Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Does anyone know if this is only for new customers or if existing customers can switch to it?

It's for new and existing customers.

It's a no brainer for me. I pay ~$120 for an unlimited line and a 3GB line. This new plan will take my bill down $20 and give me 2 unlimited lines plus the bump up to 5GB tethering on each line.
 
No love for unlimited individual plans? I'd like to pay less than $80+taxes per month. How about matching or even beating Sprint at $50 per month for unlimited?
 
That's all fine and well right now.

But when those phones need to be replaced you're in for a rude awakening. You're either gonna pay $27 a month more per line.

Or a ton of money for full price phones.

You sound like you got your phone free. None of any carriers I know of actually subsidized their phone. If that's what you want to believe in go ahead, but don't act you are getting better deal on your phone from your carrier. The truth is if got your phone subsidized you are actually paying some fees to offset the price of your phone.
 
Tempted by this but gonna stick with my current plan
Line 1 $70 udp
Line 2 $40 3gb
Line 3 $10 1gb
Unlimited calls and texts.
 
T-Mobile Announces New Unlimited 4G LTE Data Plan With 2 Lines for $100

You sound like you got your phone free. None of any carriers I know of actually subsidized their phone. If that's what you want to believe in go ahead, but don't act you are getting better deal on your phone from your carrier. The truth is if got your phone subsidized you are actually paying some fees to offset the price of your phone.


I fully recognize that. The point being that the big carriers make it look like that is hidden. That's fine if they want to do that. I know what I'm getting into. I know what my money goes towards. I pay $160 a month for 10gb and as a result of that I get cheap phones that I can sell when they are old to pay for the new one in full.

T-Mobile doesn't include it and then hits people with that bomb later. So if you go ahead and do the math, this $100 deal isn't really that great. It's just a glorified prepaid plan with the option to pay a lot more with a phone payment. As long as people recognize that then that's fine.

The problem is that T-Mobile is comparing Apples and Oranges. They should be comparing themselves to StraightTalk and GoPhone. Not Verizon and ATT Postpaid. But we don't see that in their pretty little chart do we?

They are StraightTalk with 0% financing.
 
Last edited:
I've always purchased my phones up font. Sometimes I buy new, sometimes I buy used. I even used to unlock my original iPhone for tmobile (what a pain that was).

Just a preference.

That's all fine and well right now.

But when those phones need to be replaced you're in for a rude awakening. You're either gonna pay $27 a month more per line.

Or a ton of money for full price phones.
 
Well well well, will you look at that. The 2 largest (and most expensive) carriers in the country have the least features.

Well, the main difference being WiFi calling. Something that is nice and coming to those carriers as well, but hasn't been as needed given the generally better coverage and signal those carriers have. To a lesser degree it's some data and the like internationally which T-Mobile has an easier time doing by its nature since they have a presence in Europe.
 
I'm paying ~$160/month to use two iPhones on Verizon. They tell me that when my contract runs out that will drop by $20/line, so I guess I'd be down to $120...

Ouch!

T-mo articles like this always make me feel depressed as T-mo has no coverage in my metro-region.

Not that great of a deal when you factor in the $27 phone fee for each line unless you paid full price upfront.

So that would bring it to $154/month + taxes which brings it to like $160 we'll say since you only pay taxes on the $100 part.

I'm currently paying $140 a month after taxes for two lines under contract and 13 GBs of data on Verizon. It's not unlimited but it's plenty. I have the 10 GB more everything plan with a 20% employee discount and a $16 discount for 12 months that I got for just asking. Plus 2GB of free data for 24 months and 1 GB free for 12.

Not a chance I'll pay $30 more a month for crappy coverage just so I can say I have unlimited data I'll never use.
.

T-Mobile coverage in my area is better than AT&T and Sprint (though not as good as Verizon). I'm still on the older slowdown-when-you-hit-the-limit plan. 5 phones for $130, including long-distance and unlimited messaging, and including tax. I only hit the limit when I start spending lots of time on the road and use my phone as an access-point.
 
