T-Mobile reporting 28.7 million customers at the end of 2007
T-Mobile certainly isn’t the biggest or most successful American carrier, not by a long shot. They have managed, however, to successfully carve out a niche based on exemplary customer service and relatively affordable plans. Judging from their recently released ‘07 numbers, they’re certainly doing something right. The company just announced that at the end of 2007, they celebrated 28.7 million American customers. That figure includes 951,000 new customers gained in the 4th quarter alone, relative to 901,000 from the same period of time one year before. They added a total of 3.6 million bill-paying customers over the entirety of 2007, compared to 3.4 million during ‘06. It’s a relatively marginal increase, but let’s not forget what happened to Sprint last year, okay? All told, we think T-Mobile should be proud of themselves….and all this without a 3G network? Wow, what scammers.
Are you high. T-Mobile has the best customer service and of course you will pay for the added on feature of Hotspots at home. With it you get free calls while on any open wifi network…not just Starbucks and Borders. And you don’t have to extend your contract when you sign up for it. All carriers charge for features. Most make you extend your contract. T-Mobile does not. Do everyone a favor and do your homework before you open your mouth
I love the affordable plans and excellent customer service. Because I used to sell wireless, I’ve had experiences with every major carrier (save Verizon). Even with the free phones and heavily discounted service plans offered to salespeople, I’d still choose T-Mobile. As for coverage, my phones work everywhere I go, except a basement office I used to work in (Duh!).
Anyone complaining that the service doesn’t work at home is a whiner. T-Mobile was the first to offer a detailed coverage map on their website, for anyone to check prior to buying service. In my experience, the map under sells coverage, as I get minimal coverage where they claim none.
Need I mention the seamless international service…
I’ve been with Tmobile for 8 years, and I can say I haven’t had very many complaints. Customer Service is great, prices are awesome. Only issue is phone selection. they are big on Blackberrys and Sidekicks, but Windows Mobile phones, they need more selection. I’m hoping a rumor I heard is true, and they come out with their own version of the Tilt. If they come out with the Tilt, I would probably be one of the first to buy. As for data, Edge works fine for me, 3G is cool, but I have no issue with Edge, especially at $20 a month. Tmobile all the way.
Network reliability and signal strength are generally local issues and that is why user reviews can be like night and day.
However, those of us who are familiar with the industry are aware of the following facts:
1) T-Mobile is generally rated for above average customer service. They all suck, but they seem to “suck less.”
2) T-Mobile has the smallest coverage footprint of the top four providers here in the US. That means while some are fortunate to live in areas where reception is good, you’ll have to believe that there are a large handful of others who don’t.
3) T-Mobile has the smallest collection of high end phones when compared to the larger 3 carriers. Although you can use almost any unlocked GSM phone on their network, those phones won’t have access to My Faves, UMA, or other app that requires a branded device.
4) Because T-Mobile focuses on consumer retail, they generally cater to the low end customer and don’t provide as many high end applications.
5) If you own a small business and funds are a bit tight, T-Mobile does offer lower priced BB data solutions over their EDGE/GPRS network.
With more and more businesses and consumers turning to wireless applications that require faster throughput, T-Mobile is losing out of potential revenue by staying put with their 2G network. Although they claim the govt is sitting on their precious 3G spectrum, one has to wonder if they knew about it going in? 3G isn’t just for ringtone downloads anymore.
I am a T-Mobile and Sprint customer, and I can say that I absolutely love T-mobile!!! I’ve was formally a pre-paid customer (Sidekick) since 2005 and recently (this month!!) upgraded to a contract customer (Blackberry) and in the short time that I’ve been with them, I’ve loved every moment of it. I also live in DC, and I have had no problems with my service…it’s Sprint that seems to ALWAYS drop calls…not T-Mobile.
I live in Chicago and had T-Mobile for many years. I switched to Sprint for the SERO plan and while the price is fantastic, the network falls far short of T-Mobile. Once T-Mobile gets 3g going im going to have a tough time sticking with Sprint.
I too live in Chicago and get great network coverage and even better customer service with T-Mobile. A friend of mine has AT&T and he gets dropped calls all the time but he’s stuck with a few months left on the contract and im sure he’ll make the switch.
