T-Mobile Cuts GPRS Data Rates, I Think

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://rss.com.com/2100-1039-991178.html?type=pt&amp;part=rss&amp;tag=feed&amp;subj=news">http://rss.com.com/2100-1039-991178.html?type=pt&amp;part=rss&amp;tag=feed&amp;subj=news</a><br /><br />"T-Mobile is cutting wireless-data subscription prices in half to lure more people onto its new high-speed cell phone networks, an executive with the German wireless provider said on Wednesday." Cool, but then they said "Under the new T-Mobile pricing plans, a megabyte of data costs $10, which is about half as much as European carriers now charge." 8O <br /><br />What are you guys in Europe paying? I pay them $20/mo. for 10MB which is $2/MB, not $10/MB. Is that a misprint? The final quote was exactly on target! "Carriers have been pricing data based on spreadsheets, not on what consumers are willing to pay." <a href="http://www.sonypictures.com/tv/shows/jeopardy/mini_sites/archive_header/index.html?/tv/shows/jeopardy/behi/bio_alex.html">Alex</a> - I'll take "Things that make you go 'Duh!' for $100 please."

[cessquill]

Prices in the UK are a bit of a mystery to me at the moment. From what I can work out I get 0.5mb for about £4 (about $6.40) but as soon as I go over that it's about £8 ($12.80) per 0.5mb. I got stung with a £225 ($360) mobile bill when I got it all wrong the other week.

That's only my mobile provider though, and I'm stupid. They aren't exactly embracing the technology though.

[li__quid]

What's that? "a megabyte of data costs $10"? I'm with 'Ben', the Dutch daughter company of T-Mobile, and I'm already paying $5 / Mb. That must be a typo in the article...

However, for the $5 / Mb rate, another fixed monthly $5 is charged... maybe they mean that.

[arebelspy]

I believe T-Mobile charges you $10 per MB over your limit. So you pay X amount for a fixed amount of MB downloads, and $10 per MB you go over.

-arebelspy

[marlof]

I'm with Vodafone Netherlands. I pay EUR 40 for 20 MB, and keep paying EUR 2 per MB for every MB I go over my fixed plan.

[JvanEkris]

I'm on the heavy user subscribtion of Ben (T-Mobile the netherlands), Eur 15 monthly subscription, 1 euro per Mb.

For lower use, i gathered that O2 was the cheapest in the netherlands.

Jaap

[denivan]

I'm with Mobistar (in Belgium) and I pay about €25 for 10Mb/month. Every aditional Mb costs €3.5...pretty pricy, but that's what you get for being an innovator ;)

[numo]

In Austria it is cheaper - e.g. tele.ring has EUR 14.45 / first 20 MB monthly + 0.80/MB over limit or EUR 2/MB with no prepaid MB. A1 has more plans, generally EUR 1 / MB for data in limit and 1,50 over limit. The other operators are similar.

In Slovakia there is EUR 15 / 5 MB + 1 / MB over limit. Most users find the 3 / MB for the first 5 MB too much and don't subscribe for it :-(

10 EUR / MB is either typo, or price for GPRS roaming.

[rzanology]

I'm currently paying $5 for one mb, so it was clearly a mistake. I think we can all agree that they need to get on par with sprint ( the worst in the world) and offer unlimited for a set price. Thats why my ipaq and my t68i will never get a rest :)

[apollak]

Hi, I think I can be satisfied with my providers plan. I pay T-Mobile Austria 7 Euros a Month for 10 MB. Then additional 1 Euro for every MB above the 10 MB limit. They count in 0.1 MB portions.

For GPRS Roaming I pay inside the t-mobile nets in Germany, GB, CZ, USA, Croatia, Hungary, NED, Slovakia 0.8 Euros per 0.1 MB, for other Providers in Europe between 0,95 and 1,50 Euros. For HongKong and Spain 3 Euros.

But I think GPRS will be much cheaper after they start UMTS and I think the infrastructure will then become also better.

[hollis_f]

I'm with Orange in the UK. They have a variety of plans, but I'm with one that costs about $22 per month for 7MB, plus $2 per MB over that amount.

Their most expensive plan charges $4.5 per MB.

[marlof]

A very good overview of international price plans can be found at SPB Software (http://www.softspb.com/products/gprsmonitor/tariffs.html), and is included in their GPRS Monitor.

[acronym]

I'm with tmobile in boston and get charged $20 / 5meg
their website still reflects that pricing.

[bdegroodt]

No wonder the Cnet article couldn't get the price right. I'm amazed at how many people are paying so many different prices. I thin I haven't seen one person's rate match another person. Even I only matched with one person (Ed). Amazing.

I was also under the assumption (Until this post) that rates in Europe were far less expensive than the U.S. Seems to be true in pockets, but not Europe as a whole.

[Ed Hansberry]

I'm with tmobile in boston and get charged $20 / 5meg
their website still reflects that pricing.
They quietly changed the rates back in October for new subscribers. Call and they will switch you to the new $20/10MB rate.

[adamz]

Maybe CNET was confused.
http://www.80211-planet.com/news/article.php/1855971

T-Mobile is cutting the price of their wireless WiFi service also known as T-Mobile Hotspot.