Anybody in NYC using T-Mobile? Is it ok?

I'm paying ~$160/month to use two iPhones on Verizon. They tell me that when my contract runs out that will drop by $20/line, so I guess I'd be down to $120...
Realistically it's be either $15 off each line or $25 off each line depending on how much data is on the plan. With 10 GB going for $80/month, $110 for both lines sharing that on Verizon is a fairly good deal (not counting potential employee discounts that quite a few people have).
 
America really is lagging behind in mobile data costs.
In the UK we can get infinite data, thousands of free texts and thousands of free minutes for about $30 a month on Three Mobile.

Our 4G coverage started off slow but covers most of the country now.
 
Not that great of a deal when you factor in the $27 phone fee for each line unless you paid full price upfront.

So that would bring it to $154/month + taxes which brings it to like $160 we'll say since you only pay taxes on the $100 part.

I'm currently paying $140 a month after taxes for two lines under contract and 13 GBs of data on Verizon. It's not unlimited but it's plenty. I have the 10 GB more everything plan with a 20% employee discount and a $16 discount for 12 months that I got for just asking. Plus 2GB of free data for 24 months and 1 GB free for 12.

Not a chance I'll pay $30 more a month for crappy coverage just so I can say I have unlimited data I'll never use.

T-Mobile isn't changing the game. They're just throwing out things we've never seen before. Crunch the numbers yourself and you'll see that they aren't doing anything incredible.

If T-Mobile really wanted to do something revolutionary they'd give 2 lines of 3 GB of data each for $60 a month. Instead they trot out the word unlimited and can charge $40 more just because it's unlimited data that people won't use.

Well for one, this is an UNLIMITED data plan and is marketed at those who WANT unlimited data. Verizon offers no such plan. A paltry 10GB shared isn't comparable. Assuming maybe 20GB is comparable, it blows away any of Verizon's pathetic data plan offerings. Not to mention there is no possibility of overages with T-Mobile. But then again what's truly comparable? 30GB, 40GB? It only gets worse for VZW as you increase the data since they don't offer a comparable plan.

You're also adding in discounts, which don't apply to every customer as well as some promotional bonus data you have which moves you to 13GB. Again not available on their site. For light data users, Verizon's share plans might be a great idea and by all means you should stay where you are in that case. For heavier users who require more data, Verizon doesn't offer a competitive plan and that's who this promotion is marketed towards. Super fast LTE that you can't use because of data caps, monitoring usage as if it's electricity or something. No thanks.

Total cost of ownership, T-Mobile beats Verizon on just about every plan offered on their website (sans special discounts or promotions a select few might have acquired). Really no way around it.

Where have you been the past few years? They've already changed the industry. VZW and AT&T have had to respond by reducing their prices and offering that same 0% financing to the point where their profits are declining. All thanks to T-Mobile.

I read an article elsewhere that said Verizon and AT&T are really feeling the pressure from low-cost carriers like T-Mobile and Sprint.

Why don't Verizon and AT&T just lower their prices?

Verizon has over 100 million subscriber lines.

If they offered 2 lines at $100 month... that would still be a couple BILLION dollars each month.

I suspect the reason they don't drop their prices is because they feel they have the better network and they can price accordingly.

But money is a HUGE factor with some consumers.

If they're really worried about the other guys... the gotta respond.

They've dropped their prices to a degree. That's why they're feeling pressure on the profits. They took an even greater hit with the iPhone 6/6+ launch by drastically overpaying for used older iPhones in order to draw in and retain customers.

I fully recognize that. The point being that the big carriers make it look like that is hidden. That's fine if they want to do that. I know what I'm getting into. I know what my money goes towards. I pay $160 a month for 10gb and as a result of that I get cheap phones that I can sell when they are old to pay for the new one in full.

