Worst of the Week: ‘Un-ranking’ 1.0 – breaking down T-Mobile US

Hello! And welcome to our Friday column, Worst of the Week. There’s a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCRWireless.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way. We hope you enjoy it!
And without further ado:
For just over one year now, T-Mobile US has made a name for itself through its “Un-carrier” marketing push that has come to re-define the domestic wireless space. Regardless of how much credit should be given to T-Mobile US for these macro-level changes or how much of an “un-carrier” you may feel T-Mobile US really is, you gotta at least give the folks in Bellevue some recognition for turning around what was a wounded and sinking ship.
This past week, T-Mobile US unveiled its latest “Un-carrier” moves, entitled 5.0 and 6.0, because in the modern world if something does not include a decimal point, then it’s so 20th Century. With now a solid half-dozen-plus-one “Un-carrier” initiatives in the book, it’s time to rank the importance of these moves. Now, this ranking is purely of my opinion and thus completely and 100% accurate. You may have a different opinion of how important these moves were/are, but you would be wrong 100.0.
As a quick reminder, here are T-Mobile US’ “official Un-carrier” moves over the past year and change:
1.0: Simple Choice rate plans
2.0: JUMP device financing
3.0 (Pt. 1): International roaming
3.0 (Pt. 2): Tablets
4.0: ETF payments
5.0: Free iPhone/service trial
6.0: Music focus
There are three of these that each could easily be No. 1 in this ranking, but as I am a bit old school (emphasis on “old”), I selected 1.0 to lead off the ranking. Sure, no-contract rate plans are really nothing new, and in fact T-Mobile US had launched that aspect of 1.0 earlier in 2013, but the de-coupling of device subsidies from a contract was pretty sweet.
Sure, consumers were now on the hook to pay the full price of a mobile device, something that even Apple was forced to turn away from, but they were able to pay that device off over a two-year period and they also in turn received a lower per-month price for their service.
No. 2 on the list is 4.0, or T-Mobile US’ move to pay early-termination fees. Now, even though AT&T Mobility actually beat T-Mobile US to the punch in this ploy, the AT&T Mobility offering only targeted T-Mobile US customers and was quickly dropped. For T-Mobile US, this move put fresh green into the hands of customers, which is always a compelling sales tool. It may not have been the most fiscally prudent move, but what do I care when there is so much money flying around.
Speaking of flying around, No. 3 on the list was Un-carrier 3.0 (Pt. 1), also known as the international roaming initiative. Now, this one is a bit tricky in that it really only matters to those that somehow think there is a reason to leave the United States. (I mean, we have Epcot and IHOP, or basically all the best the world has to offer.)
But, for those that do find the need and are not on the company dime, this one is pretty sweet as it offers free unlimited data and messaging and voice calls at 20 cents per minute in more than 100 countries. What would previously require a customer to either leave their phone at home or take out a second mortgage on their house if they dared turn on their phone while abroad, has become a no-brainer. I don’t know how the finances on this work for T-Mobile US, and I don’t care.
At No. 4 on the list I have a two-way tie between 2.0 and 5.0, which I will just call 3.5.
The JUMP device financing program is a great idea for those consumers that literally can’t wait for a new device. This is a good thing in that it does indeed serve a purpose as there are people who just have to have the latest and greatest, and if they want to pay a few extra bucks so they can do so, well there you go. But, this is in turn is a bad thing in that it feeds a neuroses that these people need to get a hold of. Seriously people, do you really need a new smartphone every other week?

The free iPhone/service trial may actually be a better offering than I am giving it credit for, but it’s just too new for it to have really sunk in. Heck, a free iPhone and service for a week? That does sound pretty cool, though having to hand back that device to a person in a store has too much of a hint of “walk of shame” for my tastes.
I am placing 6.0 at No. 6 on this list both for symmetry and also because I am not a huge streaming music fan. For some reason I always find these services never quite provide the music selection I am looking for and thus give up on them pretty easily. (Impatient much?) Again, for those that walk around all day in headphones on, this is probably No. 1 on their list, but those people really need to take those damn headphones off so they can hear that taxi bearing down on them.
Rounding out the ranking is 3.0 (Pt. 2, Electric Boogaloo), mostly because I can’t figure out why this is a part two? T-Mobile US somehow linking tablets to the international roaming of part one makes absolutely zero sense. I know people like tablets, and I am on record as totally mis-judging the appeal of tablets, but if tablets are so awesome than this needed to have its own .0.
So, there you go, the official ranking of T-Mobile US’ Un-carrier moves is now out there and we can all sleep a little sounder at night. Let’s just hope T-Mobile US can make it to an even dozen (plus one) of these un-carrier announcements before Sprint barges in and their combined operations are no longer the scrappy competitor with a penchant for decimal points.
OK, enough of that.
Thanks for checking out this week’s Worst of the Week column. And now for some extras:
–Normally I don’t get very excited about smartphone launches as it seems beyond a curve here or megapixel there, the difference between the various plastic slabs is minimal. However, this week’s launch by Amazon.com of its Fire smartphone for some reason caught my attention.
Sure, the basics of the phone’s designs and specifications seem to at least match those of the latest and greatest, and the Fire even seems to have a few “gee-whiz” features that are actually “gee-whiz.” However, it still sort of looks like every other smartphone out there, which seems to have been an opportunity lost. I mean, they named it Fire. Why not spruce it up with a “flame” paint job or have it actually shoot out fire?
Of course, the biggest challenge for Amazon could be in keeping AT&T’s attention for longer than a month or so. With Apple expected to unveil a new iPhone in the coming months and I can only assume Samsung set to unveil nine new iterations of its Galaxy line up over the same time frame, maintaining a focused presence by AT&T could be the real challenge for the Fire’s long-term success.

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