Backed up by an army of employees alongside journalists at the Paramount Theater in Seattle, John Legere is back in the spotlight as he announces T-Mobile’s latest plan as part of the Uncarrier movement, now in its fifth rendition. With a dirty mouth and a hatred for the industry and its complicated ways, Legere then highlighted the things he hates about the wireless industry alongside other new updates and features T-Mobile has been working to offer customers.
T-Mobile lets customers try out their services for free
“46 percent of Americans say they went and made a wireless decision and they went home and regretted it,” Legere said as one of the “pain points” he hopes to change for people in the wireless industry. The first Uncarrier reveal for this event is a way for customers to try out T-Mobile’s network with no strings attached.
That service is Test Drive, a service where folks can take a free week of service with T-Mobile, using an iPhone 5S and getting a true taste of T-Mobile’s network in their neighborhood.
“Everyone should cheat on their carrier and enjoy every minute of it,” Legere exclaimed to his audience as he revealed the new Test Drive service. Even T-Mobile customers can do a Test Drive to get a taste of what the latest Apple device is like.
Customers get a week for free with no down payment, unlimited data and no fees attached – if you don’t break it or lose it. If you do, you’ll cough up $100. If you do like it and want to keep the iPhone 5S, T-Mobile will charge you the full price of the device and get you started on an installment plan if you qualify. You do need a credit card on file in case you decide to run off with the phone. Test Drive is already live on T-Mobile’s website for pre-orders on the service, which begins Monday.
According to Legere it doesn’t support Android devices due to T-Mobile’s relationship with Apple, who is providing the gadgets to the potential customers. The device will upgrade to the latest and greatest iPhone as Apple upgrades its gadgets. T-Mobile expects at least a million Test Drives to take place before end of year, but hopes for even more. For those in the business world, a similar service will also be available that allows teams to try up to 3 iPhones for two weeks with no strings attached.
T-Mobile gives customers unlimited free radio streaming
“What’s next for T-Mobile?” Legere then asked the audience, bearing a pair of DJ headphones and revealing that T-Mobile has bigger plans in mind. As the headphones suggest, T-Mobile’s next phase in the Uncarrier movement is all about “Music Freedom.”
Looking at the “pain points” of high data usage from streaming, Legere has revealed Music Freedom, letting T-Mobile customers stream music for free at high speed and quality. The data also doesn’t count against the customer’s data plans if they don’t have T-Mobile’s unlimited high speed service. This service includes Pandora, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Rhapsody, iTunes Radio, Slacker, Spotify, Samsung Milk, and Beatport at launch.
Legere and Chief Marketing Officer Mike Sievert both claim Music Freedom is possible because of T-Mobile’s massive spectrum and data capabilities, which they call “Data Strong.” Legere also bragged earlier in the Uncarrier event that T-Mobile has much greater spectrum than its competitors and that T-Mobile customers use way more data already than competitors – twice as much as AT&T users do, for example.
As for the ones that are not yet on the list, T-Mobile is willing to add them if you tell them you really want it. There will be a leaderboard on T-Mobile’s website where users can vote for the newest streaming services they want added to T-Mobile’s free data list.
On top of it all, T-Mobile is also claiming that Internet radio is broken and that they’ll be “completely eliminating [those pain points] forever.” T-Mobile wants to offer its customers an Internet radio service that’s best for its many music-loving customer. Partnering with Rhapsody, T-Mobile has also announced Rhapsody unRadio, an app for all major app stores that will offer unlimited skips, millions of songs, and is free for T-Mobile customers on its newest unlimited data plan (we are asking T-Mobile if this includes older unlimited subscribers paying $70 a month). For other T-Mobile customers, it’s $4 a month and $5 a month for everyone else.
“Keep giving us the pain points and we’ll solve them,” Legere added at the end of the Uncarrier presentation. The company has announced its Uncarrier 5.0 and 6.0 innovations as part of its Seattle event, but will be back in late summer for its Uncarrier 7.0 innovation. Legere didn’t hint whether the T-Mobile-Sprint buyout will happen, but that no matter what he will continue to pursue the Uncarrier movement.
