It looks like T-Mobile is the latest US wireless carrier to jump on the prepaid 3G data bandwagon. The company hasn’t officially announced anything yet, but Engadget snagged a leaked copy of a training document which lays out prices for T-Mobile’s upcoming prepaid plans.

Here’s the breakdown:

  • $10 will get you 100MB of data transfers or 7 days of usage, whichever comes first
  • $30 gets you 300MB or 30 days
  • $50 is good for 1GB or 30 days

Of course, that’s a lot pricier than T-Mobile’s subscription plans which let you transfer up to 5GB of data per month for $39. But you’ll need to sign up for a 1 or 2 year service agreement with an early termination fee of up to $200 to get that rate.

The new prepaid options are expected to roll out this month.

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5 replies on “T-Mobile to offer prepaid, contract-free mobile broadband”

  1. This is youchingly expensive though – we talk about “Rip-off Britain” but at least our mobile broadband isn’t a complete swindle like the US seem to suffer. I currently pre-pay ÂŁ15 ($24) for a gigabyte of data, with effectively no expiry at all, on what is generally considered a good quality network.

  2. T-Mobile’s 3G coverage is pretty crappy. There’s a reason why they don’t have very many customers.

  3. Didn’t know data plans (prepaid at that) in the US costs this much. Here in the Philippines, carriers charge about $1 per day with a daily download limit of 1 GB. For a 7 day prepaid plan, the charge goes down to $6. I always have been under the impression that the Philippines have the most expensive data access plans in the world.

    1. You can’t just use the exchange rate when comparing prices. Companies price their products based on how much people are able and willing to pay for it. The average income in the Philippines is very low and most things there are priced accordingly. You can’t say $6 dollars for a 7 day mobile broadband pass is cheap when a lot of people only make a few bucks (USD) a day. It’s more like a full days work can get me 7 days of internet. I guess you’re just one of the few rich people there.

  4. T-Mobile’s coverage map I think is better (anyone less lazy and wants to compare them? :)), but Virgin (using Sprint’s 3G network) has unlimited data via 3G for $40/mo. It’s no FiOS, and it’s not everywhere, but I’ve been surprised by how good it’s been for me.

    (So far tried it out in Seattle, Baltimore, Maryland’s Eastern Shore, NYC, the train from Harrisburg, PA to Philadelphia, the bus from Philly to NYC … for whatever reason, it didn’t work well the first day or so I had it, but worked in all these places otherwise. Caveat: “worked” sounds binary, but really it’s relative: speed was better in Philly and NYC than in Harrisburg, and wireless coverage can be pretty finicky.) A coworker has one now as well, in southern Michigan, reports happiness with his, too — this weekend, he’ll see whether he can wring anything out of the airwaves in northern Michigan, too.)

    Not to belittle the T-Mobile offering 🙂 I may be wrong about their footprint, but if it really is bigger than Sprint’s data map, I might prefer to pay a few more dollars each month for a greater area in which to roam. The more the merrier!

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