Will Tmobile's lower priced plans for Google's Nexus One push down AT&T's iPhone plans?

Seth Weintraub
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January 05, 2010
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Tmobile's got a nationwide 7.2mbps HSDPA network that is compatible with the 3G radios on phones from Europe and Asia.  Compared to AT&T who has a different radio frequency for 3G and are still working on the 7.2mbps network, that's pretty solid.  They also have the lowest-priced unlimited data plans of any US carrier which helps the Nexus One come in $500-$1000+ less over the two year contract (the difference in the phone cost is $20) than the iPhone...and even the Verizon Droid.  

Will AT&T lower their prices to compete with Tmobile?

Breakdown from BillShrink is below.

Billshrink

 

Comments (13)

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | January 05, 2010 - 8:58pm

I can only hope they will, I've always thought data plans for example with any phone are outrageous. They should be priced at the amount of data you use instead of charging for data you may not.

Eamples:

1gb - $5

10gb - $10

Unlimited - $30

 

~fin~

dsk (not verified) | January 05, 2010 - 9:12pm

Its not as bad as the article shows. My iphone plan has 450 minutes, unlimited data plus 200 text messages for $75, t-mobile's similar plan is $80. For me the biggest concern was whether the phone would sync with my itunes library and Mac iCal / Address Book which only the iPhone will do without buying a separate syncing program. Plus I can fit over 150+ apps on my phone, also a no can do on the others.

AdapterDesign (not verified) | January 05, 2010 - 9:20pm

Google claims that they will allow for apps on the SD card soon.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | January 06, 2010 - 6:01am

With all these plans, the devil is in the details.  When do night and weekends start?  Family plans?  Rollover minutes?  Mobile to mobile?  "Circle" plans?  The likelyhood that you're going to relocate while under contract?

All these things make a huge difference in terms of what a person needs and uses.

To boil these complicated plans into a simple comparison chart results throws away important decision-making data, and can often lead people into making a bad choice.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | January 05, 2010 - 9:26pm

That's why I've been stumping for T-Mobile since the iPhone came out, and not for Verizon.

T-Mobile always dominates the ratings for customer service, and it has the best-priced plans.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | January 05, 2010 - 9:26pm

That's why I've been stumping for T-Mobile since the iPhone came out, and not for Verizon.

T-Mobile always dominates the ratings for customer service, and it has the best-priced plans.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | January 05, 2010 - 10:01pm

Nationwide?  Look at this map.  See the tiny dots of darkness.  That is their 3G network.  It make's AT&Ts look like Verizons.

 

http://coverage.t-mobile.com/default.aspx?MapType=Data

taoprophet420 (not verified) | January 05, 2010 - 10:18pm

To bad the price of the phone is $279 for existing customers with no date plans and $379 for those with data plans. Like most OLED's what does it look like in direct sunlight usually unreadable? Where is this a game changer? This site among others was bostering it changing the cell phone industry. Seems like some old shit to me.

Anderson (not verified) | January 06, 2010 - 12:01am

Why compare T-Mobile Europe to AT&T U.S.? Everybody knows U.S. carriers are still in the stone age compared to most overseas carriers.

T-Mobile in EUROPE uses GSM

AT&T is GSM

T-Mobile in US just recently rolled out 3G (the last ones to do it?) in test markets that is not compatible with any other carrier's phones in the world!

I love T-Mobile for the customer service & pricing but the reason they are so good at those things is because they are so behind the times in the U.S and to keep their customers from jumping ship.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | January 06, 2010 - 6:11am

The only thing unique about T-mobile USA handsets is that they use so-called GSM Band IV for 3G.  Sure, it is only used in the USA and Canada, but it is still considered part of the 3G suite of standards, and many newer phones at least partially support it.

Regardless, there will always be different radio allocations across the globe - it's a fact due to hundreds of billions of dollars of radio equipment built over the last 100 years.

As always, know what you're buying and where you'll be using it.

multivitamine (not verified) | January 06, 2010 - 1:43am

Hi,

There is no reason to think the Nexus costs much more than that to manufacture. Google could very well choose thin margins in favor of sales volumes.

NQ Logic (not verified) | January 06, 2010 - 6:16am

Google is moving down in the stack to challenge B2C opponents with an open architecture and new sets of standards. In creating a post-revenue business model, Google can only manage success if consumers accept a co-branding and outsourced manufactured device ... NQ Logic recommends reading about the rest of the new Google's mobile strategy at www.nqlogic.com

DistortedLoop | January 06, 2010 - 9:22am

I read on multiple blogs/news sites yesterday that AT&T had announced that it had just finished upgrading all their cell towers to the 7.2mbps HSDPA software.  I figured the timing was to forestall any comments like your article's about TMobile having all 7.2 vs AT&T not.


 


EDIT:  Ah, I missed the part about while the towers had the software, the backend didn't support this in all but 6 markets.  Slight edge to TMobile there, if only they're coverage weren't so small.