There's not much left to say regarding Pokémon GO's success - it's a tremendously addictive app that delights both casual players and Pokéfanatics. Unfortunately, an app of this magnitude does come at a cost despite it being a free download. Pokémon GO saps the battery of mobile phone devices, and that's due to having WiFi / data, the phone's GPS, and potentially the camera activated throughout play-through experiences. A portable battery charger fixes the issue of your battery dying on you - this writer went and ordered one as soon as his phone died on him while trying to catch a Squirtle - but your data is also something to keep in mind.
With that said, mobile phone service provider T-Mobile has introduced an offer in the US as part of its next set of "T-Mobile Tuesday" rewards. As follows:
– Free, unlimited data on Pokémon Go, so it won't touch your high-speed data—for a full year!
– Free Lyft rides up to $15 to get to a new PokéStop or Gym
– Free Wendy's Frosty to fuel up for your hunting trip
– 50% off select accessories – including portable power packs and chargers at T-Mobile stores – so you can keep on playing for hours
On top of that, 250 people will each win $100 in PokéCoins, and five people will win a Pokémon Go hunting trip anywhere in the U.S. for themselves and a guest!
New and existing customers of the network can claim these rewards using the T-Mobile Tuesdays app (available for both iOS and Android), but this must be redeemed on any Tuesday between Tuesday 19th July and Tuesday 9th August.
It seems like a smart move by T-Mobile to jump on the GO wave, and it wouldn't be surprising if other providers offer similar deals.
What do you think, do deals like this prove tempting or is it a marketing gimmick?
[source newsroom.t-mobile.com]
Comments 29
I thought T-Mobile merged with Orange to become EE years ago.
they honestly had my attention at "Free Frosty"
This is getting out of hand! What's next automobile companies offering 1000$ cash back for people to use as fuel to travel and catch Pokemon?
Of course safety first, no driving and catching that is!
@twadezelda3dsxl They were bought up by EE, but they still operate the Orange and T-Mobile brands.
@SM4SHshorts - would be good to get some indicative figures for data usage with this app e.g. average amount of data allowance used playing the app for one hour.
@gcunit Not relevant but dang your avatar pic is awesome. Sexy ass Link pole dancing? I need that in my life XD
Pokémon Go hardly uses any data anyway, so this sounds like a rather desperate attempt to convert Pokémon Go fans(downloading updates is another story and I do that via Wi-Fi anyway).
I'm on prepaid (I don't use my phone often enough to justify a $30 monthly plan, so I just buy $10 here and there), and I'm charged 7.2c per MB, and that's not exactly cheap, but I only find myself having spent around 20c-60c per outing. I'm really, really happy with those rates.
Bad, bad thing. This is part of the anti-net neutrality campaign by large tech companies. By getting people to accept such deals it boosts their argument that people should pay for better access to certain sites/resources online.
Pokemon Go hardly even uses any data. This "deal" is definitely more for their benefit than for ours.
I"M HYPERVENTILATING FOR REEL RIGHT NOW! I NOW KNOW WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO WIN THE LOTTERY! I"M SEEING STARS! THIS TAKES CARE OF ALL MY PROBLEMS!!!!!
When I read about the Wendy's Frosty I knew it was created just for me. ^.^ <3
I have unlimited data (on T-Mobile), so it's not a big deal for me, but I still think it's really cool how they're recognizing how huge this game is!
I'm on pay as you go, so I'm at a bit of a disadvantage.
This would be the first time I actually use that app, even though I have it downloaded for a month now.
I only used 138mb/7gb of my high speed T-Mobile data so far, seem like it doesn't eat up as much as I thought.
I would use the free frosty but there is no Wendy's close enough to be worth it.
Wish they did something like this in the UK
How does the ISP distinguish and separate data transfer from PGO and other usage?
Well, I have T-mobile. This Tuesday I will be signing up for that lol
Agree with @KarolMcD , this is a very clever deal that seems to offer the world to prospective buyers, but doesn't actually offer much in practice, and has some sordid underpinnings in the fine print. The backend of how Pokemon Go works just seems to keep getting more and more heinous... Yet people will not only accept it without forethought, they will love it.
"People will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think."
~ Aldous Huxley
That's just free press for Nintendo. Good for them!
Um AT&T needs to step up their game. That has me thinking about switching...
@BornInNorway81 I'd like to know the same, must be some black magic or something.
@Uberchu, this is actually fairly easy to do in practice. At T-Mobile's level, they can see all Internet and data requests passing through their servers. Cell phone towers need to be able to read a unique identifier off of your phone that allows your device to access the Internet at all. Combine the two, and they'll be able to track how much Pokemon Go traffic you use and subtract it from your data total.
Now, for T-Mobile's permanent data saving offers, like their ads that say they won't charge you data for music streaming access, they can afford to do this because they've worked with Pandora and other similar web sites to cache the content in a way that doesn't cost T-Mobile as much money and bandwidth to offer it to their customers as it would cost another provider that didn't do any caching.
@Spoony_Tech there is an UBer for Pokémon GO
@sillygostly I have Telstra in Australia, so so far, we arte beginning to see serous integration hell, real estate are talking about adding proximity to pokestops as a feature.
this is the uncanny valley.... there is no turning back...
@KarolMcD I thought it was to stay "competitive" seeing as telcos are feeling the revolution of AR now...
those who embrace Pokémon GO will see short term gains and when GO is more stable, a long term lock in of profit.
Pokémon is the 2nd or maybe dethroning Mario now... largest franchise in the world.
2016 at least is more the year of Pokémon than Zelda (oh well.)
and TPCI are smart in their planning... Pokémon GO will be updated soon (trading and stability patches) at least the app isn't a sink hole like Miitomo but IS a time sink....
In Ireland, Meteor is giving a set of dynamos and XL batteries so you can keep playing for longer than 2 hours.
@something17 its a good deal, I bought a 2nd sim to get extra data to Poke.
I bet the battery pack manufacturers saw a years supply ordered in less than a MONTH!!
@starman292 I want to see a few of these deals in Australia.
@BornInNorway81 easy, metered and unmetered data usage (include metadata) Telstra did a deal with Facebook with "Tribes"
ISP know what I DL and with what service I use. plus its used by Niantic labs.
@PlywoodStick its no conspiracy, plus you can now use your POP id which is official Pokémon user account for the upcoming GO leagues
Get ready and Train on #pokemon20
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...