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T-Mobile Connect Launches With $15 Per Month Service

March 29, 2020 Christian

In November 2019, T-Mobile committed to offering a new, budget plan if a merger between T-Mobile and Sprint was approved:1

[The New T-Mobile will offer a] competitive $15 per month prepaid option– half the price of the lowest T-Mobile plan today – to EVERYONE, especially lower-income consumers.

T-Mobile launched that plan last week. I didn’t expect it to be available so soon. It looks like the plan’s rollout was accelerated in response to the coronavirus:2

T-Mobile Connect was announced in November of 2019 as part of 5G for Good – the first planned Un-carrier moves for the proposed New T-Mobile – but in response to customer needs in these trying times, the Un-carrier is launching it this week.

Plan versions

The new T-Mobile Connect plans come with unlimited minutes and texts. Subscribers have two options for their data allotments:

Taxes and fees are not included in the base price of either plan. T-Mobile plans to boost data allotments by 500MB each year:3

T-Mobile Connect also has an Annual Data Upgrade, giving customers an additional 500MB of monthly data, every year, at no additional cost, for the next five years.

Plan terms

I’ve read through a lot of detail’s T-Mobile’s published about the plan. Here are my biggest takeaways from that reading:

Metro’s offer

T-Mobile’s flanker brand, Metro, will temporarily offer a plan similar to T-Mobile’s $15 plan:5

For the next two months, Metro is offering a $15 plan – that’s half the price of the current most affordable plan. For 60 days after customers activate, it’s just $15 per month for unlimited talk and text plus 2GB of high-speed smartphone data.

Unless I’m missing something, it seems like anyone who’s torn between the T-Mobile’s $15 plan and Metro’s plan should go with T-Mobile.

My take

T-Mobile’s Connect plans will be a great option for budget-sensitive consumers that don’t use a ton of data. Based on what I’ve seen so far, it looks like subscribers on the Connect plans will have a level of priority on par with most of T-Mobile’s postpaid subscribers. If my speculation is accurate, that may give the Connect plans a big advantage over the budget-friendly plans offered by many of the MVNOs that operate over T-Mobile’s network (e.g., Mint Mobile).

Earlier today, I placed an order for the $15 per month T-Mobile Connect plan. I’ll write more about it once I’ve had a chance to trial the service.

Footnotes

  1. The excerpt comes from a press release T-Mobile published on 11/7/2019.
  2. The excerpt come from T-Mobile’s 3/23/2020 press release.
  3. I’m guessing the data upgrades will be available for anyone, not just subscribers who stay with the plan for years. I’m not sure though. The excerpt comes from a 3/23/2020 press release.
  4. Some subscribers that already have a T-Mobile SIM card may be able to reuse it instead of paying for a new card. In my case, my existing T-Mobile SIM card was not eligible.
  5. The excerpt comes from T-Mobile’s press release on 3/23/2020.

11 comments

  1. Dave Samson · March 30, 2020

    Temporary gotcha plan to feel you in and Taxes and fees are not included in the base price of either plan.thats all I need to see..bye.

    1. Christian · March 30, 2020

      I’m optimistic. T-Mobile seems committed to offering the Connect plans for several years.

  2. Al · March 31, 2020

    Great price for 2 GB and also 5 GB. But to stop internet use when you’ve hit your limit ……… that might go well 🙁

  3. Eric Thundercloud · March 31, 2020

    What plans are for people laid off work due to virus

  4. Rosie · March 31, 2020

    Or how about a plan for someone over 50,chronically ill, who just had surgery and is on social security? Oh by the way, has been a very loyal customer since Tmobile started back in 1994 they used to be called Voice Stream!

  5. Rob t · May 5, 2020

    I tried to switch plans today (5/5/20) and found that the T-Mobile Connect offer was 50% discount for a limited time (giving the $15 & $25/mo options). This offer expired near the end of April. So no longer available.

    1. Christian · May 6, 2020

      It’s still available!

  6. Dave · May 5, 2020

    Chris – Found you on MMM and appreciate your work here. I’m stuck traveling back and forth between the US and Canada and have struggled to find a reasonable plan that works for voice and data on both sides. I’ve been using a T-Mobile plan ($67 per month) that works seamlessly across the border, but still trying to find a better deal. Had hoped T-Mobile Connect would be an option, but it’s missing that key roaming need. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

    1. Christian · May 6, 2020

      Hey Dave,

      Simply Prepaid from T-Mobile may be worth considering. With the international data add-on, I believe it’d be $45 for a single line with unlimited talk & text in the U.S. & Canada, 10GB of normal data, and 5GB of data in Canada.

      If your data use is under 2GB per month, Google Fi might be an even cheaper option.

  7. Oat Willie · July 19, 2021

    How much does the $15 a month plus taxes and fees add up to?

    1. Christian · July 19, 2021

      It’ll vary by location. I think I paid an additional dollar or two.

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