[bdegroodt]

Maybe CNET was confused.
http://www.80211-planet.com/news/article.php/1855971

T-Mobile is cutting the price of their wireless WiFi service also known as T-Mobile Hotspot.

Not likely. First, the article is very specific about the services GPRS allows users to access. Second, Cnet reported the HS price cut already. Finally, the TM HS program is a "national" one in the U.S. and I don't believe there's the same program from them in Europe.

[tewmgd]

I'm on the previous rates of Orange France 10 Mo for 6 euros/month but now its 5 Mo for 6 euros, but the extra Mo is at 3.48 euros.

Note : GPRS is unlimited for wap browsing for 6 euros / month

Matthieu

[xendula]

No, it's not a typo.

In Germany, T-mobile customers have to pay 10 Euros extra per month if they want to use GPRS. The first MB is "free of charge", as they put it (like it was really free!!), and every other 100KB is 29 cents!!
There you go, that's the reason why noone uses it in Germany. Prices here are crazy!

There are two other payments plans, but this is the one they meant in the article.


I still find that many things are cheaper in Europe than in the US. Regular cell phone use seems to be way cheaper here and hopefully UMTS will make GPRS prices drop later this year.

[rbrome]

Man...

Sprint PCS here in the U.S. may not be perfect, but you really have to appreciate their data pricing: $10/month unlimited 1xRTT data - which is about twice as fast as GPRS - on any phone or Sprint PDA-phone (Treo 300, Samsung i330, or Toshiba 2032). Of course if you want laptop access, that's more, but still less than the rates quoted here so far.

[sweetpete]

Man...

Sprint PCS here in the U.S. may not be perfect, but you really have to appreciate their data pricing: $10/month unlimited 1xRTT data - which is about twice as fast as GPRS - on any phone or Sprint PDA-phone (Treo 300, Samsung i330, or Toshiba 2032). Of course if you want laptop access, that's more, but still less than the rates quoted here so far.

You're comparing apples and oranges here. As the poster 2 posts above said, unlimited WAP data access with GPRS is only €6 which is cheaper than your $10 US. Data access for laptops and PDA's is substantially more as it puts much heavier loads on the system.
I have to say after listening to these rates that I love living in Canada. I get unlimited data for $50/month and it includes unlimited free GPRS roaming in the US provide by none other t-mobile :D

[arebelspy]

"You're comparing apples and oranges here. As the poster 2 posts above said, unlimited WAP data access with GPRS is only €6 which is cheaper than your $10 US. Data access for laptops and PDA's is substantially more as it puts much heavier loads on the system. "

It's not only WAP. I pay $10 per month for my data with Sprint PCS and get unlimited faster than 56K (and faster than GPRS) access, and yes I use it on my PDA and Laptop (and even desktop before).

-arebelspy

[sweetpete]

It's not only WAP. I pay $10 per month for my data with Sprint PCS and get unlimited faster than 56K (and faster than GPRS) access, and yes I use it on my PDA and Laptop (and even desktop before).

-arebelspy

Ummm ... if that is the case, why do they offer PCD Vision for Laptops and PDAs at a cost of anywhere between $40-100 / month? You may have figured out how to use the WAP only plan with your PDA and laptop which sounds rather intriguing. I haven't seen any info on that before but enjoy it while it lasts. When they see over 100 mb of usage on a WAP plan they will catch on. :o

I never discussed anything about the speed of 1X networks. They have shown to be generally faster than GPRS and that is great. I investigated changing to CDMA/1XRTT offered by Telus Mobility (http://www.telusmobility.com/bc/business_solutions/velocity_wireless_cable_kit.shtml#3) here in Vancouver, but it costs twice as much for unlimited data and they have NO roaming agreements with any carrier in the US (I travel there for business). I even tested it out and the speed was pretty nice (around 60 kbps), but I get around 40-45 kbps with GPRS and with no roaming there was no way I could justify it. :cry:

[alanjrobertson]

I'm on Vodafone in the UK and they've got a pretty reasonable deal. IF you're on one of the more expensive tariffs* then you can go onto 'GPRS Select', which only costs 0.23p/Kb [$0.0037/€0.0034]. This is equivalent to a per Mb charge of £2.36 [$3.78/€3.44]. The key thing for me is that I don't have to buy a bundle up-front, it's just pay-as-you-go (my usage varies greatly from month to month).

Cheers

Alan

*I'm on Voda Xnet 200 - i.e., I get 200 minutes a month peak & off-peak to call any UK mobile (on any network) or landline [as always it costs nothing to receive calls on your mobile in the UK] - I pay £29.50/month for this tariff [$47.23/€43.03]

[Jonathon Watkins]

Well, the Register reports today that T-Mobile has taken an axe to data prices: http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/59/29600.html


T-Mobile aims to stimulate mobile data usage by cutting prices in Europe by between 50-70 per cent. The price cuts, along with simpler tariffs, come into play in April in all European subs where the mobile network operator has majority control.

In Germany, T-Mobile's home market, prices will fall from c. €0.19-€0.29 to €0.09 per data block transmitted. It's also offering a flat rate fee of €4.95 for transmitting around 300 emails and 1000 page imps. A 1MB account should cost less than €10 per month.