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T-Mobile Expands Family Plan to 10 Lines

On the heels of yesterday's tweaks to the company's Simple Starter plans, T-Mobile has made a few more changes, including expanding the company's Simple Choice family plan to 10 lines, as well as doubling your allotment of data if you add a tablet. T-Mobile previously capped their Simple Starter plans at 5 lines per account, charging $10 a month for each additional line. $10 per line pricing will remain under the new 10 line limit.

Unlike Verizon and AT&T's shared data plans, T-Mobile's plans provide an individual allotment of data for each user, something the company insists differentiates them from their larger competitors.

In a statement announcing the new moves, T-Mobile CEO John Legere called shared data plans "another ploy to push customers over their data limits and suck money out of their pockets with overage charges they can't see coming."

In a different announcement, T-Mobile announced that the company would now be allowing users to add a tablet to an existing Simple Choice plan for $10 a month, while effectively doubling your data usage allotment.

"For example, a customer with a Simple Choice smartphone plan with 5 GB of LTE data can add a tablet with another 5 GB of data set aside for use on that tablet, for just $10 per month," notes the company. "That’s a total of up to 10 GB of LTE data. And that’s all on top of the 200 MB of free LTE data every single month for the life of your tablet."

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KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium Member
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK

1 recommendation

KrK

Premium Member

This plan is going to be very good for some people...

T-Mobile keeps upping the game.

Nice to see.
Nanaki (banned)
aka novaflare. pull punches? Na
join:2002-01-24
Akron, OH

Nanaki (banned)

Member

Re: This plan is going to be very good for some people...

Im loving this. I love to see price wars. Come on sprint time to through some punches back and they better connect.
98778011 (banned)
join:2014-08-24
Charlotte, NC

98778011 (banned)

Member

Re: This plan is going to be very good for some people...

Sprint is only doing it for new customers and they must go into a store, and pay for their devices, you can't BYOD. And if you only have a dealer near you- it takes 4 days to get the devices and then you gotta go back and pick them up. Waste of time.
pandora
Premium Member
join:2001-06-01
Outland

pandora

Premium Member

Re: This plan is going to be very good for some people...

10 gigabytes shared between 10 lines on Freedompop costs $0 per month.

bbbc
join:2001-10-02
NorthAmerica

1 recommendation

bbbc

Member

Re: This plan is going to be very good for some people...

said by pandora:

10 gigabytes shared between 10 lines on Freedompop costs $0 per month.

FreedomPop totally blows, who wants their BS.
pandora
Premium Member
join:2001-06-01
Outland

pandora

Premium Member

Re: This plan is going to be very good for some people...

said by bbbc:

FreedomPop totally blows, who wants their BS.

:)

delusion_ftl
@172.56.31.x

delusion_ftl to KrK

Anon

to KrK
Updated price comparison spreadsheet:
»docs.google.com/spreadsh ··· =sharing

josephf
join:2009-04-26

josephf

Member

Re: This plan is going to be very good for some people...

Thanks. You didn't account for the fact that Sprint waves the $15 per line fee if you take the 20GB or greater plan. 10 lines with 20 GB (+ an additional 2GB per line) will cost $100 or $10 per line.

compuguybna
join:2009-06-17
Nashville, TN

compuguybna

Member

Re: This plan is going to be very good for some people...

phones NOT included. and the $15 waiver is only til Dec 15.... Then it hits you back.
said by josephf:

Thanks. You didn't account for the fact that Sprint waves the $15 per line fee if you take the 20GB or greater plan. 10 lines with 20 GB (+ an additional 2GB per line) will cost $100 or $10 per line.


josephf
join:2009-04-26

josephf

Member

Re: This plan is going to be very good for some people...

The $15 waiver is not available if you bring your own phone?

delusion ftl
@50.168.216.x

delusion ftl to josephf

Anon

to josephf
Initially when I was creating the spreadsheet I started to put in the various promotional, limited time offerings, then realizing that it was simply too complex and unable to paint a level picture, I pulled it out. Instead I put a note in the column stating that this is a BYOD spreadsheet.

