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T-Mobile to Expand 'Un-Carrier 4.0' Initiative, Offer Switch Incentives to U.S. Cellular, Regional Customers

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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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T-Mobile will expand its recently introduced "Un-Carrier 4.0" initiative, which saw the company offering to pay up to $350 in early termination fees for Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T customers who switched to T-Mobile. As part of the expansion, first detailed by Re/code, T-Mobile will pay the same contract termination fees for customers currently with U.S. Cellular and a dozen other small regional carriers.

T-Mobile also has plans to entice additional customers by accepting a larger number of handsets for trade-in, including damaged phones, albeit for a lower trade-in credit.

tmobileetf.jpg
"This is not just a promotion," T-Mobile marketing chief Mike Sievert told Re/code on Thursday. "What we are trying to do is bring an end to unfair one-way onerous contracts in this country."
Click to expand...
First unveiled last week, T-Mobile's early termination deal pays up to $350 per line in fees for individuals and families with up to five lines who switch from their current carriers and trade in their phones to T-Mobile.

Under the terms of the program, customers have to leave their current carriers, trade in existing phones (T-Mobile offers up to $300 per trade-in), sign up for a new T-Mobile plan and port a phone number. After the above qualifications are met, customers can send the final bill from their previous carrier (with termination fees listed) to T-Mobile for reimbursement via prepaid MasterCard.

According to T-Mobile, upwards of 80,000 "break-up" letters have been shared on social media sites in the last week by customers leaving their carriers for T-Mobile and signups have increased as a result of the program.

Article Link: T-Mobile to Expand 'Un-Carrier 4.0' Initiative, Offer Switch Incentives to U.S. Cellular, Regional Customers
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/01/16/tmobile-uncarrier-expansion/
Klae17

Klae17

macrumors 65816
Jul 15, 2011
1,227
1,577
Break ups are getting funner nowadays.

Break ups are getting more fun nowadays.
 
bran0216

bran0216

macrumors newbie
Jan 16, 2014
1
0
This is genius on T-Mobile's part. All 6 people on my plan are switching ASAP. See ya Sprint! The company that doesn't believe in coverage at one of the most popular tourist attraction in the country. (Central Florida)
 
R

Rhyno37

macrumors regular
Jul 23, 2011
130
0
If Tmobile just had better coverage in rural areas they'd have me sold. Verizon and US Cellular are about the only carrier's around here with decent speeds.
 
goobot

goobot

macrumors 603
Jun 26, 2009
6,483
4,371
long island NY
So what's stoping me from buying a brand new iPhone from att with an upgrade, swapping the sim out with an old dumb phone i have on hand, and getting t-mobile to then pay the ETF for me. I know they have to take a phone that's on my plan but the dumb phone will be there so then i can either be on t-mobile with my brand new iPhone with no extra fees or move back to another carrier with another "upgrade"/cheaper plan.
 
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NeoMayhem

macrumors 6502a
Aug 22, 2003
916
1
goobot said:
So what's stoping me from buying a brand new iPhone from att with an upgrade, swapping the sim out with an old dumb phone i have on hand, and getting t-mobile to then pay the ETF for me. I know they have to take a phone that's on my plan but the dumb phone will be there so then i can either be on t-mobile with my brand new iPhone with no extra fees or move back to another carrier with another "upgrade"/cheaper plan.
Click to expand...

Nothing, many people have been doing this. The phone you trade in must be on the 'list' though. There is a $30 prepaid one that qualifies.
 
A

aajeevlin

macrumors 65816
Mar 25, 2010
1,427
715
goobot said:
So what's stoping me from buying a brand new iPhone from att with an upgrade, swapping the sim out with an old dumb phone i have on hand, and getting t-mobile to then pay the ETF for me. I know they have to take a phone that's on my plan but the dumb phone will be there so then i can either be on t-mobile with my brand new iPhone with no extra fees or move back to another carrier with another "upgrade"/cheaper plan.
Click to expand...

I believe one of the requirement is that you HAVE to purchase a smartphone from Tmobile. So in that case, you will end up paying more for the purchase from Tmobile.

On a completely different note, whatever happened to Carly from Tmobile?
 
