T-Mobile just introduced a new lineup of tablet plans. At their core, there's a pretty good deal: Beginning November 1st, any tablet will get 200 MB of free LTE data per month. That's not a ton of data, but it's also free. And free always makes people smile.
Additionally, T-Mobile will start selling its tablets on two-year installment plans, just the way it sells phones these days. And for "a limited time" you won't even have to plunk down a down payment on your tablet when you buy one from T-Mobile. So for example, if you pick up Nexus 7, you'll be able to pay T-Mo about $16 a month for a tablet that connects to the internet via its network. If you hit your data cap, use it as a Wi-Fi tablet. Good deal.
The plan, of course, scales up because 200 MB isn't going to be enough for a lot of people. If you've got a T-Mobile voice plan, you can pay $10 per month for 500 MB at 4G LTE speeds, plus unlimited data at slower speeds. From there, 2 GB of additional data will be available in $10 per month increments. For shorter term use, daily plans will offer 500 MB of LTE for $5. Weekly plans will offer 1 GB of LTE data for $10.
Obviously, the plan starts to look even more attractive if you're already a T-Mobile voice customer, but the tablet installment plan coupled with free data—even if it's not a lot of data—makes this deal hard to beat. We'd be surprised if more companies didn't follow suit with some installment pricing and free data of their own.