T-Mobile offers a modified simple choice

When you are the number 4 cellular provider you are always looking for new ways to out do your competitors. If you can poke a little fun at them so much the better. That is just what John Legere, CEO of Bellevue-based T-Mobile, did yesterday when he announced that starting tomorrow, through September, customers can sign up for the newly modified simple choice plan.

“Leaving my office last week, I pulled alongside a bus covered with yet another ad for AT&T’s “Best-Ever Pricing” for families. These ads are everywhere. AT&T’s sinking some serious dough into marketing their latest-greatest family pricing, which strikes me as funny. Because their deal is no deal at all, and next to T-Mobile’s Simple Choice Family Plan, AT&T’s “Best-Ever Pricing for Families” is a joke,” Mr. Legere wrote in a blog post.

The AT&T “Best-Ever Pricing to Families”, Verizon's “Everything” and Sprint's “Framily” plans all cost $160 for a group of 4 compared to T-Mobile’s “Simple choice” that has a price tag of $100. The first three all come with unlimited talk & text compared to T-Mobile’s plan that also adds unlimited data. With AT&T and Verizon you do get 10GB of shared date on their plans but on Sprint they only include 1GB per line for a total of 4GB.

“It infuriates me that they’re selling this to hardworking families who could use that money for more important things.  And they have the nerve to call it “Best-Ever Pricing.”  I just couldn’t stand by without speaking up and calling them on their BS,” Mr. Legere wrote in the same blog post.

One thing that did seem a little confusing at first when looking at T-Mobile’s plan it says unlimited data but also advertises 10GB (2.5GB per line) of 4G data. Further reading cleared this up that they include 10GB at 4G and dial the data speed down to 3G speeds. This modified “Simple choice” will only last through next year.

Sprint and T-Mobile been in negotiations for a merger. According to Reuters the merger could happen in September possibly explaining why Mr. Legere chose that month as the cut off for customers to sign up for the modified plan.