Y

yeah

macrumors 6502a
Jul 12, 2011
977
286
Innovating and kicking the other carriers' butts, one T-Mobile event at a time. :D
 
jayducharme

jayducharme

macrumors 601
Jun 22, 2006
4,527
5,967
The thick of it
Rhyno37 said:
If Tmobile just had better coverage in rural areas they'd have me sold. Verizon and US Cellular are about the only carrier's around here with decent speeds.
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That's my problem as well. I really want to switch to T-Mobile if for nothing else than to support their new direction. But I'd also like to be able to make phone calls and receive e-mail. Their coverage is just too spotty where I am.
 
R

Rhyno37

macrumors regular
Jul 23, 2011
130
0
jayducharme said:
That's my problem as well. I really want to switch to T-Mobile if for nothing else than to support their new direction. But I'd also like to be able to make phone calls and receive e-mail. Their coverage is just too spotty where I am.
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Exactly, I really like their initiative, but they only have 2G in my town. Currently have verizon and average about 50mbp/s down and 15 up.
 
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alent1234

macrumors 603
Jun 19, 2009
5,688
170
goobot said:
So what's stoping me from buying a brand new iPhone from att with an upgrade, swapping the sim out with an old dumb phone i have on hand, and getting t-mobile to then pay the ETF for me. I know they have to take a phone that's on my plan but the dumb phone will be there so then i can either be on t-mobile with my brand new iPhone with no extra fees or move back to another carrier with another "upgrade"/cheaper plan.
Click to expand...


You have to port your number to t mobile which closes your AT&T account
 
D

dizmonk

macrumors 65816
Nov 26, 2010
1,068
667
Just switched

From Verizon.. They were giving me **** because I wanted to return a 2nd phone... I just said screw them and moved over.. So far so good...
 
pittpanthersfan

pittpanthersfan

macrumors 6502
Jun 7, 2009
362
51
I would really like to do this, but I believe that you have to buy a device from T-Mobile after the switch. Don't want to part with my 5S...
 
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blevins321

macrumors 68030
Dec 24, 2010
2,768
96
Detroit, MI
pittpanthersfan said:
I would really like to do this, but I believe that you have to buy a device from T-Mobile after the switch. Don't want to part with my 5S...
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Thats the only thing stopping me; especially since AT&T unlocks iPhones after contract terms/ETF are paid. I'd have a perfectly functional phone since the 5S is GSM universal, but TMO won't let me use it :(
 
mtneer

mtneer

macrumors 68040
Sep 15, 2012
3,179
2,714
blevins321 said:
Thats the only thing stopping me; especially since AT&T unlocks iPhones after contract terms/ETF are paid. I'd have a perfectly functional phone since the 5S is GSM universal, but TMO won't let me use it :(
Click to expand...

Why not sell the now unlocked AT&T 5S and get T-Mobile's 5S which they require you to get??
 
S

sadastronaut

macrumors newbie
Jan 16, 2014
5
0
goobot said:
So what's stoping me from buying a brand new iPhone from att with an upgrade, swapping the sim out with an old dumb phone i have on hand, and getting t-mobile to then pay the ETF for me. I know they have to take a phone that's on my plan but the dumb phone will be there so then i can either be on t-mobile with my brand new iPhone with no extra fees or move back to another carrier with another "upgrade"/cheaper plan.
Click to expand...

Well, you can use a phone different than what's on your current plan. I actually did this myself, trading in an old iPhone 3GS instead of my current iPhone 4. I'm not sure about dumbphone vs. smartphone though.
 
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B

bookwormsy

macrumors 6502
Jul 7, 2010
281
172
goobot said:
So what's stoping me from buying a brand new iPhone from att with an upgrade, swapping the sim out with an old dumb phone i have on hand, and getting t-mobile to then pay the ETF for me. I know they have to take a phone that's on my plan but the dumb phone will be there so then i can either be on t-mobile with my brand new iPhone with no extra fees or move back to another carrier with another "upgrade"/cheaper plan.
Click to expand...

