Is anyone using a Pre 3 on T-Mobile?

[shneor]

Had 3G at LAX last week. DSLReports said it was 1.26mbps, so probably really 1.5 mbps.

[sodays1]

I've been using a Pre Plus ATT unlocked phone and just recently a HP Pre 3 on T-mobile also unlocked and ATT and have used their $50.00 plan with unlimited calling and 100 mb of data for $50.00 and it's worked just fine for me this a non-contract plan, which is fine for me too. I've just upgraded to the $60.00 plan with my new HP Pre 3 and it's working great too of course you get 3g and up to 4G speeds and now get 2GB's of data. So hope that helps, click on T-mobile link to find out for yourself. Prepaid Cell Phone Plans, No Annual Contract | Monthly 4G | T-Mobile

[danimal62]

I've gotten 3 g speeds. In Rosemont Il. I now have a nexus that will switch between h h+ 3g and e with no problem in places i never even saw with the pre 3 and it really varies with T-Mobile when u r @ a spot not even moving.. I think there is glitch in the modem firmware just from the reboots and battery suck when I used att. Its has the same chipset as other phones ya think it could b flashed...

[TJs11thPre]

i'm going into month 2 of testing my Pre3 on T-Mo. Last night I went from Roswell, GA to the center of downtown ATL and back. This is a straight N to S route and back. here's the details:

In Roswell, on GA 400, I get EDGE until I come up to the North Springs train station, then 3G will light up. But I have to be outside, wide open. In the train station, it goes back to E.

I took the train down into town. The train goes underground and back out several times. Of course underground there's no service (nor on my Sprint Pre-) When there was service, it was E 90% of the time. A few times it did kick up to 3G, but connectivity was still poor. Most likely because i was in an aluminum body electric train doing 65mph, but still, Sprint 3G was working better. ONE TIME the icon actually switched to H+, which is the first time I ever saw it on T-Mo.

(when i was on STalk, the H+ was the only symbol that ever lit. But previous T-Mo test speeds have been as high as 9Mbps w the 3G icon)

Inside the Georgia Dome, neither Sprint nor T-Mo svc is available. It's a Verizon-sponsored arena and i swear they've got the place on lock-down. but there is wifi, so i linked to that for the 3 hrs of game time (watching Falcons beat Saints, woo!) The sprint phone showed 1x and occasionally Ev roaming, but still data transfer on both phones was pretty useless. The Sprint phone would at least load the craigslist home page. (a good text-only page for testing)

By the time I got back home, the total trip was 8pm - 1am. 5 hrs. All i did was watch both phones, tried a couple text msgs and a couple web page visits. The 4yr old Pre- battery was at 50% and the brand-new Pre3 battery was at 10%!!

So all that switching and network searching must have really drained the batts. but i was pretty bummed at the contrast between the new and old. So as of right now, i'm in no rush to drop Sprint for T-Mo. I may try STalk again next month.

[bluenote]

Originally Posted by dkirker

I had weird things happen to one of my Pre3s on T-Mobile. But, I never had an at&t SIM in that particular phone, so I couldn't compare it. My other Pre3 is fine.

Regarding no data on T-Mobile: Don't even bring your Pre3 into the store and show them. No need to. It just gives them the opportunity to force you to get data on the spot. Since it is GSM, just find a cheap feature phone and get that. Activate it without data. Then, take it to the car or home, put the SIM in the Pre3, turn of data, and bada bing! Since the Pre3 IMEI (unique equipment ID) is not in their database, they won't harass you about data. Then keep the cheap feature phone as a backup. If you are signing a new contract, you should be able to find a feature phone for free. If you are going with pre-paid, they have some $20-$40 kits.

Will this work for a Veer also?

[dkirker]

Originally Posted by bluenote

Will this work for a Veer also?

Quite possibly. You should be fine, I would think.

[dkirker]

So, my T-Mobile iPhone 5 (my Pre3 is my driver phone and is on at&t, since they get better coverage in my Sunnyvale apartment) is now showing the 3G icon at my office in SoMa SF.

[martinb]

I just got a Pre 3 and put it on T-Mobile. I thought some people might be interested in this map which displays areas which have been refarmed to put 3G/4G on to the 1900 MHz band (so that the Pre 3 can get 3G).

Sightings of T-Mobile 3G/4G/HSPA+ coverage on 1900MHz (PCS/UMTS band II)

One question for those who have gotten H+ indicators on the Pre 3 on T-Mobile - did you have to call T-Mobile to provision the HSPA+ service on your device? Or did it just happen automatically?

I'm in a refarmed area in NYC, but so far all I've seen is the 3G indicator. I called T-Mobile to see if they could add my device as a 4G capable handset (like some people had to do on AT&T) but I got conflicting answers from the reps. And of course they had never heard of a Pre 3!

Tomorrow I'm going to put my SIM into a native T-Mobile 4G device and see if I get HSPA+ speeds on it just to test.

Thanks for any info!

Martín

[shneor]

Originally Posted by martinb

I just got a Pre 3 and put it on T-Mobile. I thought some people might be interested in this map which displays areas which have been refarmed to put 3G/4G on to the 1900 MHz band (so that the Pre 3 can get 3G).

Sightings of T-Mobile 3G/4G/HSPA+ coverage on 1900MHz (PCS/UMTS band II)

One question for those who have gotten H+ indicators on the Pre 3 on T-Mobile - did you have to call T-Mobile to provision the HSPA+ service on your device? Or did it just happen automatically?

I'm in a refarmed area in NYC, but so far all I've seen is the 3G indicator. I called T-Mobile to see if they could add my device as a 4G capable handset (like some people had to do on AT&T) but I got conflicting answers from the reps. And of course they had never heard of a Pre 3!

Tomorrow I'm going to put my SIM into a native T-Mobile 4G device and see if I get HSPA+ speeds on it just to test.

Thanks for any info!

Martín

I've run speed tests when I've had 3G - about 1.3mbps down, .3 up (more or less).

[ananimus]

Only skimmed this thread, but in case nobody posted it, there's a crowd-sourced map available online showing where people have spotted T-Mo 3G on 1900 MHz bands: Sightings of T-Mobile 3G/4G/HSPA+ coverage on 1900MHz (PCS/UMTS band II)

That'll should at least give an idea of how the migration is going in your area. Whoops! martinb got it.

And I'll second the earlier comment about Straight Talk. I'm test driving a new AT&T Pre 3 using a Straight Talk AT&T SIM card in the Bay Area right now. So far I'm wishing I had just ported my Sprint number over from day one. Getting 1.5 - 3 Mbps on HSPA+ typically, which is about ten times what Sprint 3G is getting me these days. Coverage has been pretty solid as well.

Howard Forum folks say that with Straight Talk T-Mo SIMs they usually get over 10 Mbps where 1900 MHZ H+ is available. Most people say there's a slight trade off: AT&T's overall coverage is a little less spotty, but T-Mo H+ is faster (when available).