T-Mobile US Inc. stuck it to AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) and Verizon Wireless Wednesday by introducing new mobile data pricing tiers for all its devices that don't include overage charges for those customers who exceed their monthly data limits, giving the operator a differentiator in the increasingly competitive mobile data services market.

Instead, T-Mobile USA will throttle data speeds back to 2G levels if the cap is reached.

The new plans include 2 Gigabytes, 5 Gigabytes or 10 Gigabytes of data starting at $50 per month. (See T-Mobile Revamps Wireless Pricing.)

T-Mobile is also making its device payment plan easier to understand and easier on the customer's wallet by charging an initial up-front payment followed by a fixed number of monthly payments. For a $550 myTouch 4G phone, for example, a customer will pay an initial $250, followed by $15 for the next 20 months. Once the 20 months are completed, the monthly device-related payments cease.

Why this matters
Tiered data pricing is more or less inevitable for the big carriers in the U.S., but T-Mobile is at least handling it in a way that's easy for consumers to understand, mitigating potential backlash.

Both AT&T and Verizon charge overages once a cap is reached, potentially overriding the positive effects of lower-priced plans. Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S) is the only carrier to maintain its unlimited plans thus far, but that could be short-lived.

T-Mobile is also working aggressively to show the industry it won't stop innovating and competing ahead of its acquisition by AT&T. If the merger is approved, AT&T has promised to let T-Mobile's existing customers keep their rate plans, which makes these new plans more valuable for those that get locked in.

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— Sarah Reedy, Senior Reporter, Light Reading Mobile