T-Mobile just launched LTE service in seven cities in the United States including Washington DC, Baltimore, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and San Jose. The company also hopes to offer more coverage in the next few months with plans to extend to 100 million users at the middle of the year and 200 million by the end of the year.
This new service was designed to supplement the 4G coverage and won’t replace it. The service will rotate between 4G and LTE as users take their phones everywhere they go.
Recently, T-Mobile introduced their new un-carrier plan that allows users to enjoy the same talk, text, and data plans without the contract. This is why they modified their Simple Choice Plan. This new approach allows customers to start with one phone for $50 a month, a plan that includes unlimited talk and text as well as 500MB of data. A second line starts at $30 and any additional line is just $10. Data will still cost more. Users can add 2GB of data for an extra $10 a line and unlimited data will set them back at $20 a line.
The real appeal of this new service is the fact users don’t need to sign a two-year contract. Unfortunately, users may find better deals elsewhere with prepaid services from Virgin Mobile, Boost Mobile, or Cricket Wireless.
These slightly lower prices do not come with subsidized phones. This means that users have two options for purchasing premium smartphones like the iPhone 5: they can either pay full price or pay in three smaller instalment payments. The instalment payments are free of interest, which is a bonus.
Users also will not have to go with an expensive plan to score a premium smartphone and they will not have to wait for their contract to end for the latest smartphone. What’s more, is that users can bring their own smartphones as long as the devices are unlocked.
It’s too early to tell if T-Mobile is making a smart move yet or not.
