I've searched up & down for this information without luck.
I have a basic T-Mobile pay-as-you-go account which I refilled last year ($100 card) to reach Gold status & keep my minutes alive for a year. I rarely use the phone, so most of those minutes are unused. I'm very satisfied with the service and see no need to change service or the phone. What do I need to do to get another year out of my service, and do my current minutes carry over? (Expiration is in a few weeks).
Obviously I have to buy another card, but how little can I get away with? Thanks!
If you buy a smaller value card, you will prevent your minutes from expiring, but I think that the costs of your calls go way up.
As a gold member, I think we pay 10 cents a minute, but once I bought a $20 card because of expense reimbursement from my company, and when I added it, it shot the cost of my calling minutes up to something like 30 cents a minute, and EVEN changed the cost of the minutes that I still had left over from the gold card (taking them from 10 to 30 cents a minute, so it reduced the number of minutes that I had left from the Gold card purchase by two thirds)!
I finally just bought the $100 value card again, to keep the 10 cents a minute rate. That takes all your minutes down to 10 cents a minute.
Somewhere on FW there is the mention of an online store that sells the TMobile $100 card for $88, using promo codes and so on. I don't immediately know where it is, but I just look it up in the search box here each time I need to add minutes.
tonicz
Member
posted: Jul. 11, 2009 @ 2:08a
$100 is worth it. Its like paying $8.50 a month and you get to keep a mobile service working all the time. I think this would be the cheapest way to maintain a mobile phone service.
I've only put $10 on my card to refill after reaching gold status. My minutes rollover, but I don't usually use them up before the next refill's due, so I don't care about the per minute charge.
Whatatay
Senior Member - 1K
posted: Jul. 11, 2009 @ 6:48p
MrMiser said: Obviously I have to buy another card, but how little can I get away with? Thanks!
As little as possible. I believe the smallest is $10, which is what I do to keep all the minutes for another year. Wait until the day it expires or the day before if you want to be sure since the new time for expiration will start when you add the new card. In other words, if your year is up on Aug 1st 2009 but you add minutes from a new card on June 15 2009, all your minutes will expire on June 15 2010. You can buy your card sooner but don't activate the minutes until your expiration. Like I said, you may want to do it one day early in case you run into a problem and you don't want to lose all the minutes you now have.
bhyde
Ancient Member
posted: Jul. 12, 2009 @ 4:31p
The minimum you need to add is a $10 card. Of course you can buy it for a bit less than that. I like cardmart.com, but look for a discount code. Getting the refill for the minimum amount is key to your bragging rights when you tell people your phone is costing you 83 cents a month.
Just add $10. I do this all the time for the mother-in-law. Sure the newly added minutes are costly, but she rarely uses them and the whole balance is renewed for a year. Great deal.
Why are so many people having phones where they don't use the minutes, so don't care about how much the per-minute call rate is? People who have phones just for emergencies? Why pay so much to get the Gold in the first place then?
NantucketSunrise said: Why are so many people having phones where they don't use the minutes, so don't care about how much the per-minute call rate is? People who have phones just for emergencies? Why pay so much to get the Gold in the first place then? Ime & imo it's the 1 year expiration plus the most minutes. In achieving the 1yr/GR status at once. Convenience + economy.
If you are expensing some of your phone time, buy (4) $25 refills and call T-Mobile to have them "stacked". This gives you the "Gold" credit, and you have (4) cards to use on your expense report as needed. Be careful to check your balance. One time I did not get "stacked" right and had to call for an adjustment.
gadgety
Member
posted: Aug. 15, 2009 @ 2:55p
dajabon said: Just add $10. I do this all the time for the mother-in-law. Sure the newly added minutes are costly, but she rarely uses them and the whole balance is renewed for a year. Great deal.
Can anyone who recently added minutes confirm that your existing minutes carry over for another year?
