So, the big press event for T-Mobile just went down this morning and we must say, our minds were blown along with the rest of the journalistic community. T-Mobile is coming out swinging hardcore at their competitors. It is obvious they do not want to remain the fourth place competitor, and with their new plans they likely won't remain that way for long. They truly are taking this "Un-Carrier" thing seriously and its refreshing to see.
First, let's start with the first shock of the event. This was the rough language of the T-Mobile CEO, CEO John Legere, as he made the presentation. He was not holding back at all and his impassioned speech in which he called out the rest of the U.S. carriers really got our attention. Here's are a few slightly censored quotes mashed together that will make it quite obvious why,
This was obviously shocking to hear such candor and unfiltered language at an official press conference. He made it quite clear that consumers shouldn't be locked in to two year contracts and that T-Mobile wants to treat its customers with more respect in this regard. With that said, here are a few details regarding T-Mo's new plans and the way the purchasing of the phones will work.
So, that's the way the monthly pricing plans will work. It looks like the best option for an individual who doesn't need a hotspot is just $70 bucks per month for unlimited everything. The most important detail is that these are not a contract, you can drop them any time you want.
Now, for the phone purchase details. The way it works is actually pretty clever, yet quite simple. Upfront you pay the initial price of $99 down for any of their premium devices, and then a monthly fee of $20 for 20 months with no interest until its paid off. If you mash the two together, that comes out to $90 bucks per month, but you are only obligated to pay off the device, either in payments or all at once. At any time you can take your device somewhere else if you wish as long as you continue to pay for it or pay it off. Doing the math, that $90 bucks is still cheaper than the other carriers, and after less than two years you will be substantially cheaper at just $70 bucks a month, unless you want a new phone at that time. Mr. Lepere claims this is a total of $1000 dollars in savings over the same two year period compared to something similar at AT&T. It's hard to argue that kind of value.
Of course, how good is a cheap plan if you don't have a good data network? That was another thing T-Mobile shared. Apparently they plan to put their newfound investment cash from parent company Deutsche Telekom to good use. T-Mobile claims they will have LTE rolled out to 100 Million Americans by the middle of the year, and another 200 Million (nearly the entire country) by the end of the year. They just flipped the switch on LTE in the following cities already: Baltimore, Houston, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Phoenix, San Jose, and Washington D.C. That's welcome news too.
Finally, they shared several new phones and dates for those phones during the press event. T-Mobile will finally get getting the iPhone 5 on April 12th for that same $99 bucks upfront and $20 bucks for 20 months. They will also be getting the HTC One (very soon) for the same price, as well as the Samsung Galaxy S IV on May 1st.
That's the whole skinny. All of us here at HQ are hoping this new concept takes off well. If it does it will pressure the other carriers to get more competitive with their pricing, and that is good for all of us. Share your thoughts on this new industry shake-up from T-Mobile.
Source: PhoneArena
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