Just when you thought T-Mobile's changes couldn't get any sweeter, rumor has it that it will with their new announcement coming on January 8th. Although we don't know for certain what the new announcement is exactly, we do have some ideas of what T-Mobile calls their "Uncarrier 4.0" move will be. One of the more interesting tip-offs, at least in my opinon, comes from Cam Bunton over on TmoNews. According to an anonymous tip sent to him, T-Mobile might possibly be paying your way over to them by covering your Early Termination Fee.
I've always thought Early Termination Fees were awful. Then again, people who have to pay Early Termination Fees have signed a two-year contract that clearly states if they try to leave at any point throughout the duration of their contract there will be financial consequences they'll have to pay. But just because it's written in a contract doesn't necessarily means that it's right. I mean, it was bad enough when ETF's were at $200. Now most of them start at $350, which is a lot pricier than most people are willing to fork over just to leave a company (even if they wanted to). After all, most people went to subsidized carriers in the first place because they offered cheaper phones from the get-go.
If T-Mobile were to offer Early Termination Fee in exchange for moving over to T-Mobile, it could be the biggest move for them yet. Besides needing more coverage, which T-Mobile is also allegedly working on a deal for, Early Termination Fees would be the last thing that customers would need to take care of in order to make the switch.
T-Mobile would need to make some stipulations around the credit for an Early Termination Fee, that's for sure. You can't just offer people $350 to switch over to a company that won't lock you into a contract. People could easily take advantage of that and move straight from T-Mobile and then move to another company from there once T-Mobile took the liberty of paying off their ETF. However, I guess if T-Mobile felt confident to offer such a service then they probably wouldn't offer it in the first place. Still, if I were them I would have certain stipulations behind it put in place just to make sure that people wouldn't switch... twice.
I'm not sure how much I really believe that T-Mobile would pay for ETFs, to be honest. It seems like a really far-fetched move, but so has every other phase that T-Mobile has released so far. I am a little timid to set myself up for failure, kind of like we did with the expectations we had for the Moto X. Despite what T-Mobile's new phase really entails, I'm excited to learn about and have confidence that not matter what they're doing it's for the good of the business and the customers. Cancelling ETFs, however, is still something worth dreaming about, if nothing else.
Readers, would you switch to T-Mobile if they were able to pay off your ETF? Why or why not? What are your thoughts on the new Uncarrier phase? What do you think it entails? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
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