T-Mobile’s Un-Carrier initiative to make the telecom “stand out” from other companies has been going on for quite some time now. From showing the traditional two year contract out the door to free streaming video from over 80 services, as well as everything in between, T-Mobile has come a long way from the grave that was nearly theirs.
But despite all that T-Mobile has done, they’re not finished yet. Charismatically entertaining and unabashedly offensive CEO John Legere took to the stage once more today to introduce the next Un-Carrier move, which was previously referred to as “Un-Carrier 11”, but today we can officially call it “Stock Up”.
As the name suggests, this Un-Carrier move is all about giving back to the subscribers and offering them the opportunity to earn free stock shares in T-Mobile. Primary account holders, existing and future ones, are granted one share, which was valued at $42.43 earlier today. Additionally, you can earn up to 100 additional shares each year by referring friends and family to T-Mobile. The shares will be granted after your referrals have stuck with T-Mobile for at least 15 days (standard return period). Customers who have been with T-Mobile for 5+ years will get 2 shares per referral.
But today wasn’t just about getting subscribers – or potential subscribers – jazzed about being a part of T-Mobile’s growing profits. Legere also announced other goodies for T-Mobile customers such as a free two-topping Domino’s pizza, free Wendy’s frosty, and a free VUDU movie rental each week via the new T-Mobile Tuesdays app. Yep, all three, every Tuesday. T-Mobile also gives a “surprise” gift every week. Tomorrow, subscribers with the T-Mobile Tuesdays app will get a free ticket to the opening day of the movie “Warcraft”. That equals $31.49 worth of free stuff you can get just tomorrow. T-Mobile Tuesdays is available for both postpaid and prepaid customers.
To claim the freebies and the shares, you must download the T-Mobile Tuesdays app and set up your account.
Finally, T-Mobile announced a full hour of free Wi-Fi on every flight on Gogo-enabled devices, as well as additional in-flight texting for free via iMessage, Viber, WhatsApp, and Google Hangouts.
This Un-Carrier move may be overshadowed by the game-changing moves we’ve seen in the past, but I’m personally appalled (in a good way!) at the fact that T-Mobile cares enough to give back to their customers. Even if pizza, ice cream, free movies, free stock and other goodies don’t necessarily impress you, free stuff is free stuff – and if you’re good at selling a service or product you value, this could potentially add up to some good money. It could potentially be worth a lot more if this is in addition to T-Mobile’s current reward of $25 per referral.
Readers, what are your thoughts on T-Mobile’s latest UnCarrier move?