well with Tango, and charges along quite nicely on the network too. If you've got good T-Mobile coverage, I can't see any point in not giving it a try, especially after Sprint's announcement that it doesn't plan to look at anything other than Android and iOS.

Couldn't have said it better myself....

 

[crystinonfire]

But the Radar is just so underwhelming with it's tiny screen and 8GB of memory.

Aw, sad. I like my Radar. But I'm coming from a Blackberry 9700, so this screen is ginormous and there is a ton of memory compared to what I'm used to. It's on par with my ipod touch in terms of screen size but is ridiculously faster. Using my ipod touch now is like watching paint dry.

 

[sprocket01]

I'm new to WP7 but LOVE my Radar I agree more memory make me feel better but for what I use it for it should be fine. I came from a Samsung Galaxy S and this phone is a million times faster (22 seconds from power up to operational! over a minute with Samsung) the screen is a little smaller but I haven't really noticed that too much. Another plus for me is the lack of apps quitting on me and freezing up that was a big issue some days with my Android this phone it has only happened when using GroupMe. I have switched back to TMOB and am very happy with the service about the same call quality but much faster data virtually zero any lag at all.

 

[sp3ci4lk]

Aw, sad. I like my Radar. But I'm coming from a Blackberry 9700, so this screen is ginormous and there is a ton of memory compared to what I'm used to. It's on par with my ipod touch in terms of screen size but is ridiculously faster. Using my ipod touch now is like watching paint dry.

Haha. You think your ipod touch is slow...try an android phone.

 

[sp3ci4lk]

I'm new to WP7 but LOVE my Radar I agree more memory make me feel better but for what I use it for it should be fine. I came from a Samsung Galaxy S and this phone is a million times faster (22 seconds from power up to operational! over a minute with Samsung) the screen is a little smaller but I haven't really noticed that too much. Another plus for me is the lack of apps quitting on me and freezing up that was a big issue some days with my Android this phone it has only happened when using GroupMe. I have switched back to TMOB and am very happy with the service about the same call quality but much faster data virtually zero any lag at all.

Welcome to Windows Phone, land of few apps but simplicity, elegance, and blistering performance!

You're right about the boot time, too. I was SHOCKED at how fast my Windows Phone boots. I had an iPhone and two Android phones, and it was like I dropped all three of them into molasses.

 

[freestaterocker]

Welcome to Windows Phone, land of few apps but simplicity, elegance, and blistering performance!

You're right about the boot time, too. I was SHOCKED at how fast my Windows Phone boots. I had an iPhone and two Android phones, and it was like I dropped all three of them into molasses.

I have an HD7 that I was pre-Nodo when I purchased it, and it was well over a minute to power up, closer to 1 ?. Now with Mango, about 22-23 seconds. Amazing!

 

[sp3ci4lk]

I have an HD7 that I was pre-Nodo when I purchased it, and it was well over a minute to power up, closer to 1 ?. Now with Mango, about 22-23 seconds. Amazing!

Wow! That's quite the improvement. I wish I could shake the hands of all on the Windows Phone development team and those of the executive staff who put them there. I'm a Mac guy, and while I do use Windows on my Mac occasionally, I prefer Mac OS for it's simplicity and overall smoother performance. Windows Phone, on the other hand, is just a fantastic product.

 

[Lulu1958]

I am in Canada and have had Blackberrys and Androids and I have to say I was so happy I made the choice to get this phone. I agree with the description above "simplicity and elegance". It is so fast and every day I find something else out about it that is great.