T-Mobile Launches New Ad Calling AT&T's 'Next' Upgrade Program 'Calculating, Sneaky, and Underhanded'

[iAi]

Because attacking your competition in the media looks really good to consumers.

I'd shy away from them just because of their ad stance.

If it benefits the consumers in the end (aka rates going down & improve service) and ad being truthful, let them fight in their ads.

I have no problems Samsung & Microsoft attacking Apple for as long as it is truthful and force Apple to improve / not too be complacent.

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Okay, then allow me to amend that poster's statement:

For me personally in the Washington, DC area: T-Mobile's service indoors is utter crap. It is almost nonexistent - as if a cell phone only works outside. Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon all work indoors in most buildings.

I'm a real estate agent who shows a lot of houses throughout the year, so I have the opportunity of being inside a lot of different buildings. Yeah, T-Mobile inside is crap.

For me, a God-awful, cringe-worthy, business-halting network. For you, if it works, T-Mobile is a great deal. Go for it! That's why they have test periods/return policies.

However, if you live in Washington, DC or the surrounding areas: you better love WiFi calling.

Fairer point now.

With current AT&T's (with or without contract) charging rates / plans, it should be perfect.

 

[Macboy Pro]

LOL, T-Mobile is desperate....

 

[NoCleverSNForMe]

AT&T charged me a whole month of service for 4 days of service when I dumped them. But you live you learn; when I left Sprint, I made sure to leave within the last 4 days of my monthly cycle.

But you are right, the 14 day trial period rule does not seem to apply to T-Mo.

Ah! So AT&T does that too! That sucks man.

It goes back to my original point: T-Mobile is just another carrier. I'm a little surprised how so many folks on these forums are making ATT/VZW/Sprint to be "the bad guys" and somehow T-Mobile is the good guy standing up for the rest of us.

They're just another carrier out to make a profit. This is their new scheme - to beat up the much bigger players by pretending to come up with these amazing plans. They have no-contract contracts called EIP, where you sign a 24-month agreement saying you'll pay them $20/mo (an "agreement" = "contract") and if you cancel you'll have to pay the full balance (similar to a ETF).

They have a program called JUMP where you pay them an extra $2-$3/mo ontop of your insurance where they basically become a retail store for Gazelle.com every 6 months. Their slogan is: "Upgrade when you want, not when you're told." Except in 4 months, 23 days. That's when I'm told to wait 1 month, 7 days to upgrade.

I'm amazed by how many smart people are falling for it...I understand - we want something new, we WANT a little guy that's sticking up for us to the big bad evil carriers. But T-Mobile is not that little guy. They're just one of the big four.

 

[Shanpdx]

T-mobile is awesome but their coverage is not!!

enough said.

You want better coverage go with ATT or Verizon.

Btw, I am with t-mobile, It rocks in Portland, OR but not once go out of city area ...

 

[TSE]

I LOVE this advertising by T-Mobile! Giving a huge FU to the awful cell phone rip offs, all while publicizing it!

With that said, I wish T-Mobile was supported better where I go to school (Iowa)... It's great in the Twin Cities, there... not so much!

 

[iAi]

T-Mo from the start even before the explosion of smartphones is more pro consumers (or the most pro C vs. other USA major carriers). We should pray that they get all the resources and expansions they need as it will eventually benefits the consumers. Trust me.

 

[HenryDJP]

Although some of the fine print is starting to reveal that T-Mobile's new plans aren't as smooth and simple as the ads imply, I have to say that I appreciate their efforts. This is forcing AT&T and Verizon to try and match such as the upgrade program. The competition helps the consumer.

 

[iAi]

I wish T-Mobile has the money to buy AT&T & Verizon and succeed in getting rid of their awful AT&T and Verizon vulture cultures, NEVER THE OTHER WAY AROUND.

