T-Mobile Essentials vs T-Mobile ONE: which is the best plan?
T-Mobile has just launched the new T-Mobile Essentials plan that is unlimited and is cheaper than the familiar T-Mobile ONE plan, so which one should you choose and what are the hidden pitfalls?
We have looked at the ins and outs of T-Mobile's wireless service plans and while it now has multiple "unlimited" plans, there are actually different limitations for each of those plans that are worth considering.
*T-Mobile One Plus International option will be removed as of tomorrow.
So what are the limitations and what are the prices? Take a look at the table right below:
| T-Mobile Essentials | T-Mobile ONE | T-Mobile ONE Plus | T-Mobile ONE Plus International | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prices | $60 first line $30 second line $15 for third and more lines | $70 first line $50 second line $20 third line $20 fourth line | $10 on top of ONE (per line) | $25 on top of ONE (per line) |
| Minutes | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Texting | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| 4G LTE data | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Throttling after? | 50GB | 50GB | 50GB | 50GB |
| Streaming | Unlimited @ 480p | Unlimited @ 480p | Unlimited @ 720p, HD | Unlimited @ 720p, HD |
| Hotspot Tethering | Yes, 3G speeds (only up to 600Kbps) | Yes, 3G speeds | 10GB 4G LTE hotspot Unlimited 3G | Unlimited 4G LTE hotspot |
| Roaming | - | - | - | - |
| Extras | - | Netflix Standard 2-screen (for 2 lines) | Unlimited in-flight data (Gogo) Visual voicemail Name ID | Unlimited in-flight data (Gogo) Visual voicemail Name ID Unlimited international calling (to select countries) |
**Unlike T-Mobile ONE which had all taxes and fees included, T-Mobile Essentials requires users to separately pay those taxes and fees on top of the monthly plan payment.
As you can see, we have the T-Mobile Essentials along with three different variations of the T-Mobile ONE plan.
The biggest reason to pay more (with the One plan extensions) is to get higher quality streaming, more data for use your phone as a mobile hotspot, as well as for extras and bonuses like unlimited in-flight data and international calling.
First, though the basic Essentials and One plan both come with one important limitation: they can only stream video at a quite unsightly 480p quality. Bummer! And that's in the era of Quad HD and 4K screens! But of course, T-Mobile keeps this as its main incentive for users to upgrade to a more costly One extension. So if you want a high-quality, 720p HD (1080p streaming is not even an option, unfortunately), you'd need to go to the One Plus plan starting at $80 for the first line.
Comparing the new Essentials to the older basic One plan, the slightly cheaper Essentials plan makes the following concessions:
- first customers to suffer from throttled speeds in congested times and areas
- very slow mobile tethering (only 600Kbps speeds)
- no Netflix included
- no unlimited music streaming
- taxes and fees are not included in the monthly payment
So... take one more careful look at the table and see whether you can deal with those compromises to save a few bucks.
Are you using T-Mobile? And are you happy with the service and the prices? Let us know in the comments right below!
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