Come on, T-Mobile, did you really think no one would notice? CEO John Legere and his telecommunications company are known for throwing shade at competitors like Verizon and AT&T, but this time, they might have to take a taste of their own medicine. In true magician style, T-Mobile distracted customers with promises of video-streaming exemptions from data counts and doubling data offerings, all while surreptitiously raising prices. They haven’t said anything, but based on a new pricing scheme that will go live on Sunday, unlimited data plans on T-Mobile will now cost $95 a month, a pretty hefty increase of $15 over the previous price of $80 a month.
If it’s a lie, it’s a lie of omission to be sure, but it does seem pretty suspect that Legere hammered home the $2.4 billion non-T-Mobile customers have paid in overages this year, as well as the $45 billion of unused data others have bought, all while staying suspiciously quiet on his own company’s price hike.
That said, it’s not as though you’re paying for nothing. Customers who were on the most basic plan, which previously only included 1GB of data, will now receive 2GB. In fact, everything is being doubled — additional options now come in at 6GB, 10GB, and of course, unlimited.
This price increase, however, does mean that T-Mobile is now pretty significantly more expensive than the only other provider offering an unlimited plan. As Ars Technica points out, Sprint sells an unlimited plan for $70. Still, T-Mobile seems pretty confident in its latest suite of offerings — after all, new customers will definitely be getting a better deal, with more data for less money.
But I don’t know, T-Mobile, you might want to rethink your announcement strategies moving forward. Silence isn’t necessarily the best policy.