Fare Wars: $99 unlimited minutes from Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T!
This is simply amazing … in a mad scramble for customers reminiscent of the fare wars that major airlines engage in, every major carrier in the US has just introduced a $99 unlimited nationwide minute plan for their customers - all in this week!
Verizon seems like they were the first out of the gate with their plan, and you can read the details about this plan on their Unlimited promotion page - Verizon Truly Unlimited Calling, which appears to be available immediately. Text and picture messaging seems to be an additional charge, as does data usage (unless you like paying $1.99 per MB).
Not wanting to be out-done by Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile fired back with both barrels and launched equivalent plans, each with their own perks. The AT&T Unlimited Calling plan, which will be available on Friday the 22nd … and T-Mobile’s Unlimited Calling plan, which is available on Thursday the 21st.
The T-Mobile deal, so far, seems to be the best as their $99 package also includes unlimited SMS and MMS messaging. Not bad! However, AT&T’s press release specifically states that no contract extension is necessary. That’s pretty good too! No word yet on whether or not iPhone customers on AT&T will be eligible for these plans or not, but I’m optimistic.
Sadly, there’s nothing so far for Sprint/Nextel customers, or any of the smaller carriers like Alltel. Perhaps, much like the airlines, they’ll have to respond or see a major dent in their sales - not to mention, lost customers.
Feb 28 Update: Sprint has now joined in, and has launched their “Simply Everything” $99 plan.
If you have a minute plan that’s higher than $99, save yourself a few bucks, call your carrier immediately and get on this program!