By my calculations I've come out ahead buying my two unlocked GSM phones outright and getting a lower-cost monthly plan. An unlocked GSM phone lets me get cheap service when I travel to foreign countries - my SIM collection includes the UK, Spain, Cambodia, and Germany. Not being tied to a contract frees me to try Walmart and Solavei and Simple Mobile and other cheap mobile virtual network operators. And on principle I prefer not to borrow money at high rates of interest -- the reality of a phone subsidy.
I have a few complaints with T-Mobile. There's a big dead spot in Atherton right in the middle of my daily commute. I can be certain that I will get completely incorrect information from store personnel - they didn't know that you can only program "forward on ring-no answer" with a postpaid plan, and they told me that number porting always meant paying a termination fee. They have no knowledge of unusual or complicated procedures. But you can't get your hopes up about cellphone companies, and the T-Mo network has generally been fast and reliable with coverage that works pretty well for me.
I was mostly satisfied with my T-Mobile deal of $50/month for 500 minutes of talk, unlimited texts, and 2GB of "high speed" "4G" data. But I also thought it would be nice to have a little more flexibility... So I decided to port my number to Google Voice. In that way, I could instantly change cellphone carriers without having to port my number again. And I could get a prepaid plan - cheaper than postpaid, without the hassle of a credit check - and save a few more dollars. Two agents at the T-Mobile call center (I double checked) assured me that if I did this I could keep my current plan without termination fees or any other inconveniences. I just had to visit a store and get a new SIM and new phone number within sixty days of porting the number away.
So I ported my number to Google Voice. The many horror stories about GV porting failures worried me but mine went smoothly and took just three days. In my lunch hour on the Thursday the port completed, I hopped on my bike and pedaled three miles to the local T-Mobile store. Here's what I found when I got there at 12:20pm:
Confused - and bemused, like several passers-by - I decided to wait. After twenty-five minutes, "Daniel M" unlocked the door. I told him (rather testily, I admit) how long I'd been waiting. Annoyed with me, he replied - completely seriously! - "The sign says thirty minutes, and I cut my lunch hour short to help you."
He had no idea how to set me up with a new SIM, so he called customer service to go through the procedure. Along the way he read off my SIM number. He assured me I'd have cell service again "within two days."
At 4:00pm that day I still didn't have service. I called T-Mobile and got the correct SIM number entered in the system - and my phone immediately came back to life. But the agent told me that, contrary to what I'd been told, I could not keep my old plan and had to take a new, current one - with unlimited talk, unlimited messages, and 500 MB of data. While it wasn't as attractive a combination as my old plan (which had 2GB data) it was OK and I accepted the deal.
A couple of weeks later I got a text from T-Mobile asking me to rate their service on a scale of 1 to 10. I replied "2". A few days later I got a call from another customer service specialist who said he was following up on my dissatisfaction. I told him about the "back in 30 minutes" sign, and explained that if the web site had mentioned lunchtime closing, or the sign had said, "Back at 1pm" I'd have been able to work around it. (I didn't mention the botched activation.) Anyway, he apologized and after some discussion agreed to give me my old 2GB plan back.
But he didn't. When I left my office (and its WiFi) I discovered I had no data service at all. The agent had deleted data from my plan altogether. I dialed 611, and after a few minutes on the phone the agent gave me 2GB data.
Peeved by all these hassles, the next morning I shopped around. I went through all the GSM MVNOs (mobile virtual network operators, resellers of ATT or T-Mobile) and discovered that I can get unlimited talk, texts, and 2.5GB of "3G" "high-speed" data on the T-Mobile network from Walmart (!) for $39.88/month plus $25 to sign up.
That evening I checked my T-Mobile account online and discovered that I had no text messaging plan, either! The agent had deleted my SMS plan, too - and I was 105 SMS messages over my plan limit of zero! Another call to T-Mobile, and this time "Jackie" fixed it, retroactively.
Now back to my baseline $50 for 500 minutes of voice, unlimited texts, 2GB data reinstated, I asked if they'd match the Walmart deal. Jackie patiently and politely pointed that the Walmart deal is prepaid, and that there are many customer service advantages with a postpaid plan. I told her that the only benefit I could think of was that I could roam internationally - and laughed as I said that any customer service advantages would need to be demonstrated some other time.
That conversation pushed me over the line. The cumulative hassles really got to me. I decided to cancel my T-Mobile account. Strangely, I felt guilty about it, as if I had somehow failed, or was being disloyal. But they'd botched their side of the deal again and again, repeatedly inconveniencing me. The next day I met a friend in Mountain View for lunch, and on the way home stopped at Walmart where I paid $25 for a "FamilyMobile" SIM.
When I called T-Mobile to cancel, I was treated to a truly amazing, virtuoso customer service performance by "Andrea" who pulled out all the stops to try to keep me. "Do you really want to end a four year relationship because of what's happened in just one month?" What a great line! What a scriptwriter! "I understand your frustration but maybe I can make everything right for you."
And the stick: "That Walmart plan is only 3G."
I replied, "But my phone doesn't have an LTE radio - it's just HSPA+ - are you telling me that Walmart doesn't get access to LTE? Or to the highest HSPA+ speeds? Because my phone can't use them."
"Gee, I don't know - I've never heard those terms."
I checked - T-Mobile 3G is UMTS or HSPA+ at up to 7.2Mbps, while their "4G" is really a souped-up 3G HSPA+42. But their HSPA 3G at 7.2Mbps is plenty fast, and my phone can't receive T-Mobile's "4G", and anyway it's not clear to me that it would make any difference. Most of the time I seem to be in a T-Mobile dead spot or at a WiFi access point. Today, for example, the fastest rate I could get on T-Mobile was 1.3Mbps which definitely is a "3G" speed or maybe even 2G.
So I stood fast and my T-Mobile service will be disconnected on August 4. Even though I am awed by their retention effort, this final act reflects the fatal flaws that have always been in our relationship. I was willing to contribute $600 annually to their fixed costs. All I wanted was that things be simple, easy, and fast. I prefer to do everything myself online (further reducing their costs). I don't want them to screw up or nickel-and-dime me. But it was exactly their desperation to to maximize yield that turned every interaction into a nightmarish comedy. Reaching for that extra $50/year cost them the whole $600 annuity, which had a present value of several thousand dollars.
When I ported my number to Google Voice, they should have recognized that I was an at-risk customer. When I mentioned Walmart Family Mobile, they had to know I was serious and in my opinion at that point they should have offered to match the $39.88/month figure.
The irony is that Walmart Family Mobile runs on the T-Mobile network, so the effect of their yield maximization is to cut their revenue from me by (I estimate) 40%.
