LAS VEGAS—What would it take for you to switch to T-Mobile? How about $350? In a typically bombastic press conference today, T-Mobile USA CEO John Legere unveiled"Contract Freedom," a plan that will pay up to $350 in early termination fees per line for up to five lines ported over from other wireless carriers. Switchers will also need to trade in their old phones, for a credit of up to $300 more.
"Anybody who wants to switch now can," he said.
T-Mobile's ETF-paying strategy comes on the heels of an AT&T attack plan to win back customers who have switched to T-Mobile; this year the smaller carrier gained 4.4 million subscribers, Legere said. AT&T's "Switcher Promo" gives T-Mobile customers who come over to AT&T a $200 bill credit, plus up to $250 in trade-in value for their old phones.
"If AT&T customers come over to this plan and it doesn't work, they'll pay you to come back - it's beautiful," Legere said. "AT&T has given us almost like a no-fault guarantee. Come over, try the network, and these pricks will pay you back if it doesn't work."
"That's a turnaround in one year. That has made us the fastest growing wireless company in the U.S. We are either going to take over this whole industry or these bastards are going to change ... I'm going to love watching the peckers scream and cry," he said. Yes, he actually said that.
And Speaking Of 'Pricks'
This being a T-Mobile press conference, it was also chock-full of trash talking the company's competitors.
Verizon? "They lost sight of their customers because of their success. Data caps in the family plan have forced the people in the family to think they each other is the problem. It's not Joe Schmo pulling down porn that's the problem."
Sprint? It's "a pile of spectrum waiting to be turned into a capability. Right now their network is completely horrible ... that 'spanky' thing or whatever they announced, sparky? [It's Spark] It's people in lab coats talking about what's going to happen when my daughter's president of the U.S. I'd summarize them as an impaired brand right now with a network capability that won't be there for a while."
And finally, AT&T: "Sponsored Data ... is the biggest horses**t in the world. You go over to the people who cant get to the customers and you say, I'll preferentially charge you to get access to those customers. I can smell UnCarrier 9 coming up on that."
Not all Americans have the choice to switch over to T-Mobile, though, as the company's HSPA+ network only covers about 230 million of the country's 317 million people. Today T-Mobile's CTO, Neville Ray, discussed plans to expand that coverage in 2014 and 2015; for more, read our exclusive story.
For more, check out PCMag Live in the video below, which discusses T-Mobile's latest un-carrier move.