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T-Mobile’s Simply Prepaid plans strengthen its lead over Sprint

A T-Mobile store.
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T-Mobile overtook Sprint as the largest prepaid carrier in the U.S. last year, and now it’s making sure that it stays in first place with new plans. The Simply Prepaid plans follow the same logic as T-Mobile’s traditional Simple Choice plans: You get unlimited talk, text, and data, as well as a specific amount of 4G LTE data each month.

Users can choose set amounts of 4G LTE data ranging from 1GB to 5GB, but even when they exceed that allowance, they’ll still have access to unlimited data at slower speeds. In comparison with earlier prepaid offerings, T-Mobile’s new plans give users a whole lot more data, in addition to unlimited calls and texts, for a low price. Users can also take advantage of T-Mobile’s Wi-Fi calling option.

Here’s the breakdown of the pricing:

  • $40 / month for unlimited data, talk and text (1GB 4G LTE)
  • $50 / month for unlimited data, talk and text (3GB 4G LTE)
  • $60 / month for unlimited data, talk and text (5GB 4G LTE)

In contrast, Sprint offers prepaid plans with unlimited talk and text, but your data is limited to 1 to 6GB of data, and you will be charged for more data once you exceed that amount. Additionally, video streaming speeds are limited to 3G LTE, which can be a hassle. Its plans cost slightly less than T-Mobile’s and range from $35 to $55.

T-Mobile’s new plans will be available on January 25. In the meantime, you can check them out on T-Mobile’s website.

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Malarie Gokey
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