T-Mobile USA Begins Taking Pre-Orders for iPhone 5 Ahead of April 12 Launch

meanwhile at T-Mobile in Germany ;)
Image (http://i45.tinypic.com/358cbnr.jpg)

Meanwhile at Macrumors where 3% of the members can understand german.

so you are basically paying for an unsubsidized phone but then bound to a two year commitment and no savings on the plans ? Why would I do this again ?

Because this is not a contract like with AT&T or Verizon where you pay $200 up front and pay the additional forever if you never upgrade. With this plan you eventually pay off the phone and $20 a month comes off your bill.

I think this is a very unique and appears to be better way to do this. I hope we see others follow.

so you are basically paying for an unsubsidized phone but then bound to a two year commitment and no savings on the plans ? Why would I do this again ?

T-Mobile no longer has service commitments

so you are basically paying for an unsubsidized phone but then bound to a two year commitment and no savings on the plans ? Why would I do this again ?

You didn't quite read it.

Nobody "subsidises" any phones. What most companies do is give you a phone with a cheap down payment, charge you more over the next 24 months, and then charge you more again after these months.

T-Mobile tells you what the phone costs, and gives you two options to pay - pay it all in one go, or $99 now and the rest over 24 months. That's a purchase, and you have to pay the purchase price. You wouldn't expect not to have to pay, right? In addition, they offer phone and data service at some price with no long-term contract. Actually, three different levels of data service at different prices.

What I like about it is that they offer things in a way that almost everyone would understand. I have seen plenty of people who just _do not understand_ that what they pay for a "subsidized" iPhone is not the price of an iPhone. And if you ever looked at prices at O2 in the UK, either whoever sets the prices is a complete idiot, or, more likely, they are intentionally trying to confuse their customers.

Seems like bad timing with iPhone 5S around the corner.

meanwhile at T-Mobile in Germany ;)
Image (http://i45.tinypic.com/358cbnr.jpg)

US and Europe are apples and oranges with this stuff for a variety of reasons. How much do you pay for gas? Again, apples and oranges, just very different markets.