After what felt like years of being the butt of jokes made by T-Mobile and Sprint, Verizon finally reintroduced an unlimited data plan in time for Valentine’s Day. Unfortunately for Big Red, T-Mobile tried to rain on its unlimited parade with changes to its One plan.
Starting this Friday, February 17, the One plan will include HD video streaming and 10GB of high-speed hot spot data. Previously, you needed to fork over either an extra $3 each day or $15 each month for streaming video higher than 480p resolution. T-Mobile told Ars Technica that HD video will need to be enabled once every 30 days, though the day passes will be phased out. As for the hot spot data, One capped customers at 512Kbps speeds and needed to either upgrade to the One Plus plan or pay $3 for 24-hour passes for higher speeds.
What looks to win over some folks, however, is the $100 price tag for two lines under the One plan, which undercuts Verizon’s offering by $40. It is unknown whether the pricing change is permanent, though pricing is still the same $70 per month for one line. Previously, you needed to shell out $120 for two lines.
The changes will go into effect for new and existing customers, though the latter will need to activate these features either through the T-Mobile app or T-Mobile’s website.
Even though these changes are certainly welcome, since competition is what led to them, capping customers at 480p streaming video resolution and 512Kbps tethering speeds with the original One plan were seen as two controversial and asinine “features.” With the changes, T-Mobile positioned uncompressed video streaming as a promotional feature rather than something we should take for granted.
It will be interesting to see if Verizon responds, particularly since it has not even been two days since it announced its unlimited data plan.
