On Tuesday, T-Mobile’s CEO John Legere took the stage in Los Angeles to announce some new services for T-Mobile. The highlight of it was the BingeOn service, which basically allows you to stream movies from select services for free (there are over 24 services at launch including HBO Go, Netflix, Hulu, Watch ESPN and more, and more being added). But there were a few other announcements too. Like doubling the data plans they are offering. Now T-Mobile doubled their plans from 1GB, 3GB and 5GB to 2GB, 6GB and 10GB of data. But didn’t say a word about pricing. And there’s good reason for that. Individual lines are now getting a $5 raise in pricing, except for the intro plan which will remain at $50 for double the data. So you double the data for an extra $5. That means the 2GB plan is still $50, while the 6GB is $65 and 10GB is $75. It’s not bad when you think about it though.
However, for those on the truly unlimited data plan, you’re getting a larger raise than that. You’re looking at the price of unlimited data going form $30 to $45 per month, making it $95. However you do also get 14GB of tethering data, and still no overages. So, in a way, that’s still a pretty decent deal. If you’re on the two lines for $100, that won’t be $100 anymore, but rather $120. Additionally, Data Stash is being changed from unlimited, to just 20GB of data. Which should still be plenty for most people anyways.
So why the price hikes? Well T-Mobile is a business. As much as they want to make it appear that they are our friends, they are here to make money. And we can’t blame them. Industry analysts are expecting them to start raking in tons of cash. With the mixture of data usage being cut by about a third – due to users streaming video at 480p instead of HD or full HD – and the rate plan increases, T-Mobile should see a rise in their ARPU in the next few quarters. Something that will keep investors happy.
These changes are set to take place on Sunday, November 15th. So you should see your data double, you can choose to switch plans if you want. It’s a shame T-Mobile didn’t mention this during their event yesterday, but it wouldn’t have gotten a great reaction, so it makes sense as to why it wasn’t mentioned.