T-Mobile COO Jim Alling doesn’t think so highly of strategies implemented by his company’s rival earlier this year.
Alling, speaking at an investor conference today, took a few swings at AT&T and specifically the carrier’s upgrade program, “Next.”
AT&T unveiled the device upgrade and payment plan this summer, which came after T-Mobile’s announced its own previous pricing and upgrade changes through the “Jump” program.
Alling said that AT&T, which just made a few changes to the “Next,” pricing plans last week, said that the original deal offered by AT&T was a “ripoff,” reported Fierce Wireless.
While both plans allow customers to upgrade their devices more frequently, T-Mobile’s JUMP requires a monthly program fee — which includes insurance coverage — and AT&T does not. However, T-Mobile lowered its monthly service payments rates to compensate for the removal of phone subsidies.
And that’s where many, including T-Mobile CEO John Legere, saw AT&T’s plan as a ripoff. The AT&T monthly device payments can range anywhere from $15-to-$50 and that’s in addition to the monthly service plan rates that usually go for around $100 and designed for subsidized phones.
Unlike T-Mobile, AT&T did not lower those rates to make up for the lack of phone subsidies — that is, until last week. Alling said that by AT&T making the changes, it showed that “AT&T has finally learned that customers are a lot smarter than they give them credit for.”