The fine print on the T-Mobile site seems to imply that the minutes expire within the service period (the first 1 yr window). Service available for 90 days (1 year for customers with Gold Rewards status) after activation; minutes must be used within service period. *If you purchase a $100 refill card, you’ll automatically qualify for Gold Rewards. Bonus minutes are already included in the card. link
Update: This confirms that the minutes do rollover: If you applied a $100 refill to your account or have already reached Gold Reward status, all unused minutes won't expire for one year from the date you last applied airtime to your account. link
Update2: I used the Bing T-Mobile 35% CashBack link (search for 'T-Mobile' in Bing, then look under Sponsored Sites) to extend my minutes by $10 and expiration to 8/15/2010. Only downside is minutes activate immediately and I still had 2 months before old minutes expired. $6.50 to extend date seemed worth it.
gadgety said: dajabon said: Just add $10. I do this all the time for the mother-in-law. Sure the newly added minutes are costly, but she rarely uses them and the whole balance is renewed for a year. Great deal.
Can anyone who recently added minutes confirm that your existing minutes carry over for another year?
The fine print on the T-Mobile site seems to imply that the minutes expire within the service period (the first 1 yr window). Service available for 90 days (1 year for customers with Gold Rewards status) after activation; minutes must be used within service period. *If you purchase a $100 refill card, you’ll automatically qualify for Gold Rewards. Bonus minutes are already included in the card. link
Update: This confirms that the minutes do rollover: If you applied a $100 refill to your account or have already reached Gold Reward status, all unused minutes won't expire for one year from the date you last applied airtime to your account. link
Update2: I used the Bing T-Mobile 35% CashBack link (search for 'T-Mobile' in Bing, then look under Sponsored Sites) to extend my minutes by $10 and expiration to 8/15/2010. Only downside is minutes activate immediately and I still had 2 months before old minutes expired. $6.50 to extend date seemed worth it.After you added $10, your mins. are still at 10 cents per mins. with gold status? Number of mins. increased ?
gadgety
Member
posted: Aug. 16, 2009 @ 3:55a
After you added $10, your mins. are still at 10 cents per mins. with gold status? Number of mins. increased ?
Nope... I got an additional 35 minutes, which is 115% of standard $10 refill. Still have gold status.
mudslide
Member
posted: Aug. 23, 2009 @ 7:53p
I thought once you got to Gold status, minutes are .10 a minute and stays that way forever. Am I wrong?
aspensky
New Member
posted: Aug. 24, 2009 @ 4:30p
Once you got to Gold status, calls are 10¢ a minute and stays that way for a year or until the next refill. If the refill is $100, all the remaining/existing minutes get rollover without any change. If the refill is less than $100, say $10, all remaining minutes/dollars get recalculated with 33¢ per minutes.
This happened to me a year ago. I had some 900+ minutes left, still in Gold status, and I did a $10 refill right before expiration date. After the $10 refill, my account became 33¢ per minutes, the 900+ minutes was gone, account was left with 300+ minutes.
This is not clear on any T-Mobile brochures or online website. They only say “… get 15% more minutes with all refills and your balance won’t expire for a year”; it doesn’t say the balance will rollover without change.
And, one Customer Service agent mentioned that the account needs at least 100 minutes to stay Gold at the refill (any one can verify this?).
mudslide
Member
posted: Aug. 24, 2009 @ 5:00p
I'm so glad I found this subject. I just switched from AT&T, after having been with them for about 3 yrs, and I didn't understand all of this.
busterbaxter
Senior Member - 1K
posted: Aug. 24, 2009 @ 5:48p
aspensky said: Once you got to Gold status, calls are 10¢ a minute and stays that way for a year or until the next refill. If the refill is $100, all the remaining/existing minutes get rollover without any change. If the refill is less than $100, say $10, all remaining minutes/dollars get recalculated with 33¢ per minutes.
