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Carrier T-Mobile Lied - Free Data is $10
- Thread starter TeddyBeher
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You should take up a career as a criminal prosecutor. Proving intent is one of the more difficult things they face, but you seem to be able to assess intent on little to no evidence.
Either do I, nor do I know who John J Leger is in relation to this. You lose credibility when you don't even spell the guy's name right.
Wrong. They get 200MB of free data as well. A condition of financing with T-Mobile is a requirement to also sign up for a data plan beginning at $20/mo for 500MB. Add the 200MB free data that everyone gets and those folks have up to 700MB to use in a month. Plus if they exceed that they don't get cut off, just throttled to 2G unless they want to buy more high speed data.
You should take up a career as a criminal prosecutor. Proving intent is one of the more difficult things they face, but you seem to be able to assess intent on little to no evidence.
Either do I, nor do I know who John J Leger is in relation to this. You lose credibility when you don't even spell the guy's name right.
Wrong. They get 200MB of free data as well. A condition of financing with T-Mobile is a requirement to also sign up for a data plan beginning at $20/mo for 500MB. Add the 200MB free data that everyone gets and those folks have up to 700MB to use in a month. Plus if they exceed that they don't get cut off, just throttled to 2G unless they want to buy more high speed data.
really? u really are nip picking down to mistyped name??
anyway, my statement remains. FREE is not free when a cost is added regardless of how it is added; whether financing or not.
John should have never said and tweeted " free for everyone, no exception, no string attach"
I agreed with you on the financing condition, however, it doesnt justify the misleading headline and tweets. Technically, it is not free for everyone, and yes there is an exception and with string attach; that is new financing customers are to get a data plan.
Free is not free when there is a string attach regardless how the string is attached. In this case, the string is attached because one is a NEW Financing customer.
Also, have you ever taken a business class regarding marketing?
Dude, T-Mobile never said you could both finance a new iPad *and* get free data. If you pay full price for a tablet up front, you get free data. If you finance it at 0% through T-Mobile, you need to be a paid customer of some variety. Heck, if you're a voice customer, you can *still* get free data while financing an iPad.
Bottom line: There are no strings to the free data offer. Zero. There are some strings to the finance offer. The free data offer and the finance offer are two separate things.
read the press release, " free 200mb and 0% financing"
its AND not OR.
So yes they did
Where does it say that?
http://newsroom.t-mobile.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=251624&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1867397
http://newsroom.t-mobile.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=251624&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1867396
Further, their press conference (same day as those press releases) made clear that the EIP would only be for *customers*: http://www.media-server.com/m/p/qumnv585 (00:28:25)
well, I and others on the forums here ordered, it seems fri - sat, with both EIP and free data. An "on demand" data charge of $10 is on my bill with the promise to credit the charge every month.
I asked them like 10 different ways / told them i am only interested if these are terms / made notes on account etc.. and called back multiple times and days. They tell me I will get 0% financing and free data, stop worrying about macrumors posts
When T-Mobile's iPad line-up hits online and participating retail stores, the company will offer the revolutionary tablets starting at $0 down for qualified customers. And every T-Mobile iPad user will receive 200 MB of free 4G LTE data every month for as long as they own their iPad, even if they aren't yet a T-Mobile customer.
'$0 down... AND ...Free 200mb...."
$0 down imply a finance plan, Free 200mb imply FREE 200mbm not add a data plan and get free.
There are more than a lot of people read the press release the same way like i did including major news reporters, tech bloggers, and Professionals a like.
Futuremore, John J Lagere's tweets read," EVERYONE get free 200mb, no string attach, no exception"
Well , the exception is "NEW Financing Customer"
You can not justify that the "200mb" is free on top of the $20/mnth (500mb), because it is not free when a cost is added.
I will give you my one million dollar car, but you have to buy my 13 million dollar home first. Is the car free? NO, it costs 13 million dollar to get the car.
It says nowhere on there that new customers are required to pay $20 a month for wireless. Which is fine actually, as long as they make that clear BEFORE people purchase a tablet on this deal.
It isn't that customers where confused by this policy that's the problem. It's that T-mobile was.
They had no idea what's going on, and different people told customers different things. And over the weekend the CEO is adding to the confusion on twitter.
So when I walked into T-mobile on Saturday, on a lark. Skeptical. And I was told that I could plop down $200 on a tablet and pay 17 bucks a month and get a little data. Well sure why not. I've only had wifi models before. This is less upfront and I can test and see if I need LTE.
And then they try and go back on what they told me. That's why I'm angry.
