T-Mobile Gets Rid of Contracts, Phone Subsidies

By Gilbert Falso :: 8:46 PM

If you heard rumors over the weekend that T-Mobile was making big changes, those rumors were true. The wireless service provider will be ending contracts and subsidies for phone purchases beginning tomorrow.

The move away from phone subsidies, the ability to pay less for your phone up-front by signing into a long-term contract, is a new phenomenon in the U.S. cellular phone marketplace. T-Mobile is the first U.S. carrier to end phone subsidies.

T-Mobile customers will now be required to pay full price for their device if they buy it through the network. That price can be spread out in installments, or be paid in one lump sum. In addition, T-Mobile will allow customers to bring their own device to the network and simply pay for the service plan.

New plans begin at $50 per month for one line, $30 for a second line and $10 for additional lines after the second. The plans come with unlimited minutes for talk, unlimited texting and 500 megabytes of high-speed data.

Users can pay $10 per a month for an additional 2 gigabytes of high-speed data, or $20 a month for unlimited high-speed data on a per-line basis.

The company will unveil these plans in more detail at a press event tomorrow. In addition to the new plans, T-Mobile is also expected to announce their version of the iPhone as well as the release of the the BlackBerry Z10 for their network.