T-Mobile"s CEO John Legere is quickly generating a cult of technology enthusiasts around him after incessantly bashing other carriers for their greedy and conniving behaviors while promising better prices and services for T-Mobile customers. The carrier"s (or should I say Uncarrier"s) latest plan to win customers over is to pay for their early termination fees, the main reason why most people feel stuck on their current networks.
Here"s the deal. If you"re signed up as a customer with Sprint, Verizon, or AT&T, you can walk into a T-Mobile store and turn in your current phones on those networks for up to $300 per phone, based on the individual value of each phone, if you buy a new device with T-Mobile. On top of that, when you cancel your service with your current carrier, if you mail in your last bill to T-Mobile or upload it to switch2tmobile.com, T-Mobile will cover your early termination fees, up to $350 per line, and up to five lines total.
T-Mobile is willing to pay you up to $650 per line, or up to $3,250 for a five-person family, to switch to its network.
This is a huge deal, especially for people on family plans. Since customers on family plans often have varying contract-end dates, if just one person wants to buy a new phone at the end of their own contract, they have to sign another two-year agreement and pretty much lock everyone else in on the network. This is what makes it so difficult for families to switch carriers. T-Mobile"s offer is a blessing for people with this problem, and there are many.
"We"re giving families a ‘Get Out of Jail Free Card," said Legere. "Carriers have counted on staggered contract end dates and hefty early termination fees to keep people bound to them forever."
Source: T-Mobile | Image via The Verge