If you're getting your skivvies in a wad, then you misunderstood the contextual use of the word. "poster ignorant of xyz" != "ignorant poster"
yikes - you've been quite combative with people in this thread.
you can be right without being obnoxious you know.
But they are getting free 200mb of data. On top of the post paid data plan they purchase, in order to get the 0% financing. He never said there where not strings attached to the financing.
I also don't understand why people were not questioning the * that was by all the monthly payment costs.
Quote:
* If you cancel wireless service, remaining balance on device becomes due. Total for iPad Air 16 GB $630.00, 32 GB $729.99, 64 GB $829.99; total for iPad mini with Retina display 16 GB $529.92, 32 GB $629.91, 64 GB $729.91; total for iPad mini 16 GB $429.99. 0% APR O.A.C. for well-qualified buyers.
End of quote
http://newsroom.t-mobile.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=251624&p=irol-newsarticle&ID=1867397
That to me says a data plan of some sort is required for the financing. There is always fine print for any contract....
I bought my iPad outright, got the free data signing up from the iPad, they didn't even ask for a credit card. The financing looked to me like there was more to it.
I also don't understand why people were not questioning the * that was by all the monthly payment costs.
Quote:
* If you cancel wireless service, remaining balance on device becomes due. Total for iPad Air 16 GB $630.00, 32 GB $729.99, 64 GB $829.99; total for iPad mini with Retina display 16 GB $529.92, 32 GB $629.91, 64 GB $729.91; total for iPad mini 16 GB $429.99. 0% APR O.A.C. for well-qualified buyers.
End of quote
http://newsroom.t-mobile.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=251624&p=irol-newsarticle&ID=1867397
That to me says a data plan of some sort is required for the financing. There is always fine print for any contract....
I bought my iPad outright, got the free data signing up from the iPad, they didn't even ask for a credit card. The financing looked to me like there was more to it.
"Starting at $0 down for qualified customers"
It sounds to me like some customers wouldn't be qualified for $0 down, no?
He's right. Everyone does get 200MB of data for free. How do you not understand that?
The thing is, to finance an iPad, you need to be a paid customer of T-Mobile's.
Not an apt comparison at all. This is a better analogy:
"We'll give you one tank of gas every month for free, for life, regardless of where you bought your car. If you want, you can buy a car from us with 0% financing. To do that, you need to either agree to pay to buy more gas from us, in addition to what we give you for free, or already be buying gas from us for your other car."
I thought so too, which is why I asked when I went there on Saturday. Was told in no uncertain terms that no additional data needed to be purchased. The problem is not the terms. It's that nobody at T-mobile knew the terms.
Aye, I called in skeptical but they kept saying no data purchase required, Sales and CSR. So I ordered, they are still telling me the same thing.
downpayment has to do with O.A.C. It was always %0 finance. T-mobile down payment is base on your credit. You only get 0 down if you have excellent credit (16gb model, 99.99 for 32gb, and 199.99 for 64gb).
There is always 0% apr.
there fore to state, in press release, " $0 down......and everyone gets 200mb" implies EVERYONE gets 200mb free including those who are qualified for $0 down payment financing.
At least that is how i and many other including professional jornalists read it.
Professional Journalists know how to use a spell checker. Maybe next semester your High School Journalism teacher will go over that.
.
It's all good! That was me he was quoting and everything's fine. He's actually quite nice. He had assumed that it was I who was upset, and that wasn't the case ~ I'd just made a mistake and freely admitted it.
So please don't think badly of him.
.
Truth be told, it was merely a humorous jibe.
As I think about it more, when you nitpick over what Legere and TMO said, you open yourself to such criticism. Doubly so when you then mention you're a professional journalist.
I'm unsure why you're unable to see what several people are explaining to you in detail. I can see how you might mistakenly think Legere and TMO meant what you thought they originally meant. I'm failing to see how you can hold onto that misunderstanding in view of the clarifications though.
Oh I know what you're trying to say... It's just that you're wrong in your interpretation. The free data is just that. The plan requirement is a conditional of the financing; completely separate from the 200MB data. You're incorrectly conflating the two.
Only because you asked:
- Bachelor of Science, Business Management & Marketing from an Ivy League university
- MBA from a top 25 school
How about you?
