Wireless Warfare: T-Mobile Uses Twitter To Lob Insults At Sprint And Its "Gimmicky" Framily Plan
All is fair in wireless and war, especially now that mobile has become such an important part of so many people's daily lives. In the U.S., there are four major wireless carriers looking to serve our mobile needs, the bottom two of which are Sprint and T-Mobile. Though both have bigger rivals in AT&T and Verizon, they're just as willing to take swings at one another, as T-Mobile CEO John Legere did to Sprint via Twitter.
It's more of an all-out assault, really. What drew Legere's ire is Sprint's decision to cover pay off early termination fees (ETFs), up to $650, for customers who jump ship from a competitor and sign up for Sprint's "Framily" plan. If you haven't been following, the Framily plan -- a combination of the words "friends" and "family" -- allows customers to add up to 10 friends, family members, or colleagues for unlimited talk, text, and 1GB of data at reduced rates. This is how Sprint hopes to win over customers not only from AT&T and Verizon, but also those enticed by T-Mobile's so-called "un-carrier" plans.
"Hey @Sprint - Paying off ETFs 2 get people 2 switch is a great idea (I should know) but for just a couple wks? That's #FruckedUp #Cheapskates," Legere wrote in a Twitter post.
It doesn't stop there. Legere is tossing around the "#FruckedUp" hastag like it's going out of style, and they're all directed at Sprint.
"#FollowFriday is no longer! @Sprint inspired us to start a new trend with #FruckedUpFriday," Legere tweeted in a separate post. And in yet another, he calls Sprint's latest efforts to sign up subscribers a "gimmicky promotion."
Twitter tirade aside, T-Mobile's un-carrier strategy is working so far. The wireless carrier added 1.6 million customers in the fourth quarter of 2013, bringing its total customer base to 47 million. In stark contrast, Sprint only added 475,000 in the same quarter, though Sprint has more total users at 55.4 million.
It's more of an all-out assault, really. What drew Legere's ire is Sprint's decision to cover pay off early termination fees (ETFs), up to $650, for customers who jump ship from a competitor and sign up for Sprint's "Framily" plan. If you haven't been following, the Framily plan -- a combination of the words "friends" and "family" -- allows customers to add up to 10 friends, family members, or colleagues for unlimited talk, text, and 1GB of data at reduced rates. This is how Sprint hopes to win over customers not only from AT&T and Verizon, but also those enticed by T-Mobile's so-called "un-carrier" plans.
"Hey @Sprint - Paying off ETFs 2 get people 2 switch is a great idea (I should know) but for just a couple wks? That's #FruckedUp #Cheapskates," Legere wrote in a Twitter post.
It doesn't stop there. Legere is tossing around the "#FruckedUp" hastag like it's going out of style, and they're all directed at Sprint.
"#FollowFriday is no longer! @Sprint inspired us to start a new trend with #FruckedUpFriday," Legere tweeted in a separate post. And in yet another, he calls Sprint's latest efforts to sign up subscribers a "gimmicky promotion."
Twitter tirade aside, T-Mobile's un-carrier strategy is working so far. The wireless carrier added 1.6 million customers in the fourth quarter of 2013, bringing its total customer base to 47 million. In stark contrast, Sprint only added 475,000 in the same quarter, though Sprint has more total users at 55.4 million.