 

[techwhiz]

All the plans are a rip.
"Next" time just "Jump" over the "Edge"........
Ultimately in a year you will have paid the wholesale price for the device.
You will have paid almost retail for a device, you then must turn the device into Verizon, TMobile or AT$T to upgrade and pay yet again for another device.
Think about it for an iPhone5 16Gb full retail is $649
So you save:
TMobile $649-$518 = $131
AT$T $649-$630 = $19
Verizon $649-$565 = $84
But you still don't own the phone and must give it back when you go to upgrade!!!

This is ca cash cow for them, because they will then turn around and sell your device after some QA as a "Certified"device and recoup almost the wholesale price all over again. They will lease it once, the sell it.

Only an idiot would go for any of this. Mind you, you are still paying the subsidy.

Just pay retail, keep unlimited (Verizon) and upgrade anytime you want by selling your device on Swapp or eBay..

 

[akm3]

It is actually HSPA+ and AT&T does the same thing. AT&T has their "4G" phones and they have their "4G LTE" phones. Their "4G" phones are just HSPA+ devices, just like T-Mobile. And if you look at any of the speed tests done on T-Mobile's "4G", depending on where you are, they do just as good as AT&Ts LTE and sometimes better.

I know, AT&T is calculating, sneaky and underhanded with their labeling of 4G vs. LTE.

 

[rdlink]

I love TMO calling AT&T out as the scumbags that they are. But their attitude would have much more credibility if they would not have agreed to engage in the merger in the first place. I wish they would have just attacked them in the first place instead of trying to merge with them.

On the other hand, it's nice that they're getting to use a whole boatload of AT&T's money to do it.

 

[Tiger8]

Ah! So AT&T does that too! That sucks man.

It goes back to my original point: T-Mobile is just another carrier. I'm a little surprised how so many folks on these forums are making ATT/VZW/Sprint to be "the bad guys" and somehow T-Mobile is the good guy standing up for the rest of us.

They're just another carrier out to make a profit. This is their new scheme - to beat up the much bigger players by pretending to come up with these amazing plans. They have no-contract contracts called EIP, where you sign a 24-month agreement saying you'll pay them $20/mo (an "agreement" = "contract") and if you cancel you'll have to pay the full balance (similar to a ETF).

They have a program called JUMP where you pay them an extra $2-$3/mo ontop of your insurance where they basically become a retail store for Gazelle.com every 6 months. Their slogan is: "Upgrade when you want, not when you're told." Except in 4 months, 23 days. That's when I'm told to wait 1 month, 7 days to upgrade.

I'm amazed by how many smart people are falling for it...I understand - we want something new, we WANT a little guy that's sticking up for us to the big bad evil carriers. But T-Mobile is not that little guy. They're just one of the big four.

I am with you, they are a carrier too. However, the **best** thing about their new plans in my opinion is unbundling service vs subsidy; this has multiple implications, a lot of people 'hold out' on upgrading with the big 3 and their plans never drop, at least with T-Mo the plans drop after 24 month service.

 

[JAT]

It's nice to be grandfathered from the Unlimited data plans.

Yep. And mine is $23/month.

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Wait so you have to pay $630 for an iphone 5 AND then you have to trade it in at the end of the year? Seriously? That is absurd

Just so you are understanding, this allows you to upgrade your phone twice a year. It is similar to a car lease, really. Pick your price, and prepare to pay it forever, but you're allowed to swap to new devices far more often.

That said, I won't pay for this. Plan on using my i5 for 3 years, easy.

 

[Gemütlichkeit]

I'm not a big fan of government regulations but this is one time when this price fixing needs to stop. Something is going on with Verizon and AT&T.

 

[JAT]

They have no-contract contracts called EIP, where you sign a 24-month agreement saying you'll pay them $20/mo (an "agreement" = "contract") and if you cancel you'll have to pay the full balance (similar to a ETF).

You realize this is a no-interest loan for purchasing your phone, right? And 20*24 plus $100 up front is $580, which is less than the outright price of $650 from Apple.

Do you know what happens if you "cancel" other loans?

 

[mollyparrot]

It's nice to be grandfathered from the Unlimited data plans.

