T-Mobile to unveil "uncarrier" strategy. What does it mean?

Axel Schwenke/Flickr

T-Mobile has been introducing a lot of changes in its attempt to make a comeback in the network carrier scene in the US. The company kicked things off a year ago by undergoing an “image re-branding,” to show that their “slower” HSPA+ network was as good as 4G LTE networks from other carriers. Since then, the company has also jumped on the LTE bandwagon, and has launched services in a quite a few cities recently. With a new CEO at the helm, T-Mobile is far from done with its makeover.

In a market in which the primary method of getting a phone is via a 2-year commitment with network carriers, T-Mobile has decided to go the other way with its soon-to-be-unveiled “uncarrier” strategy. According to rumors picked up by the folks at TmoNews, these are the main changes we can expect:

No more contracts! Existing customers will be able to finish out their contracts, or upgrade their device with no contract, but there won't be the 2-year commitment. No contract also means no early termination fees!
Of course, the catch is when it comes to the device itself. You'll have to buy the device outright, or through a new device installment plan that T-mobile will introduce, which will be around $30/month. Opting for the installment plan means a down payment of just $99 (or less).
The brand imagery itself will stay unchanged, but we may be hearing a lot of the term “Dual 4G,” to highlight how T-Mobile's HSPA+ and LTE networks are both capable of LTE speeds (at least, LTE speeds available from competing carriers). This aspect of the marketing strategy will likely continue for as long as it takes the company to rollout its 4G LTE network completely.

A contract-less system is something that a lot of consumers want, and it's great to see T-Mobile take the initiative. Granted, we'll have to wait and see whether such a move will be enough for the company to move up in the network carrier race. Also, at this point, I'm not sure if this means that devices will be sold unlocked by T-Mobile or whether that is still going to be an issue.

The official announcement could happen this week, and possibly even later today, says TmoNews with the new policies going into action from March 24. Stay tuned as we find out more!

What are your thoughts? Are you looking forward to a contract-less mobile world? Do you think the “uncarrier” strategy will work for the company?

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Comments

Matthew Brown

I cannot wait to see this implemented but I think it will be a while before anyone actually uses it. In the UK we just got 4G LTE recently!
- harrold
  
  yea…. in 7 yrs…
http://twitter.com/Darkmyth_pt Darkmyth PT

great news for some fruity rotten company when it will become standard and that fruity company wont have to pay a dime
- wferreira
  
  ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT APPLE RIGHT? IS THE ONLY ROTTEN COMPANY YOU CAN POINT. SOME COMPANIES CREATE THINGS LIKE THIS, AND ANOTHER ONES ONLY JUST TRY TO GET THEIR NAME ON THEM. MEEEHHH. :)
MasterMuffin

Yes my current only about 300Mbps download is way too slow, I TOTALLY need 1Gbps
- simpleas
  
  Yeah that kind of mentality goes against progression. Remember what Bill Gates said? We dont need more than 128kb ram…
  - MasterMuffin
    
    I’d like different kind of progression: 4G everywhere with steady at least 100mbps signal all the time
    - Hue
      
      You have to understand Samsung is based in South Korea, where you pretty much get WiFi or 4G speeds everywhere on your mobile devices. They don’t even put passwords on WiFi because it’s that cheap. 5G is their way of progression.
Skripka

About damn time we get *ACTUAL* 4G speeds. Make no mistake kiddies (including the author), the actual “4G” specification standard requires 1 gigabit/second in low mobility scenarios and 100megabit/second in high mobility scenarios.

“4G LTE” isn’t actually “4G”, hence the “LTE” moniker that is required everywhere for the 3G-ish tech.
districtjack

1Gbps is awesomely fast, but can you imagine the size of the battery that would be required to push that signal? I’m having flashbacks of my old motorola bagphone from 1990.

Perhaps by 2020 we will have miniaturized cold fusion reactors in our phones.
- warmie
  
  or probably phone will no longer need battery by then.
  they will suck blood from its user to operate..
  :D
Will Stewart

Nice work from Samsung! But I won’t be moving away from 3G to 4G or 100G unless they get rid of ridiculous data limits.
flamencoguy

I hope they patent this and keep Apple from getting a hold of this technology !
Jacopo

Oh Wow I have my amazing 5G network now i can use all my 200 Mb/day in just 5 seconds! Yay! (A critique to the Italian mobile companies)