T-Mobile Introduces T-Mix – Base Plans that Allow You to Pick and Choose Additional Line Perks

T-Mobile announced a new series of postpaid smartphone plans called T-Mix, which will become available in November. T-Mobile has not yet announced a specific launch date.

T-Mix Plan Details

The T-Mix lineup will come with three core plans - Standard, More, and Loaded.

Each plan includes its own set of core smartphone features, including premium data, hotspot data, international data, and video streaming quality.

The More and Loaded plans each include unlimited premium on-device data, while the Standard plan includes 50GB of premium on-device data. For hotspot data, Loaded includes 250GB of high-speed data, More includes 60GB, and Standard includes unlimited hotspot data capped at 3G speeds. More and Loaded include up to 4K UHD video, while Standard is SD.

Unlike Verizon and AT&T, however, T-Mobile will still require all smartphone lines on a multi-line account to use the same base plan. You won't be able to put one line on Standard, another on More, and another on Loaded.

Plan Pricing And Terms

Here's a chart published by T-Mobile in their announcement that shows more of the details for each plan:

For a single line, the Standard plan starts at $55/month and includes 1 Pick, the More plan starts at $75/month and includes 2 Picks, and the Loaded plan starts at $95/month and includes 3 Picks. These prices require AutoPay, and taxes and fees are extra.

As additional lines are added, the average per-line price goes down, and the account receives additional Picks.

What are Picks? It's a bit complicated...

T-Mobile “Picks”

The main change in this new T-Mobile lineup is that each account gets a set number of what T-Mobile calls "Picks."

Think of "Picks" as tokens or points you can spend to customize the plan.

Your account gets a bucket of Picks that depend on the plan tier and number of lines. Each optional benefit has a price tag of between 1 and 4 Picks. For example, if your account has 2 Picks, you can spend them on two benefits that each cost 1 Pick, or one benefit that costs 2 Picks.

T-Mobile has categorized benefits into Partner Picks (benefits from companies other than T-Mobile), and T-Mobile Picks.

Partner Picks include services such as Apple TV, Netflix, Google AI, YouTube Premium, Xbox Game Pass, and even Delta SkyMiles. T-Mobile Picks are used for T-Mobile wireless benefits such as T-Satellite and Optimized Video Calls, as well as device promotions.

The important thing to understand is that Picks are pooled across the entire account - they are not permanently assigned to individual lines.

For example, an account with four Loaded lines gets 11 Picks total. The account owner can mix and match those 11 Picks however they choose. You could spend 4 Picks on ESPN Unlimited, 1 Pick on T-Satellite, and 3 Picks on a device promotion for one line, leaving 3 Picks available for other benefits.

What you get for those Picks depends on the benefit. For example, T-Mobile says that spending 1 Pick on T-Satellite activates T-Satellite for all eligible lines on the account. Device promotions, however, apply to a specific line and can require between 1 and 3 Picks for that line.

Picks also aren't points that you can save up over time. Unused Picks do not accumulate from quarter to quarter.

There are also limits on how often you can change your selections. Partner benefits can generally be changed during quarterly change windows. You can change some wireless benefits, such as T-Satellite, at any time. If you use Picks for a device promotion, those Picks remain committed for the duration of that promotion.

This approach is similar in some ways to the model Verizon has been using for the past few years, starting with its myPlan lineup that rolled out in 2023, and its current Simplicity lineup that rolled out earlier this year.

There is an important difference, however. Verizon generally charges an additional monthly fee for each optional perk. With T-Mix, the Picks themselves are included with the plan, and you use that limited Pick budget to choose which benefits you want.

T-Mobile does not allow customers to simply buy additional Picks à la carte. To get more Picks, customers will generally need to move to a higher T-Mix plan or add additional eligible lines.

Comparison To Other Plans

For our audience of mobile-internet users, we tend to focus most on premium data, hotspot data, and video resolution.

Compared to the Experience 2.0 plans, T-Mix More and Loaded offer the same premium data, hotspot allotments, and 4K video capabilities as Experience More 2.0 and Beyond 2.0.

The price of the new T-Mix plans will be slightly less - $75 for More and $95 for Loaded, down from $85 for Experience More 2.0, and from $100 for Experience Beyond 2.0.

But the trade-off is that many benefits that were automatically included with Experience plans must now be selected using Picks that are included with your plan.

Comparison to AT&T And Verizon

The new T-Mobile top-tier Loaded plan will have the same base price as Verizon's top-tier Unlimited Ultimate plan. The Loaded plan will come with three Picks included, while on Verizon's plan you can add on as many extra features as you want, but for $10-$15/month per feature. 

AT&T's top-tier Elite 2.0 plan is the most expensive at $110/month, and it does not offer the ability to add on any additional perks.

Existing Plans Will Be Retired

As for T-Mobile's existing plans, the announcement didn't say what would happen to them, but CNET reported that the Experience 2.0 plans will be retired once T-Mix launches. Existing customers, however, will be grandfathered on their current plans.

This early announcement gives current and potential customers a chance to compare pricing and features, and lock in the Experience 2.0 plans if those are a better overall option. 

Bookmark