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T-Mobile will throttle users exploiting tethering workarounds
Under the leadership of its always-entertaining CEO John Legere, T-Mobile has undercut its competitors, rebranded as an "Uncarrier," and generally painted itself as a champion of the people. Not so today. Legere has penned an open letter highlighting users that are getting around the company's tethering limits. Apparently, this "small group" of customers use "as much as two terabytes of data per month," and this makes John Legere very sad.
T-Mobile will swap your iPhone 6 for the next model at no extra cost
If you've ever had to upgrade an iPhone months after launch, you've likely felt some anxiety: you need a new device right now, but you know you'll feel buyer's remorse when the next model shows up in September. T-Mobile thinks it can set your mind at ease, however. It's launching a promo that lets you swap the iPhone 6 for its successor while locking in the $15 per month JUMP On Demand lease price -- so long as you buy the existing handset by September 7th, you just have to trade it in to upgrade. You'll also get first dibs on the next iPhone if you order it from the carrier within the first two days of availability, so you shouldn't be waiting for days simply because you ordered a few minutes too late.
Sprint's CEO is tired of T-Mobile's 'Uncarrier bullshit'
John Legere is famous for being the sweariest man in the mobile industry, but it looks as if Sprint's Marcelo Claure now wants a run at that title. In response to a snarky tweet by the T-Mobile CEO, Claure responded by saying that he was tired of Legere's "Uncarrier bullshit." He went on a four-tweet takedown of the company's policies, saying that it "trick[s] people," and that it's "all a fake show," before adding the hashtag #Tmobilelikehell. We're fairly sure that everyone who saw the exchange made the same ooo noise that pre-schoolers do when they know there's about to be a fight in the sandbox.
T-Mobile's new early upgrade plan lets you swap phones even more
These days, T-Mobile's not just trying to trip up its bigger rivals -- it's sprucing up some of its own features, too. The carrier just announced an improved way to handle early upgrades, and it could work out great if you're like us and can't stand holding onto the same phone for too long. The company's new JUMP On Demand program works almost exactly like the original JUMP plan does, save for three big changes: First, you can trade in your phone for a new one three times a year instead of two. There doesn't seem to be a limit on when you can upgrade, either (the other version of JUMP makes you wait six months before your first swap). Oh, and the $10 monthly fee T-Mobile used to charge you for the privilege? Kaput. Don't get too worked up, though: You'll just have to wait for June 28 to roll around before you can ditch your current device.
T-Mobile will pay off devices for switchers and keep promo plans for good
Most of John Legere's time spent on stage dealt with T-Mobile's bid to play nice with businesses, but average consumers just got a few bones here, too. First up is Carrier Freedom, a new spin on the company's Contract Freedom initiative that'll see T-Mobile pay not just your early termination fees, but remaining payments on your phone if you're stuck in a plan like AT&T's Jump or Verizon's Edge. As long as you owe your current carrier $650 or less, you're golden. That's solid news for new, would-be T-Mobile customers, but Legere outed what he calls the "Un-contract" for customers who already bleed magenta. If you've already landed yourself one of T-Mobile's cushy promotional plans, congratulations -- they're going permanent as of March 22.
T-Mobile courts the business world with simple pricing, free website
The last few times T-Mobile's CEO went off on an Uncarrier spree, he revealed a way to bank the data people paid for but didn't use, and eased up its credit requirements for new phone buyers. Now, at a cozy studio space in New York City, John Legere has a new Uncarrier 9.0 initiative to show off and it's a little different than what we're used to: It's meant to make pairing businesses with T-Mobile service less of a pain in the ass than it normally is.
T-Mobile worried lopsided FCC auctions will end its winning streak
T-Mobile kicked off 2014 by crashing an AT&T party, and finished it with "our best year in company growth ever," according to CEO John Legere. To be exact, it added 8.3 million new customers over the year, including a million "postpaid," clients in the last quarter of 2014. The Uncarrier chalked that success up to its tweaked Simple Choice plans, saying that 89 percent of all postpaid customers are now on them. It also added 1.2 million prepaid clients over the year, all of which resulted in 19 percent more revenue and a net profit of $5.6 billion in 2014. For the sake of comparison, AT&T said it picked up 5.6 million customers in 2014, but then again it has 120 million wireless customers compared to 55 million for T-Mobile.
