T-Mobile’s ‘Free’ iPad Air Data Comes With A Huge Hitch

If it’s too good to be true, then it probably is. Go ahead and attach that saying to T-Mobile’s offer of “free” data for iPad Air users. Like many others, I was intrigued when T-Mobile announced last week that it would be offering 200MB of free data for life for users who purchase a Wi-Fi + Cellular iPad Air that could run on its network. So, instead of heading down to the local Apple Store this morning, I naïvely made a trip to a much closer T-Mobile retail location ready to make a purchase. And that’s where I found out the bad news. Unless you’re a T-Mobile voice customer, you’ll get charged $10 pmonth for your “free” 200MB of data. Voice customers will get a $10 monthly credit on their bill. Compare that reality to what T-Mobile said in a press release last week:

And every T-Mobile iPad user will receive 200 MB of free 4G LTE data every month for as long as they own their iPad, even if they aren't yet a T-Mobile customer.

For that same $10 per month, I could purchase a Verizon edition of the tablet and receive access to my 6GB “bucket” of data that already is shared between my two iPhones. But I headed down the road to my local Best Buy and went a different route – a 32GB Space Gray Wi-Fi iPad Air. I was in and out in less than 10 minutes. Sorry T-Mobile, you lost the chance for a customer who was planning to use a lot more than just my “free” data. Maybe there is a reason the company is the fourth-place carrier in the United States. Image: Mobility Digest

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