T-Mobile: New Plans

[clevin]

I wonder when this change will come to prepaid plans.

I pay 70 sharp right now for unlimited prepaid plan, hopefully I will be able to keep it. I will go back to 60 plan if 70 is not unlimited 4g anymore.

@T-Mobile GN3

 

[zorak950]

The only thing special about T-Mobile prepaid is their 5gb, 100 minute plan. You can already get unlimited 4G data on the T-Mobile network with Metro PCS for $60, or talk & text for $25 with Simple Mobile.

 

[ethertwist]

I'm a bit confused. What does this mean for those currently on the middle tier $60 plan that includes the 2.5gb of data? Does that mean that the $60 plan now comes with 3gb of data with the addition of the 500mb jump in the basic $50 plan?

ETA: I just saw on their website that it DOES mean that the middle tier has 3GB of data beginning March 23.

 

[clevin]

The only thing special about T-Mobile prepaid is their 5gb, 100 minute plan. You can already get unlimited 4G data on the T-Mobile network with Metro PCS for $60, or talk & text for $25 with Simple Mobile.

MetroPCS has no store in my town though....

 

[April920]

$50 plan now 500mb will be bumped up to 1gb of data for the same price. $60 now 2.5gb bumped up to 3gb for the same price. $70 plan 2.5 tether bumped up to 5gb of tether for the same price. Starting Mar 23rd new customers will pay $80 unlimited talk text and data w/ 5gb of hotspot

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

[yfan]

The bottom line is that a new customer with a given need for data is probably going to pay as much as they would have previously, and those that need more than 5gb will now be paying $10 more per month. Like it or hate it, this is a clear revenue play by T-Mobile.

Absolutely, this is a calculated measure to make a price increase hidden by adding features. But I am sure tmobile figured that they would gain financially from the change otherwise they wouldn't do it.

Actually, I think it's more an attempt to affect behavior than to raise prices. Clearly, it does raise prices for new customers who want unlimited, unthrotled data. But I'm betting T-Mobile (or any carrier for that matter) would rather a certain customer pick the $60 plan and stay within 3 GB of data than pick the $80 plan and use 100 GB of data.

For every tier except the unlimited one, there is no increase in prices but an increase in 4G data allotment as well as other benefits like global texting. There are a lot of people that can benefit from having Stateside texting included in their plans - especially in a place like the Bay Area, where people come from all over the world and have friends and family all over the world.

From what I'm getting, T-Mobile would much rather you rein in your data usage (the universal "you" - not you in particular) than you spend more money with them and use gobs of data. In fact, a whole heck of lot of people who would never give the $50 plan a look because of the high speed data cap of 500 MB will be looking at it now that it has been upped to 1 GB. As a result, T-Mobile actually faces the prospect of a number of customers downgrading from the $60 level to the $50 level, because regardless of whether they needed more than 500 MB of data, a lot of people are psychologically uncomfortable with such a low cap, and the 1 GB cap takes care of that.

T-Mobile has always been the 'value' carrier. What they are selling isn't unlimited data; they are selling value. They have increased the value of the lower tiers to make them more attractive, and decreased the value of the highest tier by raising its price. Why? Because T-Mobile wants its target demographic to actually go with one of the lower data-cap plans - where it and its customers see value.

 

[Google_Superuser]

I'm very glad I switched to T-Mobile pre-paid before they switched to the $80 true unlimited pricing. I don't need 5gb of hotspot 2.5 is even more than I need. $70 is already a lot of money to pay for cell service even though you get a lot for the money with T-Mobile.

 

[dpham00]

Actually, I think it's more an attempt to affect behavior than to raise prices. Clearly, it does raise prices for new customers who want unlimited, unthrotled data. But I'm betting T-Mobile (or any carrier for that matter) would rather a certain customer pick the $60 plan and stay within 3 GB of data than pick the $80 plan and use 100 GB of data.