It is. I actually don't even use that much data on a routine basis, but its just the principle of the thing. I am starting to wonder if a switch in two years would be a good idea. If I hadn't just swapped my 3G for a 4S, I could have done it in October, but my poor little 3G couldn't hold on long enough for the 5S. (I'll get a 5S since my mom is still on her 3G and will get the 4S)

I'm unconvinced on the larger size though--the 3g/4s fits perfectly in my pocket and the front pouch of the wristlet I use instead of a purse.

I'm still ticked off about having to pay a $36 phone upgrade fee. And text messaging--it is ludicrous that I have a big phone bill each month and no built in messages. But, before AT&T, I had Sprint, so AT&T actually hasn't been much to complain about. At least I have actual phone service.

 

[sw1tcher]

Because attacking your competition in the media looks really good to consumers.

I'd shy away from them just because of their ad stance.

So why have you not shied away from Apple then?

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competition is a wonderful thing

Something we would not be getting if the AT&T/T-Mobile merger went through.

 

[3282868]

I'm really disappointed. I loved Cingular before the AT&T merger. AT&T was decent in 2007 w/ the iPhone launch. Sadly, that's changed.

I need a GSM carrier, I thank the FCC GODS they finally got something right with the best tech "****"-block since the "Ma Bell" days. Glad t-Mobile is putting the screws to the other GSM carrier and those "other two."

 

[SAD*FACED*CLOWN]

T-mobile would be a lot more enticing if their coverage wasn't so terrible where I live, and if I actually felt the need to upgrade my phone more often than once every two years.

my feelings exactly

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if Tmobile had a comparable network to AT&T or Verizon I'd jump ship

 

[3282868]

T-mobile would be a lot more enticing if their coverage wasn't so terrible where I live, and if I actually felt the need to upgrade my phone more often than once every two years.

Hasn't t-Mobile recently invested a ton in extending and updating coverage and infrastructure? If so, isn't it a premature to make any basis in finality until full rollout? Genuinely asking, not meaning to be rude.

 

[NoCleverSNForMe]

You realize this is a no-interest loan for purchasing your phone, right? And 20*24 plus $100 up front is $580, which is less than the outright price of $650 from Apple.

Do you know what happens if you "cancel" other loans?

It is no longer $100 up-front. Go to the T-Mobile website; it is now $145.99 with $21/mo payments. It equals $649.99. The pricing structure you mentioned was promotional for the first 30 days; this is now the permanent price.

Your second point: yes, it is an interest-free loan but let's compare it two ways:

1) The point I intended to make was that the subsidies you receive from AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon on a 2-year contract ($199 vs $145 + $21/mo payments) are THE SAME THING. If you buy an iPhone with another carrier for $199, pay a flat fee over 2 years...and if you an iPhone with TMO for $145.99 with $21/mo...it equals the same difference. Sure, the rate plans are lower, but the device payments are the same. If you cancel within your 2-year period, you are charged an ETF on the other carriers while you are charged the "full balance" from T-Mobile.

The only way you benefit using T-Mobile is if you keep your phone MORE THAN 24 months. Then the device subsidy goes away, and your monthly payment is lowered. However, for many of us on these forums, we upgrade every 2 years or sooner. That's the point I was trying to make - it's no different. People are making it out to be revolutionary...it's not. Prepaid has been separating the cost of devices and plans for years; they haven't offered interest-free loans on big smartphones like TMO has.

2) To answer your question: What happens if I cancel an automobile loan? Same thing that happens on all loans: the entire balance comes due. That Toyota Prius I bought for $25K...guess what? It's worth $20K now. That iPhone 5 I bought from T-Mobile for $650 3 weeks ago and can't return? It's now worth $500. What's the point you were trying to make? That somehow you get a deal with T-Mobile?

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Hasn't t-Mobile recently invested a ton in extending and updating coverage and infrastructure? If so, isn't it a premature to make any basis in finality until full rollout? Genuinely asking, not meaning to be rude.

Yes, they have. They're getting a lot better, but they've got a long way to go before they get better than AT&T or Verizon. Their target now is to beat Sprint and become the #3 network. I genuinely hope that they improve their network so we can finally have some real competition.

