Saturday, February 21, 2009

T-Mobile tries $50 unlimited cell plan and $135 rebate to switch carriers

T-Mobile has rolled out an interesting new promotion in San Francisco: a $50 unlimited usage cellular voice plan. Also the company is offering customers in the Bay Area a $135 rebate to switch carriers, essentially eliminating the early termination fee costs.

T-Mobile says the new %50 rate plan is only available to customers who have used the service for 22 months. The new plan would allow T-Mobile customers to have unlimited data and voice for $85. AT&T, for example, charges $99.99 for unlimited voice, $30 for data and anywhere from $5 to $20 for texting.

The good news for consumers is if T-Mobile rolls this plan out nationwide and does well, it could force other carriers to react. A national analyst, John Hodulik, predicts we'll see T-Mobile make such a move next month.

Why? T-Mobile is struggling to keep up with AT&T and Verizon and Sprint in the cell phone wars.

With its best-selling iPhone spearheading purchases, AT&T added 2.1 million customers in the fourth quarter of 2008. Of those, 1.9 million were iPhone users.

Verizon added 1.4 million new users, but T-Mobile added far fewer: 621,000. That was down from 670,000 new customers in the third quarter and down from 951,000 new subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Sprint/Nextel lost 1.3 million customers in the fourth quarter as cell phone users seem to be choosing sides: AT&T or Verizon.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

They can offer unlimited plans for $20 a month for the next 3 years and still not have as many customers as Verizon. Verizon is the monopoly. Period. 82 million strong (and growing)

Anonymous said...

I currently have T-Mobile and love it! I can't wait for this promotion to be available here because it sounds like a great deal...even though my plan is already 30% cheaper than I could get from AT&T or Verizon!

Anonymous said...

At least AT&T doesn't lock out the features of your phone like Verizon does.

Anonymous said...

I use Net10 phone service. Ten cents a minute. $15 a month gives you 150 minutes, great emergency phone for those who don't need to chat all day.

Anonymous said...

this is great news. Thanks for the info.

Closeupman said...

Re:
"I use Net10 phone service. Ten cents a minute. $15 a month gives you 150 minutes, great emergency phone for those who don't need to chat all day."

Not so great. That comes out to $180 a year. You can get T-mobile prepaid for $100 for a 1000minutes and it's good for a year, plus you get gold rewards on minutes purchased after that.

So essentially you're paying $80 less a year.(works out to about $9/month)

Better for an emergency phone!

Anonymous said...

Least we forget that Boost offers $50/month unlimited EVERYTHING. It's nationwide service too. The network may not be as great as AT&T or Verizon (uses Sprint/Nextel)but then again, everyone gets dropped on a call now and then regardless of your provider. Unlimited means talk, long distance, internet, walkie-talkie and more. Choice of phones is limited but do you really need a touchscreen phone? Actually, if you can even find a Boost phone at your local store lately you are doing well. Response has been huge! Expect Boost to be a key player in the war to knock down our cell plan pricing. Oh, and Boost has NO contracts. $50/mo people. It's your money...

Anonymous said...

Cool. I'll probably be switching to that plan with my unlocked iPhone. Then I'll be getting exactly what the AT&T iPhoners get for $50.00+ less, AND I'm not confined to just the App Store for my apps.

Anonymous said...

Well what can I do but switching immediately?! Not even viagra online makes this kind of promotions!

Viagra Online said...

this is the most nasty trick in the world, for a poor people this is the same thing that ants and sugar,if you want to attract the ignorant and poor, this is the perfect trick.

www.asturias-3d.com said...

So, I do not really imagine this is likely to have success.