T-Mobile's latest Un-Carrier move focuses on 5G for everyone

T-Mobile held an online presentation today where it introduced its latest set of Un-carrier initiatives, this time focused on making 5G more useful to more people.

First, there's the "Great 5G Phone Upgrade", which means T-Mobile customers - new and old - can trade in any phone they have in working condition and get a Samsung Galaxy A32 5G for free. T-Mobile says you can trade in phones as old as you want, with a notable example being the T-Mobile Sidekick from over a decade ago. Of course, you get the new phone for "free" through bill credits over 24 months, but it's still a way to get into 5G.

For long-time iPhone fans, you can also trade in an iPhone 11 to get an iPhone 12 - which added 5G support - for free using the same bill credit method. For iPhone models between 7 and the XS/XR lineup, you can get half off the iPhone 12, and if you have an even older iPhone - all the way back to the first model - you can get half off the iPhone 12 mini. However, this particular offer will only last from April 18 through May 1.

Next up is the "Great Unlimited Trade-Up", which means that customers from Verizon or AT&T can switch to an unlimited data plan on T-Mobile for the same or lower price than their current plans, while existing T-Mobile customers (including those coming from Sprint) will get their plans automatically upgraded to have unlimited data, all with 5G support included. By unlimited, T-Mobile means you might see lower speeds during times of congestion after you've used 50GB of data, though, and this promotion will only last through the end of the year.

Finally, T-Mobile announced T-Mobile Hometown, an initiative set to create 7,500 new jobs in small rural towns around the U.S. 5,000 of those jobs will come from opening "hundreds" of retail stores in small towns over the next two years, and 2,500 will come from another initiative called Hometown Experts. In towns that are too small to have a dedicated store, T-Mobile will train a dedicated expert to help their community with all things T-Mobile, just as they would at a retail store. Each town that's part of this initiative will get their own Hometown Expert, meaning 2,500 towns will be covered by it. The first 1,000 openings for Hometown Experts are open today, for those interested in helping their community.