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So why have you not shied away from Apple then?

Okay, I'm being totally serious here and not being sarcastic: I really want to know. When has Apple ever taken out a 30-second TV spot or full page ad that reads:

"Microsoft and Google are the most deceptive, crappy, evil companies on the planet Earth." -The Verge

"We don't think they're deceptive. We just think they suck." Go Apple.


Sure, they've made jabs at PCs with the "PC vs Mac" ads, but I don't recall anything as vicious, aggressive, and ballsy as these TMO ads.

Can you let me know? I honestly don't remember that ad campaign.

 

[Chocolatemilty]

I must say, the only thing I do not like about this company is their coverage. It sucks that's the most important thing for a wireless device, too, because everything else about the company is perfect.

 

[geniusj]

It is no longer $100 up-front. Go to the T-Mobile website; it is now $145.99 with $21/mo payments. It equals $649.99. The pricing structure you mentioned was promotional for the first 30 days; this is now the permanent price.

Your second point: yes, it is an interest-free loan but let's compare it two ways:

1) The point I intended to make was that the subsidies you receive from AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon on a 2-year contract ($199 vs $145 + $21/mo payments) are THE SAME THING. If you buy an iPhone with another carrier for $199, pay a flat fee over 2 years...and if you an iPhone with TMO for $145.99 with $21/mo...it equals the same difference. Sure, the rate plans are lower, but the device payments are the same. If you cancel within your 2-year period, you are charged an ETF on the other carriers while you are charged the "full balance" from T-Mobile.

The only way you benefit using T-Mobile is if you keep your phone MORE THAN 24 months. Then the device subsidy goes away, and your monthly payment is lowered. However, for many of us on these forums, we upgrade every 2 years or sooner. That's the point I was trying to make - it's no different. People are making it out to be revolutionary...it's not. Prepaid has been separating the cost of devices and plans for years; they haven't offered interest-free loans on big smartphones like TMO has.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the ETFs on the other carriers generally more than the remaining subsidy balance?

Also, if you just buy the phone up front, there's no contract and you're not paying extra every month to pay it off. If you really wanted to get out of your EIP, just sell the phone and use it to pay off the balance. You should still leave with more cash than if you had done the same with at&t or Verizon.

Really, the bottom line is that what they're doing is a lot more transparent. You know exactly what you're paying for and why you're paying it. To me, that's important. I'd rather know that I'm paying off a device than think of it as an arbitrary ETF that a company is charging me to keep me on their network. Even if the amounts were identical (which they're not), "You need to pay off the rest of your device" is much more palatable to me then "You can leave, but there's an early termination fee." Make sense?

 

[Technarchy]

I'm not a big fan of government regulations but this is one time when this price fixing needs to stop. Something is going on with Verizon and AT&T.

It's de facto collusion for sure.

I remember my first cell phone back in 2001. I went shopping at Nextel, Sprint, Voicestream, Cingular, Verizon and AT&T. The plans they offered had very little in common. It actually took a good amount of consideration to choose the right one. (I chose Sprint and stuck with them for 11 years).

Now, there is Sprint, T-Mobile and the fused abortion of AT&T/Verizon.

Feds are never going to look into this, but the fact that two companies always seem to come to the same conclusion within days of each other is red flag central.

 

[NoCleverSNForMe]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the ETFs on the other carriers generally more than the remaining subsidy balance?

Also, if you just buy the phone up front, there's no contract and you're not paying extra every month to pay it off. If you really wanted to get out of your EIP, just sell the phone and use it to pay off the balance. You should still leave with more cash than if you had done the same with at&t or Verizon.

Really, the bottom line is that what they're doing is a lot more transparent. You know exactly what you're paying for and why you're paying it. To me, that's important. I'd rather know that I'm paying off a device than think of it as an arbitrary ETF that a company is charging me to keep me on their network. Even if the amounts were identical (which they're not), "You need to pay off the rest of your device" is much more palatable to me then "You can leave, but there's an early termination fee." Make sense?

Makes sense. Love the discussion, brother! (Or sister!)