H2O Wireless updated its annual plans today with a brand new lineup. The updated plans start at an average price of just $5/month or $60/yr for unlimited talk and text. Wave7 Research detailed the changes, courtesy of NWIDA, in a prepaid report the firm just released.
In January of 2020, BestMVNO reported that H2O Wireless launched multi-month discount plans exclusively through its dealer channel. The plans offered customers discounts for prepaying for service on a standard monthly plan in either 3, 6, or 12-month allotments. However, the newly updated annual plans are now available through the H2O wireless website and are completely independent from H2O's standard monthly plans. The new annual plans come with different data allotments altogether than the monthly plans which remain unchanged.
H2O Wireless's New Annual Plans
H2O Wireless is offering four different annual plans. They are described below.
- $5/month ($60 total) - unlimited talk and text, no MMS picture messaging or group messaging
- $8.33/mo ($100 total) - 1GB of monthly high-speed data
- $12.50/mo ($150 total) - 3GB of monthly high-speed data
- $25/mo ($300 total) - 10GB of monthly high-speed data
All plans include unlimited talk and text. Plans with data include unlimited data at 128Kbps once the given plan's high-speed data allotment has been consumed in a 30-day billing cycle. Taxes are extra and location dependent. They added 3.5%-4% more when I started the checkout process on the $100 plan.
Annual Plans Additional Fine Print
The annual plans may be limited-time offerings. According to H2O's website, the 12-month plans are subject to change and may be discontinued at any time. H2O Wireless considers an annual plan to be equal to 360 days of service, which is the industry standard for such plans.
These plans are very different from H2O Wireless's standard monthly plans and are rather stripped down. H2O Wireless grew its brand on the basis of offering unlimited international calling and texting with its plans. These new plans however do not include those features. Instead, customers will get an international talk credit, an amount that H2O Wireless does not specify on its website. Customers can also add $5 or $10 international talk credits at any time.
The annual plans also do not include any hotspot data. Customers that wish to add hotspot to their plans can do so priced at $10 for 2GB, $20 for 5GB, and $30 for 10GB.
Customers that wish to roam internationally including in Mexico and Canada will have to purchase an international roaming credit. Roaming credits start at $5 and go up to $20.
Data top-ups are available priced at 2GB for $10 and 5GB for $20. According to H2O's website "all topped up data is available throughout your plan cycle until it is used completely or your service expires."
There are no family discounts available with the annual plans, and no autopay discounts either.
H2O Wireless uses the AT&T network for coverage. The new annual plans give the MVNO more visibility in the increasingly competitive multi-month discount plan landscape largely pioneered by the Ryan Reynold's owned MVNO, Mint Mobile.
“On paper, these plans are attractive, as a light data user could pay $100 up front, rely on Wi-Fi, and not owe a cent for the rest of the year. However, cash is tight for many prepaid customers, so annual plans will probably remain as a niche.” – Jeff Moore, Principal of Wave7 Research
H2O has had a fairly busy year of updates. Earlier in the year, the brand introduced support for eSIM. And in March, BestMVNO reported that the MVNO added a new unlimited plan to its lineup as well as new tablet plans.