T-Mobile has upped the ante for its low-cost, no-contract wireless plans available exclusively through Walmart.
The Un-carrier announced in a blog post that new and existing customers of its Walmart Family Mobile wireless plans will receive up to two times as much high-speed 4G LTE data on their plans, without having to spend more for the upgrade.
Beginning Saturday, April 18, new customers signing up through Walmart Family Mobile can get one of two plans. The first is a $29.88 per month postpaid plan that offers unlimited calling, unlimited texting, and 4G LTE data of up to 1GB, which is up from the plan's previous offer of 500MB.
The second plan is more expensive at $39.88. It also offers the same unlimited talk and unlimited text but promises up to 3GB of 4G LTE for the price. This is slightly up from the 2.5GB of data offered on the same plan previously.
Old customers who are already on a Walmart Family Mobile plan will also automatically receive the upgrades in their data allowance without T-Mobile requiring them to do anything.
T-Mobile is also keeping its previous promo of giving a $5 discount for each succeeding line that a customer signs up for.
Walmart Family Mobile is the discount retailer's wireless service powered by T-Mobile. It is a much cheaper alternative to T-Mobile's already low-cost wireless plans and targets budget-conscious families who don't mind using entry-level and mid-range phones, although Walmart Family Mobile also offers high-end devices.
Customers who want to avail of T-Mobile's latest offering can do so by visiting any Walmart store in their area.
Although the price wars seem to be cooling off for the Big Four of the wireless industry, T-Mobile appears to remain adamant about offering plans that give customers the most value for their money.
This strategy seems to be yielding positive results for T-Mobile's outspoken and often brash CEO John Legere, who has taken it part of his mission to introduce business practices that are starting to produce big changes for the wireless industry, including the removal of two-year lock-in periods and offering to pay subscribers the remaining balance of their phone installments to entice them to switch over to T-Mobile.
In fact, analysts believe T-Mobile outperformed Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint during the first quarter, at least in terms of handset subscriber additions. In a research note obtained by Fierce Wireless, Wells Fargo analysts Jennifer Fritzsche, Eric Luebchow, and Caleb Stein say they expect T-Mobile has added 1.03 million new customers for the first three months of the year.
However, the analysts note that, despite T-Mobile's booming customer growth, the fourth biggest wireless carrier still has a lot to do in terms of maximizing that growth to increase profits.
"Recall, TMUS messaged it would be extremely promotional in Q1, which we've seen through offers such as the Data Stash initiative to allow customers to roll over unused data and the Carrier Freedom initiative to pay off device payment plans for new customers," they said. "While these moves should support solid customer growth in Q1, they come at the cost of lower profitability."
Photo: Mike Mozart | Flickr
