T-Mobile Ends Contracts and Subsidies

AlphaWolf_HK writes "In what I see as a refreshing change, T-Mobile, the fourth largest carrier in the U.S., has made sweeping changes to its service, ending both phone subsidies and service contracts. Its CEO said, 'Here's the deal: If we suck this month, go somewhere else. If we're good, stay with us.' As part of that change, the new base plan will include unlimited access, including voice, text, and data. Data will be restricted to edge speeds after 500MB with no overage costs, but can be upgraded to 2.5GB for $10, or unlimited for $20. Portable Wi-Fi hotspot usage is also unrestricted for no additional cost. In addition, LTE services just went live in eight markets. As is already standard practice with T-Mobile, you are free to bring your own device. To keep customers from having to front the full cost of the phone with unsubsidized plans, they'll let people pay off phones in installments. They're also getting the iPhone 5 next month for $650."

Comments

Capitalism works despite regulation

[SuperKendall]

Of course having competition requires good regulations.

Utterly wrong, and ignorant of the very definition of "competition". Usually regulation works to PREVENT competition by helping a large entity prevent smaller competitors from succeeding.

the Justice department hadn't successfully blocked AT&T's purchase of T-Mobile.

In that case it weakened the ability of T-Mobile and AT&T to compete well with Verizon. Healthy competition is not about the sheer quantity of competitors.

AT&T claims the cap on data use was a direct result of the merger being prevented. How did that regulatory action "help" AT&T customers?