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As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been with T-Mobile for a few months now with intentions to leave — but they keep adding to the value and making it difficult to jump ship. Today, T-Mobile has begun offering a free 2-screen Netflix subscription to all T-Mobile subscribers with 2+ lines on a T-Mobile ONE plan (notably excluding the 2-for-$100 plan and the T-Mobile Unlimited 55+ plan). That’s a value of $9.99/month. And if you want a higher-level Netflix plan, you can pay the difference via your T-Mobile bill (at 5X with an Ink Cash / Ink Plus card). While the terms state that the offer can change at any time, this does not appear to be intended as a limited-time offer.
Additionally, with this week’s T-Mobile Tuesdays offers, you can get a free 90-day Pandora Premium trial pass — though that deal is only open to those who are not current Pandora Premium subscribers and who have not previously redeemed a Pandora Premium Trial pass. For those unfamiliar with T-Mobile Tuesdays, it is a weekly rewards program where T-Mobile gives away free stuff to anyone with a qualifying T-Mobile plan and the T-Mobile Tuesdays app (even my prepaid wireless hotspot gets these offers).
The Deals
- Free 2-screen Netflix plan ($9.99 plan) — or pay the difference if you want a higher-level plan — for customers with 2+ lines on a qualifying T-Mobile ONE plan (Existing customers can call 1-866-437-9418 to speak with customer care and get enrolled)
- Pandora Premium is one of this week’s T-Mobile Tuesdays offers — get a free 90-day Pandora Premium Trial pass through your T-Mobile Tuesdays app
Key Terms
- If you’re an existing Netflix subscriber, it may take 1-2 billing cycles for your Netflix billing to move over to T-Mobile (Note that video streams at DVD quality (480p), though you can pay the $2 difference to upgrade to the $11.99 premium plan that includes Ultra HD and HDR)
- Pandora Premium Trial Pass is only available for those who are not Pandora Premium Subscribers and have not used a trial pass in the past
Quick Thoughts
Another solid offering from T-Mobile. I’ve had Netflix since Netflix was a thing, so this is worth a straight $10 to me. From a travel perspective, a Netflix subscription is great because you can now download many movies and TV episodes for offline viewing. This was great on our recent trip as both my wife and I downloaded different things on our phone prior to the trip. We had several intra-European flights with no in-flight entertainment where downloaded Netflix episodes really came in handy.
The Pandora Premium trial pass will likely appeal to a more limited audience as many people have probably redeemed some sort of trial for this before. However, my wife hasn’t and she loves to use Pandora, especially now that we’re on an unlimited plan with T-Mobile. She may redeem her free trial pass — though, if she does, I will set a reminder on my phone to cancel it in 89 days. Otherwise, it will renew at $9.99/month, and I don’t think it’s worth that much to us.
H/T: Slickdeals
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Have you had any luck canceling the trial of Pandora? I’ve been trying for days and cannot find where I can cancel! Driving me crazy and I don’t want to be charged $10!
[…] more than $120, T-Mobile will cover the cost of your subscription for basic Netflix service (See: T-Mobile Netflix offer.). My wife streams a lot of Netflix these days without worry about whether or not she’s on […]
This offer is only valid if your total bill is above $120 with auto pay. My bill was below the $120 threshold and so I could not get the plan.
What plan are you on?
I am on Simple Choice and they asked me to change it T-Mobile one plan to get the benefit. Simple choice is much better than the new one
Same experience for me, I’m currently on a 2 lines for $100/month promo (which should last indefinitely I think) and I’m not eligible to add the Netflix on top without switching to the regular 2 lines for $120/month plan.
Definitely not paying an extra $20 to save $10, but this is probably a good deal for anyone paying the regular T-mobile rates
Yup, I included that exclusion in the first paragraph (excludes the 2-for-$100 and T-Mobile Unlimited 55+ plans). But they’ve recently run promotions like 4 lines for $140 — those plans would qualify.
Hey Nick, what mobile hotspot do you use and how much does it cost? Where and how well does it work? Thanks!
I’m just using the Alcatel Linkzone hotspot that T-Mobile has on their page. I used the British Airways shopping portal when I bought it (think I got 2500 Avios and the device was $72).
As for how well it works, it works great when you’re in an area with T-Mobile coverage. I’m downstairs and the device is upstairs at the moment and I just ran a test through Speedtest.net. I got 14.8 Mbps down and 8.73 Mbps up, which is faster than my home Internet (I live in a rural area where Verizon DSL is the only option). I use it all the time as my wife is video conferencing for work and the software is too demanding for me to also be uploading pictures and whatnot for the blog at the same time — so one of us is constantly on it during the day. We live in a rural town (population of about 1,000 people — closest city with more than 10K is about 60 miles away) and it works great here. The problem for me is that once I leave my little town (where there happens to be a tower), there isn’t any service for about 20 miles in any direction. My phone will get some really slow data off of AT&T’s towers for some of that distance, but the hotspot won’t roam off of AT&T towers I believe (I can log in to the hotspot admin and when it shows that it is connected to AT&T, I have no Internet on it).
All that said, it’s been pretty darn good when traveling by road. On most major highways, I get a good signal — I’ve often used it to post stuff while my wife is driving. I also bring it when on the road so I don’t have to use the hotel Wi-Fi to log into bank accounts, etc. I generally use it when I’m at a coffee shop or something rather than the in-house Wi-Fi for the same reason (it at least gives me the illusion of more security if nothing else).
I’ve also streamed Netflix through it (connected my Chromecast to it) and it’s worked fine for that also. Overall, I’m happy with it. Our home Verizon DSL has had some reliability issues now and then and the hotspot has stepped in for a save in some situations where we really needed it).
As for how much, it all depends on how much data you need. As I said, we use it heavily. I pay $80 a month for 18GB and often run out and have to add some more. Here are the prepaid plans:
SC North America 2GB Monthly $20 per month
SC North America 6GB Monthly $35 per month
SC North America 10GB Monthly $50 per month
SC North America 14GB Monthly $65 per month
SC North America 18GB Monthly $80 per month
SC North America 22GB Monthly $95 per month
You can also add passes if you’re going to run out as follows:
500MB US, Canada and Mexico 1-day pass = $5
1GB US, Canada and Mexico 7-day pass = $10
3GB US, Canada and Mexico 30-day pass = $30
5GB US, Canada and Mexico 30-day pass = $40
7GB US, Canada and Mexico 30-day pass = $50
You just have to make sure that you add it before it runs out or you’ll get throttled.
As for signal, I’m very happy with how far from the device itself I can get signal. Like I said, the device is upstairs on the opposite side of the house from me right now and I’m getting plenty of signal to do everything I need on the Internet at the moment.
Final downside is that it just has simple lights to show if it’s getting a signal and has the Wi-Fi up and has battery — but there are no level indicators on the device itself. I have to log into it from a web browser to see how strong the signal is or how much battery is left (indicated with a percentage when I log in). I’ve run it for 7-8 hours on a single charge, not sure quite how long it will go, but I’m impressed with battery life. But I’ve also been surprised when it died and I forgot that I hadn’t charged it. It does start to blink a red low battery indicator, but at that point it’s pretty close to dead.
Hope that helps.
Hey Nick, just a minor correction. The $9.99 Netflix plan streams in 1080p not 480p.
Hmm… The terms at TMobile state 480p… I’ll check into it, thanks.
Yeah, I think they are referring to the mobile streaming being in 480p. If you stream at home or on wifi it should be 1080p.