Amidst all the chatter from Verizon Wireless about being the first major carrier in the United States to offer shared data plans for families this summer, T-Mobile is taking a radically different approach. In a blog post, senior vice president of marketing at T-Mobile Andrew Sherrard made his views perfectly clear: shared data plans are not the way to go.
“Some of our competitors are backing away from simple, unlimited data and moving to family shared data plans. But would this approach actually deliver a better value to consumers? Do families really want to keep track of each others’ data consumption? We don’t think so,” he writes. “Just imagine mom’s email is suddenly unavailable because her teenage son watched an HD movie on his phone, consuming the family’s data allotment.” He then goes on to talk about how optimal data plans should contain three qualities: affordability, worry-free, and fair — i.e. if you pay more, you should get more features and flexibility.
A few parts of this post deserve special attention. Without wording it this way, T-Mobile basically said it does not think families with smartphones want shared data plans. Is this based on a survey of some sort? If so, where are the statistics? If not, why is T-Mobile basing an entire business strategy on pure speculation? Also, the point about someone’s Internet being cut off due to a different family member’s high usage is fair, but the same can apply to certain family calling plans. Data should be no different than tracking minutes or texts.
In a nutshell, it’s a really long way of T-Mobile announcing that it has absolutely no plans of offering shared data plans for families any time soon. The message is that customers with smartphones should instead choose an appropriate data package that best suits their needs without having to monitor their family’s usage or consume data from one large pool.
Do you agree? Give your input in the comments below.