T-Mobile’s Uncarrier Value Rate plans are nothing to be afraid Of

The people want change and they want flexibility with their carrier. We complain about high-phone prices for early upgrading and get forced into lengthy two-year contracts when new devices roll out every year. We complain about tethering, data caps, overage and additional charges. We complain about confusing bills, hidden costs and complicated do’s and don’ts to use our service. This goes for any carrier in the U.S. T-Mobile is aiming to change how business is done and how a cell provider delivers the coverage and devices to its customers. I for one, think they have something great in the works, while there is certainly a little more to it and it might need a slight amount of tweaking, they have to start somewhere.

So what is the deal and how will it make your life better and easier. Let’s see if I break this down a little bit and make it easy to understand. It really is simple. $50 a month for one line will be unlimited talk, text a 500MB data. Need more? Toss $10 a month for 2 more GB’s or $20 for unlimited data. For $70 a month, everything is unlimited. Sounds just like their current unlimited single line Value Plans.

Now we have family plans. Two lines will cost you $80 a month for the basic plan. Again, that is for unlimited talking, unlimited text and 500MB of data per-line. Need more data? $10 per line for another 2GBs or $20 for unlimited. Need a third line? Add another $10 per line. It gets the same 500 MBs data by default and of course can get any of the other data packages available. So, 3 lines with 500MB of data unlimited everything else, $90 plus tax. Dad need more data? Add $10 for 2GB and you are at $100 a month plus tax for unlimited talking and text for a 3 line account.

So there is lot more to go over though. The unlimited package for $20 a month, per-line, also gives that line Mobile Hotspots. Wait, what?? Weird, your unlimited data package will actually let you tether your phone to a PC, a tablet, a netbook whatever, without adding a tethering plan to it to.

Now for more good news. Obviously these plans will have no contracts required and there won’t be any activation fees. Another one of the thorns in our sides.

So what does this do for your chances at a new phone. T-mobile has always made it pretty straight forward and easy to understand. A traditional contracted plan with T-Mobile for the Samsung Galaxy S III is $279.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate. Now we need to talk plans before we talk devices. Unlimited minutes, unlimited texts and 5GB of data for a contracted plan is $94.99. Backtrack to what we told you on the Value Plan for a single line, it was $70 a month for the same thing except you have unlimited data, not 5GBs. You just saved yourself $25 a month by not taking a contract. That figure is based solely on the fact that you have a phone already and just want service and a plan with no contract. What if you need a phone? The same Samsung Galaxy S III device, based on current value plans, is $199.99 as a down payment. That will change on the new Uncarrier Value Plans most likely. You snag the device for $200 and pay $20 a month to pay off the remainder of the device. So now you are paying $90 a month for your phone with unlimited talk, text and web. That is still $5 less a month than a contracted plan and your out-of-pocket price for the device was $130 less. You see the math there? Out of pocket up front on a contracted plan for a Galaxy S III was 329.99, a Value Plan Galaxy S III out-of-pocket price was $199.99.

Having been on a Value Plan since T-Mobile first introduced them, it really does save you money. So where does it get even better? It gets better in two potential ways. If credit allows, your down payment on a device could be as low as $99 out-of-pocket for some devices. Next, they are kicking the upgrade fee out the door. No one likes getting a ‘FREE’ Phone and then hearing about a $32 upgrade fee to do it. So upgrade fees are booted too. It will also kick the issue of “New customers get a better deal than a long time customer does, this is crap.” You have no idea how many times I heard that as an employee. It was true too. Ne customers got better deals than existing customers. With the new approach, everyone gets the same phone pricing, assuming your credit checks out of course. When you hit the 18 month marker, you get the full upgrade option, no contract needed and you pay a partial out-of-pocket and bill the rest.

Now comes the arguments that I have heard and defended for years. YES, you are buying the phone at full cost. NO you aren’t getting a discount on the device. YES, you will be saving money every single month. NO, I can’t change the month payment price. Where a lot of people are going to get hung up is the monthly charge for the phone you are buying. While you are buying the device at full retail price, it isn’t all at once. By not having to subsidize the device’s price and absorb the difference into your contracted plan, which is why they cost more per-month, T-Mobile is able to offer the ‘Service” aspect of a “Service Provider” to customers at a lower rate. Thus saving you money, and saving them money. Instead of waiting 18 months before your account is making them a profit, they are in the green right off the bat. The final argument will be about minutes. “I never use more than 200 minutes a month, i don’t need unlimited.” Right you are. Some people won’t. Take AT&T for instance. You can get 450 minutes for 39.99. Need to add 300MBs of data for $20 and $20 for unlimited messaging. So, your $80 a month to pay for 450 minutes, could have been $50 a month for unlimited with 500MBs of data. You just save $30 a month. Now turn around and buy the phone you have wanted for a while and toss on $20 a month to buy it, have no contract and you are still saving money.

Now there are still a few things that the leaked images are missing. One being something that T-Mobile Chief Executive Officer John Legere mentioned in the video we posted with some of this info from Friday. He makes mention of trading in your device and getting some trade in value to upgrade early. I don’t see that in the documents. I also don’t see the breakdown or the wording towards devices and their costs. WE do see that their will be a new $25 a month tier, which we would assume is geared towards the 2013 phones that are going to be even more expensive at full price. So the HTC One, Samsung Galaxy S IV, iPhone, iPad. Oh yeas, Apple products are on the way.

So when is all of this go live? Word on the street is that it should be official later today at some point. It might be up now, but we don’t see it on their website just yet.

Now, n to what you guys think. I tried to post in and shoot down some arguments. I know there will be plenty more. Do you see this is as a win for customers and for T-Mobile?

Via TmoNews

Additional thought. Google devices. Buy your Nexus 4 from Google, then hit T-Mobile for your service and have no contract for services and it would also save you a bundle. Man, there are so many wins with this.