T-Mobile will let you bank your unused data come January 2015
T-Mobile's latest Uncarrier announcement might lack the pomp and circumstance of a big media event, but CEO John Legere's conversation with Yahoo Tech's David Pogue is already proving fruitful. Once January rolls around, T-Mobile customers will be able to roll over their unused data into what T-Mobile calls a Data Stash for up to a year, and the carrier will give its subscribers "up to" 10GB of free data in their new stashes just to get things started. There's no cap on how big your stash can swell either, though T-Mobile's recent wideband LTE launches (in a nutshell: you get faster LTE without having to buy a new phone) might make it a little tougher to keep extra data around to bank.
T-Mobile's new family plan gives everyone unlimited data
With the exception of Sprint, the big four US carriers tend to cap your data on family plans. T-Mobile's current offering only gives one person unfettered internet access, and even Sprint's $100 per month promo asks you to split a finite amount of data with your kin -- not so hot if Junior likes to marathon YouTube shows. Things are looking up, though. T-Mobile is launching a new (if "limited time") Simple Choice family plan on December 10th that gives everyone unlimited data. The base plan starts at $100 per month for two lines that also include unlimited voice and text, plus 5GB of data tethering per line. That's only half as many included lines as Sprint, but it's a better value if you're willing to pay extra to avoid limits. It beats the stuffing out of what you'll get at AT&T and Verizon, at least. The two carriers respectively start at $130 and $100 for 10GB of data on two lines, and you'll have to pay both for more capacity and more lines.
Engadget giveaway: win a ZMAX smartphone courtesy of ZTE!
Vast swathes of display real estate are hitting the market at lower prices than ever -- unlike those glass towers springing up in Brooklyn -- and one of the latest in the "phablet" set is ZTE's ZMAX. This 5.7-inch smartphone boasts an expansive 720p screen, a quad-core Snapdragon 400 chip and a 3,400mAh battery. If you're in the market, this solid slab of smartphone arrived at T-Mobile on Wednesday and can be had for just $252 outright (or $10.50 per month over two years). But for two Engadget readers this week, the ZTE ZMAX will cost a whole lot of nothing. Yep, ZTE has handed over a pair of these handsets for a couple of lucky winners, and they're ready to run at up to 4G LTE speeds on the Uncarrier's network. All you need to do is head down to the Rafflecopter widget below for up to three chances at winning one of these big-screen devices. Winner: congratulations to Don S. of La Grange, KY and Julian H. of Culver City, CA.
T-Mobile's next UnCarrier move: WiFi calling and texting for everyone
It seems as though T-Mobile is speeding up on this whole UnCarrier thing. Speaking in San Francisco -- not in Vegas, where the other carriers are hanging out at CTIA -- CEO John Legere and Friends announced its latest move: Free WiFi calling and texting to all customers and corporate accounts. From here on out, every smartphone the carrier sells will come with the capability, and if you don't have one already, you're eligible to get one through T-Mobile's Jump early upgrade program. A nice benefit of this feature is a seamless transition from the network's Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) coverage to your WiFi network.
Rdio, Songza and other music services won't eat your T-Mobile data
T-Mobile's Music Freedom initiative raised a few eyebrows when the Uncarrier revealed it a few months ago - it granted most-favored nation status to a handful of music streaming services so whatever data they used wouldn't count against your monthly data cap. With Pandora, Spotify, iTunes Radio in the mix, the move seemed like a win for consumers... unless you happened to pay someone else to get your streaming fix. Thankfully, T-Mobile is finally expanding the list of supported services to include beloved also-rans like Rdio, Google-owned Songza, and more. Support for the six new streaming services has gone into effect today, but T-Mobile admitted in a statement that one fan-favorite service would take a little more time to set up. You see, the carrier kicked off a poll shortly after Music Freedom's launch to see what unsupported service people wanted to use the most. The winner? None other than Google Play Music -- hardly a surprise, but T-Mobile admitted in a statement that it won't be added to the fold until later this year.
On T-Mobile, you can now stream music without hurting your data plan
Streaming music on your phone would be fantastic -- if it weren't for all those pesky data caps. T-Mobile's latest UnCarrier move addresses this particular pain point: Starting today, you'll be able to listen to all of your favorite jams on popular streaming music services without it counting against your data plan. The catch? It's limited to a few of the most popular offerings, such as Pandora, Spotify, iTunes Radio, iHeartRadio, Slacker, Rhapsody and Samsung's Milk Music. T-Mobile exec Andrew Sherrard explained that the aforementioned services encompass 85 percent of what users listen to, so the list covers the vast majority of the carrier's consumers. That said, Sherrard said that the company plans to reach out for feedback via a social media campaign, so make your voice heard if you're interested in getting services like Rdio or Google Play Music added to the list. If your favorite program is included, feel free to start filling up those playlists to your heart's content.
