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T-Mobile is going on the offensive for new customers by unveiling a year’s free unlimited data to any T-Mobile Simple Choice customer who gets a friend or relative to move their service from Sprint, AT&T or Verizon Wireless. The offer comes just two weeks after a long-rumored merger with Sprint was called off.
The free unlimited data for a year offer will also be extended to the new incoming customers who are referred by existing T-Mobile Simple Choice customers, according to a snarky, sarcastic Aug. 21 announcement by the company. T-Mobile teased Sprint about that company’s decision earlier this week to introduce Family Share Pack cellular plans in addition to its existing Framily plans for friends and family members.
“Sprint’s customers have suffered much,” T-Mobile said in its statement. “They’ve endured the Framily. They’ve endured America’s slowest nationwide LTE network. And now again, the (ironically named) carrier has forsaken its loyal customers, offering its latest, ‘best deals’ to everyone but its own current customers. It’s hard to watch.”
That’s where the new T-Mobile offer can help, according to the company. “Today, the Un-carrier announced a new program encouraging T-Mobile customers to save their friends and colleagues still with Sprint. Starting next week, whenever a T-Mobile Simple Choice customer throws a lifeline to a Sprint (or AT&T or Verizon) customer and brings them to the Un-carrier, both receive unlimited LTE [Long Term Evolution] data for a full year on T-Mobile’s blazing-fast LTE network, at no additional charge.”
In addition, T-Mobile Simple Choice customers who already have unlimited LTE data will receive a $10 credit each month for 12 months, the company stated.
T-Mobile’s Simple Choice plan includes unlimited data, talk and text, with no overages and no annual service contracts on its 4G LTE network, according to the company.
To participate, T-Mobile customers can register, starting Aug. 29, with T-Mobile and provide their mobile phone number and the relative’s or friend’s phone number that was moved over to T-Mobile to be eligible for the year’s worth of free unlimited data offer. “When you report a successful rescue mission within 30 days of your friend’s activation with T-Mobile, the unlimited LTE data service or bill credit for both of you will start that month,” the company stated.
T-Mobile’s president and CEO, John Legere, even added his own Aug. 21 blog post to pile the sarcasm and gentle attacks on the company’s competitors, particularly Sprint, which recently left T-Mobile at the altar of failed acquisitions. Sprint’s rollout of its new Family Share Pack plans, which Sprint said will be offered alongside the existing Framily plans, is an insult to existing Sprint customers who are being ignored, wrote Legere.
“From AT&T’s now infamous pay-twice-for-your-phone upgrade program to Verizon’s promise-two-give-one-year-of-free-data program, to Sprint’s deals-for-everyone-but-current-customers,” wrote Legere. “It’s hard to know whether to laugh or cringe as they keep stumbling over themselves.”
T-Mobile Free Data Offer Aimed at Luring Rivals’ Customers
Legere even provided a sarcastic list of do’s and don’ts for Sprint, AT&T and Verizon as they deal with their own customers in the future. “I hope this helps,” he wrote.
“It continues to amaze me to see the old carriers failing to listen to their customers−or reward them for their loyalty,” he said in a statement. “That arrogance and indifference has defined the U.S. wireless industry for too long. We’re changing all that. In fact, this entire Un-carrier consumer movement is built on the simple act of listening to customers.”
Earlier this month, T-Mobile US claimed rights to the top spot in the growing prepaid wireless marketplace in the United States. T-Mobile US said in an announcement that it now has 15.64 million prepaid wireless customers, compared with 15.19 million such customers for rival Sprint. Meanwhile, AT&T has 11.34 million prepaid customers, while Verizon Wireless reports 6.04 million prepaid customers, according to T-Mobile’s announcement.
Sprint’s recently unveiled Family Share Pack plans promise twice as much shared data as competitors’ plans for the same prices starting on Aug. 22, according to Sprint. The new plans will offer, for example, four lines with 20GB of shared data for $160 per month, which is what competitors AT&T and Verizon Wireless offer for 10GB of shared data, according to the company.
Sweetening the deal, Sprint is also offering customers who take them up on the new Share Pack plans special lower pricing through 2015 at $100 per month for up to 10 phone lines with 20GB of shared data and unlimited talk and text, according to the company. In an added bonus, customers who participate in this offer will also receive an extra 2GB of data free per month per line through 2015. For a family of four, that means they’d pay $100 per month for 20GB of shared data plus 8GB of extra free data, for a total of 28GB per month through 2015. A family of 10 users would pay $100 per month and receive 20GB of shared data plus another 20GB of free extra data through 2015.
Earlier this month, Sprint ended its long-rumored attempt to acquire T-Mobile USA and simultaneously replaced its CEO, Dan Hesse, with Marcelo Claure.
In January, Sprint launched the shared Framily plans for up to 10 friends or family members, with competitive prices and individual billings, which have been the theme of frequent media ads.