I seemed to be ok connecting to cell data but I also turned it off until I figure this out. I'll know in the morning when I try to figure this all out.
lol this notmenwohere guy is in this thread too talking out of his ass
how many people does it take to show a guy how stupid he is?
guy must be pretty broke to still be raging at this for 3 days straight. get a job pal so you can afford the tablet outright
how many people does it take to show a guy how stupid he is?
guy must be pretty broke to still be raging at this for 3 days straight. get a job pal so you can afford the tablet outright
Who cares... It's clear now and if you don't like it, don't buy it. If you like it, then get it. What's the big deal. So they said something not as clear as it should have been and some people misinterpreted. So if you feel that they misrepresented and you we're hurt due to that press release, sue them. Otherwise, just accept it and move on. There are better things to worry about and argue about.
Oh my gosh! Just surfing the iPad forums and I had no idea this thread was still going on. I predicted this scenario TWO days before the release of the ipad Air. You can see my posts on different threads about this.
I had spoken to TWO different reps (and posted the transcript) and also used common business sense that NO business is going to give away free data when you're paying monthly on an ipad, and after you're done paying for the ipad (which you can do whenever), CONTINUE to give you free data. Where's their profit??? What's in it for them?? I even mentioned the fact that their terms state something to the effect that if you cancel, the full balance on the ipad becomes due. My question was, cancel what? If it's free, what are you canceling? Someone said, the free account. I'm like, who would cancel a free account if it's entirely free?
People kept disregarding my statements, saying it was useless talking to chat rep, and since TMO said it's free, it' going to be free, this is their way to get more customers, and all that jazz. No one wanted to even consider that there was some fine print somewhere, and that TMO just didn't make entirely clear. I came to the conclusion that people just didn't want to hear anything else after hearing FREE and I was being a party pooper. So I just sat back and waited for the drama to unfold, and come Friday, 11/1, well you see it here...
I had spoken to TWO different reps (and posted the transcript) and also used common business sense that NO business is going to give away free data when you're paying monthly on an ipad, and after you're done paying for the ipad (which you can do whenever), CONTINUE to give you free data. Where's their profit??? What's in it for them?? I even mentioned the fact that their terms state something to the effect that if you cancel, the full balance on the ipad becomes due. My question was, cancel what? If it's free, what are you canceling? Someone said, the free account. I'm like, who would cancel a free account if it's entirely free?
People kept disregarding my statements, saying it was useless talking to chat rep, and since TMO said it's free, it' going to be free, this is their way to get more customers, and all that jazz. No one wanted to even consider that there was some fine print somewhere, and that TMO just didn't make entirely clear. I came to the conclusion that people just didn't want to hear anything else after hearing FREE and I was being a party pooper. So I just sat back and waited for the drama to unfold, and come Friday, 11/1, well you see it here...
Yes, the 0% financing on a prepaid plan seemed a bit "too good to be true", so you were right to be skeptical. Prescient as it turns out; financing an ipad requires a postpaid plan.
The free data though is an interesting exercise. It seems to be a sort of a "freemium" model but could also be considered a "loss leader". It gets people, especially those who might otherwise not buy a cellular ipad, to put a T-Mobile SIM in their device. Some people will never exceed the 200MB, others will game the system swapping SIMs around, but I imagine a fairly significant number will use their free 200MB then buy more data on a fairly regular business. I'd venture to say that a significant portion of that revenue stream wouldn't exist but for the free 200MB offer.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out both in terms of T-Mobile's tablet market share capture but also in how the other carriers respond.
I get why folks thought it was too good to be true. But it was clearly pushed that way int heir press materials so it's easy to understand why there was a lot of confusion here. Unfortunately, the reason that the thread is still going is because some of us are still dealing with this and so we are sharing info for others as we get it. And well, because of some folks' egos. But that's their issue...
For my part, I called this morning to deal with my bill showing the monthly fee (despite being told on Monday I would not be charged one) and after talking to two reps they assured me it would be credited. Now, I was prepared to return the ipad and possibly buy it outright depending on what terms they give me. But financing it without the plan is the best deal for me and it's why I chose T-Mobile so i'm hoping to get this resolved. Unfortunately it also means that I need to keep checking my account and calling back until my bill gets updated. So it seems that persistence is the key to the day. Which is a bit frustrating and I think understandably frustrating.
For my part, I called this morning to deal with my bill showing the monthly fee (despite being told on Monday I would not be charged one) and after talking to two reps they assured me it would be credited. Now, I was prepared to return the ipad and possibly buy it outright depending on what terms they give me. But financing it without the plan is the best deal for me and it's why I chose T-Mobile so i'm hoping to get this resolved. Unfortunately it also means that I need to keep checking my account and calling back until my bill gets updated. So it seems that persistence is the key to the day. Which is a bit frustrating and I think understandably frustrating.