Misc T-Mobile Drops Long-Term Contracts and Phone Subsidies - Page 2

**BigMeatballDave** · GBM 8-12-15

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily...165347489.html

T-Mobile, the fourth largest U.S. cellphone carrier, held an “un-carrier” event on Tuesday in New York to announce it was dropping long-term customer contracts and phone purchase subsidies. It also revealed it was going to start offering the iPhone for the first time -- an effort to attract more subscribers.
The iPhone will be available starting April 12 at a price of $99.99 down plus $20 a month for 24 months, and other smartphones will be available with similar payment plans.

Customers will also be charged a monthly fee for a data plan. A new cellular account that has unlimited talk, text and Web with 500MB high-speed data costs $50 a month; with 2GB high-speed $60 a month and with unlimited 4G data $70 a month.

Getting rid of 2-year contracts for phones “sounds good to me,” says The Daily Ticker’s Lauren Lyster. “But guess how long you have to pay for that phone? Two years.” So is this just a gimmick?

Maybe not. Under the T-Mobile plan, once the phone is paid off, the customer owns it and the customer's monthly payments would decline.

That’s not the case with Verizon Wireless (VZ), AT&T Wireless (T) and Sprint Nextel (S). They subsidize the price of new phones so the phones cost about $200 upfront but they charge a regularly monthly for the phone purchase. Bottom line: the T-Mobile plan would be cheaper, but is it better?

Related: FreedomPop Challenges Phone Companies with Free Data Plan
Walter Piecyk, analyst at BTIG Research, compared the new T-Mobile pricing plan to that of Verizon Wireless, AT&T and Sprint Nextel for a “low-priced value rate plan” and concluded, "The monthly cost for the low-end user is lower” for T-Mobile.

A CNET report agrees. “T-Mobile’s pricing does seem to beat the big guys.” But CNET advises customers: “When you are pricing out these plans, make sure you are comparing apples to apples.”

The Daily Ticker’s Aaron Task says, “It’s almost impossible to do an apples-to-apples comparison of the different data plans and the different terms of these plans which is intentional. The carriers want you to be confused so you don’t know if you’re getting the best deal or not.”
But if you want to try to compare T-Mobile’s new pricing plan to that of other cell phone carriers, you should keep these differences in mind, according to a CNET report: T-Mobile doesn’t offer the option of sharing data among members in a family plan
T-Mobile offers unlimited data but if you go beyond the maximum for your plan—say, the 500 MB high-speed data plan—your data speeds will slow unless you pay extra for an upgrade.

And then, of course, there’s the service itself. Can you make the calls you need and stay connected when you need to? Is the data download fast enough? That will likely depend on your location. Keep in mind that T-Mobile is in the process of a massive network upgrade and is offering fast 4G LTE in seven major metro areas.

**BigMeatballDave** · 03-27-2013, 06:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WoodDraw

I love it, but we'll see how successful it is. This brings them much closer to how a lot of the European carriers work.

The biggest problem with t-mobile is their network. It's great if you're in an area with HSPA+, but if you adventure away from big cities you can find yourself in 2G pretty fast. And LTE is just now rolling out. But they're investing a lot in infrastructure right now...

T-Mobile's HSPA network is pretty fast if you can get it.

The Edge network ****ing sucks.

Setsuna · 03-27-2013, 09:03 PM

T-Mobile has been siphoning money from me for 2 years. I'm done in July and never looking back. Hate that place.

Ceej · 03-27-2013, 09:06 PM

Crazy.

I've never had any issues with tmobile in over 5+ years.

**BigMeatballDave** · 03-27-2013, 11:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sandusksuna

T-Mobile has been siphoning money from me for 2 years. I'm done in July and never looking back. Hate that place.

They are no worse than any other major carrier.

**bevischief** · 03-28-2013, 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pestilence

I like the idea of your bill changing depending on what you use. Plus I can bring over my existing Sprint phone for no cost.

Different technologies.

**bevischief** · 03-28-2013, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CJizzles

Crazy.

I've never had any issues with tmobile in over 5+ years.

Had no problems in over 2 yrs. Even moved with no problems.

WoodDraw · 03-28-2013, 12:27 PM

The important part of this is price transparency. If anyone thinks they're getting a subsidy when they buy a phone, well, you're not. You're paying the full price of the phone, wrapped into what you pay per month over the two year contract. You just don't know how much. And when you've paid the full price of your phone, or you complete your contract, you don't get a discount. The company just banks the profit.