I am pretty confident I have it figured out why ATT, Sprint, Alltel, and Verizon customers hate T-Mobile so much and it’s very simple:they’re bitter. That’s all. They are paying way to much for what T-Mobile has been offering their customers.
1. Customer care- we’ve all heard of JD Powers and Associates, one of the most respected review and reporting services in America. T-Mo’s customer care are the only ones to win all 6 regions of America 6 years running, a feat that JD Powers has stated has never been done by any company in any industry-EVER. I know people who work in an ATT call center and tell me about putting customers on hold for half an hour and having a smoke or going to lunch so they’ll hang up, or lying to a customer just to shut them up.
2. Cost-T-Mo offers the cheapest plans pound for pound and the myfaves which is a revolutionary thing is strengthening it. Alltel attempted to copy this with their mycircle, but there;s so many restrictions and is still more expensive. Look at their war with T-Mobile last year: First T-Mo announces myfaves-five numbers you can call regardless of carrier or landline for free then alltel launches mycirce which bombs. To compete, alltel raises it to 10 numbers (but if you’re on a family plan everyone has to choose their 10 from a pool-no restriction on T-Mo) still nothing. Then they give away free razrs at signup-nothing. Then they throw in free messaging and still can’t compete. Then they start lying, and are now getting sued by the other carriers.
3. Hotspot@home-alot of people get confused about this. This basically creates a wifi or “hotspot” in your house working like voip. This creates coverage where there previously weren’t any, and gives users unlimited calling, in addition they’ve cut the cost to $10.
4. Data-People are whining because of the charges ATT is going to impose for wifi access since they are taking over at Starbucks. For T-Mobile customers who have the 19.99 internet package they get unlimited wifi, always have, and according to their customer care, will still at no extra charge for several more years. T-Mobile are the only carriers who actually have unlimited data. If you look closely at Verizon, Alltel, ATT, or Sprint’s data agreements you are not allowed to tether your phone or exceed certain usage or bandwidth (for the lame out there i.e. not actually unlimited). However, T-Mobile charge about half the price, always a flat fee of 19.99 and aren’t only unlimited, customer care will walk you through how to tether your phone so you can have unlimited internet. Myself and several others do not have a home internet provider because T-Mobile provides this service when you tether (I’m pushing about 512, not blazingly fast but hey I’m paying 19.99 for unlimited internet).
5. The Iphone- people look at the iphone as the end all device, but let’s face it, it’s great but I’ve seen better. I’m not hating on it, in fact I’m looking for an unlocked one. Which is funny enough that approximately 20+% of iphone owners have done (meaning taken their iphones to T-Mobile). That’s why Apple made it harder to purchase one and limited the number you can get. Besides, the reason why they went with ATT is because they were under contract. Remember the Rokr v1? It was a joint venture between Apple, ATT (then Cingular), and Moto. In the agreement it stated that anything Apple does in the mobile industry until January 31, 2009 in the U.S. has to go through ATT/Cingular). Meaning they had no choice. With ATT being confined to the U.S. and T-Mobile is a global brand, T-Mobile will be picking it up on Feb 1st, 2009. You can believe me, or talk to one of the Apple execs that are so conveneiantly hanging out at T-Mo USA’s corp. headquarters in Bellevue.
6. Sidekick-no it’s not for everyone, but it’s still a great device. When was the last time you saw people with an iphone or the Chocolate or Envy tattooed on them, because I’ve met quite a few that have a big sidekick permanently tattooed. Granted these are friggin dumb people, but that’s the size of following they have.