T-Mobile doesn't include it and then hits people with that bomb later. So if you go ahead and do the math, this $100 deal isn't really that great. It's just a glorified prepaid plan with the option to pay a lot more with a phone payment. As long as people recognize that then that's fine.

The problem is that T-Mobile is comparing Apples and Oranges. They should be comparing themselves to StraightTalk and GoPhone. Not Verizon and ATT Postpaid. But we don't see that in their pretty little chart do we?

They are StraightTalk with 0% financing.

It seems you don't know the difference between prepaid and postpaid. Key words being pre- and post-. Just because the cost of the device is separated from the plan (the way it should be), does not equate to prepaid. So you can come off the high horse of comparing TMO to Straighttalk because they abandoned the archaic subsidy model (which VZW/AT&T also followed suit on). Last time I checked Straighttalk didn't offer unlimited data, postpaid service, nor family plans. VZW certainly doesn't view them as a Straighttalk like competitor since they've lowered their prices to compete with them.

It's great that you enjoy your subsidy model and small data plan. But that doesn't work for everyone. With LTE networks getting faster and faster, data allotments are becoming the key differentiator and usage will only continue to increase. For heavy data users, VZW offers no value. That's the whole point of this promotion.
 
I didn't read any of the T-Mobile propaganda since their coverage stinks in my area - but does their definition of unlimited mean unlimited, or throttled after a certain amount of use?
 
T-Mobile forgot to mention unlimited dropped call, unlimited "your text could not be sent" and unlimited "work half of the time" WiFi calling. After 2 months I had to crawl back to AT&T, the idea of the savings T-Mobile can offer is great, but they have a lot of work to do. On the bright side, AT&T reimburse my cancellation fees and I just received a visa card from T-Mobile for $380.

----------

I didn't read any of the T-Mobile propaganda since their coverage stinks in my area - but does their definition of unlimited mean unlimited, or throttled after a certain amount of use?

They have true unlimited.

----------

America really is lagging behind in mobile data costs.
In the UK we can get infinite data, thousands of free texts and thousands of free minutes for about $30 a month on Three Mobile.

Our 4G coverage started off slow but covers most of the country now.

unfortunately behind is an understatement...
 
Current customer here. Just called and had them change my plan. I have two lines already on the previous unlimited offer. So I went from 2.5gb hotspot to 5gb and dropped my bill $20. Sounds good to me, the call was quick and painless.
 
America really is lagging behind in mobile data costs.
In the UK we can get infinite data, thousands of free texts and thousands of free minutes for about $30 a month on Three Mobile.

Our 4G coverage started off slow but covers most of the country now.
Sort of like Europe lags behind in gas costs?
 
I suspect the reason they don't drop their prices is because they feel they have the better network and they can price accordingly.

But money is a HUGE factor with some consumers.

If they're really worried about the other guys... the gotta respond.

They are responding. They're responding slowly, yes; but they are responding. Verizon has been lowering the price of data for the last two years. I fully expect that trend to continue.

That said, even as the price of data continues to fall, Verizon and AT&T will likely always cost more than T-Mobile unless and until T-Mobile's network footprint matches that of Verizon and AT&T. There are still large areas of the U.S. where T-Mobile offers either no service or only spotty 2G or 3G service.

T-Mobile boasts that their network covers 95% of all Americans; but they fail to mention that there are large stretches of desolate land in the U.S. where people don't necessarily live but they travel through. If your car breaks down in one of those places and you have T-Mobile, God help you.
 
Not that great of a deal when you factor in the $27 phone fee for each line unless you paid full price upfront.

So that would bring it to $154/month + taxes which brings it to like $160 we'll say since you only pay taxes on the $100 part.

I'm currently paying $140 a month after taxes for two lines under contract and 13 GBs of data on Verizon. It's not unlimited but it's plenty. I have the 10 GB more everything plan with a 20% employee discount and a $16 discount for 12 months that I got for just asking. Plus 2GB of free data for 24 months and 1 GB free for 12.

