T-Mobile launches $70 plan with “unlimited” high-speed data on September 6; HD video access costs $25 extra
Todd Bishop / GeekWire :
Context & Ripple Effects
T-Mobile has been circling unlimited data for a year: a late-2015 report outlined an Uncarrier 10 plan bundling unlimited high-speed data for select streaming services like Netflix and HBO, and days before this launch it began selling $3/day HD passes because the base plan caps video at 480p. The September 6 plan makes that structure permanent: $70 for unlimited high-speed data, with HD video as a $25 monthly add-on.
The significance is that T-Mobile is defining what 'unlimited' means again — and within five months, the move forces the market's response: T-Mobile adds HD video and tethering to its plan to match Verizon's new unlimited offering, and AT&T counters with its own $100 unlimited plan.
First-order effects
- T-Mobile customers get unlimited high-speed data for $70 starting September 6, but HD video is paywalled at $25 extra — video quality, not data volume, becomes the upsell.
- The plan immediately resets the competitive baseline: Verizon and AT&T, which had retreated from unlimited data, are now priced against a $70 unlimited offer.
Second-order effects
- Verizon's entry into unlimited data forces T-Mobile to fold HD video and 10GB tethering into its base plan, eroding the $25 add-on revenue it just created.
- AT&T answers with a $100 unlimited plan (no DirecTV requirement, throttling after 22GB), turning unlimited data into a three-carrier price war within six months.
Third-order effects
- 'Unlimited' becomes a tiered product rather than a flat promise — carriers compete on what the base plan excludes (video resolution, tethering, throttling thresholds), shifting differentiation from gigabytes to quality gates.
- The pattern suggests carriers will keep re-bundling and unbundling features around a headline unlimited price, with each competitor move forcing the others to sweeten base plans — a structural ratchet toward more value at the $70-100 price band.
The trend: US carriers are re-entering unlimited data not as a flat product but as a tiered platform, with video quality and tethering as the new levers of price competition.