U.S mobile vs. TruPhone - for T-Mobile data
08-16-2015, 09:21 AM
#11
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Well, my T-Mobile 30 month subscription ended today and I did the switch to US Mobile. I pre-ordered the sim card for $4 last week and was ready to go. It took all of 5 minutes to sign up for their 250 MB per month plan and 5 minutes to set up the A6.
All I had to do was eject the original sim card, insert the US Mobile card, go to TEL, navigate to connection settings, change the APN to pwg, add a space to user name and that's it. It works fine - I notice no difference from the T-Mobile acct. except now I'm paying $7.70 all in instead of the prepaid $450 at $15 per month.
All I had to do was eject the original sim card, insert the US Mobile card, go to TEL, navigate to connection settings, change the APN to pwg, add a space to user name and that's it. It works fine - I notice no difference from the T-Mobile acct. except now I'm paying $7.70 all in instead of the prepaid $450 at $15 per month.
08-16-2015, 12:03 PM
#12
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For me Tru-Phone is the best option by far - but I do not use it a lot. So paying 0 a month and only for data when I use it works well for my needs. I think in 2 years I have spent $20 total
08-16-2015, 02:29 PM
#13
AudiWorld Super User
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Both TruPhone and US Mobile are good alternatives to the expensive T-Mobile direct.. If you determine your regular usage is low, say, considerably less than 100MB per month, than TruPhone might be your best choice. If you do a lot of online destination searches, frequently use Google Earth or check the weather and gas prices, either the US Mobile 100MB plan for $4.70 or the 250MB plan for $7.70 per month will be less expensive than TruPhone's pay for use. Which of the two is the least costly is determined by the amount of data you use.
For example, after switching over to test usage, I turned on Google Earth, scrolled around my area a bit and waited for Earth to download the images (nothing was cached), did an online search for a destination then browsed the weather and local events fo a few minutes. Per the MMI and confirmed with my account on US Mobile's website, it showed I used 6 MB for those activities. If I were to use Google Earth full time and traveled a lot outside of my cached local area (roughly a 20 mile radius), the data use would pile up pretty quickly.
The best way is to reset you data use counter in the MMI and use Audi Connect as you would normally for 30 days, then check it. This will give you a pretty good idea of how much data you are consuming and will help determine using the math in the first post as to which of the two providers, US Mobile or TruPhone, would be the least expensive.
08-17-2015, 10:27 AM
#15
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This was very helpful, thanks. My 30 month subscription also just ended and was studying my options. I like to drive with Google Earth running for eye candy, and do occasional searches, so based on your test usage I'd likely be better off with a 250mb plan from US Mobile (to start off with).
Yes, 3G.
Both TruPhone and US Mobile are good alternatives to the expensive T-Mobile direct.. If you determine your regular usage is low, say, considerably less than 100MB per month, than TruPhone might be your best choice. If you do a lot of online destination searches, frequently use Google Earth or check the weather and gas prices, either the US Mobile 100MB plan for $4.70 or the 250MB plan for $7.70 per month will be less expensive than TruPhone's pay for use. Which of the two is the least costly is determined by the amount of data you use.
For example, after switching over to test usage, I turned on Google Earth, scrolled around my area a bit and waited for Earth to download the images (nothing was cached), did an online search for a destination then browsed the weather and local events fo a few minutes. Per the MMI and confirmed with my account on US Mobile's website, it showed I used 6 MB for those activities. If I were to use Google Earth full time and traveled a lot outside of my cached local area (roughly a 20 mile radius), the data use would pile up pretty quickly.
The best way is to reset you data use counter in the MMI and use Audi Connect as you would normally for 30 days, then check it. This will give you a pretty good idea of how much data you are consuming and will help determine using the math in the first post as to which of the two providers, US Mobile or TruPhone, would be the least expensive.
Both TruPhone and US Mobile are good alternatives to the expensive T-Mobile direct.. If you determine your regular usage is low, say, considerably less than 100MB per month, than TruPhone might be your best choice. If you do a lot of online destination searches, frequently use Google Earth or check the weather and gas prices, either the US Mobile 100MB plan for $4.70 or the 250MB plan for $7.70 per month will be less expensive than TruPhone's pay for use. Which of the two is the least costly is determined by the amount of data you use.
For example, after switching over to test usage, I turned on Google Earth, scrolled around my area a bit and waited for Earth to download the images (nothing was cached), did an online search for a destination then browsed the weather and local events fo a few minutes. Per the MMI and confirmed with my account on US Mobile's website, it showed I used 6 MB for those activities. If I were to use Google Earth full time and traveled a lot outside of my cached local area (roughly a 20 mile radius), the data use would pile up pretty quickly.
The best way is to reset you data use counter in the MMI and use Audi Connect as you would normally for 30 days, then check it. This will give you a pretty good idea of how much data you are consuming and will help determine using the math in the first post as to which of the two providers, US Mobile or TruPhone, would be the least expensive.
Last edited by mcar11; 08-17-2015 at 10:40 AM.
08-17-2015, 11:13 AM
#16
AudiWorld Member
Us 2016 A6 folks are all AT&T to begin with, does anyone know if Truphone ( I gather US Mobile is out for us since it seems T-Mobile centric?) offers data plans for our modems too when the freebie data phase is over??
Or are their any other second party data carriers that will work with the ATT 4G/3G modem in our cars??
Or are their any other second party data carriers that will work with the ATT 4G/3G modem in our cars??
08-17-2015, 11:39 AM
#17
AudiWorld Super User
Thread Starter
Us 2016 A6 folks are all AT&T to begin with, does anyone know if Truphone ( I gather US Mobile is out for us since it seems T-Mobile centric?) offers data plans for our modems too when the freebie data phase is over??
Or are their any other second party data carriers that will work with the ATT 4G/3G modem in our cars??
Or are their any other second party data carriers that will work with the ATT 4G/3G modem in our cars??
The best option would be if you are on an AT&T plan with your phone, you can get the share plan at $10 more per month with 4G LTE.
08-18-2015, 10:46 AM
#18
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Join Date: Aug 2015
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HEAVY data usage?
Confused... only set up the U.S. Mobile card the other day, and only used it for Google Maps driving around town. Doesn't nearly 145mb (up and download total) seem pretty high for just 3 days? I'll be at 1-2 gigs if this keeps up (I'd read the 250mb plan would be plenty for just using stuff like the G Maps). I can actually keep this usage screen up and watch it just tick away as I drive.
Should I have the "roaming" setting turned off? Odd.
08-18-2015, 05:31 PM
#20
AudiWorld Super User
Thread Starter
First. compare to your acct on USMobile.com and see if they are about the same. Second, try turning off Google Earth (it is not a map btw) and see what the usage is after a few days. If you didn't have the Google Earth cached for your local area, it can suck down a lot of data. Same if you frequently travel outside of a 20 mile radius since the data cache is constantly refilling.