If there’s one thing good about contracts is that it allows you to get your hands on a new phone for a low initial price as the carrier would subsidize the bulk of it. Of course the downside is that you’re locked to the carrier for the next 2 years at the very least, meaning that if you wanted to make the switch to a different carrier, you’d have to buy your way out. Those terms haven’t changed but T-Mobile’s latest move is that they will be more than happy to pay your ETF, which John Legere was quoted as calling a “get out of jail free card”.
How much T-Mobile is willing to give to their customers will depend on a variety of factors, but assuming one manages to meet all of their conditions and requirements, they are looking to receive up to $650 per line, which is admittedly a lot of money. In fact $650 is about $200 more than AT&T’s offer who offered customers up to $400 if they were to switch from T-Mobile. At that time T-Mobile called them desperate and promised to unveil something at CES 2014 that would blow away the competition. $650 is a very tempting offer to make the switch and while it is very aggressive marketing, will it ultimately work out in T-Mobile’s favor? What do you guys think?