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T-Mobile Digits launching on May 31 after successful beta program, $10 for additional lines

After nearly five months with tens of thousands of beta testers, T-Mobile Digits is launching to help you stay connected across multiple devices and multiple numbers.
Written by Matthew Miller, Contributing Writer
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Back in December 2016, T-Mobile launched an expansive beta program for its new T-Mobile Digits service. I have been using it daily on my Samsung Gear S3 Frontier, a couple of phones, and a Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 tablet. Today we learned what the cost was for the Digits service and customers will be satisfied.

All existing T-Mobile numbers are now Digits numbers, this includes post-paid and pre-paid customers, so customers can use them anywhere with the Digits app or on phones with the native Digits functionality for free. Beta testers will be rewarded with one free Digits line, which is the same offer for T-Mobile One Plus customers.

Each extra Digits line is $10 per month and you can get these lines in a couple different variations; Data with Paired Digits or Digits Talk & Text. Data with Paired Digits is used to share Digits with a smartwatch and Digits Talk & Text is used for a smartphone or tablet.

As a Gear S3 Frontier owner, I'm using my free Digits line from the beta test for Data with Paired Digits since I can receive and initiate calls and texts to and from my watch with recipients seeing my default T-Mobile number.

See also: How T-Mobile app humanized customer service in one simple move (TechRepublic)

The beta test results were interesting and included stats that showed 96 percent of the people used the Digits app on additional smartphones and tablets. I used this regularly with review devices over the past few months so I could fully test out these phones with my daily T-Mobile number. As a reviewer, this ensured I completely tested out new phones as daily drivers.

Interestingly, the beta test data also showed that 41 percent of the testers used Digits on their PC browser. I rarely did this myself, but after trying the latest version I may start since it lets me easily stay in touch while working for long hours on the PC at work. T-Mobile also found that people who used the browser tended to send very long text messages, often preferring to text to people rather than send email. This ensured that the person received the message and in a timely manner.

While ZDNet readers are tech savvy folks, I wonder how many others might use T-Mobile Digits. T-Mobile data shows that more than 30 million people carry at least two devices. 58 million households have landlines today and 43 percent of those people said they would cut the cord if they could keep that number. With T-Mobile Digits, you can keep that phone number and even have it assigned to ring the phone of everyone in your family.

Two weeks with T-Mobile Digits: in pictures

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