This happened to me a year ago. I had some 900+ minutes left, still in Gold status, and I did a $10 refill right before expiration date. After the $10 refill, my account became 33¢ per minutes, the 900+ minutes was gone, account was left with 300+ minutes.
This is not clear on any T-Mobile brochures or online website. They only say “… get 15% more minutes with all refills and your balance won’t expire for a year”; it doesn’t say the balance will rollover without change.
And, one Customer Service agent mentioned that the account needs at least 100 minutes to stay Gold at the refill (any one can verify this?).
That's not what I see in my account. On 5/1/09 I refilled my Gold status account for $10 (35 minutes). The new balance after the refill was $81.16 and 730 minutes. Was $71.xx and ~695 minutes before refill.
Today I checked my balance. It is $70.05 with 630 minutes. So I've used 100 minutes for $11 which roughly equals to $0.11/minute.
aspensky
New Member
posted: Aug. 25, 2009 @ 3:15p
busterbaxter said: aspensky said: Once you got to Gold status, calls are 10¢ a minute and stays that way for a year or until the next refill. If the refill is $100, all the remaining/existing minutes get rollover without any change. If the refill is less than $100, say $10, all remaining minutes/dollars get recalculated with 33¢ per minutes.
This happened to me a year ago. I had some 900+ minutes left, still in Gold status, and I did a $10 refill right before expiration date. After the $10 refill, my account became 33¢ per minutes, the 900+ minutes was gone, account was left with 300+ minutes.
This is not clear on any T-Mobile brochures or online website. They only say “… get 15% more minutes with all refills and your balance won’t expire for a year”; it doesn’t say the balance will rollover without change.
And, one Customer Service agent mentioned that the account needs at least 100 minutes to stay Gold at the refill (any one can verify this?).
That's not what I see in my account. On 5/1/09 I refilled my Gold status account for $10 (35 minutes). The new balance after the refill was $81.16 and 730 minutes. Was $71.xx and ~695 minutes before refill.
Today I checked my balance. It is $70.05 with 630 minutes. So I've used 100 minutes for $11 which roughly equals to $0.11/minute.
This is my fourth year with TM. It happened to me twice, also the year before last -- one refill was made by the calling 877-778-2106, the other was done by dialing *233. Both refills were $10 and both of my leftover dollar balance were recalculated using $10 per minute rate.
I called in to complain and was told this is how it works and the $50 will get me the closest to my old rate.
However, there was not a problem when I did an ONLINE refill 3 years ago. That $10 refill came out just as you described in your account. I thought perhaps TM changed the Gold rules since then.
Was your $10 refill done online? If it is, I should stick to online refill from now on.
busterbaxter
Senior Member - 1K
posted: Aug. 25, 2009 @ 5:06p
aspensky said: busterbaxter said: aspensky said: Once you got to Gold status, calls are 10¢ a minute and stays that way for a year or until the next refill. If the refill is $100, all the remaining/existing minutes get rollover without any change. If the refill is less than $100, say $10, all remaining minutes/dollars get recalculated with 33¢ per minutes.
This happened to me a year ago. I had some 900+ minutes left, still in Gold status, and I did a $10 refill right before expiration date. After the $10 refill, my account became 33¢ per minutes, the 900+ minutes was gone, account was left with 300+ minutes.
This is not clear on any T-Mobile brochures or online website. They only say “… get 15% more minutes with all refills and your balance won’t expire for a year”; it doesn’t say the balance will rollover without change.
And, one Customer Service agent mentioned that the account needs at least 100 minutes to stay Gold at the refill (any one can verify this?).
That's not what I see in my account. On 5/1/09 I refilled my Gold status account for $10 (35 minutes). The new balance after the refill was $81.16 and 730 minutes. Was $71.xx and ~695 minutes before refill.
Today I checked my balance. It is $70.05 with 630 minutes. So I've used 100 minutes for $11 which roughly equals to $0.11/minute.
