Verizon’s trash is T-Mobile’s treasure: un-carrier chooses pro-consumer path [UPDATED]

T-Mobile has fallen: the “un-carrier” has made a number of decisions recently which have left consumers angry. Somehow, Verizon has managed to one-up T-Mobile, and in doing so has made its biggest rival an even more compelling option for Americans.

Verizon’s CEO — Hans Vestberg — made some remarks recently which alienated a lot of the user base, and T-Mobile, it seems, was just waiting to swoop in. There are now two ways that the un-carrier can snatch customers away from Verizon, and both of them are due to the latter’s own poor decisions.

Verizon only wants “high-quality” customers

The aforementioned remarks by CEO Hans Vestberg made it clear that the company will no longer focus on its dwindling subscriber count. Verizon, according to a report, only wants “high-quality” customers, and will not sacrifice profitability by offering discounts and other goodies any longer.

Customers received an email from Verizon, letting them know that their loyalty discounts were no longer valid. In my opinion, Verizon gave up the only reason many people stuck around, and its already decreasing number of customers is about to plummet off of a cliff.



The company seems to have realized that as well, and may be back-pedaling in order to retain at least some number of customers. But the damage has been done: many users have lost the discounts that were keeping them tied to the carrier, and T-Mobile will welcome them with open arms.

Of course, AT&T is also an option, but T-Mobile’s reputation is currently the best amongst the top three. And this is only one way that Verizon is practically throwing customers at the un-carrier.

T-Mobile adopts Verizon’s best strategy

While it’s unclear how long this has been a thing, apparently T-Mobile is offering discounts the exact same way Verizon used to.

It was a neat little trick that Verizon customers used to employ:

• Call customer support
• Ask to leave
• Get a discount

Verizon was clearly desperate for customer retention, and offered its users massive discounts if they hinted at wanting to leave. Now that the company has declared that it only wants “high-quality” customers, T-Mobile has rolled out a “loyalty team” instead.

If you call customer service and tell them that you want to switch carriers, they will begin to explain to you why your T-Mobile plan is amazing value that you shouldn’t give up. But the fun part comes after, when you continue to push and keep insisting on leaving.

This “loyalty team” will try to make you a deal. If that isn’t good enough, and you still say that you want to leave, the team will then make you an even better offer. Naturally, much like Verizon’s customers, T-Mobile users will be heavily incentivized to remain with the carrier for lowered bills.

Not only has Verizon practically thrown away its customers at T-Mobile, it’s also taught the latter how to keep them from leaving the same way they left their last carrier.

The choice is pretty obvious, isn’t it?

So, if you’re an average American customer, which carrier would you want to go with? Because I think that the choice is very clear. Unless T-Mobile’s coverage in your area is particularly bad, the un-carrier has so many advantages over Verizon now.

I’ve seen countless people say that the only reason they were with Verizon was because of the discounts. If the company is now actively antagonizing these people, taking away said discounts, and giving them no reason to stay, then why would they?

T-Mobile may have made some pretty bad decisions as of late, but at least it still offers discounts and extras like T-Mobile Tuesdays deals. Most importantly of all, in my opinion, the un-carrier hasn’t begun to distinguish between “high-quality” customers and the rest of us common folk.