T-Mobile has been struggling to position itself not so much as a value carrier, but rather as a carrier that makes it a point not to screw its customers over. To that end T-Mobile CEO John Legere announced a slew of changes for the magenta-hued carrier, perhaps the biggest of which is that T-Mobile is adding an interesting new the old 2 year upgrade model in favor of something much more interesting.
Here’s the long and short of it: under the new Jump plan, T-Mobile customers can swap their old phones for new phones at twice every 12 months after they’ve been enrolled in the JUMP program for at least six months. You don’t get to keep your original device though — you swing by a T-Mobile store to trade in that old phone (as long as it’s in good condition that is), and the original monthly payments tied to that phone are wiped clean. What’s more, those swapping users will only wind up paying the same upfront cost customers would pay for the same device.
T-Mobile also announced that it has expanded its LTE network significantly, with service now live in 116 metropolitan markets and covering some 157 million people.
As is often the case though, T-Mobile’s big announcement made the rounds a little early — Chris Ziegler at The Verge posted an early peek at the so-called Jump plan hours before T-Mobile CEO John Legere could unveil it himself.
Still, T-Mobile’s move stands in stark contrast to what its competitors have been up to lately — both AT&T and Verizon Wireless rejiggered their contract terms so that users would have to wait a full two years to upgrade their devices, up from the 18 month upgrade cycle that’s been the norm for years.
The last time CEO John Legere took the stage at an event in New York, he passionately ranted about what he saw as predatory pricing practices in the wireless industry and implored rival wireless carriers to “stop the bullshit” — I’m not sure anyone expected his rebuke to be that pointed. This time around event staff set up a slew of creepy dolls propped up in chairs to evoke AT&T’s kid-friendly commercials
“It’s just not getting to the point,” Legere said of AT&T’s ad approach “It’s a lot of say and not a lot of do.”
At this point it’s hard to gauge just how well T-Mobile’s “UnCarrier” push has been working for them since the company’s no-contract scheme wasn’t active for all of the quarter covered in their most recent earning, but some early indicators seem promising. Postpaid subscriber loss (or churn, in industry parlance) was down to a nearly five year low, and Legere is currently on a tear about why things aren’t as bad as people are making them out to be.
Developing…
