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T-Mobile customers would be able to keep rate plans on AT&T after contract expires
The post-merger AT&T&T world is a mysterious one. Nobody knows what it looks like or what the rules will be, and it's quite likely we won't know all of the answers until the acquisition has been completed -- if it makes it that far. However, at least another piece has been added to the puzzle for now; according to an internal employee FAQ sent in to TmoNews, any customer in love with their current rate plan will be allowed to grandfather it into AT&T's system and keep it after their contract expires. Curiously enough, it doesn't say anything about what will happen if you'd like to upgrade your phone, which could be a completely different story. At least this little chunk of news serves to soothe nervous souls concerned about being forced to a higher-priced plan, which may keep a lot of people from suddenly jumping ship.
T-Mobile lauches new individual and family plans right on schedule
As rumored, T-Mobile overhauled its individual and family plans today and simplified your options to just three tiers of voice service. Individuals can choose between 500, 1,000 or unlimited minutes, with unlimited text messaging adding $10 and data add-ons ranging from $10 for 200MB to $60 for 10GB. Family plans come in 1,000, 2,000 and unlimited minute varieties while the sharable data and text services cost twice as much as their individual counterparts. There are some odd restrictions, such as the inability to add texting or data to the mid-tier plans and no choice for unlimited voice service without SMS tacked on. We do, however, like the overage-free data options that simply drop to 2G speeds when you reach your plan's threshold instead of shocking you with huge fees at the end of the month. We can also confirm that restocking fees have been bumped from $10 regardless of device to $50 for smartphones, $75 for tablets, and $25 for USB modems and "basic phone devices." Check out the sources for all the details and fine print. Update: Just a few hours after debuting its new individual and family plans T-Mo unleash a pair of new no annual contract choices. $50 gets you unlimited voice, text, and 100MB of 4G or 3G data while $70 pushes the high-speed data cap to 5GB. And, just like the on-contract options, these are overage-free. PR is after the break. [Thanks, Neal]
T-Mobile plans could switch up on May 22, restock fees inflating like a balloon?
As it turns out, T-Mobile could be in need of a mobile makeover itself. Not even three weeks after the carrier announced it lost nearly half a million customers, it's reportedly ready to remodel its monthly rate plans on May 22. We've already heard that its prepaid choices may be getting some overhaul treatment this weekend, but fresh intel from TmoNews gives us the feeling that individual and family plans will probably be scooted around a bit as well. Since we're not even sure these changes will actually occur, we'll spare you the nitty-gritty details for now and go straight to the most interesting tidbits. Individual and family plans were simplified to three options each, but the middle one -- 1,000 minutes for individual and 2,000 family -- is a minutes-only choice with no text offered (read: upsell opportunity). The new data plans would be revamped as well, with monthly fees ranging from $10 for 200 MB up to $60 for 10 GB; data hogs needn't worry about overages, though, because these offerings would still technically be "unlimited" since speeds would just be throttled to 2G once the limit is met. Finally, saving the most shocking for last, whispers in T-Mobile's camp mention that restocking fees will be raised from $10 to a mind-blowing $50 for smartphones and $75 for tablets ($25 for a "phone-first" phone). At a time when retailers are doing away with restock fees completely, we find this move to be the most curious of all. If you're still at the edge of your seat looking for more details, don't hesitate to visit the source links to get the whole enchilada.
Sprint's big surprise to be unlimited calling, data, text, and MMS for $70 (update: official)
We can't say we expected Sprint to actually surprise anyone with its "game changing" announcement tomorrow, and right on schedule, the details have come leaking out. Apparently Sprint's $70 rate plan going unlimited, meaning seven Hamiltons will get you endless mobile-to-mobile calling (to any network, not just Sprint), texts, data, and MMS -- stuff you could already get on the Simply Unlimited plan, but the big change at this price point is the unlimited mobile-to-mobile voice, up from 450 minutes in the current plan. Yeah, it's a good deal, but is it a revolutionary deal? We'd say that all depends on whether or not it comes with a free Palm Pixi.Update: The Any Mobile, Anytime plan is now official.
Sprint's big surprise to be unlimited mobile calling, data, text, and MMS for $70 (update: official)
We can't say we expected Sprint to actually surprise anyone with its "game changing" announcement tomorrow, and right on schedule, the details have come leaking out. Apparently Sprint's $70 rate plan going unlimited, meaning seven Hamiltons will get you endless mobile-to-mobile calling (to any network, not just Sprint), texts, data, and MMS -- stuff you could already get on the Simply Unlimited plan, but the big change at this price point is the unlimited mobile-to-mobile voice, up from 450 minutes in the current plan. Yeah, it's a good deal, but is it a revolutionary deal? We'd say that all depends on whether or not it comes with a free Palm Pixi.Update: The Any Mobile, Anytime plan is now official.
AT&T considering cheaper iPhone plans?
We're getting close to WWDC, which means the Apple rumor mill is nearing redline -- today it's BusinessWeek saying AT&T's working on cheaper iPhone data plans. It's not clear exactly how that would play out, but the most popularly-discussed option is a $20 "limited-access" plan potentially offered alongside a cheaper iPhone to be introduced at WWDC -- an option that's almost certainly being discussed as the two companies sort out that exclusivity extension. Of course, we're extremely curious to see what "limited access" means, given AT&T's recent SlingPlayer debacle -- cheap certainly isn't worth it if you're not allowed to do anything worthwhile. Phil, you have anything to say?[Via AppleInsider]
iPhone rate plans revealed, at-home activation announced
Even though they could probably charge $500 a month for service and still sign up a grip of Apple fanboys, AT&T has announced that it will be offering the iPhone for much more reasonable rates, starting at just $60 for 450 minutes and "unlimited" data; that's right, the data plan is wrapped up nice and tight with voice service in your obligatory two-year contract. Scoring 900 or 1,350 minutes will set you back $80 and $100 per month, respectively, although no matter what plan you choose, you're getting 200 text messages, unlimited mobile-to-mobile calls, and a ton of night and weekend minutes (5,000 for the starter plan, unlimited for the other two). If you're unfortunate lucky enough to be stocking up on iPhones for the whole family, shared bundles of 700, 1,400, and 2,100 minutes (all with 200 SMS messages and unlimited night and weekend calls) can be had for $80, $100, or $120 plus 30 bucks per line. Finally, to keep existing customers from going crazy waiting for their contracts to expire, AT&T is also offering its current subscribers a $20 option to tack on the iPhone data plan -- which goes up to $30 or $40 if you need to jack up your SMS limit to 1,500 or unlimited messages.In more good news -- well, depending on how you look at it -- Apple has announced that customers will be able to activate their new phones via an iTunes sync, saving them from spending even an extra minute in an AT&T store they will have surely have grown to despise. On the down side, if you do have problems with your activation -- remember those initial iTunes / Vista issues? -- it'll be just that much more difficult to troubleshoot as you and two million other frustrated users flood AT&T's customer service line simultaneously. Good times, folks, good times.Update: That's some, ah, good journalism there Lou. Apparently there are actually six packages each available for both of the individual and family plans, as reader Christopher K. noticed by simply clicking on the "More Minutes" button at the bottom of those plans' respective tabs here. Heavy users will be also be able to choose from 2,000, 4,000, or 6,000 minute bundles for $120, $170, and $220, respectively, with families getting 3,000, 4,000, or 6,000 minutes for $160, $210, and $310, also respectively.Read - iPhone rate plansRead - iTunes activation[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
