What are my options?
Hey everyone,
My family switched to T-Mobile a little less than 3 weeks ago from Verizon. We transferred one phone on Get out of the Red, and did the iPhone 11 on Us promo using 2 iPhone 7s for an iPhone 11 Pro Max and an iPhone 11.
I was excited about switching since we were saving a good amount of money and got new phones, but as soon as I saw the network performance I started to get worried. Most of the time I try to use my phone in a less populated area, I’m unable to load anything. I sometimes even get 3 bars of LTE and still can’t load something as simple as Google. I assume this is congestion, but it is super annoying and stops me from using my phone half of the time.
I created a ticket with T-Force and had an awesome representative walk me through the process of setting up a trouble ticket in my area. (One thing i will say is T-Force is awesome.) Basically after he sent in the ticket, I had to wait 2 weeks before an answer from the engineering team, and he had to escalate the ticket a few times until it was a business ticket or something like that. Eventually they got back and said they are planning on doing some upgrades next year but they don’t know when, which isn’t very assuring.
In the meantime I took a trip to California, and had a terrible experience. The Los Angeles airport terminal was congested, with about 1Mb down. There were dead spots in the middle of San Francisco(??), and the network went down one night for a few hours. I also took a trip to Jekyll Island, GA, and had 1 bar of LTE at best, and no service for a good chunk of the area. Even though the coverage map stated there was good or fair coverage, I still got no signal. (This isn’t my device, everyone else with T-Mobile had the same experience)
Basically, I want to know what you guys think my best option is. Am I basically locked in for 2 years with no options since I did the iPhone 11 on Us promos and am in an EIP? In hindsight, I would’ve definitely went with AT&T since they have the same promo and very competitive prices vs. T-Mobile. However, I already traded in the iPhone 7s and it’s probably to late to get them back.
Thanks
Posted Nov 9, 2019, 4:06 AM UTC · edited
The only way to get the phone "Free" is via bill credits. Unfortunately bill credits aren't much use if you don't have t-mobile service. You can pay the phone off yourself early and that would end the EIP but you would lose out on the credit if you cancel your account.
Ok, I guess I’m out of luck then. Hopefully T-Mobile gets their network together soon because it’s currently a mess right now.
Well actually, they have a program that allows customers to leave T-Mobile and retain their monthly credits. Basically, you tell them you want to cancel and keep your EIP promo open. They set up like a specific billing thing where your monthly payments stay open with the credits and then unlock your device so you can go to a different carrier.
I can’t recall the exact name but it was an active program last time I checked.
AFAIK you’re thinking of the “Lifetime Coverage Guarantee” but that ONLY applies to devices financed through JOD, not EIP so it wouldn’t be any help in this case, unfortunately.
After getting some sleep, I realized I meant ‘No Service EIP’. I wish more people knew about both of these programs. It’s an easy way to move back to T-Mobile if for some reason the other carrier doesn’t work out. They also wouldn’t be locked into bill credits at the new one.