This is my fourth year with TM. It happened to me twice, also the year before last -- one refill was made by the calling 877-778-2106, the other was done by dialing *233. Both refills were $10 and both of my leftover dollar balance were recalculated using $10 per minute rate.
I called in to complain and was told this is how it works and the $50 will get me the closest to my old rate.
However, there was not a problem when I did an ONLINE refill 3 years ago. That $10 refill came out just as you described in your account. I thought perhaps TM changed the Gold rules since then.
Was your $10 refill done online? If it is, I should stick to online refill from now on.
Yes. I bought a refill card (code) using FW coupon on Callingmart, and refilled it on TMobile website. Looks like this is the way to go.
Another data point: I made a one-minute call yesterday. My balance is now: $69.94 629 minute. Yesterday's balance before the call: $70.05 with 630 minutes. So 1 minute = $0.11
How much did you refill, OP ? $10 extended your min. exp. date to 1 year with 11 cents per min. ? If so, did you refill online or over the phone ?
busterbaxter
Senior Member - 1K
posted: Nov. 10, 2009 @ 4:49p
nottingham said: How much did you refill, OP ? $10 extended your min. exp. date to 1 year with 11 cents per min. ? If so, did you refill online or over the phone ?
read my post above. $10 refill code bought online, refilled online, extended existing minutes for 1 more year with $0.11/minute.
busterbaxter said: nottingham said: How much did you refill, OP ? $10 extended your min. exp. date to 1 year with 11 cents per min. ? If so, did you refill online or over the phone ?
read my post above. $10 refill code bought online, refilled online, extended existing minutes for 1 more year with $0.11/minute.Thanks. Please tell me ....Online from which website? I am thinking about adding $10 right from T-Mobile.com thru my account. Will that work?
Data point! Just bought a $10 refill from Callingmart and entered the PIN on the T-Mobile site once logged in. Gold member for ~4 years now. I did have an issue last year where my old minutes disappeared when reloading via phone (not sure which #).
nottingham said: busterbaxter said: nottingham said: How much did you refill, OP ? $10 extended your min. exp. date to 1 year with 11 cents per min. ? If so, did you refill online or over the phone ?
read my post above. $10 refill code bought online, refilled online, extended existing minutes for 1 more year with $0.11/minute.Thanks. Please tell me ....Online from which website? I am thinking about adding $10 right from T-Mobile.com thru my account. Will that work?
Nottingham, you asked which website to use to refill your minutes -- it is the tmobile website: www.tmobile.com.
You sign in to your account, then refill the minutes using the instructions. They offer several ways to refill your minutes.
You could buy them directly from the tmobile website, but the FW way would be to refill using a prepaid card that you bought elsewhere at a discount, such as buying it at a discount on www.callingmart.com. The callingmart discount on a $10 card is only 20 cents, but it's still something. Often, their discount on a $100 card is $12 / 12%.
Well, I am so glad I searched FW to find this thread and re-read it!
Two days ago, I got a text message from TMobile saying my gold minutes are a year old and are expiring today. I still have $54.64 worth of time left - 546 minutes.
Last year, as I posted above, when I added a $20 refill card (via the instructions that were on the card, which was to do it by calling a T-Mobile telephone number), it took ALL my minutes down to the 30 cents per minute rate, even the previous minutes I'd had (that had been 10 cents a minute up to that point).
Today I don't want to add a $100 card to my account, but I was afraid to just add $10 this time, because I was worried it would reduce my amount of 546 mins by 2/3rds.
As they noted above, other FW members have also experienced this dramatic reduction in minutes by adding less than $50 to their gold account. The reduction happened when they called the phone number given on the refill card, or added the minutes via texting on their phone.
However, there are some posts above saying that adding your refill card ONLINE does not do this, and allows you to keep the value of your past minutes intact.
I have just given it a try, and I can confirm that it worked for me! Adding the Callingmart $10 refill card to my T-Mobile account online gave me $64.64 in value and 581 minutes. Fantastic.
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