For every tier except the unlimited one, there is no increase in prices but an increase in 4G data allotment as well as other benefits like global texting. There are a lot of people that can benefit from having Stateside texting included in their plans - especially in a place like the Bay Area, where people come from all over the world and have friends and family all over the world.

From what I'm getting, T-Mobile would much rather you rein in your data usage (the universal "you" - not you in particular) than you spend more money with them and use gobs of data. In fact, a whole heck of lot of people who would never give the $50 plan a look because of the high speed data cap of 500 MB will be looking at it now that it has been upped to 1 GB. As a result, T-Mobile actually faces the prospect of a number of customers downgrading from the $60 level to the $50 level, because regardless of whether they needed more than 500 MB of data, a lot of people are psychologically uncomfortable with such a low cap, and the 1 GB cap takes care of that.

T-Mobile has always been the 'value' carrier. What they are selling isn't unlimited data; they are selling value. They have increased the value of the lower tiers to make them more attractive, and decreased the value of the highest tier by raising its price. Why? Because T-Mobile wants its target demographic to actually go with one of the lower data-cap plans - where it and its customers see value.

Tmobile just released that they would be making more money off of the additional cost of the unlimited tier. They say that it is for network improvement


http://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?p=3505409


dpham00, Android Central Moderator
Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 3 via Tapatalk Pro

 

[yfan]

Tmobile just released that they would be making more money off of the additional cost of the unlimited tier. They say that it is for network improvement

T-Mobile: +$10 unlimited price hike due to network improvements. - Android Forums at AndroidCentral.com

Actually, that is not quite what T-Mobile's CFO said. The exact quote, from the source article, is this:

…being focused just on consumer growth without resulting increases in cash flows and profitability would not be the right approach, that you have to have a holistic view. We’ve also talked about the significance of data monetization, or being paid for what we’re providing in the marketplace.”

It is in fact possible to increase cash flow and profitability without increasing revenue - specifically, by cutting costs. And if these new tiers result in a good number of consumers over time reducing data usage (as they add new customers and they go for a limited tier), they have in fact increased relative cash flow and profitability even if revenue per customer on average does not increase. In fact, profitability can decrease if too many unlimited customers create a drain on the resources even if revenue per customer increases, because T-Mobile's costs of providing the data increases.

So again, this is about an equitable system of data usage as well as getting people to use less data more than it is to get each individual consumer to pay more. That's entirely in sync with what the CFO said.

 

[dpham00]

I guess we will agree to disagree then. To me in essence that is what he is saying.

dpham00, Android Central Moderator
Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 3 via Tapatalk Pro

 

[yfan]

I guess we will agree to disagree then. To me in essence that is what he is saying.

Well, that most people seem to forget is that prior to introducing unlimited, unthrottled data at the $70 tier, T-Mobile's $70 tier actually had a 5 GB cap on 4G data. I don't remember people claiming that getting rid of the 5GB 4G cap was a play by T-Mobile to make less money, do you?

 

[dpham00]

Well, that most people seem to forget is that prior to introducing unlimited, unthrottled data at the $70 tier, T-Mobile's $70 tier actually had a 5 GB cap on 4G data. I don't remember people claiming that getting rid of the 5GB 4G cap was a play by T-Mobile to make less money, do you?

Who would complain when they reduce prices?

imo, tmobile made the change, not because they had a change of heart but out of necessity for survival.

dpham00, Android Central Moderator
Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 3 via Tapatalk Pro

 

[yfan]

Who would complain when they reduce prices?

No one, but that's not the point. The point anyone who argues that this move is solely to make money has to accept that the move, when it happened the other way, was to make less money. To do otherwise is to be intellectually inconsistent.

Either that, or one has to stop looking at this as only a revenue-per-user play. They could make the move back then because data consumption wasn't quite as high as it is now, given the rate of growth in mobile data consumption. Today, they need to incentivize users to use less data, and most of those culprits sit at the high end. Reining them in, or making them pay more will improve cash flow, but you do not know whether it will improve revenue-per-user until you know the ratio of people who would rein themselves in vs. those who'd pay the extra cost.

