“T-Mobile subscribers can now preorder the iPhone 5 before it officially hits stores in another week,” Lance Whitney reports for CNET.
“The carrier’s Web page lists all varieties of the iPhone for preorder — the 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB models in either black or white,” Whitney reports. “With T-Mobile’s new contract-free, subsidy-free plan, buyers have two choices: They can shell out the full nonsubsidized cost of the iPhone up front, or they can contribute a small down payment and then pay off the full cost in the form of 24 monthly payments of $20 each.”
Whitney reports, “Through T-Mobile’s new plan, the 16GB iPhone 5 sells for $99 up front or $579 in total, the 32GB edition costs $199 initially or $679 in total, and the 64GB flavor goes for $299 up front or $779 in total… Subscribers can choose from among three different plans offering voice, text, and data ranging in price from $50 to $70 per month for a single line.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Sarah” and “Lynn Weiler” for the heads up.]
Some two years ago, it was difficult to mention T-Mobile without a chuckle; all other major carriers already had the iPhone, and T-mobile was pretty much written off. Deutche Telekom simply had no idea what to do with its American mobile wing. After trying unsuccessfully to unload it onto AT&T, they resigned to the reality that they’re stuck with it, so they decided to make the most of it. Fast-forward to today, and here we have a tectonic shift in the way mobile operators do business with consumers.
If you are an iPhone user on Verizon, AT&T or Sprint, there is only ONE reason why you shouldn’t switch to T-Mobile: if their coverage in your area isn’t adequate. If T-Mobile has solid signal wherever you need one, you’d be a fool letting yourself being continuously raped by Verizon/AT&T/Sprint. T-mobile has far less congested networks, and most importantly, the new plans are simply way better than others. Let us summarise:
UNLIMITED everything (with various levels of throttling, depending on how much extra you want to pay) — other carriers LIMIT your consumption, and when you punch through the limit, they charge exorbitant overages;
UNLIMITED FREE TETHERING (!!!) — which you can have for extra $20 per month with the others;
UNBELIEVABLE family plans ($20 for second line, $10 (!!!) for subsequent extra lines!)
At least $20 per month cheaper than competing comparable plans (even when accounted for subsidy difference)
NO CONTRACT!!! You can bail out any time, without penalty. If you buy your iPhone on a monthly payment plan, all you have to pay is the balance of the value of that iPhone (which is cheaper than if you buy unlocked directly from Apple!)
I don’t work for T-Mobile. I don’t even have a T-mobile account (yet; I’m still on Virgin mobile), but I’ll be switching as soon as I’m confident about their coverage in NYC.
Don’t you mean Deutche Telekom made a “Teutonic shift?”
That’s funny!
So have you placed your pre-order?
My wife just recently got a pre-paid T-Mobile. I’m checking to see the coverage and reliability before getting my iPhone. And I probably won’t pre-order; I’ll just wait until I can walk in and pick one up.
If summer iPhone update rumors are true, waiting for that, but been with T-Mo for last ten years so it’ll be nice to upgrade to iPhone versus the 10 year old phone I use now.
Remember the ATT phone plan when iPhone first came out in 2007? Memories… Like the corners of my mind…
Misty watercolor memories… Of the way we were.
“Individual plans are priced at $59.99 for 450 minutes, $79.99 for 900 minutes and $99.99 for 1,350 minutes. All plans include unlimited data (email and web), Visual Voicemail, 200 SMS text messages, roll over minutes and unlimited mobile-to-mobile and a one-time activation fee of $36. Family plans are also available.”
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/06/26AT-T-and-Apple-Announce-Simple-Affordable-Service-Plans-for-iPhone.html
Those were, by today’s T-Mobile standards, rather expensive. Only 450 minutes (which is barely 15 mins per day), not to mention meagre 200 texts (12-year-olds go through that in two hours!). Don’t forget; those $60 were in reality over $70, when all the surcharges and fees were added. With these T-Mobile plans, you’d pay $70 for unlimited all, and once your iPhone is paid off, it would drop down to $50. Not to mention that the up-front cost is only $100 (rather than $235 with AT&T)…
We have been on a T-Mobile family plan with our unlocked iPhones for a couple of years now. For the last 6 months the coverage has been improving daily. We are grandfathered at $150 per month for 4 phones, two iPhones with data plans and two feature phones for the teenagers. We’ll have to do some comparison shopping on the plans. As for buying iPhones, check Craig’s List. An iPhone 5 unlocked goes for about $500.
Under the new plans, your family of four would be paying $100 per month (with the lowest throttling at 500MB), and this is for four smartphones with unlimited everything. Adding $10 per line ups the throttling to 2GB. You’ll still be better of than your grandfathered $150 per month plan, especially since the surcharges and fees are included in the new plans, and the only additional charge is the tax, whereas with the old plans, the $150 you have is just the basic service, and on top of that go government fees, various surcharges and others, which often add up to 15% on top.
I would say, you should switch as soon as you can, it will save you quite a lot of money, especially since you’re staying with the carrier, which means no need to set up new voice mailbox, move number to a new carrier and other similar hassles.
The best part is, I can switch to T-Mobile without getting locked in for two years. I can use my existing crappy Android, to test out the speed, coverage, reliability, latency and those types of things, and if I’m happy, I just buy the iPhone and move the SIM card over. Probably the only hassle will be having T-Mobile swap the full-size SIM for nano-SIM (for the iPhone).
T-Mobile, we’re coming…get ready.