Prices - TMo vs. Verizon

[firelightx]

Hey, everyone.

Let me admit up front: I work for a Verizon Authorized Retailers. One of those guys who sells Verizon phones without actually being employed by big red. Got a couple questions about TMo's prices. I get into this with customers from time to time, usually when they visit me after having just talked to the TMo guys downstairs. Now, there's all kinds of fun arguements to be had about coverage, or speed, yada yada yada. I don't care about that. What I'm interested in is some of the more interesting claims people have made as to price of the plans. Prices that T-Mobile's own website don't back up. Let me give you an example.

Couple weeks ago, had someone in telling me that T-Mobile promised them 4 smartphones with Unlimited everything for $200 flat. She swore up and down that they could do it for that price. So I pull up Verizon's Share Everything Plans, and do the math. 4 Smartphones, recommended 2GB per phone, so that's 8GB... I come up with $250. A $50 difference. Not a small chunk of change. And I'm going "No, this can't be right. They can't be that much cheaper than us..."

So I pull up T-Mobile's website. I run 4 phones through the "Add to cart" thing, select the truly unlimited plan (the one without the hotspot) and go through the motions. At the end? I get a quote of $270. $20 MORE than Verizon's plan. And $70 MORE than this lady was promised by the TMo rep. And I'm going "wtf?" I explain this to the lady, and she leaves cause she thinks I'm lying to her.

So today I run through the tool again, careful to make sure I do everything right. $270. I go again. $270. I try a third time, but doing the 2GB before throttle plan. Even that one comes up with $240, only $10 less than Verizon.

I cannot find the plan this lady was talking about that lets her do 4 Smartphones for under $200. Unless she's doing prepaid? But she was looking at Galaxy S3s, which are $600 outright and unless she was willing to drop $2400 up front...

I don't know. I don't understand the reason for the "T-Mobile is so much cheaper than Verizon" arguement. In some cases, it is a little cheaper. But these days it seems to be only a swing of $10 either way. 2 lines on Verizon with 4GB of data, $150. 2 lines on TMo with 2GB of data, $140, according to their website. Why do I keep hearing customers quote these super low monthly plans at me, when their own website doesn't show them?

 

[arickinreallife]

T mobile has tiered data plans just like vverizon. the difference is T mobile also offers an unlimited (no caps) data pplan which cost a few bucks more and doesn't come with hotspot service. it seems like that's the one you picked. had you picked the 2GB data plan like you are comparing it to on VZW it comes out cheaper

also there is a price difference between the tmobile classic and value rate plans

 

[zorak950]

T-Mobile has possibly the most complicated set of plans of any U.S. carrier - Classic, Value, Family, Monthly 4G... there's a lot of overlap, and they change frequently. You can usually find a deal that saves you money, sometimes a lot of money, but it really does take a fair bit of concentration to make sure you're getting what you think you're getting. Nice as they are, most customer service representatives are useless, too.

Based on the $200 figure, I'm guessing they were selling an unlimited family plan with 2gb of high speed data. That's $140 for two lines, and I believe it's $30 to add additional lines, though I'm not completely sure with that specific plan.

 

[firelightx]

Based on the $200 figure, I'm guessing they were selling an unlimited family plan with 2gb of high speed data. That's $140 for two lines, and I believe it's $30 to add additional lines, though I'm not completely sure with that specific plan.

See, their website seems to suggest it's $50 for the additional lines. 20 for the minutes and texting, 30 for data. Which was shocking because unless you go into the cart itself and key everything in, there's no mention of that 20. Just the 30. Anyway, 4 phones with 2GB each was coming up with a price of 239 in their shopping cart.

What are these value plans? I don't see them listed anywhere on the website. Those are the ones where the phones aren't subsidized, right?

 

[Citizen Coyote]

It was probably some sort of family plan, as zorak said, maybe with a discount. That's the only way I can see it, as an unlimited family plan with four lines would run about $220. It's also possible she was talking about the no-contract monthly plans, or the value bring-your-own-device plans. If they already had four unlocked phones, that would be two other options that could bring down prices. As complicated as T-Mo's plans are, they do allow you to choose what you feel is best for your usage rather than the one-size-fits-all approach of Verizon (my wife is on Verizon, so I do know how their plans work).

Edit: here's the link for the value plans.

 

[codeda]

It might have been a value plan. They are on their main site if you go to plans and then value packages.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

 

[Citizen Coyote]

There's also the distinct possibility she was lying to you, or not giving you all the details to see if you would match what she offered.

 

[PWC Realtor]

Four lines all with unlimited data on T-mobile value plan is $210. Also I've been told by T-mobile that you can mix and match data plans per line on a family value plan to save costs if some users don't user over 2gb of data



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[zorak950]

Yeah, the way T-Mobile handles data in postpaid plans is separate from the core plan, so you can change your data allowance at any time independent of your voice and text plan and pay more or less per month accordingly. The advantage being that you can change data plans month to month to fit your needs without having to renew your contract.

 

[PWC Realtor]

Yeah, the way T-Mobile handles data in postpaid plans is separate from the core plan, so you can change your data allowance at any time independent of your voice and text plan and pay more or less per month accordingly. The advantage being that you can change data plans month to month to fit your needs without having to renew your contract.

Can vouch for quickly changing data plans I hit my 2gb cap yesterday and after realizing that throttled speed basically renders the phone a brick I called and upgraded to unlimited.

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[mikey3450]

Unlimited talk and text for the first two lines on a family plan is $80, unlimited talk and text for any additional line is $25 per line. 2gb data is $10 per line and unlimited data is $20 per line. These are the current prices on the Value plan where your out of pocket costs is lower than a discount on a device and the rest is broken up into monthly installments

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[tbonn41fn]

You should stick with the big carrier. Yes, but think about it all the coverage you get without getting dropped calls. Make sense when you're a smaller carrier and you provide unlimited data for cheap but as far as quality, signals, the big carrier us the way to go.

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[zorak950]

You should stick with the big carrier. Yes, but think about it all the coverage you get without getting dropped calls. Make sense when you're a smaller carrier and you provide unlimited data for cheap but as far as quality, signals, the big carrier us the way to go.

Sent from my HTC VLE_U using Android Central Forums

If you need that coverage, absolutely. There's no sense paying less for an inadequate service. If T-Mobile's service is sufficient, though, why pay more? It's all about where you go and what your needs are.