Nothing. Effective today, you can trade in any working phone, and even if it isn't on their list, they have a generic SKU. You'll get like a $5 trade in for dumb phones, 50 for apple, etc. The only thing is, you'll have to buy a phone through TMobile to qualify for the ETF reimbursement. But you can buy and resell their cheapest phone and still come out ahead.

----------
NeoMayhem said:
Nothing, many people have been doing this. The phone you trade in must be on the 'list' though. There is a $30 prepaid one that qualifies.
Click to expand...

Effective today, you can trade in any working phone and they have a generic SKU.

----------
mtneer said:
Why not sell the now unlocked AT&T 5S and get T-Mobile's 5S which they require you to get??
Click to expand...

1. You're selling for a loss, 2. you can buy and resell their cheapest phone.
 
S

serenemind

macrumors newbie
Aug 21, 2011
14
33
Switched to Tmobile

Here's what I did:

I had 4 lines on At&t with 2 iphone 5s, 2 dumb phones used by family members (I use these for cross upgrades)

1. Bought 4 At&t go phones from Target for $65
2. Turned them to Tmobile. They were not on their approved list but the guy in the 2nd store I went to, took it without any problems (Which satisfied the returning device part)
3. Bought 3 $72 dollar phones and 1 Nexus 5 for $660 total (Paid those outright without monthly payments) : which satisfied the must buy Tmobile phone part
4. Ported the numbers from At&t

Pending Steps

5. Waiting for At&t bill with ETF
6. Submit the bill to Tmobile and get back the ETF amount
7. Request At&t to unlock the 2 Iphone 5s
8. Use T-Mobile sims in these phones
9. Sell the T-mobile $72 phones on craigslist or ebay for whatever

Despite spending roughly $ 700 on this move to Tmobile I will still be saving roughly $80 on my monthly bill (At&t was $190 T-Mobile will be $110 after taxes and corp discount)

Will update you guys when I get the mastercard from T-mobile in a couple of months. I was with At&t for the last 8 years. I have decent Tmobile coverage; not as fast as At&t LTE but a few mbps lower.

Cheers,
SM
 
firedept

firedept

macrumors 603
Jul 8, 2011
6,277
1,130
Somewhere!
Wish we had some competition in Canada against our big three. Verizon tried and the big three whined so loud to the government, that Verizon lost out getting its foot in the door.
 
patent10021

patent10021

macrumors 68040
Apr 23, 2004
3,505
794
firedept said:
Wish we had some competition in Canada against our big three. Verizon tried and the big three whined so loud to the government, that Verizon lost out getting its foot in the door.
Click to expand...
The big three in Japan are also a complete nightmare.


Staff: Unlock? What's that? Leaving the country and terminating your contract even though your phone contract ended two years ago? Oh you still need to pay a $100 bye bye fee. Want to share one data plan with say 3 different iDevices? Huh? They let you do that in north America?!? You want to give your WIFE or MOTHER authorization to cancel your contract a week after you've left Japan so you can use your Japanese phone until you get a north American phone? No no no. Not allowed!
 
A

Amplelink

macrumors 6502a
Oct 8, 2012
934
392
T-Mobile is being so aggressive wit their tactics that at some point you have to ask what kind of a hit their bottom line is taking. This can't be cheap!
 
K

kingtj

macrumors 68030
Oct 23, 2003
2,606
749
Brunswick, MD
Why?

I don't think this is going to hurt T-Mobile much at all?
I mean, look at the facts here:

1. Every offer they've done requires you buy a new device from them, basically at full price. (Yes, they offer time payments with no interest, but they also do a credit check that seems to be fairly strict. Even people with "pretty good" credit scores wind up making $100 or more down-payments in most cases.) Meanwhile, this gets people motivated to sign up with their service -- a task they otherwise have to accomplish with a lot of expensive advertising. (And probably still less effectively than giving the consumer a true bonus like this.)

2. Most offers have been "for a limited time only", to date. A lot of the great pricing on devices they brag about initially vanishes after only a month or two, silently replaced by paying $100 or so more than the price that initially excited people.


Amplelink said:
T-Mobile is being so aggressive wit their tactics that at some point you have to ask what kind of a hit their bottom line is taking. This can't be cheap!
Click to expand...
 
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