T-Mobile officially getting the iPhone - as in Selling Directly

[lothar]

I'm a bit confused as to why you don't think this is a subsidy.

One problem is that your statement on having to pay the same monthly bill is not correct. I know that at least Verizon offers an off-contract plan, but the problem is that it's really not worth it as the discount is only $10. $650 > ((24 * $10) + $200)

Honestly, it's not that T-Mobile isn't providing a subsidized option, but it's rather that T-Mobile is providing a TRANSPARENT subsidized option. Other carriers don't provide this information and that allows them to continue to charge you the exorbitant rates regardless of whether you're on contract or not. Essentially, it's an incredibly dubious way of milking money out of your customers that don't know any better.

EDIT:

I like the transparency that T-Mobile is showing here, and I really hope this ripples through and causes other carriers to do it, or be forced by some governing agency to do it. Honestly, I highly doubt that we'll get the prior, and you'll probably only see it with the latter.

When my contract plan ended with Verizon, I was still paying the same exact monthly bills.
I had a contract on LG Voyager from December 2008 to December 2010.
I didn't leave Verizon until September 2011, and my monthly bills were exactly the same price from December 2010 to September 2011.

 

[lupi]

Can you check t-mobile's coverage using an unactivated SIM? I have a t-mobile sim, but it's not activated and I don't want to buy a plan just to see if my wife's iphone will get 3G service at home.

try plugging it in and see what it shows. since they're all required to still have 911 access I would guess the network quality will also be displayed. and no harm to try.

 

[dagamer34]

Can you check t-mobile's coverage using an unactivated SIM? I have a t-mobile sim, but it's not activated and I don't want to buy a plan just to see if my wife's iphone will get 3G service at home.

http://www.airportal.de

Note that this is user reported, but it's pretty accurate. PCS spectrum refarming is still going on, so it will be months before you'll get reliable 3G coverage on your iPhone on T-Mobile.

 

[Aikouka]

When my contract plan ended with Verizon, I was still paying the same exact monthly bills.
I had a contract on LG Voyager from December 2008 to December 2010.
I didn't leave Verizon until September 2011, and my monthly bills were exactly the same price from December 2010 to September 2011.

Yes, none of the carriers will actively swap you to a different plan. Although, I did some checking, and it appears that Verizon's prepaid is limited to (worthless) 3G only. It's also only $80 a month for 2GB of data (limited time, normally 1GB).

http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/prepay/processPrePayRequest.do?&type=ppmonth80

That's really what I was trying to stress with the whole transparency thing. It seems that none of the carriers want you to know what you are paying for your phone, because then they may be like you and want to not pay it once they're done with their mandatory contract term. Like it or not, cellular carriers are a business, and if they can do something to make more money that's within regulations, you better damn well bet they're going to do it.

$_$

 

[lothar]

Yes, none of the carriers will actively swap you to a different plan. Although, I did some checking, and it appears that Verizon's prepaid is limited to (worthless) 3G only. It's also only $80 a month for 2GB of data (limited time, normally 1GB).

http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/prepay/processPrePayRequest.do?&type=ppmonth80

That's really what I was trying to stress with the whole transparency thing. It seems that none of the carriers want you to know what you are paying for your phone, because then they may be like you and want to not pay it once they're done with their mandatory contract term. Like it or not, cellular carriers are a business, and if they can do something to make more money that's within regulations, you better damn well bet they're going to do it.

$_$

The mistake you're making is that you're comparing Verizon prepaid to postpaid.
Both plans have completely different type of coverage.
On prepaid, you only get native Verizon coverage while on postpaid you get full coverage with roaming.
With T-Mobile, if you bring your own phone, you pay $20 less per month than if you were to get a subsidized phone and you will still have access to the same exact towers that others have with roaming coverage.

T-Mobile has their own prepaid plans as well if you want to debate about prepaid plans.