7. Coverage-I’ll break it up into data network and voice. As far as voice goes, yes T-M has some dead spots LIKE EVERYONE ELSE. When you look at the coverage heirarchy you have 1 Verizon 2 T-Mobile 3 ATT 4 Sprint 5 Alltel. Alltel only has coverage in 33 states-and that’s not the whole states. Sprint has about 1/3 the coverage of the top 3. ATT’s rural coverage is 90% roaming on T-Mo’s network. Verizon and Alltel use the old cdma towers which are not only 1970’s tech but analog. Just like tvs wireless coverage has been mandated to go digital by 1/31/2011, meaning Alltel and Verizon will have to rebuild their coverage completely. Since Verizon wireless is 45% owned by Vodafone, T-Mo’s biggest global competitor and the fact that 79% of worldwide networks are GSM, Verizon Wireless will be GSM then. Vodafone already released this. As it is with over 2 billion going towards new towers alone over the next couple of years, T-Mobile will be the undisputed coverage kings. As for dropped calls, which I know ATT customers experience often, it is rare with T-Mobile. Yes some people have weak coverage but those are the minority. I’ve had Sprint, Qwest, Verizon, and Cingular. Sprint-was lucky to have coverage. Verizon wouldn’t work in most buildings. Qwest was a joke. Cingular, I got about 10-15 a day regardless of location. In San Antonio and Dallas Texas I was lucky if the call completed. Everywhere I’ve gone with T-Mobile: crystal clear. Number of dropped calls in 3 years:2. Nuff said. As for data their unlimited internet can’t be beat i.e. see above. As for 3g, ATT and Verizon’s have a lot of bugs. T-Mobile is waiting on the US gov to vacate theirs and even offered them 50 million to get off immediately. As far as amount of 3g spectrum T-Mo owns? Try coverage for 75% of the U.S. at launch. Go ask a ATT or Verizon rep how much 3g coverage they have. You’ll be surprised. As for data, you have to admit the U.S. military is going to need reliable service. That’s probably why T-Mo has 95% of military contracts for wireless service.
I can go on and on, but the fact remains is T-Mobile has been smoking everybody quietly since day one and they’re continuing. Yes Verizon and ATT have more customers in the U.S. than T-Mobile, but if all your friends are making a stupid decision and jumping off a cliff should you do it too?
T-mobile ™ is great I love it and I don’t ever plan on swiching
Seth, I love how you got carried away with the smallest wireless carrier in the US. Tmobile’s coverage absolutely suck’s. I live in Georgia and saw that even in the heart of Atlanta I was getting 1 to 2 bars at most. I went to a small college about 15 minutes away from downtown and inside the building (or simply getting close to it) I lost all my bars and now my TMobile phone would display “No service”. My friends who had different carries were getting good (meaning 3-4) bars. I physically went up to my friends and asked them what carrier they had and if they had service. Also we went on a field trip to New York. I would say about 40-50% of the time I would get no service on the way. So summarizing; their coverage sucks. I’m simply astonished when you said that in a rural area in Texas you were getting service while your dad(who’s on verizon) was not.
Secondly, their phones are far more expensive than any other carriers. The Tmobile blackberry curve and the ATT blackberry curve came out roughly the same time. The Tmobile curve was going for 249 after rebate and the same ATT CURVE was going for 99. The only place you can get an upgrade is the Tmobile store. Best buy, Circuit City, Radio Shack carry all the carriers EXCEPT TMOBILE. If you look at Best Buy’s prices you will see they have no more mail in rebates and all the phones available on Att.com, verizonwireless.com and sprint.com are less expensive if you bought them from Best Buy and without the rebates! Well if you have Tmobile that option is not available.
Their selection of Phones is horrible. They have a contract with HTC that thy can not get any other smart phones except for HTC. Blackberry is not classified as a smart-phone and as an email device. So no palm products are available to Tmobile customers unless they buy unlocked ones at relatively high prices.
True they had good customer service, but honestly I did not call customer care more than twice in the last 6 months. They offer cheaper plans for the money($10-15 cheaper) than an ATT or verizon plan but if you get no service how will you use them. The only way Tmobile can “seem” attractive is by lowering their rate plan prices BUT they make that up in the overpriced phones that people are locked to buying from them only.
And lastly Seth, you asked a good rhetoric question. Why should Tmobile get the 3G network? When all of Western Europe, Australia, Japan and other developed countries have it? Even Latin America to a certain extent has that available. Instead of Tmobile paying millions of dollars to NBA players that falsely advertise their services and products they can use that money to put up some damn towers and increase their signal bars.
All the cool phones (like YOU STATED THE BB8820) will go to ATT, Sprint and then verizon.
Im not saying Tmobile is a horrible company and everybody should leave them. All I’m saying that as A Tmobile customer I faced these issues and am telling them from a personal view. They introduced the Hot spot at Home because many people were not getting service in their homes and the only way they can get service is by having a wireless router and connecting to wifi and then making calls.