T-Mobile USA to Carry iPhone Beginning April 12th, Using New 'Uncarrier' Payment Plan

[Dan--]

Woo hoo!

 

[tasset]

This is still not cheaper for many of us who have 4-5 lines with ATT/Verizon/Sprint especially you factor in discounts (I currently have 24% FAN with ATT).

And factor in the huge $400/per line subsidy we get from the carriers ever 20 months.

Just do the math. T-mobile's plans only make sense for those with 1-2 lines.

Yes correct, much like federal income taxes the single line people have been subsidizing the family plan customers.
Although actually I am putting my wife, and in laws on a 4-line Tmobile plan which works out to $100 for 4 iPhones, they are perfectly content with hand-me-down 3GS's and 4's. 500mb of data is sufficient for them and couldn't care less about the bells and whistles.

 

[howyoudoin]

For single line, yes. T-mobile new plans make sense.

But those on ATT/Verizon/Sprint have $400 per line subsidies ever 20 months plus corp discount. Those on 4-5 lines are better sticking with the post paid carriers.

4gb of share data with ATT and 4 iPhone would cost $6320 over 2 years

Tmobile's new plan (just the 500mb of 4g and unlimited 3g) over 2 years is $4720

After the 2 years is up, ATT's plan is $230 a month while Tmobile's is $100 a month. I would say that's pretty substantial

Yes many companies offer discount's 22% on service. I've also seen 15% discounts on tmobile plans with companies so it will vary.

 

[Popeye206]

I LOVE the structure of these plans... great move on their part!

Too bad T-Mobile has such spotty coverage.... I'm a little leery to make the move to them at this point... but maybe in a year?

BTW... good news like this is sure to help drive the Apple stock down again! LOL!

 

[unlimitedx]

The only way this is a threat is if people start jumping ship for tmobile in droves. I just don't see that happening. Their network just isn't good enough IMO. Tmobile has always been the cheaper option and they've been supporting iPhone users officially for years, just not selling the phones. The number one thing you read about tmobile is "great customer service but crappy network".

For what it's worth people said the same things about att when verizon got the iPhone. Things didn't really change. At all.

Bookmarking your response. We will see how things are 1-2 years from now

support is different from selling though. tmobile's network for a long time could only support 2g on the iPhone. that is a big hurdle. i'm in tmobile's lte launch area so this is a win for my whole family to switch

your example with verizon isn't a direct comparison, because att and verizon virtually charged the same amount each month, and both have great networks. tmobile actually is bringing more flexible and lower pricing for the iPhone now.

 

[iGrip]

Let's see... $20/month (iPhone) + $50/month (base rate) + $20/month (unlimited data) = $90/month for one line.

I pay $100 for Verizon and 2GB of Data. I would rather pay $10 more a month for a far more grown out LTE network that Verizon offers. (even if T-Mobile offers unlimited data)

Four of us split a family plan on Verizon. Each of us pays around $50/month. We get unlimited talk and text, and we opted for 6 gigs of data. We use around 1 gig (we are generally in places with WIFI), and so we are thinking of cutting back to the 3 gig plan. When we do, our bill will be less than $50 each.

One of the four is a flip phone, which uses no data and has a lower monthly connection fee.

My experience is that the new T-Mob plan is great for individuals, but doesn't beat our family plan.

 

[unlimitedx]

Four of us split a family plan on Verizon. Each of us pays around $50/month. We get unlimited talk and text, and we opted for 6 gigs of data. We use around 1 gig (we are generally in places with WIFI), and so we are thinking of cutting back to the 3 gig plan. When we do, our bill will be less than $50 each.

One of the four is a flip phone, which uses no data and has a lower monthly connection fee.

My experience is that the new T-Mob plan is great for individuals, but doesn't beat our family plan.

how so? you are saying $50/month per person.. so total is $200/month.

with tmobile, it is $100 for 4 people, in addition 500mb is included in each line. suppose one person in your family uses over 500mb, that is just $20/month for an additional 2gb, and you can adjust data plan monthly based on usage. much more flexible.

 

[rpulfer]

Perfect! Now just hoping I can purchase one month of t-mobile for a trial before canceling my now month-to-month contract. If so I can push it to the max and see my results then make an informed decision.

T-Mobile offers a free 30-day trial with the smallest data plan (2g only on 4S).. I tested it out just to see exactly how the coverage was around here. Just swapped SIMs and swapped back to straight talk when done..

