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T-Mobile Unveils New 'Data Stash' Program That Allows Unused Data to Roll Over Each Month

This is fabulous. T-Mobile is doing great things. I almost want to switch just to support them, but right now on an AT&T family plan I'm paying a cool $55 for unlimited talk*, text, and data**. Kinda hard to turn that down. And that's with getting a subsidized phone every 2 yeras.


*Not technically unlimited, but more than we could ever use
**this is of course AT&T's "umlimited" plan with throttling after 5GB
 
Windlasher said:
Yeah - This will last. Kind of like the 20K in rollover minutes I had with Cingular when ATT bought them that suddenly went away.

Whats T-Mobile going to do when someone has accrued a Terabyte of Unused data and then tries to actually use it?
Click to expand...

They won't care. They can still shape the traffic to manage their network; plus the chances of a low data user suddenly using a big amount is pretty slim. I have not read the details but I'd bet the data goes away after a year or so like rollover minutes do.

They no doubt used all the data they had on use patterns and deduced such a move would have minimal impact on revenue while helping them differentiate their product from ATT/Sprint/VZW.

It's a PR stunt, but a good one.
 
thank you

Thank you US government for not allowing T-Mobile to be acquired.

This plan basically gets almost everyone an unlimited data plan unless they just hammer the cell network constantly.
 
In general, data caps need to go. I remember when I was on dialup and had to pay and count for every minute online. Such a hell. Then I got fiber with flatrate and no data limit. What a feeling it was. That was over 10 years ago.

Now we can clearly see that it's not in a company's best interest to invest and increase the capacity of their network to avoid having to impose data caps. Instead, they can commercialise on mega bytes now instead of minutes. This is spreading to land based internet as well now, with ISPs hoping you won't notice.

For infrastructure, the central government should handle the investments. We need this technology to be free of greed.
 
I love T-Mobile business practices, and think they are truly working to please the customer, as opposed to ATT and Verizon looking to maximize their pockets at the expense of their customers. I use ATT right now, but living in a very rural area, Tmobile just doesn't have the infrastructure I need. When I drive out of town, the road I take doesnt have Tmobile service for somewhere in the realm of 2-3 hours ... and this is just too big of a pill to swallow ... I do believe that as Tmobile continues to build up, they could potentially wipe the floor clean with ATT and Verizon ...
 
wigby said:
ATT and Verizon only respond to each other.
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That was the case until 2013, especially with the terrible family share plans where they both were within $5 for a family of 2. They ignored T-Mobile at first but now Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint followed suit. Biggest win was unbundling and paying ETFs of other carriers. T-Mo pioneered those, the rest immitated.

Even if you are not on T-Mo (I'm on Verizon), you should be grateful that the fourth carrier in the US is disrupting the industry. Imagine what would have happened if AT&T swallowed T-Mo and Sprint went out of business (or got bought by Verizon).
 
This is a great way to reward customers who typically don't put stress on your network, but occasionally do need some extra bandwidth when traveling, moving, or whatever else comes up. This summer I had to switch internet providers at home and because of some screwups on their end there was like a week gap of no internet at my house. I really limited myself but had to tether my rMBP so I could get some work done and ended up paying about $60 in data overages. Something like this would have been great.

Speaking of which, does anyone know if tethering continuity in iOS 8 and Yosemite limits network traffic? For instance, when on LTE my iPhone won't automatically download updates or otherwise unnecessarily use my data plan. Is Yosemite smart enough to realize that you're using LTE (since your iPhone is listed complete with signal strength and battery in the menu) and not download system updates, sync iCloud photos and other things that an iPhone wouldn't do when it's not on WiFi to save the data plan?
 
This is great and I think it's fair. If you pay for data, you should get that data. Since I'm on ATT, I hope they see this and follow suit but something tells me they won't... Maybe it's time to switch to T-Mobile.
 
Tiger8 said:
That was the case until 2013, especially with the terrible family share plans where they both were within $5 for a family of 2. They ignored T-Mobile at first but now Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint followed suit. Biggest win was unbundling and paying ETFs of other carriers. T-Mo pioneered those, the rest immitated.

Even if you are not on T-Mo (I'm on Verizon), you should be grateful that the fourth carrier in the US is disrupting the industry. Imagine what would have happened if AT&T swallowed T-Mo and Sprint went out of business (or got bought by Verizon).
Click to expand...

T-Mobile still wants to be bought by someone. It's clear that at least until 2016 it can't be any of the other 3 national carriers. Sprint might have the best legal case in a GOP or Hillary administration, but they'd have to cede a lot of spectrum to Verizon and AT&T to get approval even from a relatively business-friendly administration. More likely Dish or a cable company would buy them once they get enough subscribers. Or perhaps even Vodafone if they want to get back into the US market (they are launching a T-Mobile MVNO next year).

The thing is, T-Mobile is making a lot of noise, but overall prices haven't really dropped all that much. Churn has increased, and incentives have increased, but the cost of a basic individual plan with data is still fairly high in this country.
 
Technarchy said:
Not lately. They've been bending over backwards to try and slow T-Mobile down.

AT&T is giving away data by doubling it at no cost. That's not being done out of the Kindness of their heart.

