T-Mobile One Plus option providing unlimited hot spot, HD video streaming, international data speed bump for $25 premium, set for Sept. 1 launch
T-Mobile US is targeting some of the criticism it received with its recently unveiled One “unlimited” plans with a higher-tiered One Plus option priced at a $25 premium, and is launching both options to the public five days early.
The carrier said beginning Sept. 1, customers will be able to select its already announced One plan or the new One Plus offer, which targets mobile hot spot usage, high-definition video streaming and international data speeds.
The One Plus option is set to include unlimited hot spot usage, with the only caveat being that, like smartphone data usage, T-Mobile US reserves the right to prioritize data speeds should customers surpass 26 gigabytes of usage per month and be attempting to stream data on a congested cell site.
The move looks to counter concerns with the basic One plan that initially included unlimited 2G-based data speeds for tethers, and charging $15 per 5 GB of high-speed data access. T-Mobile US is further tackling that issue by bumping up the connection speed of the basic One plan from 128 kilobits per second to “3G” speeds of 512 kbps.
The new Plus option also includes unlimited high-definition video streaming of all content, with customers on the basic plan able to purchase 24-hour HD streaming passes for $3 beginning in October. The One plan was initially announced with unlimited standard-definition quality streaming, with customers able to purchase unlimited HD quality streaming for $25 per month per line, which would seem to make the Plus option a no-brainer for customers itching for HD.
The HD move also comes on the heels of Sprint updating its “Unlimited Freedom” plan with the “Premium” option that at a $20 per month upcharge over the basic plan provides access to HD quality streaming for video, music and mobile games, which the carrier pegs at 1080-pixel quality for video, music streaming at up to 1.5 megabits per second and games streamed at up to 8 Mbps. The offer builds on the “optimized” streaming package of the standard rate plan, which provides unlimited streaming video to customers selecting the new plan, but throttles speed to limit video quality to around 480p, music streaming to 500 kbps and gaming to 2 Mbps.
Finally, the new T-Mobile One Plus package claims to increase unlimited data speeds of its Simple Global program up to 3G speeds where available across more than 140 countries. The perks previously limited free data speeds to 2G levels, with customers able to purchase data buckets of higher transmission speeds.
Perhaps more importantly from a competitive perspective, T-Mobile US bumped up the availability of the One and One Plus packages from the initial Sept. 6 date to Sept. 1, which would seem to counter some of Sprint’s advantage in having its new unlimited plan launch on Aug. 18.
When initially launched, T-Mobile US drew some online backlash from customers claiming the carrier plans to focus exclusively on the unlimited data plan at the expense of its current tiered data plans. T-Mobile US has said it plans to eventually focus its effort on the new unlimited plans, though has not yet announced when it would ditch the current tiered data buckets for new customers.
“This is not a rate plan announcement,” said T-Mobile US CEO John Legere, on a Periscope-based session following the rate plan unveiling. “We’re not sticking it forever alongside all the rest of the things that we do. This is where we are going. It’s called T-Mobile One. It’s one plan that we will go to. … We still are for the time being going to sell our existing plans. But, we are going to move away from them.”
The new plans for the basic package are priced at $75 for the first smartphone line of service, $55 for the second line, $25 per line for lines three through eight and $35 per line beginning with line nine. The carrier is offering a $5 discount per line for customers signing up for its AutoPay feature.
T-Mobile US currently has various rate plans that begin at $50 per month for a single line of service with 2 GB of high-speed data access. The carrier also is running a multiline promotion providing four lines of service with 6 GB of high-speed data per line for $120 per month.
However, the new plan undercuts T-Mobile US’ current “unlimited” data offer, which is priced at $95 for the first line, $75 for the second line and $55 for additional lines. The current plan does include 14 GB of high-speed mobile hot spot service. The new pricing plan also doubles the cost of adding a tablet to an account to $20 per month, although that tablet does get its own “unlimited” amount of data.
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