T-Mobile cuts prices on family plans with 7-10 lines, launches $10/month tablet plan

T-Mobile US (NYSE:TMUS) simplified its family plan pricing yet again and also is now offering customers the ability to add a tablet for an extra $10 per month and get the same data allotment they have on their smartphone plan on their tablet.

The new offerings are the latest salvo from T-Mobile in what has become a steady drumbeat of pricing changes since T-Mobile and Sprint (NYSE: S) reportedly called off talks to merge earlier this month.

On the family plan front, starting Aug. 27, T-Mobile Simple Choice customers will be able to add a new line for $10 per line per month after the second subscriber. The first line costs $50 per month and the second line costs $30 per month. T-Mobile has expanded the number of family lines customers can add from five to 10.

When customers purchase four or more lines, each member of T-Mobile's family calling plan gets unlimited voice, texting and 2.5 GB of LTE data before throttling through the end of 2015. After that, the data allotments per line will drop down to 1 GB per line before throttling.

The pricing for family plans supersedes the family pricing T-Mobile had announced last week. Under the old pricing, the first line cost $50 per month, the second line cost $30, lines 3-6 cost $10 each and lines 7-10 cost $20 each. A T-Mobile spokesman told FierceWireless that any customers who signed up under the old pricing will be automatically moved to the new pricing.

The new pricing from T-Mobile indicates that competition for the family segment is going to continue to be fierce. Such plans often not only bring over larger numbers of subscriber additions per account but also lead to lower churn, which is why carriers are keen to entice families to stay or switch.

Sprint's new shared data plans for families offer double the data of similarly-priced plans from Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) and AT&T Mobility (NYSE: T). Sprint has noted that families can get a plan of four smartphone lines with 20 GB of data for $160, compared to 10 GB of data for the same price at AT&T or Verizon.

Sprint is also offering a promotion from through Sept. 30 that offers a family with up to 10 lines 20 GB of shared data for only $100 per month through the end of 2015, plus an extra 2 GB per line for up to 10 lines.

Meanwhile, T-Mobile is also touting its tablet offering. Starting Sept. 3, customers can add a tablet to a postpaid Simple Choice plan for an extra $10 per month. T-Mobile is also going to match customers' smartphone LTE data plans on their tablets up to 5 GB. So, for example, if a customer had 1 GB of LTE data on their $50 per month smartphone plan, they could get 1 GB of data on their tablet too for $60 total, though the data is not shareable between the two devices. The tablet promotion is a limited-time offer but T-Mobile said there is no current end date for the promotion.

For more:
- see this T-Mobile family plan release
- see this T-Mobile family plan site
- see this T-Mobile tablet plan release
- see this T-Mobile site

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Sprint drops unlimited everything plan to $60, undercuts T-Mobile by $20
Analysts: Sprint's new shared data plans not disruptive enough to change its fortunes
T-Mobile to give unlimited LTE data to customers who 'rescue' subscribers from Sprint, others
T-Mobile's family plans now support up to 10 lines

Correction, Aug. 26, 2014: Due to an editing error, this article incorrectly identified how long Sprint's promotion that offers a family with up to 10 lines 20 GB of shared data for only $100 per month would give customers that pricing through. It will last through the end of 2015, not the end of 2105.