Declining ETF Announced

[spleck]

T-Mobile Makes Early Termination Fees Less Ouchy in Confusing Increments

T-Mobile Offers Customers Additional Service Plan Flexibility

The Recognized Leader in Wireless Customer Care
Launches ETFs That Decline During the Course of an Agreement

BELLEVUE, Wash. – June 23, 2008 – T-Mobile USA, Inc. today announced a new approach to early termination fees (ETFs) that provides greater flexibility for T-Mobile customers.

Beginning on June 28, 2008, the ETF for customers who choose a one-year or two-year service agreement with T-Mobile will decline during the course their contract. The ETF decreases from $200 to $100 if customers terminate service with 91 to 180 days remaining on their agreement; and decreases again to $50 with fewer than 91 days remaining. If customers terminate in the last 30 days of their term, the ETF is $50 or their standard monthly charge, whichever is less.

For customers who do not want term commitments or ETFs, T-Mobile offers a variety of service options, including:

•T-Mobile FlexPaySM: A program that offers customers access to nationwide long-distance calling and roaming, the latest phones, and T-Mobile’s great rate plans including myFavesSM — all without having to commit to a long-term service agreement or make a hefty deposit.

•Prepaid Plans: Flexible plans that give customers the freedom to communicate with no annual contract, no credit checks and no monthly bills. Prepaid options include:

•Pay By The Day: Recently introduced, this option costs $1 per day only on days when the phone is used. In exchange, customers get unlimited T-Mobile-to-T-Mobile calling all day and unlimited nationwide calling from 7 p.m. to 6:59 a.m. All other domestic calls are just 10¢ per minute and text messages are 10¢ to send and 5¢ to receive.

•Pay As You Go (previously named T-Mobile To Go): Customers can purchase minutes as they need them. Customers who purchase $100 in refills become Gold Rewards members and receive 15 percent more minutes on all future refills.

•Sidekick Prepaid (previously named Sidekick To Go): T-Mobile Sidekick® fans receive unlimited domestic e-mailing, Web browsing, instant messaging, and text messaging for $1 per day, and nationwide calling costs just 15¢ per minute.

“T-Mobile continues to set the pace in offering customers a number of flexible plans and services that don’t require a contract to help them stay connected to those who matter most,” said Sue Nokes, Chief Customer and Operations Officer, T-Mobile USA. “In addition, by providing this flexibility and choice, our hope is that T-Mobile customers will be happy customers for years to come.”

Earlier this year, T-Mobile received highest ranking in the J.D. Power and Associates’ Wireless Customer Care Performance StudySM for the seventh consecutive reporting period. Additional information about T-Mobile calling plans can be found at Unsupported Browser.

[spleck]

T-Mobile has joined the party and NOT announced a real pro-rated ETF, instead announcing declining ETFs. This is an interesting implementation, but I think at this rate the FCC is going to mandate some kind of common ETF structure. This offers nothing to anyone in the first year of a 2 year contract, but has a bigger discount at the halfway point than the $5/month implementation.

[SmArTeStChIlD421]

at least they're taking a step though

[tmobileman]

I think it's good, now as an employee I can't wait to get flooded with calls about this

[tmobileman]

UPDATE:

FYI this is for contracts entered into on or after 06/28/08 so if you are under a contract already the etf will be 200 unless you sign a new one as of today.

[spleck]

Funny that T-Mobile can promise pro-rated ETFs by 2Q2008, announce then in the last week of the quarter for them to take effect a few days before the end of the quarter, but they won't actually come into play until 1Q2010, and they're further from actual pro-rated than even VZW and AT&T. Boo.

[Eric47]

att's is declining also. tmobiles is a mirror from what i can see.

[gtnissanfan]

I emailed Tmobile about this about two weeks ago and got a "hold on just a little while longer" response. I'm glad that I did.

To compare Tmobile's $200 step-down ETF with AT&T's $175 pro-rated ETF, here's two charts for 1-year and 2-year contracts (the x-axis represents the number of full months that have passed into your contract):


*PLEASE READ THE CONTRACT CAREFULLY*
This plot is based on my understanding of the terms of the early termination fee. I make no promises that I'm reading it correctly and my plot may be off by a month. Tmobile terms, AT&T terms.

For 1-year contracts, it looks like Tmobile has a better plan overall.

For 2-year contracts, AT&T has a better plan overall.

[Eric47]

you can also get a 0 year contract with ATT. the ETF for that is 0 dollars

[spleck]

My issue is that changes to the ETF won't affect T-Mobile until 2010 for the normal 2-year contract. For a 1-year contract, you're usually paying extra up front, but they stil won't need to worry about it until 2009.

Either Giz or Engadget put up similar charts. You can start them at $0 at the beginning due to the 14/15/30 day cancellation policy.

[tmobileman]

Originally Posted by Eric47

you can also get a 0 year contract with ATT. the ETF for that is 0 dollars

Tmobile also has an option either tmobile to go or FLEX PAY no contract no etf

[Eric47]

can you get 0 years on a normal plan though? with Att you can. its a great solution for someone with a phone that is switching carriers or likewise prefers no contract.

[spleck]

Originally Posted by Eric47

can you get 0 years on a normal plan though? with Att you can. its a great solution for someone with a phone that is switching carriers or likewise prefers no contract.

FlexPay is just the no-contract option. I think you have to pay the first month when you sign up, but its all the regular plans, but with no contract.

[tmobileman]

Originally Posted by spleck

FlexPay is just the no-contract option. I think you have to pay the first month when you sign up, but its all the regular plans, but with no contract.

word up, this is what I should have said the first time sorry yes it's available with all plans that we have even our unlimited calling plan