Above: T-Mobile's exec team (with CEO John Legere second from the left)
T-Mobile’s latest plans are great if you’re looking to save money — but a pain if you want an endless supply of data.
Almost a year since launching its bold, contract-free Simple Choice plans, T-Mobile announced this evening that it’s now offering 1 gigabyte of data for its entry-level $50 plan, double the previous amount. That plan now also includes 1 gigabyte of tethered data (also double the past limit) and unlimited international texting.
But if you’re looking for unlimited data — something T-Mobile advertised heavily over the past year — you’ll now have to shell out $80 a month, a slight jump over the $70 price from last year. The $70 plan now includes 5 gigabytes of data, while the new $80 unlimited plan now packs in 5 gigabytes of tethered data (the data you use when hooking up other devices to your phone’s mobile hotspot connection), which is double the previous amount.
T-Mobile’s $60 plan also got a slight data bump to 3GB, up from 2.5GB last year. T-Mobile doesn’t charge overage fees once you hit its data limits, it simply slows down your data bandwidth to 2G speeds for the remainder of the month.
It’s no surprise T-Mobile released this news on a Friday evening — it’s the ideal time for companies to drop potentially problematic news. While T-Mobile’s cheaper plans are indeed better deals this time around, it’s clear that the company is beginning to pay the price for its new-found popularity (it gained 4.4 million customers last year, thanks to its industry-shaking Uncarrier initiatives ).
Existing subscribers of T-Mobile’s $70 unlimited data plan will continue to pay the same price, but you’ll need to bump up to the $80 unlimited plan if you want the extra tethering bandwidth.
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T-Mobile adds more data to its cheaper plans — but unlimited data is now $10 more
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