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T-Mobile Eliminates Cheaper Postpaid Plans, Sells 'Unlimited Data' Only (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: T-Mobile USA will stop selling its older and cheaper limited-data plans to postpaid customers, shifting entirely to its new "unlimited" data plans that impose bandwidth limits on video and tethering unless customers pay extra. To ease the transition, T-Mobile will offer bill credits of $10 a month to customers when they use less than 2GB per month. T-Mobile began its shift to unlimited data plans in August with the introduction of T-Mobile One, which starts at $70 a month. While there are no data caps, customers have to pay a total of $95 a month to get high-definition video and mobile hotspot speeds of greater than 512kbps. The carrier said in August that the unlimited plan would be "replacing all our rate plans," including its cheaper plans that cost $50 or $65 a month. Nonetheless, T-Mobile kept selling limited postpaid data plans to new customers for a few months, but yesterday CEO John Legere said that as of January 22, T-Mobile One will be the "only postpaid consumer plan we sell." Existing postpaid customers can keep their current plans. For new customers, T-Mobile will presumably keep selling its prepaid plans that cost $40 to $60 a month and come with 3GB to 10GB of data. T-Mobile also said yesterday that it will start including taxes and fees in its advertised rate when customers sign up for new T-Mobile One plans and enroll in automatic payments, essentially giving subscribers a discount. "The average monthly bill for a family of four will drop from $180.48 to $160, according to a company spokesman," The Wall Street Journal reported.
I seem to recall when they brought out the new One plan...it was slightly more expensive than their current offering and the removal of high-speed tethering made it a worse deal.
Granted...they've got a good network; I just won't pay the full-rate for premium TMobile. Not when I get LTE hotspot for $35 less a month on my existing plan.
Virgin Mobile in the US is a reseller of T-Mobile and still offer prepaid plans. I don't think they have a postpaid option. After you hit the caps it starts to devolve into a postpaid option (or alternatively the service stops, depends on how you set up the "top up" options)
I use Ting, which is only offers postpaid plans. They are a reseller of Sprint and T-Mobile, although most people opt for the Sprint network.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
until it's not.
I'm a prepaid T-Mobile user, and I'm still quite happy with my $30 Unlimited* (*4.5gb) Data plan. Sure, it's only 100 talk minutes, but I rarely use my portable computer to interact with the old POTS system. I've got wi-fi at home and at work, so the 4.5 gigs of data suits me fine other times, especially when I timeshift video (like downloading youtube series and storing them locally).
With a recently new 4G LTE phone, my mobile speeds are actually twice as fast (up and down) than my wired Comcast internet at home.
Also relevant to like 0.2% of slashdot readers?
I'm paying the equivalent of $24.50 for my unlimited plan.
I am thrilled that our weekly chocolate rations have been increased from 6 to 4 ounces per week.
The most frustrating thing about T-Mobile is that you never know how they are going to redefine "unlimited" from quarter to quarter. $70 a month for SD video and... 512k of hotspot? That should not count as high speed. But regulations and lack thereof and so on. 512k is damn near useless as a hotspot. Even when super slow DSL came around in 1997 or so, you might be stuck with 512k up, but you could at least get 1 - 1.5 down. I would rather be capped at a higher speed.
So what they are really doing is selling a service that at $70 will cause you to go so absolutely bonkers with it's limitations that you will eventually have a meltdown and pay for their real unlimited high speed. Well played T-Mobile. Let's see what new high speed re-arrangement you cook up for the next financial quarter.
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As the CEO of T-Mobile Germany stated, the "uncarrier" model that T-Mobile USA has been selling for the last couple years is unsustainable. To be fair, they were selling service so low it really was cheaper than it should have been. It was only a matter of time before a rate hike of some sort would happen. They are trying really really hard to spin the rate hike with marketing to make it sounds like a bigger deal than before with the whole "unlimited" wording, but truth is its no different than their previous plans, except for the extra cost. Don't let them convince you that the rate hike would not have happened had they been allowed to merge with Sprint by the way. I'm just glad I got in while they were still selling the ridiculously low price plans.
"shifting entirely to its new 'unlimited' data plans that impose bandwidth limits on video and tethering unless customers pay extra"
How in any universe could that be considered an unlimited plan?
This is not good news for customers like me. I don't need a lot of data, and the only time I do use significant data are the rare times when I tether- and I need it FAST at that point. So now that type of consumer will have to pay even more for less! And pay every month for the privilege, even when it is rarely needed (but important when it is needed). Yes, I am grandfathered in right now, but if I were looking at switching to T-Mobile, this would be a huge negative.
And they are going to punish people who do not want to sign up for autopay (we will have to pay more than people who enroll in it)! How is THAT a good thing? Especially for consumers like me who always pay correctly and on-time!
All this, and still no 700Mhz service in my area.