While it is true that Sprint will waive the device connection fee until dec 2015, that offer is only available to:
1. New customers
2. That buy a new smartphone on easy pay (which is a bit like being in contract)
3. And port in from anther carrier (no mvno)
4. Ends in ~30 days
And.. The extra data per line is only available on the 20GB package,
And charges a 36 dollar activation fee per line (not all carriers do, making it closer to 13 a month until the promo wears off then 25)
I know; confusing and complex

Since none of the other carriers prices required such hoops to qualify, and considering that there are many other promotions (and permanent offers) that the carriers have, such as paying off ETF, extra data per line, student/employer discounts and so on, it was simply better that I forgo the promotional and/or new customer only pricing.

IPPlanMan
Holy Cable Modem Batman
join:2000-09-20
Washington, DC

IPPlanMan

Member

Your move Sprint...

T-Mobile keeps taking it up another notch...

Your move Sprint.
Zoder
join:2002-04-16
Miami, FL

Zoder

Member

Charge per device

If they really wanted to be the "uncarrier" they would offer the option to add the tablet for free and share the data with the phone. Charging per device is something the wireless carriers love that is old MaBell thinking. They would charge you for each handset you had. A bad practice that made sense when you were buying voice minutes for each phone number but is a cash grab when you are buying a bucket of data.

ctaranto
join:2011-12-14
MA

ctaranto

Member

Re: Charge per device

said by Zoder:

...and share the data with the phone.

I respectfully disagree. One of the things I love about T-Mobile plans is the dedicated allotment of data per device. If one of my kids blows through their 2.5GB/month of HSD, it won't affect me at all. Not even with an overage charge, and they *still* can connect to get email, chat, etc.

Every month on Verizon, I would see our "shared" data being used predominantly by one of the 5 members on my account. It was a hassle to keep reminding them that hording the (whopping) 1GB of data across the 5 devices wasn't polite. And I *really* didn't want to pay $15 if they went over.

(1GB, because with Verizon, it was cost prohibitive to go beyond that)
Zoder
join:2002-04-16
Miami, FL

Zoder

Member

Re: Charge per device

I'm actually talking about non phone devices. Tablets, cars, etc... The ideal would be a choice. You can choose free and share the data with your phone data or pay extra for the device and get it's own data.

ctaranto
join:2011-12-14
MA

ctaranto

Member

Re: Charge per device

I see what you're getting at, but that wouldn't make it a "simple choice" plan.
wkm001
join:2009-12-14

wkm001 to ctaranto

Member

to ctaranto
On Android devices with Jelly Bean or newer you can set a data warning limit and a data stop limit. Sure, a kid over 12 years old could adjust this but that isn't the point. You want to make heavy data users aware of their heavy data usage. The warning alone does that. If the kid continues to use too much data you turn data off for that device or take it away. With AT&T I can turn data off at any time for any line.

Me and three other family members share 10GB of data. We normally never use more than 6GB. When my wife and I went to the beach for a week we streamed music on the way to the beach and while on the beach each day. It was nice having a bucket of data rather than individual allotments. My data didn't slow down and we didn't have to start using my wife's phone if mine was neutered.

ctaranto
join:2011-12-14
MA

ctaranto

Member

Re: Charge per device

Using 300MB (which would be a majority user when splitting 1GB across 5 devices) doesn't make them a "heavy" user.

Having 2.5GB per line (and streaming music not count) is perfect for our needs. It lets the device user control how much they want to use, when they want to use it. I don't have to set restrictions on each line or monitor usage. And most importantly, I don't have to ever disable data.

Gilitar
join:2012-02-01
Mobile, AL

Gilitar

Member

Expand coverage!

T-Mobile needs to expand their coverage badly! If they had nationwide low frequency spectrum it would help them tremendously. Without it there is only so many customers they can attract.

