T-Mobile emphasizes FlexPay in Project Dark
October 26, 2009/
T-Mobile announced a new set of plans yesterday as part of Project Dark. In an effort to supplant Sprint as the No. 3 carrier in the country, T-Mobile has introduced a series of simple service plans to along with their new crop of high-end handsets and their eventual 21Mbps HSDPA upgrade. The plans aren’t quite as good as the rumored $50 all-in, but they do bring quality prices to prepaid. In fact, the FlexPay plans, which require no contract, are priced lower than their contractual counterparts. T-Mobile has three tiers of voice usage: 500 minutes, 1,000 minutes, and unlimited minutes. It breaks down this way:
| Talk | Talk + Text | Talk + Text + Web | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unlimited | $49.99 | $59.99 | $79.99 |
| 1,000 | $39.99 | $49.99 | $69.99 |
| 500 | $29.99 | $39.99 | $59.99 |
Posted in T-Mobile
Hey, this is Rachel from Boost Mobile, I just wanted to point out that T-Mobile’s new “Even More Plus” prepaid offer still costs someone at least $360 more per year for the same service they would get with Boost’s $50 Monthly Unlimited plan, which includes unlimited talk, text and Web. Plus, Boost Mobile doesn’t nickel and dime its customers with extra fees or telecom taxes and customers can take advantage of true nationwide coverage which reaches more than 274 million people in over 17,500 cities throughout the U.S.
But to be fair, Rachel, T-Mobile’s unlimited data is unlimited smartphone data. Also, its network will be much faster once it deploys 21Mbps HSDPA, which is part of the plan.
I’m not trying to downplay Boost’s offer, but I’m just noting that there’s a reason that T-Mobile’s is a bit more expensive.
While T-Mobile data speeds on their regular network are still faster than iDen, let’s not forget they are the furthest behind of the major players in their 3G coverage already. IF it deploys HSDPA it will be very limited coverage for that kind of data. Not to mention they’d be dumping a lot of risky funds into launching an upgrade with a superior technology so close in sight.
ALSO to be even more fair Rachel, Boost Mobile runs on the awful iDEN network which is terrible for data! Boost also had a nasty text messaging problem for over a year!
The iDEN network is also very spotty and very very small, sprint doesn’t properly keep maintenance to it.
Straight talk is a cooler plan, Unlimited data/text/talk for $45 on Verizon’s network. This plan will be alot cheaper than Tmobliles plan, for $30 on ST u get 1000 call/text/30MB.
Joe, just to let you know. Even More Plus is actually month to month POSTPAID, not Prepaid/Flexpay. I spoke with several CSRS about what it is and they all confirmed it consistently. It is similar to the existing but well hidden Verizon /Sprint Month to month postpaid plans.
The ones where you can bring a compabile (read own carrier brand) phone.
There is apparently Flexpay versions of both the Even More and Even More Plus plans. The Flexpay CS is second tier Tmobile CS level and they could not give me a consistent answer, unlike their postpaid counterparts. The main thing is credit checks. You can choose either annual or month to month postpaid if you qualify (regular Even More/Even More Plus plans) but if you do not, they have Flexpay versions available.
This has been a common (mis)assumption by the wireless press in general (but so has been the whole Project Black $50 everything plan which never happened . I KNEW that they were pulling my leg when they said IPHONE on TMO. Nahhh…not officially at least…)
Just thought I would clear things up a little. Tmobile Pay Go has been completely left alone with no changes.
Yet.
More word on Flexpay updates as I check it out.
The bad news: MyFaves is GONE. In all versions. But who wants to bet enough Tmo fans will shout bloody murder and they will bring it back. After the Sidekick mess, Tmo needs to realize that you give the customers what they want….they are happy…if you do not…watch out.
I understand that Even More and Even More Plus are available for FlexPay. What I would like to know is the 20-month Equipment Installment plan available to Even More Plus FlexPay customers. My understanding is that it still requires a credit check for postpaid, so im wondering if it is just no available with FlexPay since there should be no credit check with Even More Plus and FlexPay.
Hey Joe – While T-Mobile may have better data coverage for a smartphone user, the average cell phone user (i.e. the majority of T-Mobile’s customers) simply want to make a call, and the Nextel National Network outperforms T-Mobile’s network in dropped calls, blocked calls and signal strength.”
Well said, Rachel. Most companies are trying to sell us needless features just to charge us more. We all have laptops and desktops for data. All I want from my phone is cheap calls and for it to be small and light with long battery life. Although I am with T-mobile, I respect companies like Boost that have pioneered flat rate unlimited plans and are providing stiff competition to big carriers. Look abroad where prepaid minutes cost as low as 2 cents and incoming calls and texts are free.
Go Boost!!
Being new to Boost, if I could change something it would be data improvement. The talk is excellent and text pretty reliable. Web is the best opportunity for improvement.
The flat $50 is my fav! No taxes, add’l fees, overage….. just a flat 5-0
Well, I never use PTT. If I could get Boost unlimited talk/text/web for less then $50, it would be awesome to not have to pay for unneeded features.
Boost is not bad, I’ve used them before, but they DO have network issues. That’s why I jumped at the new Straight Talk plan available from Wal-Mart. At $45 for unlimited everything and on Verizon’s network it is simply the best deal out there. So what if the data is not so fast – talk & text unlimited makes it worth it all the way!
To Rachel Gross,
Thanks for the post. I’m a Boost Mobile customer and so far happy with the service. However, I’m very disappointed with the available handsets. Relying on low end Motorola phones is not going to take anywhere. I had the i465 and I hated it with passion… very retarded, old, slow software that looks like it was designed in the early 90’s.
The question is: In this era of iPhone and Blackberries, why wouldn’t Boost offer nice phones? Especially if you guys already have the Nextel Blackberry Curve available. (I had to hack one and use it with Boost, otherwise, I would have definitely left to another carrier).
I think low priced plans, shouldn’t necessarily be linked to low end, cheap phones. I think MetroPcs is doing quite good with their phone selection (Blackberry, Smasung touch screen, full Qwerty models…etc).
I hope Boost will catch up quickly on this, so people won’t have to rely on hacked phones and crackberries 🙂