Sprint CEO Calls T-Mobile's 'Uncarrier' Plans Misleading

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Sprint's CEO, Marcello Claure, responded to T-mobile's CEO, John Legere, on Twitter by calling him out on the "misleading" lease plans for high-end smartphones, which T-mobile announced recently.

T-mobile said that you can now upgrade your phone anytime you want, up to three times a year, with the new JUMP! On Demand program. According to Sprint's CEO, what T-mobile didn't say is that each time customers would upgrade their devices, their monthly fees would go up. T-mobile announced that their customers can get the iPhone on a $15 a month lease, but Sprint's CEO claimed that price can rise up to $27.

Claure's whole comment below was made out of four tweets he posted last night:

"@JohnLegere I am so tired of your Uncarrier bull[****] when you are worse than the other two carriers together. Your cheap misleading lease imitation is a joke.You trick people to believe that they have a 15 dollar iphone lease payment when it's not true. You tell them they can upgrade up to 3x but you don't tell them the price goes up to 27 dollars when they do.You say one thing but behave completely different. It's all a fake show. So its really #Tmobilelikehell."

T-mobile's CEO hasn't denied or confirmed the accusations so far.

Sprint has had some PR problems in the past few days as well, so it may use this new "scandal" as a cover for its own. The company announced a new $80 plan that included a smartphone and "unlimited everything" (SMS, Voice, Data) plan, except it wasn't quite true. Any video streaming would be limited to 600 Kbps, something that caused an uproar online, and the company quickly retracted its limitation.

"At Sprint, we strive to provide customers a great experience when using our network. We heard you loud and clear, and we are removing the 600 kbps limitation on streaming video," Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure said. "During certain times, like other wireless carriers, we might have to manage the network in order to reduce congestion and provide a better customer experience for the majority of our customers."

As the two smaller U.S. carriers out of the big four, Sprint and T-mobile have been battling it out to become the larger third carrier in the U.S. Sprint tried to achieve that last year by merging with T-mobile into a carrier that would pose a bigger threat to Verizon and AT&T. However, that deal faced major opposition from the public, as well as the government, which feared that the merger would actually lead to weaker, not stronger, competition.

Dish and T-mobile seem to be in talks for a merger now. The two companies united could pose a bigger threat to AT&T and Verizon than T-mobile alone. At the same time, there would still be four major carriers in the U.S., instead of only three.

Sprint also merged with the Japanese carrier Softbank two years ago, but so far T-mobile has been the one to make the bigger waves in the wireless market. If T-mobile will become an even more aggressive player in the wireless market, it could force Verizon, AT&T and Sprint to respond in kind, which could be great news for their customers.

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Lucian Armasu
Lucian Armasu
Lucian Armasu is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He covers software news and the issues surrounding privacy and security.
12 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Onus
    Just remember, that just because it is the pot calling the kettle black, that doesn't mean the kettle is white.
    Reply
  • Abandon All Hope
    Hehe. These guys banter like little children.
    Reply
  • Pierre Olivier Vidal
    Here in Canada I end up paying 85$ a month for my Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge with a 2 year contract and if I break the contract early I end up paying up to 500$ penalty fee depending on how long I had left on the contract....

    Please tell me more about how 27$/month is high for a high end phone u can change up to 3 times a year!!!
    Reply
  • Chris Droste
    nevermind the fact that when you're making your phone payments and you use a JUMP! upgrade you turn in your old phone and that fee goes away so long as your old phone isn't beat to hell and back. I waited on my G2 for the G4, same payment per month as the G2 was, then got the remaining payments ($150 worth) credited from turning in my non-abused phone. your rates only go up if you went to a more expensive phone or fail to trade in your old one. that might be a bit too math-intensive for Marcello's cromagnon forehead.
    Reply
  • stevenrix
    I'm on T-Mobile network, I pay around $82 a month for unlimited everything (and 7Tb for tethering data). That said, the network sucks big time, I've done a video on T-Mobile network in my area, just check youtube with the keyword "T-Mobile unreliable network" and you are going to see how bad of a joke that is. I also opened trouble tickets with them and they said they were upgrading their network and stuff, always the same comments but no change for me. Luckily I am no locked into a contract so I might just get the hell out of this operator.
    ATT network is better in my area but they don't offer as much as T-Mobile ($80 for unlimited everything with 3 Tb of tethering). A few months ago I was paying more than that and everything was limited (to 700 minutes, but with 5 Tb of Internet for $99 a month).
    Prices are steadily decreasing since T-Mobile entered the US market, otherwise we would have been screwed for a while with bad service and slow speed, but it's still bad.
    I use more my phone for data than talking though ^_^
    Reply
  • falchard
    I like T-Mobile because its pretty good in my area. Its also the only cell service with reception where I work.
    Reply
  • Silent Ricochet
    As a customer that just switched from Sprint to T-Mobile, I can safely say this dude is just mad that his company sucks. From support to coverage and speeds, the amount they charge, which I'll admit is less than most others, is still too much.

    I paid $0 to get a brand new HTC One M9 and have loved my new device and network ever since. I now pay close to $70 a month with insurance, more data than I'll ever need, unlimited everything else and their weird Edge program that allows me to get a new phone whenever I want. Oh, and I get to actually send texts, make phone calls (WiFi Calling!) and browse the internet on LTE. Please, Sprint, explain to me how T-Mobile is a ripoff and not your crappy service.
    Reply
  • tsumeone
    Well, Marcelo is not wrong. T-Mobile's pricing can be confusing and misleading, although to a much lesser degree than AT&T and Verizon. Legere has also shown he is willing to sell the company to basically anyone willing to buy. He was trying to sell to Sprint not too long ago.

    These types of high profile disputes are really to both of their advantage, as now both Sprint and T-Mobile have gotten free press from it. The same thing happened back in February with Sprint's superbowl commercial. Legere made a rude comment, and Claure responded about "Taking the high road" and Legere got really mad. Now it's the other way around, sorta.
    Reply
  • tsumeone
    As a customer that just switched from Sprint to T-Mobile, I can safely say this dude is just mad that his company sucks. From support to coverage and speeds, the amount they charge, which I'll admit is less than most others, is still too much.

    I paid $0 to get a brand new HTC One M9 and have loved my new device and network ever since. I now pay close to $70 a month with insurance, more data than I'll ever need, unlimited everything else and their weird Edge program that allows me to get a new phone whenever I want. Oh, and I get to actually send texts, make phone calls (WiFi Calling!) and browse the internet on LTE. Please, Sprint, explain to me how T-Mobile is a ripoff and not your crappy service.

    Sprint has had Wi-Fi calling for a while now. And where I live, it took T-Mobile a full year to activate their first LTE tower after Sprint finished upgrading us. They are still playing catch up on coverage. It really depends on your area as to what carrier is better.
    Reply
  • atheus
    Here in Canada I end up paying 85$ a month for my Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge with a 2 year contract and if I break the contract early I end up paying up to 500$ penalty fee depending on how long I had left on the contract....

    Please tell me more about how 27$/month is high for a high end phone u can change up to 3 times a year!!!
    There seems to be a misunderstanding here. $27/month pays for the phone by itself, not the service. Your $85/month is your total bill each month, right? T-Mobile's service is $50/month, plus whatever extra to pay for the phone you picked out. So with taxes, it would be about the same.

    I'm not sure what the rationale is for changing the monthly bill from $15 to $27, though... my understanding was that when you "jump" to a new phone you hand in your handset (and whatever credit you had accumulated toward owning it) and start a new lease contract on whatever other handset you pick out. Anyone know exactly what Marcello is talking about?
    Reply