Not a chance I'll pay $30 more a month for crappy coverage just so I can say I have unlimited data I'll never use.

T-Mobile isn't changing the game. They're just throwing out things we've never seen before. Crunch the numbers yourself and you'll see that they aren't doing anything incredible.

If T-Mobile really wanted to do something revolutionary they'd give 2 lines of 3 GB of data each for $60 a month. Instead they trot out the word unlimited and can charge $40 more just because it's unlimited data that people won't use.

My family (4 people) currently gets 2.5 gigs full speed/ month for $100. not to mention only the most expensive phones are $27 a month. many good phones, like the LG L90, LG F6, and Nexus 4 are less than $10 a month. and even the likes of the LG G3 and HTC One M8 can be had for under $20. Not to mention that there's no disadvantage of buying a used phone on ebay, all you have to do is put your SIM in. If you include our phones (LG L90, Samsung Galaxy Light, Nexus 4, and Alcatel OneTouch Fierce (total cost for all four outright w/ 2 from T-mo. and 2 on eBay: $480) that'd be about $20 a month for ALL FOUR phones.
 
While I appreciate what T-Mobile is doing to encourage competition, their coverage is abysmal. I'd rather pay more and actually get quality service. I get a 25% discount with AT&T through my employer, which helps mitigate the costs significantly.
 
While I appreciate what T-Mobile is doing to encourage competition, their coverage is abysmal. I'd rather pay more and actually get quality service. I get a 25% discount with AT&T through my employer, which helps mitigate the costs significantly.

Poor coverage is why I had to leave AT&T and Verizon for T-Mobile. T-Mobile is the only carrier who can get me LTE at my house here in Denver. I've been extremely please with them for two years now.
 
Poor coverage is why I had to leave AT&T and Verizon for T-Mobile. T-Mobile is the only carrier who can get me LTE at my house here in Denver. I've been extremely please with them for two years now.

You're one of the lucky few. I live in NYC, where coverage drops to "No Service" the moment you step into a large building. My particular neighborhood also has blazing-fast 0.5 Mbps downstream speeds.
 
That's all fine and well right now.

But when those phones need to be replaced you're in for a rude awakening. You're either gonna pay $27 a month more per line.

Or a ton of money for full price phones.
Wait, you still think you are getting a "free" or discounted phone when you sign a 2 year contract? Like it or not, realize it or not, you are paying full price and then some for any cellphone you get on a contract.

Compare a 2 year contract to AT&T Next or Verizon Edge. Why are these customers given discount?
 
T-Mobile Announces New Unlimited 4G LTE Data Plan With 2 Lines for $100

Wait, you still think you are getting a "free" or discounted phone when you sign a 2 year contract? Like it or not, realize it or not, you are paying full price and then some for any cellphone you get on a contract.



Compare a 2 year contract to AT&T Next or Verizon Edge. Why are these customers given discount?


You are not understanding what I'm saying. Thanks your your insight.

T-mobile's pretty little chart compared ATT and Verizon on contract prices with t-mobile's glorified prepaid prices. It's an apple and oranges comparison. They should be comparing themselves with StraightTalk.
 
Last edited:
I fully recognize that. The point being that the big carriers make it look like that is hidden. That's fine if they want to do that. I know what I'm getting into. I know what my money goes towards. I pay $160 a month for 10gb and as a result of that I get cheap phones that I can sell when they are old to pay for the new one in full.
So you are fine with knowing you aren't actually getting cheap phones. You are fine know you are actually paying full price for your cheap phones (and then some, if you don't recommit for another 2 years with a new phone). It's just the presentation is better, and that is what you want. Right?

T-Mobile doesn't include it and then hits people with that bomb later. So if you go ahead and do the math, this $100 deal isn't really that great. It's just a glorified prepaid plan with the option to pay a lot more with a phone payment. As long as people recognize that then that's fine.
As long as you realize you aren't paying a lot less for your phones. Then that's fine with me, too.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.