 

[aneftp]

4gb of share data with ATT and 4 iPhone would cost $6320 over 2 years

Tmobile's new plan (just the 500mb of 4g and unlimited 3g) over 2 years is $4720

After the 2 years is up, ATT's plan is $230 a month while Tmobile's is $100 a month. I would say that's pretty substantial

Yes many companies offer discount's 22% on service. I've also seen 15% discounts on tmobile plans with companies so it will vary.

You forget ATT offers $400 per line subsidy ever 20 months. $400 x 4 lines equals $1600 in subsidies.

So if you say Tmobile plans is $4720 vs. ATT $6320. That's about a $1600 difference in favor of Tmobile?

The $1600 ATT gives you every 20 month plus the discounts swings the advantage back to ATT with those subsidies.

 

[milo]

Within the two years, the costs for ATT vs Tmobile are very similar:

Your chart is totally wrong. For the individual plan, ATT only gives you 450 minutes for $40, unlimited is $70. And the $30 for data only gives 3 gigs per month compared with unlimited on TM. Also, TM includes unlimited text, your chart shows an extra $20 that shouldn't be there.

So instead of $90 each, it's $120 per month on ATT and $70 per month on T mobile. And that's unlimited data on TM as well. Over two years, a difference of $1200 - you could buy two iPhones for that. I didn't compare family plans but I suspect similar mistakes were made.

Maybe there are other carriers that are more competitive but TM is a vastly better deal than ATT. Heck, just the unlimited calls on ATT (no text) is the same price as TM's unlimited calls, texts, and 4G data.

 

[TheMTtakeover]

wow this is very interesting
i will consider this when my contract is up

I was just thinking the same thing and then rembered that I just renewed my contract with ATT not even 2 weeks ago. -_-.

 

[mscriv]

New iPhone customers will be able to purchase the 16GB iPhone 5 for $100 down, plus 24 monthly payments of $20. After the payments are finished, customers will see their monthly bills drop. On traditional subsidized plans from AT&T or Verizon, users pay $199 up front, and then see a subsidy payment invisibly built into their monthly plans. However, if the customer goes longer than two years without purchasing a new phone, the carrier continues to collect subsidy repayments as pure profit.

It is, but it is separate from the service. Once the phone is paid for, you don't have that part of the payment anymore. With other companies your bill doesn't go down once the phone subsidy is paid off.

I'm not following these statements. Maybe I'm just confused, but in my cell experience, I've never been charged a subsidy for any phone I've bought. Now, I'm sure it's been built into the contract, but on both Sprint and now At&t my plan cost didn't change just because I decided to sign a two year contract and get a smartphone. The plan cost has always been what it is regardless of what phone I selected. In fact I always shop by selecting a plan first based on my budget and then I would decide if I wanted to go with a contract or not based on the phone I wanted at the time.

Now, this could be a mystery to me because I've never used a "pay as you go" plan as I've always elected to have a one or two year contract depending on my needs. However, in my shopping experience there has never been a "discount" or lower price point for not having a contract. Whether with or without a contract X amount of minutes, X texts, or X amount of data has always been the same cost. The only difference was choosing to get a contract enabled you to buy a phone at a discounted price. And, if you brought your own phone to the carrier, well, the plan costs were still the same... X amount for minutes, texts, data, etc.

So, I'm not sure what they are talking about when they say that the major carriers "keep charging you" for your subsidy even after the phone is paid for?

 

[aneftp]

T-mobile will not offer any discounts on their new plans. I can almost guarantee it.

Because they did not offer discounts on their bring you own phone/buy full price plans either.

 

[Spock]

Looking at the Tmobile Facebook, they are referring to the iPhone 5 as 2012 models and 2013 models. Guess iPhone 5.1 comes out next month, with support for 1700 mhz.

 

[JAT]

Let's see... $20/month (iPhone) + $50/month (base rate) + $20/month (unlimited data) = $90/month for one line.

I pay $100 for Verizon and 2GB of Data. I would rather pay $10 more a month for a far more grown out LTE network that Verizon offers. (even if T-Mobile offers unlimited data)

You've used the wrong Tmob plan to compare. Since you are paying for 2GB on Verizon, compare to the Tmob 2GB of 4G plan rather than unlimited 4G.

So, that is $20 phone, $50 base, $10 data = $80/month one line. You are paying $20 more per month, or $480 during contract period. Plus, no overage charges if you break 2GB on Tmob (just slowing), whereas VZW will give overage fee of $15/GB.

Personally, I'm still good with my VZW unlimited for $23/month (corp discount) on a better network. So, I am not disagreeing with you about staying with VZW, just pointing out a more accurate comparison.

