T-Mobile is Jacking Up Prices
I have always thought that T-Mobile’s John Legere is crazy as a fox.
He took T-Mobile and their sick 2G network and built the T-Mobile that we know today. When he took over, most customers on T-mobile enjoyed “edge” data speeds, if they could get data at all. The fact that you saw “3G” on your phone didn’t mean that the tower even had a data connection.
He did it by breaking all of the rules. He priced T-Mobile service so cheap that anybody that was price sensitive would switch, and put up with slow as molasses speeds. And, it worked. Today, T-Mobile is making a boatload of money and is cannibalizing it’s competition.
But what you may not have noticed is that T-Mobile is now steadily raising its prices. In by inch, T-Mobile is quietly jacking everybody up.
The price for stateside calling has increased from $5 a month to $15 a month. The price for international roaming has increased from 20 cents to 25 cents. For the extra $15 a month for improved international data speeds you now get only 2x 2G speeds, no longer getting 3G speeds or better. The price for one line service has increased. Bit by bit, piece by piece, crazy-as-a-fox Legere is starting to milk us all.
I find this worrisome, actually.
T-Mobile is in the final throws of acquiring Sprint. Once that is done we will have a three carrier world. History has shown that three competitors can price-fix a market just fine.
With these price increases already underway we should all be concerned. I would surmise that once T-Mobile acquires Sprint and they become the largest bandwidth holder in America, they will build out their network and continue to jerk up prices. That would leave little for competitive pressure since neither Verizon nor AT&T have ever shown any ability to lead on prices.
We should all be very, very worried.