Unhappy with Tmo Service - anything I can do?

[mike868y]

Hey, I have been a TMO customer since January, and while I love my BB and I love the customer service I have received from TMo, my reception is just horrid. I don't get it on my commute to school, at my school, or at my workplace. In fact, I hate going on long drives alone as I fear that if something were to happen, I could not rely on my Tmo phone to get me help.

Is there anything I can do? I mean I signed the contract so technically I am SOL, but has anyone had any luck either a) getting out of their contract or b) getting a price reduction or something because of service which is just unacceptable. Honestly, w/o UMA, idk if I would even have reliable service at my house.

Thanks.

[durandetto]

I switched to Sprint at a Wireless Toyz and only had to pay $50 per phone for the ETF. Don't know how they did it but they did and it was $100 well spent.

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[AaronWasHere]

Best thing to do would be to cal t-mo and voice your concerns. If it is a network issue, it can generally be resolved through proper troubleshooting. If not, and it shows you cant get service, most companies would be fair about you leaving.

[BlkBear]

Aside from having a tech follow you around everywhere you go, you are pretty much out of luck as far as your word against the service maps. You are pretty much stuck unless you have NO SERVICE in a large percentage of your daily home/school/work travels.

A phone swap might help, but be prepared for a lesser phone having better reception, and if that is the case, you are pretty much stuck, unless you pay the ETF.

But do keep those service complaints noted on your account. Hopefully there is a poor service notation on your account with most of your calls since Jan.

[mike868y]

I must admit, many of the areas (including my work place) do show up as not having service on the maps. I was not diligent in checking the maps before purchasing the service (stupid, stupid me). Also, all of my calls have been made regarding an issue I had with my phone (keyboard randomly crapped out) and I have yet to voice my concerns with them.

However, for almost my entire time at school, I am stuck with "SOS" service and while at work I am always either on "SOS" or "NO Service." IT just sucks not having a reliable connection.

[jamestbrewer]

In my experience the TMo service maps are pretty accurate. So if the map shows that you should be getting service it may be a problem with the handset.

If the map shows that those areas are not covered then call and see if they will let you out of your contract because you dont get signal where you are. Most companies don't help out in this situation if you get good coverage at your home address.

A friend of mine had good coverage at home, but no coverage at work, so he changed the address on his account to a friends place near work where he also couldnt get coverage. Since he now lived in an area where there was no coverage he got out of his contract without an ETF

[BlkBear]

Jamestbrewer, yuppers that is pretty much how it is with most carriers. If you have any sort of service at your home address, they pretty much say, touch beans if you do not have service anywhere else, as we only say you will have service at your billing/home address. Now it's possible to get out of it, but not saying anything about for more than a year, as the OP seems to have said, tells them it wasn't that big an issue.

But Mike, it's way past time to bring up the issue and keep at it until they at least change out the handset a couple of times, to rule out a bad antenna.

BTW do other TMO users around you have service in those areas?

[mike868y]

Yea, I'm relatively confident that it is not my phone. A buddy of mine has a sidekick and has the same crappy reception that I have. This is my second BB (first replaced due to a fault keyboard) and both have had the same lack of service. I just wish TMo would expand its service, they are by far the best cell provider I have worked with.

[BlkBear]

Originally Posted by mike868y

Yea, I'm relatively confident that it is not my phone. A buddy of mine has a sidekick and has the same crappy reception that I have. This is my second BB (first replaced due to a fault keyboard) and both have had the same lack of service. I just wish TMo would expand its service, they are by far the best cell provider I have worked with.

Problem is, they are going to want to go through their trouble shooting script, and since you never mentioned a signal problem in all these months, you will of course have to put up with how they do things to determine the cause of the low to no signal, because if the only problem you had wasa keyboard problem, NO SERVICE wasn't as important, at least that is how their going to look at it,with no complaints on service or lack of, since Jan. SO it won't matter if you have swapped out 100 phones since Jan for other problems, none so far were related (from you to them anyway) to NO SERVICE reception issues.

[dchawk81]

How can you go 10 months without service and not mention it to the carrier?

Too bad this isn't earlier in the year. You would almost certainly have a better fighting chance. At this point they'll likely assume you're fibbing to find greener pasture. I'm glad I noticed the lack of T-Mobile coverage early on.

Good luck getting out though!

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[ctrad45]

This sounds a little fishy to me. All this time and you NEVER mentioned your service issues and NOW you want out? I think this is EXACTLY how TMo os going to look at the issue. Maybe if you had complained earlier in the contract... At this point TMo is probably in their right to have you honor the contract or at the very least charge you an ETF.

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[jackm3]

I had this issue exactly (1 bar on my 2nd floor of new home and none elsewhere), and TMOs stance was this... 1) If you live in an area that T-Mo doesnt cover, you will be allowed to roam at no extra charge. 2) If you live in an area that T-Mo does cover, even if the coverage sucks, you will not be able to roam. Apparently this is determined by Cell Tower IDs, so you cant just force roaming on your phone. Its all based on your home address, not your school or work. They will just tell you its not their fault that you work / go to school where you do.

P.S. My issue was resolved by a trouble ticket... the coverage map said I was supposed to have 3 bars at my exact address. They sent someone out and apparently one of the cell tower antennae was faulty. Im in good shape at my house now!

[Artemis68]

I'm confused as to why you waited 10 months to complain about reception.

now, I'd understand if you had GOOD reception until now, and then due to some tower construction etc, you have bad reception. Then you have reason to complain and may get out of the contract.

However, you can't wait for 10 months and THEN complain. That seems very fishy.

[zelda26]

IM thinking about switching cause they refuse to give me unlimited wifi calling for free, when their coverage map shows Good service for data/voice, but I get horrible service in my place. They said we dont guarantee that. it is just based on area. Horse$H!T! Im not going to pay another $10 bucks and get a raping phone bill every month. I already pay $80 or so. And I even changed my plan to lower minutes. This is my complaint. I dont see why I should have to pay another 10 bucks on top of my cell phone bill when Im already paying for the internet. TMo will not give it to me. So i've debated switching carriers.

[mike868y]

Originally Posted by Artemis68

I'm confused as to why you waited 10 months to complain about reception.

now, I'd understand if you had GOOD reception until now, and then due to some tower construction etc, you have bad reception. Then you have reason to complain and may get out of the contract.

However, you can't wait for 10 months and THEN complain. That seems very fishy.

It does seem fishy, but the truth is I have put up with the sh*tty reception for sooo long and I am just fed up w/ it at this point. I spend more time out of service than in it and it is just obnoxious. I should have complained earlier, but I just tried to put up with it. I'm sick of being "that kid" who never has service. Bottom line is I am envious of my friends on vzw and att and I am just over it.

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