The Truth to T-Mobiles ''Take Control" program

[AllGlobaltk]

Guys I searched as there is minimul to no info on this...
Well I found it and wrote it.
Check it out.

http://www.collider.com/index.asp?aid=503&cid=15


Interesting

[kdenninger]

If they get rid of the $500 deposit requirement it will absolutely THRASH every other provider out there when it comes to customers with marginal or poor credit.

T-Mobile will get them ALL, with very limited risk to them (just the current month's charges)

If they then go to the next level, and make the "Take Control" a pay in advance for the current month plan, as do many other utilities (e.g. phone, etc), then they'll OWN that market with ZERO credit risk to them.

And people think the folks at T-Mo are stupid..... I think they're crazy - like a fox!

[poetic_folly]

Thats so sweet. I would sell that plan every day, all day.

[Dr. Trigsman]

Perfect for Parents!

The only thing that wasn't clear to me was info about the texts. Kids love texts, and it said that they are $ .10 each for outgoing. I wonder if this is only before you add texts to the plan.

I hope this does well in the test markets.

[AllGlobaltk]

Perfect for Parents!

The only thing that wasn't clear to me was info about the texts. Kids love texts, and it said that they are $ .10 each for outgoing. I wonder if this is only before you add texts to the plan.

I hope this does well in the test markets.

Bad thing is you cant add text to the plan
You cant add any features which leaves a little room for a large plan but not to large

[kdenninger]

.10/each isn't THAT horrible for messages. Yeah, its spendy compared to a bucket, but heh, something's gotta give.

For folks who want a PHONE but can't qual for credit, or who WANT the control of knowing they can't get a $200 overage bill, this is a good package.

T-Mo needs to bill "current month in advance", like most other utilities on this one. If they do that they'll have a real barnburner with zero risk.

[Hawaiian Boy]

C'mon Tmobile. Make this a reality and you'll be #1!!

[AllGlobaltk]

C'mon Tmobile. Make this a reality and you'll be #1!!

Number 1 for us but this could create alot of Churn which is the reason tmobile is doing so bad.

[aristoBrat]

Bad thing is you cant add text to the plan
You cant add any features which leaves a little room for a large plan but not to large

IMO, that kinda makes sense.

Unless they modify their text/MMS systems to not allow the person to send any more messages when they've emptied their plan's bucket, then the person has a potential to rack up a huge bill, which is what this plan is all about preventing, no?

Maybe if this plan becomes a real hit they can work around that (i.e. modify the sms/mms systems).

[aristoBrat]

Number 1 for us but this could create alot of Churn which is the reason tmobile is doing so bad.

If this plan is meant to attract customers that can't get service from other carriers (because they don't want to pay the huge deposits for post-paid, or pay some crazy pre-paid rate), where would customers who sign up for this plan "churn over" to?

[Steve B]

I was confused by something. They said because of issues, they terminated the $500 deposit waiver. So what exactly does that mean? Does that mean even the "Take Control" customers will still have to pay $500 deposit? Or do they "Take Control" customers pay $75 or $35? What about markets where "Take Control" isn't available, is the Smart Access plans still in effect with the $75 activation?

[kdenninger]

I think the "issue" was that they were totally unprepared for the huge deluge of customers that it generated, to the point that it impacted their stores ability to operate.

The solution to that is to be prepared before a national launch..... with the full intent of having the crush of customers - that's the idea - you get the crush of customers, the competition gets the silence of an empty store and an empty cash register!

[Dr. Trigsman]

There are many people that this plan would be perfect for.

However, IMO it still defeats the purpose of parents using it for kids since they want to text all the time. There is no question that $ .10 is pretty dirt cheap for outgoing, it doesn't compare to a bucket.

I like the idea of giving kids the responsibility of a phone, and the opportunity to show that they are reponsible, without the risk of overage charges, or a lot of them. 500 texts would be $50 a month. That's still a significant amount of overages for some parents.

Anyways, not bashing the plan by any means. I still think it is great.. I am only discussing one particular angle of it.

It would be nice if they could eventually cap the texts also, and offer normal upgrades like mobile-to-mobile for parents.

[AllGlobaltk]

I think the "issue" was that they were totally unprepared for the huge deluge of customers that it generated, to the point that it impacted their stores ability to operate.

The solution to that is to be prepared before a national launch..... with the full intent of having the crush of customers - that's the idea - you get the crush of customers, the competition gets the silence of an empty store and an empty cash register!

Yes that is exactly what it was. Made the stores unable to operate properly

The clarification of the smart access and $500

For the first 2 weeks they where waiving all deposits as you see above they stopped it.

This plan is only effective in the test markets nothing to do with other markets at all.
If you are smart acccess 75 in the test market you dont pay the additional 40 just the $35 on the first months bill.

Hope it answeres your questions

[Ulysses]

I think that if you are short on your balance. The sms will not be sent as is standard practice on European prepaids. I know that Sprint cuts you off if you reach your 150 dollar balance on one of their plans.

I like the idea of giving kids the responsibility of a phone, and the opportunity to show that they are reponsible, without the risk of overage charges, or a lot of them. 500 texts would be $50 a month. That's still a significant amount of overages for some parents.