At least now with tmobile, we've separated the cost of hardware and the cost service. That's a huge step in the right direction.

**BigMeatballDave** · 03-28-2013, 12:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bevischief

Different technologies.

He's referring to Ting. They run on Sprint's network.

**Reaper16** · 03-28-2013, 12:41 PM

I've been using T-Mobile's no-contract 4G service since last May. I have no complaints.

Setsuna · 03-28-2013, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave

They are no worse than any other major carrier.

Wrong. I wanted to change my minutes plan and they gave me the run around. I'm done with them. And you can just back the heck off Dave.

03-27-2013, 09:06 AM
BigMeatballDave GBM 8-12-15 Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Dayton, Oh. Casino cash: $10052154	T-Mobile Drops Long-Term Contracts and Phone Subsidies http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily...165347489.html T-Mobile, the fourth largest U.S. cellphone carrier, held an “un-carrier” event on Tuesday in New York to announce it was dropping long-term customer contracts and phone purchase subsidies. It also revealed it was going to start offering the iPhone for the first time -- an effort to attract more subscribers. The iPhone will be available starting April 12 at a price of $99.99 down plus $20 a month for 24 months, and other smartphones will be available with similar payment plans. Customers will also be charged a monthly fee for a data plan. A new cellular account that has unlimited talk, text and Web with 500MB high-speed data costs $50 a month; with 2GB high-speed $60 a month and with unlimited 4G data $70 a month. Getting rid of 2-year contracts for phones “sounds good to me,” says The Daily Ticker’s Lauren Lyster. “But guess how long you have to pay for that phone? Two years.” So is this just a gimmick? Maybe not. Under the T-Mobile plan, once the phone is paid off, the customer owns it and the customer's monthly payments would decline. That’s not the case with Verizon Wireless (VZ), AT&T Wireless (T) and Sprint Nextel (S). They subsidize the price of new phones so the phones cost about $200 upfront but they charge a regularly monthly for the phone purchase. Bottom line: the T-Mobile plan would be cheaper, but is it better? Related: FreedomPop Challenges Phone Companies with Free Data Plan Walter Piecyk, analyst at BTIG Research, compared the new T-Mobile pricing plan to that of Verizon Wireless, AT&T and Sprint Nextel for a “low-priced value rate plan” and concluded, "The monthly cost for the low-end user is lower” for T-Mobile. A CNET report agrees. “T-Mobile’s pricing does seem to beat the big guys.” But CNET advises customers: “When you are pricing out these plans, make sure you are comparing apples to apples.” The Daily Ticker’s Aaron Task says, “It’s almost impossible to do an apples-to-apples comparison of the different data plans and the different terms of these plans which is intentional. The carriers want you to be confused so you don’t know if you’re getting the best deal or not.” But if you want to try to compare T-Mobile’s new pricing plan to that of other cell phone carriers, you should keep these differences in mind, according to a CNET report: T-Mobile doesn’t offer the option of sharing data among members in a family plan T-Mobile offers unlimited data but if you go beyond the maximum for your plan—say, the 500 MB high-speed data plan—your data speeds will slow unless you pay extra for an upgrade. And then, of course, there’s the service itself. Can you make the calls you need and stay connected when you need to? Is the data download fast enough? That will likely depend on your location. Keep in mind that T-Mobile is in the process of a massive network upgrade and is offering fast 4G LTE in seven major metro areas.
Posts: 59,997

03-27-2013, 09:03 PM	#17
Setsuna Paladin Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Gator Country Casino cash: $10008487	T-Mobile has been siphoning money from me for 2 years. I'm done in July and never looking back. Hate that place.
Posts: 13,215

03-27-2013, 09:06 PM	#18
Ceej BOOM!1! Join Date: Aug 2004 Casino cash: $9545541	Crazy. I've never had any issues with tmobile in over 5+ years.
Posts: 18,762

03-28-2013, 12:27 PM	#22
WoodDraw Veteran Join Date: Mar 2004 Casino cash: $10005059	The important part of this is price transparency. If anyone thinks they're getting a subsidy when they buy a phone, well, you're not. You're paying the full price of the phone, wrapped into what you pay per month over the two year contract. You just don't know how much. And when you've paid the full price of your phone, or you complete your contract, you don't get a discount. The company just banks the profit. At least now with tmobile, we've separated the cost of hardware and the cost service. That's a huge step in the right direction.
Posts: 3,785