Just couple of months after rolling out new prepaid options for its customers, T-Mo is bringing Value plans to the people. These new plans come in various configurations, but all are available with any of the carrier's phones, tablets, or broadband accessories. In exchange for a two year commitment, you get 2, 5, or 10GB of high speed data, with limitless websurfing at slower speeds.
The Company plans to cut the price of its smartphone plans. Most significantly, its mid-tier plan--which includes unlimited phone calls, text messages, and data--drops by $20 to $59.99 a month. In comparison, Sprint's comparable plan--which includes unlimited data, text, and calls to other cell phones--costs $69.99 a month.
The aggressive pricing illustrates the ultra-competitive environment, particularly for two smaller national carriers. T-Mobile, meanwhile, is trying to remain relevant even as it awaits a takeover by AT&T, according to Cnet.
"Our goal is to get the next 100 million Americans on smartphones," said John Clelland, senior vice president of marketing for T-Mobile. "We really do think it's a key that unlocks the next wave of growth."
T-Mobile's unlimited data plans, of course, come with strings. The $59.99 plan allows you to eat up 2 gigabytes of streaming music, videos, e-mails, or uploaded photos. Once past that level, customers will receive a note asking if they want to upgrade their plan. If they choose not to, their connection will be slowed down to 2G speeds, a practice called throttling.
The new plans come after Verizon Wireless made the switch to a tiered data plan model, something rival AT&T did last year. Verizon Wireless' lowest-end plan costs $30 and has its cap at 2 gigabytes.
Clelland said that some consumers felt that a truly unlimited plan was too expensive, since many didn't believe they consumed that much data.
"That's why we introduced the notion of tiered high speeds," he said.
For heavier data users, T-Mobile offers a $74.99 plan with an allotment of 5 gigabytes of data before throttling, which is $15 less than before. It also offers a lower-end, data-less plan for $49.99 with unlimited phone calls and text messages. That plan was previously $65. If you choose to pay for the phone through monthly installments, you can sign up for a 200-megabyte data option for $5 a month. Traditional contract customers can get the same option for $10 a month. The plans will be available on July 24.