T-Mobile Test Drive lets you borrow an iPhone 5s for a week
T-Mobile clearly wants you to become a customer -- the company's "UnCarrier 5.0" move will get you an iPhone 5s to try out for a full seven days. At an event in Seattle today, the carrier introduced Test Drive, a service that will help customers avoid "buying blind," giving you an opportunity to experience LTE at home before you commit to making a purchase. The service launches this Sunday and lets you borrow Apple's latest handset for a week, at which point you'll need to return the device to any T-Mobile store, even if you plan on signing up and purchasing a device.
T-Mobile's no-contract attitude brings in another 2.4 million customers
So, now we know where all those disgruntled Sprint customers have been going. In total, 2.4 million people joined T-Mobile USA's network in the first quarter of this year, with around half of those opting for the carrier's "Un-carrier" style plans, which do away with service contracts and instead provide straight-up financing to those looking for a new handset. Despite being reprimanded by an industry watchdog for its aggressive and not-wholly-accurate marketing, T-Mo actually managed to beat its last bumper quarter in terms of new subscribers, at a time when the other, bigger networks saw much smaller increases -- AT&T and Verizon each only added around half a million new postpaid customers last quarter, for example. Curiously, on the financial side of things, T-Mobile actually reported a drop in earnings -- which it blamed on the fact that it's having to expand so quickly. Another curiosity: If some of this growth really has been happening at Sprint's expense, then pretty soon it may not matter.
T-Mobile is killing overages on all plans starting this June
T-Mobile hasn't quite been as UnCarrier as some would like. Despite the network's turn toward overage-free service, there's still occasional chances that you'll pay extra for heavy use -- especially if you're on a grandfathered plan. That won't be a problem for long, though, as the carrier will soon eliminate overage fees across the board. You shouldn't be seeing any rude surprises on your bill from June onward. The move won't deliver huge savings unless you regularly pay surcharges -- and you'll still have to deal with throttling -- but it's good to have some reassurance that your costs won't get out of control in the future.
T-Mobile rolls out $40 Simple Starter plan for people wary of overages
Oh, you thought T-Mobile might take a breather from continually overhauling its wireless plans? Not so, dear readers. The magenta-hued carrier just announced a new $40 Simple Starter plan that grants you unlimited talk, text and 500MB of high-speed data... and it turns out that's just the beginning. T-Mobile CEO John Legere promised (in a feisty, pointed open letter to consumers) that the carrier has more to reveal over the next three days. But let's not get ahead of ourselves here, as there are a few tidbits to keep in mind before jumping on this new deal. You won't get throttled when you bump up against that 500MB bandwidth cap, for one -- you'll instead be prompted to buy a day pass for more data access... or to sign up for one of the carrier's rejiggered Simple Choice plans instead. Perhaps that's not the more friction-free approach to getting your web surfing on, but it at least removes the possibility of getting smacked with overage fees. Would-be Simple Starter customers can still get T-Mobile to pay those termination fees if they're coming from another carrier, so those of you running on a budget may want to give this plan some thought.
AT&T reduces 2GB Mobile Share Value plans by $15 per month
Following up on the news that its UnCarrier rival will soon raise the cost of its unlimited data plan, AT&T is making some pricing changes of its own -- in the completely opposite direction. The base rate for the company's 2GB Mobile Share Value plan is currently $55 (that's the base price, excluding per-smartphone costs), but it just announced that beginning tomorrow customers will be able to grab the same plan for $40 per month instead.
T-Mobile's tweaked Simple Choice plans come with more data, unlimited international texting
T-Mobile's customer-friendly "Uncarrier" schtick seems to be changing people's minds about the country's 4th largest wireless provider, and it's not done fiddling with that formula just yet. The folks in magenta just announced a slew of tweaks to its Simple Choice plans that make them worth yet another look.
T-Mobile's UnCarrier plans are working, gains 4.4 million new customers in 2013
When John Legere jointed T-Mobile, the company had lost two million customers and was eating some substantial losses. The party-crashing CEO, however, seems to have turned things around with the UnCarrier, Jump and Simple Choice programs. In the company's annual report, T-Mobile has announced that 2013 saw the network add a whopping 4.4 million customers across the year. For Q4, while the company added 1.6 million customers, it also marked a loss of $20 million -- so perhaps some of the money spent baiting rival networks should have stayed in the bank.