On August 6th, T-mobile will be introducing two new additions to their current competitive lineup of services. The first is the new parent-friendly Family Allowance, which we talked about yesterday (Yes, it was delayed due to some technical issues). The second new service should bring a lot of excitement to customers that hate 1 or 2 year contracts (or 3 like they have in Canada). Starting August 6th, T-mobile will be the first national carrier to offer month to month postpaid plans. It sounds like these plans will be very similar, if not the same, to T-mobile’s current offerings of individual, or family time plans, with or without MyFaves. Upfront costs will include an activation fee, and the full retail price of any phone purchased*. To us, this sounds like an extreamely customer friendly step by T-mobile, that we greatly appreciate. Credit checks will be required for this plan, however they will be the same as any 1 or 2 year contract credit checks. Unfortunately T-mobile@Home will not be avalible to customers that sign up for month to month contracts.

*For those that don’t want to spend hundreds on an unsubsadized postpaid phone, try picking up a T-mobile prepaid Nokia 2610, or a Motorola V195 for $29.99. Then just slip in your postpaid SIM card and your ready to go!

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About two weeks ago we brought you the news that T-mobile was working on a new family allowance service, and now we’re here to bring you some more details. Starting July 30th, parents will be able to add the allowance restrictions add-on to their T-mobile Family Plan. All good things can’t come without a catch, right? Right. Well the cost of this add-on will be $2/month, for the whole account. For $2 a month, parents will be able to restrict the number or minutes used, the numbers kids are able to call/not call, and the times calls can and cannot be made. Restrictions can also be placed on text and picture messaging, 411, and chargable downloads. We assume T-mobile is smart enough to let emergency calls go through during restricted times. MyT-mobile.com (T-mobile’s online portal for customers) will be updated with a easy-to-use interface for users that are opting to purchase the $2/month restrictions. Parents will also be able to use T-zones to manage this service. Let the parent-teen arguements begin!

Thanks David, and everyone who sent this in

Update: It is confirmed that with the addition of minute allowance, T-mobile will discontinue their KidConnect plan

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Well not really, consumerist in its usual grand form got a little info from a reader as to who exactly can qualify for this get out of jail free card. Two little rules and we will call them “flimsy” at best to steal consumerists verbage.

1. Can’t have unlimited messaging bundle on your account within the past 3 months
2. Has to have been charged for text messages during the past 3 months

I know this is a heated argument at pretty much every forum known in the wireless world but it is MY opinion and I emphasize my opinion that a materially adverse change is exactly as the article says, an adverse change. Imposing restrictions on a contract that has been voided is just plain stupidity on the part of T-mobile. T-mobs we expect so much more.

Check out the article here…

A quick glimpse at the comments over there show that they are indeed using those two rules as a guideline for cancelling out contracts upon request.

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We’ve been hearing a lot whispers of some kind of new Minute Allowance feature with T-mobile, but thanks to our faithful tipsters we can safely say that teens around the US are not excited for July 30th. From what we are hearing, minute allowance is designed to keep families connected, and overages down. Parents will be able to control minute usage, costs, and more, via both MyT-mobile.com and their T-zones portal on their mobile phone. This will be great for those parents with over talkative teens that don’t know when to hang up. Hell, it could be used as a punishment too, the last thing teens want to hear is “Your not grounded, but you can only use 30 minutes on your phone this month.” However it is used, it is definitely a step in the right direction of stopping unwanted and unexpected (and outrageous) overages.

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The day will soon arrive when you can finally block all those messages from the crazy ex’s, annoying friends and hell even your parents (kids)! Thats right T-mobile fans mark your calenders as July 16th is the day. Hallelujah! Here is what we know:

Beginning July 16, T-Mobile will offer Message Blocking, an add-on feature that gives customers the ability to block unwanted chargeable messages. TMobile will offer Message Blocking free of charge. Our Message Blocking services will allow customers to block the following chargeable messages individually or all together:

• Text/Picture Messages
• Instant Messages
• E-mail

Note: The option of blocking instant messages and e-mail will not block any Internet driven instant messages and e-mail via a data feature (WAP deck). Message Blocking should be recommended to customers if the following options will not meet their needs:

• Message Value Bundle
• Spam Filter (available via My T-Mobile)
• Family Allowances feature (for family or multi-line individual plans only – launching soon. Stay tuned!)

Customers who use Message Blocking will continue to receive non-chargeable messages from T-Mobile that are required to maintain the service.

This is terrific news and I am sure just about everyone will agree this is a major step in the right direction. Whether a response to this, or just a brand new service we can all agree this is a very very welcome addition.

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As it turns out, T-mobile doesn’t monitor the origination of the I.P. address for their Wifi Hotspot@Home calls. Translation: If you make a call using T-mobile’s Hotspot@Home, they don’t care where it is from. We’re not talking calls from places like California, Texas, and New York. We’re talking Argentina, China, London, Israel, and South Africa…Anywhere that has open Wifi, you can make a UMA call to the US for no international roaming charge. Now, if you don’t have unlimited Hotspot@Home minutes they will be deducted out of your anytime minutes bucket (unless it is Nights, Weekends, or M2M) But if you want to talk as long as you want snatch up T-mobile’s $9.99 Unlimited Hotspot@Home add-on. We know this is starting to sound like an advertisement for T-mobile; we’re just excited that we can travel around the world, and still make free calls to the US wherever we find open Wifi! We have read reports of inferior call quality while making these international Wifi calls, but really, is that unexpected? Still a great deal

T-mobile, why are you not advertising this?!

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Clarification: This article refers to ONLY calls made outside the U.S., to a U.S. phone number. The following are NOT free: Calls made from the U.S. to an international number, or from overseas, to an overseas number.

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