I'd be curious to know how many people actually want unlimited data. Besides the millennials who are hopelessly addicted to their phone I bet 75% of the population still uses less than 1GB per month in data.
... for a phone plan. I'm currently paying 15€ and it covers all my needs exitensively. I would seriously consider moving to a different country if businesses were allowed to screw me over that big on a regular basis. If one business is allowed to, you know they all do.
In Capitalist US, the commerce controls the Government.
"Unlimited use of data on your phone, and also tethering at 512Kbps" I can understand. Video, on the other hand, is over 90% of the bandwidth usage on phones.
I pay £15/month for unlimited data plus 3GB of data....And free roaming (though there are then limits) to many countries and territories, including the USA.
Max.
I'm on T-mobile. Moved to brazil a year ago. I get 4g and stream audio a LOT (local college radio from back home.) I use the hotspot fairly often too. I have never gotten throttled that I could see.
Also, whenever I'm on WiFi, here or in the US, all my calls go over that connection. NO international fees at all, unlimited time. People at home just dial my US number and have no idea I'm 5000 miles away, and they don't get billed for it. The funny part is when I'm home in the US, my calls etc. go over my fios connection, so T-mobile is using their competitor's infrastructure. Gives me a good chuckle.
On the one hand you take life too seriously, and on the other, you do not take playful existence seriously enough. Seth
What a surprise. Mobile has been a racket from the very beginning. Is anybody surprised? Unlimited* plans. (*Sort of. OK, not really)
It's as if the wireless industry (here in America) has been on a mission to redefine what the word "unlimited" means for the past three decades.
Really though, once the consumer has already bought this months $1000 mobile phone (latest and greatest don-cha-know) it stands to reason that you can charge pretty much whatever you want and those people will pay it. This goes double for the fukfuk games the carriers play with hardware subsidies.
Consumers made this bed. You can always drop the plan and go wifi only. Tie your fav voip to the phone and your good to go. Embrace the all-knowing google god and install hangouts to make and receive calls. Go MS instead and skype is your ticket at fractions of pennies on the dollar compared to the big carriers, or roll your own solution.
Best to drop the whole thing and retrain your brain to think for itself. Remember paper maps and memorized phone numbers?
You are being ripped off every second of every day, so that advertisers can help rip you off even more tomorrow.
Why tethering AND unlimited data is a big deal?
Hey KID! Yeah you, get the fuck off my lawn!
to an expensive T-Mobile. I mean, their lack of short bandwidth signal means their coverage is spotty as hell.
I plan to stick on my cheaper plan as long as I can. You'll never use more than a gig since they made 99% of video free (I have cheap phones, even 720p is just a waste). I'm guessing they did this because people like me where downgrading their plans when they noticed they weren't using any of the data. Pity I forgot to. Coulda saved a few bucks.
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Digging through their website last night after hearing the news, it seem they are going to continue to offer their plan with up-to-2 GB LTE data for $50/mo. Note that if you take T-Mobile One and get the $10 a month credit for using less than 2 GB of data you're actually spending more.
Also, its important to note this is only for post-paid plans. T-Mobile will continue of offer a range of plans in their pre-paid space.
IMHO only worth 20.00 month each phone with unlimited everything.
When I search for "prepaid internet" T-Mobile Internet Prepaid Plans come right up. The $20 plan is a steal when you factor in Unlimited music streaming.
The FCC gave Verizon a smackdown in 2012 ( http://www.pcmag.com/article2/... ) when they were trying to charge people $20 to add hotspot/tethering to their plan even though they already paid for data and could use free tethering apps. The FCC stated that they are not allowed to restrict access to the service(data) by either blocking the apps from working(which I have personally experienced during this time on a verizon Xperia Play) or by charging for access to use hotspot(which verizon had conveniently supplied their own app for). How is restricting the speed of tethered devices any different of a violation? It's your data that you pay for your high speed access to. How you use that data is up to you NOT your service provider. Of course T-Mobile has become the pioneer in dancing on the legal line with the FCC for Net Neutrality but no one seems to care about that either.
Some insane pricing over there!
Here in the cold north where a speed fine can be hundreds of thousands, unlimited 4G data, unlimited calls, sms, mms etc. costs under 30$ a month
End user has no control or understanding of how apps use mobile data or precisely when they are on WiFi or LTE. Metered plans result in half of the users randomly hit up for extra $500, half paying for expensive plan they do not need and everyone hating their career and jumping to the first available alternative.
Cell service providers and video service providers just have to work together to manage network congestion so that user doesn't have to and provide "480p" and "HD" plans with predictable price. Looks like T-mobile is well underway in that direction.
I'm on Metro-PCS. They share a network with T-mobile these days, so the coverage is good.
The full unlimited 4G plan (unlimited 4G data, unlimited text, unlimited voice, unlimited tether...) runs me $55 per month, including taxes. I don't bother using wi-fi on my phone as the 4G data rates are faster.
YMMV, but its good for me.