T-Mobile in the U.S. has announced a new $40 “Simple Starter” plan which includes unlimited talk, text and 500MB of 4G LTE data. Those going over the data cap will find their data speed reduced to 2G speeds.
T-Mobile CMO Mike Sievert says that while Verizon and AT&T have similar plans, their data caps are so low that customers face large overage amount on their bill.
“It’s a bait and switch. Typical customers will easily pay double that. People need to call them out for this,” said the T-Mobile executive.
CEO, John Legere, noted that AT&T’s low-end plan can end up costing 44% more than advertised because of overage fees, which he says hurts those people who can afford it the least. The new T-Mobile plan throttles data speed instead of charging for overages.
Marketing chief Sievert said that over the next three days, the company will announce big news affecting three separate segments of the industry.
Legere stated:
“Our work of transforming wireless on behalf of American consumers is far from done. Stay tuned in the days ahead.
Just look at the frenzy of knee jerk moves the competition launched in recent weeks. It’s been fascinating to watch the big, fat, old-guard carriers stumble as they try to respond and slow the change we are driving into this industry. I don’t know whether to laugh or cringe as they try to present themselves as anything other than the merciless greedy utilities they are. They must be thinking that we are done, because they’ve thrown a ton of money at short-lived promotions that come and go and they’ve rolled out painfully lame knock-offs of Un-carrier innovations like our JUMP! upgrade program. Pay twice for your phone? (I’m looking at you, AT&T.)
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