Interview: T-Mobile Dropping Overages Great for Latinos, VP Torres Says
T-Mobile ended domestic overage charges for customers last Monday and sparked a new wave of unrest among U.S. wireless carriers by asking others to follow suit. T-Mobile Vice President and General Manager for the Southeast Region Gabriel Torres spoke to Latin Post earlier this week and stressed how important the announcement is for consumers in general, and even more so for Latinos.
According to T-Mobile, over 20 million Americans were slapped with overages from AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint that amounted to more than $1 billion. This ridiculous amount is why, T-Mobile says, it is dropping all overages -- a move that Torres believes is great for the Latinos in general.
"I believe that specifically for the Latino customer where we not only have the higher consumption of data, but also higher consumption of voice and text, this move to eliminate overages, and our challenge to our competitors to do the same, should benefit the Latino community disproportionally," Torres told Latin Post over the phone. "Because we already know we use smartphones more, we use data more, and we talk more, this should be great news for the Latino consumer."
Getting rid of overages, however, won't just give T-Mobile users a free pass in the fast lane.
"All of our plans since we launched the Simple Choice plans last year include unlimited data with a bucket of high-speed 4G LTE data and then beyond that the plan gets throttled. That will be the case for all Legacy plans for data as well," Torres said.
Dropping overages is the third announcement T-Mobile has made in the past couple weeks. The carrier first revealed a $40 starter plan and then lowered the price of LTE tablets down to their Wi-Fi counterparts. T-Mobile is adamant about introducing changes to the U.S. wireless industry, and they issue a challenge to other carriers to follow suit.
"...I'm laying down a challenge to AT&T, Verizon and Sprint to join T-Mobile in ending these outrageous overage penalties for all consumers -- because it's the right thing to do," T-Mobile president and CEO John Legere said in a press release. "Overage fees are flat out wrong. Agree with me? Join me in putting this challenge to all the major national carriers by signing my petition on Change.org. Right here. Take one minute to be a part of this consumer movement."