 

[unlimitedx]

You forget ATT offers $400 per line subsidy ever 20 months. $400 x 4 lines equals $1600 in subsidies.

So if you say Tmobile plans is $4720 vs. ATT $6320. That's about a $1600 difference in favor of Tmobile?

The $1600 ATT gives you every 20 month plus the discounts swings the advantage back to ATT with those subsidies.

you also forget that at&t doesn't offer unlimited data to new customers anymore. with tmobile, unlimited data is $20 flat. with at&t, you can technically use unlimited data, but you will be emptying your wallet for it.

 

[jman240]

how so? you are saying $50/month per person.. so total is $200/month.

with tmobile, it is $100 for 4 people, in addition 500mb is included in each line. suppose one person in your family uses over 500mb, that is just $20/month for an additional 2gb, and you can adjust data plan monthly based on usage. much more flexible.

There are NO overages on TMobile. If your family member goes over 500 mb they are just slowed from 4G to 3G speeds.

 

[Benjamins]

This question has been lingering for a while.

Sign up with the payment plan, cancel 1 month later. obviously T-Mobile would expect you to either return the phone, or pay the full unsubsidized value (reduced by the amount already paid) of the device.

Isn't that a "contract" ?

with AT&T you feel almost obligated to upgrade your phone every 2 years because you are paying to subsidized price one way or the other.

 

[ftaok]

Haven't seen this mentioned. Without a contract, Tmo would be free to jack up the monthly fees whenever they wanted to. You would not have a contract to fall back on.

Whether they would or wouldn't do this, is another question.

 

[unlimitedx]

There are NO overages on TMobile. If your family member goes over 500 mb they are just slowed from 4G to 3G speeds.

that's a choice, yes to be throttled. but you can OPT to upgrade to the next tier for $10 more for 2gb additional, totaling 2.5gb. you can continue to pay an additional $10 for 2gb more, or just go for the unlimited data plan.

 

[JAT]

T-mobile will not offer any discounts on their new plans. I can almost guarantee it.

Because they did not offer discounts on their bring you own phone/buy full price plans either.

Yes, they did. When they had both contract and non-contract plans, say 2 years ago, the non-contract were $5-20 cheaper per month. And now that they are only non-contract, they are still cheaper.

 

[jman240]

Haven't seen this mentioned. Without a contract, Tmo would be free to jack up the monthly fees whenever they wanted to. You would not have a contract to fall back on.

Whether they would or wouldn't do this, is another question.

So then you just cancel and go elsewhere because you don't have contractual obligations either.

 

[howyoudoin]

I'm not following these statements. Maybe I'm just confused, but in my cell experience, I've never been charged a subsidy for any phone I've bought. Now, I'm sure it's been built into the contract, but on both Sprint and now At&t my plan cost didn't change just because I decided to sign a two year contract and get a smartphone. The plan cost has always been what it is regardless of what phone I selected. In fact I always shop by selecting a plan first based on my budget and then I would decide if I wanted to go with a contract or not based on the phone I wanted at the time.

Now, this could be a mystery to me because I've never used a "pay as you go" plan as I've always elected to have a one or two year contract depending on my needs. However, in my shopping experience there has never been a "discount" or lower price point for not having a contract. Whether with or without a contract X amount of minutes, X texts, or X amount of data has always been the same cost. The only difference was choosing to get a contract enabled you to buy a phone at a discounted price. And, if you brought your own phone to the carrier, well, the plan costs were still the same... X amount for minutes, texts, data, etc.

So, I'm not sure what they are talking about when they say that the major carriers "keep charging you" for your subsidy even after the phone is paid for?

ATT/Verizon/Sprint have their plans the same price regardless if you buy a phone non-subsidized or subsidized. With Tmobile they are basically giving you the option. $50 a month if you bring your own device or buy outright. $70 a month ($100 down as well) if you want a iPhone, but at 24 months the price drops back to $50 because you've paid off the subsidy. Make sense? ATT/Verizon/Sprint don't decrease the price of your plan after your 24 months are up (which has the pricing built in to pay for the phone). That's what Tmobile and people are saying

 

[Cyclonemac]

If I can't use my existing plan with iPhone, I will be pissed. Just changed on SATURDAY. Has this been addressed anywhere?

 

[bushido]

you guys spent a redic amount for a phone plan in the US. 100 bucks? thats literally my iPad plan, 2 iPhone plans, cable tv + cable internet + unlimited homeline combined