 

[zorak950]

...anyone who argues that this move is solely to make money has to accept that the move, when it happened the other way, was to make less money. To do otherwise is to be intellectually inconsistent.

That's not true and I think you probably know it. In case you're serious, though, consider that they may have been trying to make more money in both cases or that they may have had a motive other than money (at least directly) in one case.

 

[Bigballer]

Who would complain when they reduce prices?

imo, tmobile made the change, not because they had a change of heart but out of necessity for survival.

dpham00, Android Central Moderator
Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 3 via Tapatalk Pro

At the end of the day, the unlimited customers were costing Tmobile a heck of a lot more than the average joe who uses 1 gb a month.

I don't think it was a money grab persay, but I think it's more associated with making up the revenue of the more bandwidth some unlimited users use.

But I still think Tmobile's prices are very fair considering unlimited users are unlimited, and unlimited really means unlimited and to those who are throttled, they still get unlimited internet. So it's less of a money grab than other carriers who just charge you an unfair amount if you go over X amount of data.

 

[yfan]

That's not true and I think you probably know it. In case you're serious, though, consider that they may have been trying to make more money in both cases or that they may have had a motive other than money (at least directly) in one case.

I think that if you read the posts I made, this is essentially what I said - that these moves aren't purely or primarily to increase revenue-per-user, which is different from cash flow or net profit. Of course they're trying to make more money, but what I'm disputing is that they're necessarily trying to do so by forcing an increase in per user revenue. Rather, I think they're trying to do so by growing the total user base and by getting users to control their own data usage.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[dpham00]

At the end of the day, the unlimited customers were costing Tmobile a heck of a lot more than the average joe who uses 1 gb a month.

I don't think it was a money grab persay, but I think it's more associated with making up the revenue of the more bandwidth some unlimited users use.

But I still think Tmobile's prices are very fair considering unlimited users are unlimited, and unlimited really means unlimited and to those who are throttled, they still get unlimited internet. So it's less of a money grab than other carriers who just charge you an unfair amount if you go over X amount of data.

Correct me if I am wrong but it is my understanding that tmobile doesn't have an unlimited hotspot plan(even if you wanted to pay more above the standard unlimited package). Also, I believe that you cannot move the unlimited smartphone sim to a tablet or hotspot and keep unlimited on the tablet or hotspot.

dpham00, Android Central Moderator
Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 3 via Tapatalk Pro

 

[zorak950]

I think that if you read the posts I made, this is essentially what I said - that these moves aren't purely or primarily to increase revenue-per-user, which is different from cash flow or net profit. Of course they're trying to make more money, but what I'm disputing is that they're necessarily trying to do so by forcing an increase in per user revenue. Rather, I think they're trying to do so by growing the total user base and by getting users to control their own data usage.

And that's a perfectly rational position, but your accusation of others being intellectually inconsistent in their position was baseless.

 

[yfan]

And that's a perfectly rational position, but your accusation of others being intellectually inconsistent in their position was baseless.

I don't think so. I've characterized a specific position as intellectually inconsistent, and that specific position is that this move is exclusively or primarily for the purpose of increasing revenue-per-user, but when it happened the other way, it somehow wasn't to reduce the same. I've said that you cannot be intellectually consistent and say both. Either both were primarily revenue-per-user moves in opposite directions, or neither was.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[zorak950]

I've characterized a specific position as intellectually inconsistent, and that specific position is that this move is exclusively or primarily for the purpose of increasing revenue-per-user, but when it happened the other way, it somehow wasn't to reduce the same. I've said that you cannot be intellectually consistent and say both. Either both were primarily revenue-per-user moves in opposite directions, or neither was.

That's not true. Just for a couple of examples, they could have removed the cap to boost their subscriber base, then reinstated it to increase revenue, or they could have done both to increase revenue in different market conditions. It's not intellectually inconsistent to acknowledge that there can be more than one factor or set of circumstances involved in a decision, it's realistic.