Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

T-Mobile’s prepaid plans just got more data without a price bump

A sign outside of T Mobile headquarters.
Ken Wolter / 123rf
Smartphone leasing programs on T-Mobile may be a bit of a wash, but the Magenta Carrier’s Simple Choice Prepaid plans are still the ones to beat. And today, they’re getting even better: T-Mobile announced that it’s increasing 4G LTE data at all available tiers without raising prices.

Here’s how the changes break down: the carrier’s 1GB, $40 a month plan is increasing by two gigabytes to 3GB; the previously 3GB, $50 plan now offers 5GB; and the top-tier 5GB, $60 plan is doubling to 10GB. Not bad.

Related Offer: Shop T-Mobile Prepaid Plans

Recommended Videos

As was true previously, those allowances denote only high-speed data; exceeding a prepaid allowance won’t kick you off the network, but will relegate you to unlimited data at 3G speeds. Each plan features unlimited talk and text, plus T-Mobile’s Music Unlimited benefit — music streamed via participating services doesn’t count against your data cap. The carrier’s Binge On is a part of these packages, as well — video streaming at standard definition (480p) is “free,” according to T-Mobile — but its implementation is contentious, to say the least.

Controversy aside, T-Mobile’s prepaid plans remain some of the best around. For the sake of comparison, Sprint’s offerings start at 1GB for $35 on the low end and up to 6GB for $55 at the very highest. 2GB on AT&T is $45 a month, and Verizon offers less for more — 1GB for $45 a month.

It’s not entirely surprising, then, that T-Mobile had a strong year. Ahead of the carrier’s formal earnings Q&A in February, T-Mobile reports that it added 2.1 million customers in Q4 2015, 469,000 of whom were prepaid. The company said that it managed to rack up 8.3 million new customers for the full year — around the same number it added in the prior year, incidentally — and now stands at more than 63 million total customers. Another impressive stat? T-Mobile added nearly one million square miles of new LTE coverage in 2015.

If any of the beefed-up plans sounds intriguing, now’s certainly not a bad time to jump on board.

Kyle Wiggers
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kyle Wiggers is a writer, Web designer, and podcaster with an acute interest in all things tech. When not reviewing gadgets…
T-Mobile’s newest plans are exciting for new (and old) customers
The T-Mobile logo on a smartphone.

T-Mobile has just unveiled a new set of plans and perks to help both new and current customers break free of lengthy device contracts while guaranteeing you'll be able to get the best deals available on phone upgrades every two years.

Significantly, with the new plans, the "Un-carrier" promises equal treatment for all customers, whether they're coming over from another carrier or have been using T-Mobile's services for years. That's in contrast to the limited-time offers of its rivals, which often ignore their most loyal subscribers in an effort to entice others to switch carriers.

Read more
T-Mobile suffers massive data breach … again
The T-Mobile logo on a smartphone.

T-Mobile said on Thursday it has suffered a data breach involving 37 million customer accounts.

The mobile carrier discovered the breach on January 5 and took action “within 24 hours.”

Read more
It’s late 2022, and Verizon and AT&T still can’t beat T-Mobile’s 5G network
The T-Mobile logo on a smartphone.

It’s been 10 months since Verizon and AT&T flipped the switch on their new C-band 5G spectrum, but it appears both carriers still have their work cut out for them if they want to catch up to T-Mobile.

Market analyses and independent tests have agreed for years that T-Mobile is the fastest and most reliable 5G carrier in the U.S. That’s not surprising as it had a massive advantage by holding licenses for the crucial midrange spectrum that provides the best balance between range and speed. While Verizon’s early high-frequency mmWave rollouts allowed it to boast raw speeds that were significantly faster, those were confined to about 1% of its subscriber base.

Read more