T-Mobile to launch new unlimited data plan
T-Mobile USA says it will launch a new unlimited data
plan next month, a move aimed to stem a tide of fleeing customers and to
distinguish itself further from larger competitors that have begun capping data
use.
Combined with unlimited voice calling and text messages,
T-Mobile's new plan will cost $69.99 to $89.99 per month, depending on whether
you choose a subsidized smartphone. The new plan will be sold starting Sept. 5.
The Bellevue, Wash.-based carrier says it will continue
to sell its other data plans — including the option of choosing among 2
gigabytes (GB), 5 GB or 10 GB of data per month. Unlike Verizon Wireless or
AT&T, T-Mobile doesn't charge overage fees for customers who go over those
limits, but their speeds are slowed to the point that browsing videos or
transmitting large files becomes difficult.
"We want to double-down on worry-free
(marketing)," says Harry Thomas, T-Mobile's director of marketing.
"We want to eliminate the situation of 'Do I want to stream Netflix for
kids or worry about data overage?'"
With the latest package, T-Mobile joins Sprint as the
only large national carriers to offer unlimited data plans. But like Sprint,
T-Mobile says it retains the right to slow transmission speeds for very heavy
data users.
But that's "very rare," Thomas says.
Deepa Karthikeyan, a mobile analyst at research firm
Current Analysis, says the timing of T-Mobile's announcement underscores the
company's desire to retain customers who still seek affordable unlimited data
plans at a time when competitors are moving away from them.
AT&T, which has eliminated unlimited plans, is
expected to launch later this week "data share" plans that will make
customers buy a bucket of data allotment that can be shared among several
devices.
Verizon Wireless also stopped selling unlimited data
plans and is offering similar data share plans.
"It's a counterattack," Karthikeyan says.
"It's good for T-Mobile because they have to differentiate themselves. And
they're losing so many customers."
In the second quarter, T-Mobile, which doesn't sell
iPhones, lost 205,000 subscribers, many of them drawn to other carriers' lineup
of smartphones and expansion of faster data networks.
"(T-Mobile) doesn't have an impressive lineup of
phones. (This) will help them gain attention," Karthikeyan says.
Unlike T-Mobile's other data plans, however, the new
option doesn't allow "tethering," or connecting the phone to other
devices to share data.
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