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T-Mobile's $15-per-month plan is now available (Update: You might not want it)
Update, March 27, 2020 (10:00 AM ET): T-Mobile’s new Connect prepaid mobile plan is now available, but a word of warning: if you truly rely on your mobile data, you might want to pass on this one. After looking closer at the plan’s fine print, you will see the data limit has a hard cap.
Until now, the carrier has offered unlimited data at reduced speeds on nearly all of its plans, even if customers used up their high-speed data allotment. That’s not the case with T-Mobile Connect.
Related: PSA: T-Mobile’s $15 plan is totally capped, a not so ‘Uncarrier’ move
It doesn’t look like customers will see accidental overages, but in order to use more than their allotted data, they will need to purchase an additional data pass. That means that the $15 price tag could go up pretty quickly if you aren’t careful.
Original, March 23, 2020 (1:27 PM ET): T-Mobile, the third-largest wireless carrier in the United States, today announced the launch of a new prepaid wireless plan. T-Mobile Connect, as its known, will be available for everyone starting this Wednesday, March 25, 2020. The plan remarkably starts at just $15 per month, plus applicable taxes and fees.
T-Mobile Connect will then become not only the cheapest plan T-Mobile offers but the cheapest available plan from every major carrier in the US.
T-Mobile actually announced the new plan back in November. The plan was to launch Connect after the merger with Sprint in an effort to push the New T-Mobile’s 5G For Good initiative. However, the launch of the plan moved up to this week due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which is creating a real need for a plan that will keep people connected at a price pretty much anyone can afford.
T-Mobile Connect: What you need to know
There are two pricing tiers for T-Mobile Connect:
- $15 per month: This gets you 2GB of monthly data plus unlimited calls and texts.
- $25 per month: This gets you 5GB of monthly data plus unlimited calls and texts.
Additionally, both plans enroll you in the Annual Data Upgrade perk. This gets you an additional 500MB of data each month with each passing year, up to five years. There is no additional cost for the Annual Data Upgrade perk.
For example, this is what your $15-per-month plan would look like with each passing year:
- 2020 — $15 each month gets you 2GB of data each month.
- 2021 — $15 each month gets you 2.5GB of data each month.
- 2022 — $15 each month gets you 3GB of data each month.
- 2023 — $15 each month gets you 3.5GB of data each month.
- 2024 — $15 each month gets you 4GB of data each month.
There are no additional perks to the T-Mobile Connect plan. Your $15 or $25 each month simply pays for your data allotment and your unlimited calls and texts. However, your data is carried on the same T-Mobile network as higher-paying customers, and you can even access 5G service if you have a compatible smartphone. Keep in mind, though, that 5G connections will probably eat through your small data allotment, so it’s probably best to stick with a 4G LTE phone instead.
If you do happen to go over your data allotment, don’t worry: T-Mobile does not charge overages for domestic data. That means that, as long as you are in the United States, you will simply be throttled if you go over your 2GB or 5GB limit. The throttling will end at the start of the next month. Please see the update above.
If you are interested in T-Mobile Connect, the plan will be open to everyone starting March 25, 2020.