Cricket gives me what I need for now. Low prices and great coverage.

toby
Troy Mcclure
join:2001-11-13
Seattle, WA

toby

Member

Re: Expand coverage!

said by Gilitar:

T-Mobile needs to expand their coverage badly! If they had nationwide low frequency spectrum it would help them tremendously. Without it there is only so many customers they can attract.

Cricket gives me what I need for now. Low prices and great coverage.

Without building a cell tower, frequency means nothing. They actually have to use it.

They have spectrum covering the country 100% and are only using 20% of it.

Cell companies should be forced to give it back if they don't use it, all cell companies.
98778011 (banned)
join:2014-08-24
Charlotte, NC

98778011 (banned)

Member

Re: Expand coverage!

TMO is working to expand, but before they are going to expand, they need to upgrade their current network first, and they've already said that.

v6movement
@206.51.28.x

v6movement to toby

Anon

to toby
said by toby:

Cell companies should be forced to give it back if they don't use it, all cell companies.

Then Verizon and AT&T should be first in line.

nycnetwork
join:2000-11-12
Brooklyn, NY

nycnetwork to toby

Member

to toby
They don't actually have spectrum to cover 100% of the country, and they're also not using only 20%.

Get your facts straight, and quit astroturfing.
clone (banned)
join:2000-12-11
Portage, IN

clone (banned)

Member

Re: Expand coverage!

said by nycnetwork:

They don't actually have spectrum to cover 100% of the country, and they're also not using only 20%.


Wrong. T-Mobile has a nationwide AWS spectrum license (actually, a combination of the D-F block licenses that fully cover all 50 states).

By POPs, they do cover about 95% of the United States with their combined AWS and PCS holdings. By land area...I'd say the OP was probably pretty close when he said 20%, maybe 30%. I doubt T-Mobile covers much more than that of the land area, but I agree that it isn't really all that important as they *do* cover where the majority of people live and work.
said by nycnetwork:

Get your facts straight, and quit astroturfing.

Pot, meet kettle.
etaadmin
join:2002-01-17
united state

etaadmin to Gilitar

Member

to Gilitar
Moose and bears don't use cellphones and when I go and visit my bear friends I usually want to get far way from phones and the office.
armed
join:2000-10-20

armed

Member

Re: Expand coverage!

Yea I get your point...that's why T-Mobile is the leading cell carrier..... because they cover where all the people are...right?

The fact that ATT and Verizon have so many more subscribers than T Mobile and Sprint combined is because they cover the bears?
:-(

The Beer
I Love It When A Plan Comes Together
Premium Member
join:2001-07-24
Lincoln, NE

The Beer to etaadmin

Premium Member

to etaadmin
If a bear is trying to eat me I don't want my phone to say "No Service". If you live in the town next to the bears, you expect your phone to work with the bears too.

andyross
MVM
join:2003-05-04
Aurora, IL

andyross

MVM

2.5G only good for a year

Unless something changed, in the ads for the original $100 for 10G deal, the 2.5G/device was only good until 12/31/15. After that, it drops to 1G/device.

delusion_ftl
@172.56.31.x

delusion_ftl

Anon

Re: 2.5G only good for a year

You are correct. However, there's a pretty good likelihood that in the next year to year and a half the promotion runs, that 1GB base will get increased (they already doubled it from 500MB to 1GB a few months ago). Almost certainly it will get to 1.5 and maybe even to more than 2.5.

ctaranto
join:2011-12-14
MA

ctaranto

Member

Re: 2.5G only good for a year

said by delusion_ftl :

...there's a pretty good likelihood that in the next year to year and a half the promotion runs, that 1GB base will get increased...

That is my expectations as well. A year and a half is a long time and it's quite likely (IMO) that the base will be at least 2G by then. Or they will have a big announcement right before it expires. I can see Legere, wearing his bright pink t-shirt, say something like "Screw it, we're going to make this permanent!"

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium Member
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

dvd536 to andyross

Premium Member

to andyross
yep. thats on their current ads