On September 1, 2016, T-Mobile launched its latest and greatest phone plan dubbed “T-Mobile One.” The plan offers several benefits not currently offered by any other carrier and seems to be the best phone plan for any frequent traveler. As luck would have it, my cell phone contract ended just a few weeks ago and I decided to make the switch from AT&T. Currently, T-Mobile One costs $70/month for one line, $120/month for two lines, $140/month for three lines, and $140/month for four lines! At just $35/month for a “family” of 4, T-Mobile One offers a truly incredible value to cell phone customers.
Unlimited Talk, Text, & Data
With T-Mobile One, customers receive unlimited talk, text, and 4G LTE data anywhere in the United States. Apparently if you use more than 25GB of data in a month, T-Mobile will throttle your data speeds, but for the average user this should not be an issue. Unlimited talk and text is almost a given at this point in time, but added unlimited data is an awesome feature and hopefully an indication of things to come from other US cell phone carriers.
Unlimited International Text & Data
T-Mobile One comes with unlimited Texting and Data usage when abroad. You no longer have to purchase an international data plan and worry about every MB used when traveling. T-Mobile uses GSM (Global System for Mobiles) which is widely used outside of the United States. T-Mobile advertises unlimited data and text is offered in over 140 countries. If you are traveling to a developed country, chances are your T-Mobile One plan will offer coverage. Users also receive unlimited talk when traveling to Canada and Mexico. I look forward to using this benefit on an upcoming trip to Toronto.
Free Hour of GoGo Inflight and In-flight “Texting”
With T-Mobile One, customers will receive up to one hour of free GoGo inflight wifi and unlimited free “texting” for the duration of the flight. I put texting in quotes because it is only texting over certain wifi texting services such as WhatsApp, iMessage, Viber, etc. Standard text messages are subject to messaging rates. T-Mobiles language is a little confusing “Messages (not including iMessage, WhatsApp and Viber messages)sent and received while using T-Mobile in-flight Message over Gogo are billed according to your rate plan and features – just like other messages sent domestically over Wi-Fi.” With T-Mobile One users receive unlimited texting, so I am assuming all texting is free, but it may be smart to talk to a customer service representative first.
Here is a link to all airlines currently offering GoGo Inflight Wifi. Most notably American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Delta Airlines, United Airlines, and Virgin America use GoGo. Travelers who frequently fly on Frontier, Spirit, Southwest, or JetBlue will not be able to take advantage of this of this perk.
Again, based on T-Mobile’s language it seems this offer is good for each “flight” not limited by the number of flights you take in a given day. Great news for anyone who takes a segment run to qualify for elite status.
T-Mobile Tuesdays
T-Mobile Tuesdays is an app which offers T-Mobile customers exclusive offers to be used every Tuesday. Offers vary week to week, but are free for all T-Mobile customers. The app shows upcoming offers and this week T-Mobile customers can take advantage of a free Snack Size of wings from Buffalo Wild Wings ($8.29), A free movie rental from VUDU ($4.99), and a free Lyft Ride (up to $15). Deals vary every week, but if you take advantage of all offers each week it could add up to some serious savings to offset your phone bill.
Bottom Line
Currently there is no better offer for frequent travelers than the T-Mobile One cell phone plan. T-Mobile does not require customers to commit to annual contracts and devices such as the iPhone are unlocked so if you are unhappy with your plan you can take your phone to another carrier virtually risk free. Be sure to setup Autopay using a credit card such as the Chase Ink Business Plus which offers 5x points on cell phone services. I look forward to taking T-Mobile One on the road with me and hope International and In-Flight services live up to my lofty expectations.
It is important to note that customers can add various services to the base T-Mobile One plan, but for the purposes of this post I have decided to stick to the basics of the plan.
