T-Mobile $60 unlimited 4g (3g hotspot) plan for smartphones

[Naio]

T-Mobile has some new plans that might be pretty exciting for us folks.

The $60 Essentials plan gives you 4g unlimited data that doesn't slow down until you get to 50 gigabytes. You can use your phone as a hotspot on this plan, but then it is only at 3g. You can buy up to 10 gigabytes a month of 4G as an add-on, though.

They also have a $70 plan, which allows you to buy 20 gigs of hotspot 4G. These plans can be used in anything that has a SIM card slot, for example a tablet, if for some reason you don't want them for your phone. T-Mobile doesn't have the best network for camping, but it's pretty good.

T-Mobile devices also accept an AT&T SIM, so when you are going to be outside of coverage you can get an AT&T card and put it in.

No, I don't work for them or anything. I just thought it was a good deal and people here might want to know.

[Bill_Satellite]

pianotuna wrote:
Hi Naio,

Thanks for the information.

So the hotspot on the cell phone is always 3G speed?

For an extra $10/month you get 10GB of 4G hotspot or for $25/month you get unlimited 4G hotspot service. You can be subject to Network Optimization if you exceed 50GB/month but it does not say you will be throttled or reduced to 3G for the remainder of the month.
This is a plan for those of us 55 or older and we have had the service for about 6 months now and we are very happy. I must say that we also have an AT&T hotspot which we use for our computers but we have kept and eye on the T-Mobile data service on the phones and we have only had a few places with poor service. We have had no problems with phone calls at any locations.

As an aside, the Verizon 55+ plan use the Go Unlimited Verizon data plan which does give unlimited hotspot data but it is at 600K. Here are the details from their website.
With Go Unlimited you get:

Unlimited 4G LTE data
Unlimited Talk & Text
Talk, text and data in Mexico and Canada included
DVD-quality streaming (480p)
Unlimited Mobile Hotspot (600 Kbps)
Verizon Up rewards

[Dutch_12078]

trb46 wrote:

Last time I checked, StraightTalk phones could not be used as hotspots. Is that still the case?

Our Tracfone LG Stylo 3 phones have the hotspot feature available. I've tested that it does work, but we don't keep it enabled. Straight Talk (also a Tracfone company) offers the same phone.

[pianotuna]

Hi,

I think they can be tethered now. https://get.straighttalk.com/hotspot/

trb46 wrote:
Last time I checked, StraightTalk phones could not be used as hotspots. Is that still the case?

[trb46]

Merrykalia wrote:
We have Straighttalk service for $45/month (5gig of 4GLTE) through Verizon or $55/month for our teenage daughter who uses about 20 gig a month. This is unlimited. It works great for us and the only time we have not had service has been in the mountainous regions of eastern Kentucky.

Last time I checked, StraightTalk phones could not be used as hotspots. Is that still the case?

[Merrykalia]

A friend and his family switched to T-Mobile about a year ago. As long as they are in a metropolitan area, it works fine. Once you get away from a city, the service is sketchy.

We have Straighttalk service for $45/month (5gig of 4GLTE) through Verizon or $55/month for our teenage daughter who uses about 20 gig a month. This is unlimited. It works great for us and the only time we have not had service has been in the mountainous regions of eastern Kentucky.

[Big_Katuna]

MrWizard wrote:
Florida, Illinois, Missouri .. only (3) states
that doesn't help the rest of us

Big Katuna wrote:
They don’t advertise it much but Verizon has a Senior plan that gives you unlimited talk, text and 4G LTE data, $60 one line, $80 for two lines.

Yes, you can use it for a hotspot.

I did not know that. Thanks for the information.

I can tell you, you do NOT want to move to Florida just to get the plan! 😉

[wa8yxm]

I have the 55+ plan I think I get 100 Gigs before they reduce my priority vector (The phone does not slow down unless the tower is busy. in the last year and a half that has happened ONE time). and I think 10 Gigs hot spot then it throttles the computers but I've never noticed the slow down and I run 2 Laptops side by side along with the phone. Another laptop and a "Server" are here as well but the 3rd laptop is usually "Sleeping" and the server grabe just about 1 MB per WEEK or less other than time checks (It serves up the TV program guide to my DVR's and also preforms a ton of other "local" Magic like download or serving up TV shows from/to the DVR's.. Kind of neat actually).

[MrWizard]

Florida, Illinois, Missouri .. only (3) states
that doesn't help the rest of us

Big Katuna wrote:
They don’t advertise it much but Verizon has a Senior plan that gives you unlimited talk, text and 4G LTE data, $60 one line, $80 for two lines.

Yes, you can use it for a hotspot.

[gafidler]

I switched from Verizon to T Mobile (for 2 phones for $60) love it..

[Naio]

Gulfcoast wrote:
I tried tmobile for a week... went back to Verizon fast.

Did you compare Verizon with AT&T? Not everyone knows it, but T-Mobile phones can also use the AT&T sims and Network. In the places I can't Verizon and AT&T coverage of pretty much exactly the same.

I had a Verizon phone for a while, but dealing with their customer service was hell on Earth! The people were very nice, but none of them had the power to do anything.

[Naio]

Big Katuna wrote:
They don’t advertise it much but Verizon has a Senior plan that gives you unlimited talk, text and 4G LTE data, $60 one line, $80 for two lines.

Yes, you can use it for a hotspot.

yes, T-Mobile has that too. Unfortunately for me, I'm not old enough!

[Gulfcoast]

I tried tmobile for a week... went back to Verizon fast.

[Lwiddis]

Doesn't seem that good a deal and I'm a T-Mobile customer.

[Big_Katuna]

They don’t advertise it much but Verizon has a Senior plan that gives you unlimited talk, text and 4G LTE data, $60 one line, $80 for two lines.

Yes, you can use it for a hotspot.