They don't like T-Mobile's upstart antics, which are working wonderfully at winning over customers.
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Yes and no. Carriers had been looking to reduce subsidies for years, and then Apple's iPhone with its $450 subsidy became the most popular phone and thwarted those plans. T-Mobile was the first to try reducing the price and eliminating the subsidies. AT&T and VZW decided to let T-Mobile be the guinea pig. When it worked for them, they followed suit with Next and Edge, though they haven't gotten rid of contracts entirely.

What's happening is that churn is increasing, and the prices of high end plans are falling. So if you bought 15GB and spent $130, now you get 30GB. But that's basically the top 5% of customers at those levels (less if we believe all the rhetoric about why AT&T throttles the legacy unlimited plans). The cost of entry into the market hasn't fallen by much, though. It still takes about $50 to get a basic individual plan, and $60 for moderate use. T-Mobile's rollover data kicks in at the $60 level (3GB data), so it doesn't really change the equation all that much.

On HoFo there doesn't seem to be much enthusiasm for this promotion. I think people were hoping for another round of price cuts. Basically, this lets people drop down a notch or two on their data plans (e.g. people on 5GB plans will drop down to 3GB plans and pay $10/month less since they can "offset" high activity months with low activity months).

The 10GB upfront data is a nice perk, though, particularly for those on tablet plans, since the promotion starts with the $20 1GB plan. I'm currently on the 3GB for $20 promotion, but when that expires at the end of the year I'll switch to the 1GB plan (for the same $20) and use the 10GB rollover data. That should last me until April or May.
 
KPOM said:
Verizon responds primarily to AT&T. But AT&T is significantly smaller than Verizon and can't ignore T-Mobile or Spring as easily. Sprint and T-Mobile together are larger than AT&T. Verizon is as big as AT&T plus T-Mobile (and nearly as large as AT&T plus Sprint). AT&T is likelier to respond to T-Mobile than Sprint, particularly since the phones are largely interchangeable and "switching" is easier.
Click to expand...

Much of this is incorrect.

AT&T and Verizon are very close in subscriber count (and certainly not "significantly smaller" as you put it).

AT&T and T-Mobile together are much greater than Verizon (not "Verizon is as big as AT&T plus T-Mobile" as you said).

In reality, Verizon and AT&T have similar bases as do T-Mobile and Sprint.

2014 Q3 subscriber numbers:
Verizon: 125.3 million
AT&T Mobility: 118.7 million
Sprint: 54.8 million
T-Mobile: 52.9 million
 
janderson0719 said:
An extra $10 a month? You can't spare a few cups of coffee or one large meal from Jack in the Box a month?
Click to expand...

Well, I could set fire to a $10 bill every month and it would do me just as much good. Is that really a smart idea to you? Now I know why I got through the recent recession just fine and other people drowned...

P.S. I don't drink coffee, especially not that overpriced stuff other people throw money away on. And the only time I eat out is when I'm on the road and getting a per diem.
 
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ItsGavinC said:
Much of this is incorrect.

AT&T and Verizon are very close in subscriber count (and certainly not "significantly smaller" as you put it).

AT&T and T-Mobile together are much greater than Verizon (not "Verizon is as big as AT&T plus T-Mobile" as you said).

In reality, Verizon and AT&T have similar bases as do T-Mobile and Sprint.

2014 Q3 subscriber numbers:
Verizon: 125.3 million
AT&T Mobility: 118.7 million
Sprint: 54.8 million
T-Mobile: 52.9 million
Click to expand...

Are those subscribers or "retail connections"? I thought that when you peeled back the onion AT&T was much smaller in terms of actual prepaid plus postpaid customers.
 
Not bad. Though, this will probably not benefit me and my data usage. I'm on unlimited and blow through 1GB daily.
 
T-Mobile is pretty much John Legere, what is a good thing. Nice to see some charismatic CEO out there.
 
This will rock for my boyfriend - but I can't even use my data around my town... I live in a black hole of coverage (and have a lot of fake "4g" going on too - reports it, but can't even get the ping on speediest).

I wish it was easy to report coverage issues with them. There is something wrong with a few of the towers here - north or south is working fine, just my town sucks.
 
rdlink said:
Spoken like someone who doesn't stay current on the reality of the industry...
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Or someone who is a realist and not a dreamer. Every time Verizon does something, ATT counters or visa versa. When is the last time the big carriers responded to anything the little carriers did?
 
I love t-mobile. Really glad I switched from AT&T to them. AT&T has more service around the USA but t-mobile is great here in Dallas and most places I travel I get service or roam on AT&Ts network lol
 
Mackan said:
In general, data caps need to go. I remember when I was on dialup and had to pay and count for every minute online. Such a hell. Then I got fiber with flatrate and no data limit. What a feeling it was. That was over 10 years ago.

Now we can clearly see that it's not in a company's best interest to invest and increase the capacity of their network to avoid having to impose data caps. Instead, they can commercialise on mega bytes now instead of minutes. This is spreading to land based internet as well now, with ISPs hoping you won't notice.

For infrastructure, the central government should handle the investments. We need this technology to be free of greed.
Click to expand...


100% agree.

It's ironic how the only way real advancements happen in tech and we as consumers benefit most is through government intervention and regulation. Yet we're constantly fed the lie that government is the problem and there are stupid people, conservatives and corporatists, that believe it.
 
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