I applaud T-Mobile’s efforts to make their way into the already crowded iPhone and iPad space. But this iPad rollout just strikes me as ham-handed:
T-Mobile CEO John Legere tweeted today to clarify his company’s free 200MB monthly plans for iPads on its network. He reiterated that “everyone” gets 200MB of free data with no strings attached.
Earlier today, customers trying to buy iPads on T-Mobile were told they would have to pay a $10 monthly fee to access the “free” data, contradicting an offer from last week.
That is a sure way to squander any good-will gained. If your plan is to buy your way into the market using the iPad data plan as a loss-leader, then get the word out to your staff, make sure everyone is on the same page.
I had a similar experience moving to T-Mobile with the iPhone 5s. They had no idea that iPhones came with a SIM card pre-installed. The first two people I spoke with tried to send me a SIM card and activation code via mail. The third had to do a “workaround” to activate my phone without an activation code that accounts usually require.
You’d think they would have prepared for the opportunity to acquire new iPhone users.
To paraphrase Kevin Pollak, “They’re not ready.”
Everything T-Mobile is doing is confusing.
I had no issues with mine, got it the first day. This kind of thing is largely on the regional managers.. some were peeping their employee’s where others just coast.. thats something t-mobile needs to fix.. Was talking to the manager for our area the other week. He said he wouldn’t be surprised if the ‘house cleaning’ happened soon at regional levels.
Hardly everything. Absolutism is silly.
Definitely a botched rollout but I do like their recent changes.
Although I question how good 200 MB is for anyone. I have a free 200 MB on my Chromebook Pixel from Verizon. If I do anything meaningful on the web, I can run through 200 MB in minutes; as I did at Google I/O 15 minutes after opening my Pixel and installing 4 apps.
But…free is free. I guess some folks may take them up on it.
Looks like the classic bait & switch.
Apparently – the terms have changed again – or clarified anyway. If you are going to buy the iPad on the payment plan – you also have to sign up for their $20/mo 500mb plan. And once you pay the iPad off, if you cancel the $20 plan, the free data goes bye bye.
Talked to a CSR this morning to confirm. Essentially what they are doing is selling 700 mb for $20/mo. Not very competitive if you compare it to Verizon for instance where they charge you $10/mo to share from your big data bucket.