T-Mobile, welcome to the iPhone club. Finally.
T-Mobile USA, the nation’s No. 4 cellphone company, will start selling Apple’s iPhone 5 April 12, and it also will offer cheaper, contract-less data plans, the carrier announced today at its “Uncarrier” event in New York City.
This makes T-Mobile the first major U.S. carrier to offer the iPhone 5 with no contract.
“If you come to T-Mobile you have signed your last contract. They are dead. Gone. No more,” T-Mobile USA CEO John Legere said.
While T-Mobile’s biggest competitors, AT&T and Verizon, require customers to lock into a two-year service contract in exchange for discounts on smartphones, T-Mobile announced it is getting rid of device discounts and service contracts to offer a “radically simplified” installment payment plan on a “full device portfolio.”
Starting April 12, the iPhone 5 will be available on its upcoming 4G LTE network for a down payment of $ 99, and then customers can pay off the rest in $ 20 monthly increments for two years. The iPhone 4 and 4S will also be available.
The data plans, which were posted on the company’s website Monday before today’s media event, start with unlimited talk and text messaging with 500 megabytes of data downloads for $ 50 per month for the first line, and increase to $ 60 a month for 2 gigabytes of data, or $ 70 a month for unlimited data usage.
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John Legere, CEO and President of T-Mobile… View Full Size
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In comparison, Verizon Wireless sells the 16 GB iPhone 5 for $ 199, with a new two-year contract, and charges $ 90 per month for unlimited talk and text messaging with 1 gigabyte of data and offers 2 gigabytes for $ 100 per month. AT&T sells the iPhone 5 for the same price, with a new two-year contract, and charges around $ 90 a month for unlimited talk and text messaging with 300 megabyte of data or around $ 110 per month for 1 gigabytes of data.
T-Mobile’s new rates combined with offering the iPhone 5 at a low cost will save consumers “more than $ 1,000″ on the Apple smartphone, when compared to owning the device on AT&T’s two-year contract, Legere said.
Without a contract, T-Mobile’s Chief Marketing Officer Mike Sievert said customers who want to leave T-Mobile can do so without any further obligations other than the phone payments, which they can finish paying off or trade in the phone for a “fair market value credit.”
The monthly payments to own the phone will be separate from service fees. The new plan will also allow customers to upgrade phones when they want.
The latest models from Android photos are also coming to T-Mobile, Legere announced. The Samsung Galaxy S4 is coming to T-Mobile May 1, but no official price was announced. BlackBerry Z10 will be available nationwide today for $ 99.
The HTC One is “coming soon,” Legere said, but will also be sold for $ 99.
The best smartphones cost the additional $ 20 per month on top of your phone bill, Sievert said, while lower-end phones have smaller fees.
T-Mobile also announced it is undergoing a major “modernization” of its network. The company is adding additional bandwidth to its network — 50 percent more than AT&T, Legere said — and rolling out its new LTE network, the last of the four major carriers to do so.
“Today, T-Mobile launched its state-of-the-art 4G LTE network in seven major metropolitan areas, including Baltimore; Houston; Kansas City; Las Vegas; Phoenix; San Jose, Calif.; and Washington, D.C.,” its news release said.
via NorthEast Calling - NorthEast India | India's No1 online News Magazine http://www.necalling.com/t-mobile-finally-gets-iphone/
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