T-Mobile outdoes Verizon with new family deal

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T-Mobile is axing its old unlimited family plan in favor of giving 10GB to each member. Photo: Mike Mozart/Flickr CC

T-Mobile introduced a new family plan that’s directly targeting Verizon Wireless and isn’t shying away from it. The new plan, which offers 10GB of 4G LTE data to each family member plus unlimited talk and text starting at $100 per month, bests Verizon’s shared 10GB of data for four members at $140.

T-Mobile’s CEO John Legere hasn’t been nice to competitors since taking the reigns and doesn’t seem interested in starting now. While Verizon claims its family plan is actually $80 per month, Legere argues that you’ll get charged at least $140 per month when all the additional fees add up.

“The catch is, [Verizon’s family plan] is not actually an $80 plan. You can’t actually use any of that data until you pay additional ‘line access’ fees for data you’ve already bought,” he said in a press release. “So, when they say $80, they actually charge a family of four at least $140. And that’s to share 10GB.”

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Photo: T-Mobile

T-Mobile’s plan charges gives 10GB of data to each family member, rather than asking the whole family to use from a single pool of 10GB. The $100 per month asking price applies to two people, but adding a third line is only $20 extra. Better yet, adding a fourth line is totally free. That means with four lines, you get 40GB of 4G LTE data total (10GB each) for $120 per month. As always, there’s no overages on T-Mobile either – your data will slow if you pass your 10GB allowance.

The new family plan does replace T-Mobile’s previous offering of unlimited data for two family members for $100, so by value it’s a slight step down. However, another plan T-Mobile offered for a family of four charged $100 for 2.5GB of data for each person. This new plan gives 10GB to each person in a family of four for $120, which is a significant step up.

It’s hard to argue that T-Mobile’s latest offer is anything but a sweet deal. Fans of unlimited data will be disappointed, but 10GB per person is still pretty generous.