Charter Communications has rolled out a new ultra-premium phone plan that is meant to satisfy power users of its Spectrum Mobile service while simultaneously winding down its by-the-gig offering that sold low-cost access to its wireless phone offerings.
The new plan, called Unlimited Premium Plus, costs $60 per month for a single line of service or $50 per line, per month for those with two or more lines of service. Both prices assume a customer bundles their wireless phone plan with Spectrum Internet or other eligible Spectrum product.
The plan includes an unlimited allotment of talk time, texting and wireless data, comparable to other plans offered by Spectrum. But it sweetens the deal for power users by also unlocking ultra high-definition (UHD/4K) streaming of video when not connected to Wi-Fi, unlocking 50 Gigabits (GBs) of mobile hotspot data and adding international roaming support.
Unlimited Plus Premium also includes a $10 monthly credit toward a financed smartphone, providing as much as $360 over three years, along with a smartwatch data plan that otherwise costs $10 per month.
Charter uses Verizon’s wireless network through a mobile virtual network operator agreement for its residential mobile service.
The new offering sits above Charter’s two existing unlimited plans. Spectrum Mobile Unlimited costs $30 per line each month and includes 5GB of hotspot data before speeds are reduced. Unlimited Plus costs $40 per line and includes 10GB each of international roaming and mobile hotspot data.
Both Unlimited Plus Premium and Unlimited Plus include Anytime Upgrade, which allows customers to replace their smartphones as many as four times during a 12-month period.
All Spectrum Mobile plans include access to Charter’s approximately 45 million Wi-Fi access points and Speed Boost, which can provide gigabit-level speeds when compatible customer devices connect to the company’s network. Spectrum Mobile remains available only to Charter broadband subscribers.
Charter also confirmed it has stopped selling by-the-gig plans to new customers. Existing subscribers may continue using those plans. The website Light Reading was the first to note the change on Wednesday.
The change follows a similar move by Comcast, which ended new sales of its by-the-gig option in April while introducing flat-rate Mobile Select and Mobile Plus plans.
Spectrum Mobile is seen as a value-add for Charter customers who purchase another Spectrum product, and as a retention tool to help address Charter’s churn rate, which has eased in recent financial quarters. During the first quarter (Q1) of the year, Charter added 368,000 new wireless lines of service, though it wasn’t clear how many of those customers were new to Charter’s overall service offerings or were taking advantage of wireless savings and bundled opportunities through their existing service.
