Sprint (S) will pay off all your switching costs and promise to give you service for half of what you were paying your old carrier. Sprint will halve your bill through 2017.
In 2014, Sprint only offered to cut the bill for Verizon and AT&Tsubscribers. T-Mobile customers are also eligible this year.
Sprint now also makes it possible for people who are switching to select from most plans within a carrier’s offering, and Sprint will charge half of what the former carrier would have charged.
For example, a family paying $100 for 15GB at AT&T can get the same amount of data for $50 if they switch.
“We believe this will be much more successful than Cut Your Rate Plan In Half [from last year],” Claure said on a call with reporters on Wednesday. “It was confusing.”
But this year’s offer comes with a few caveats.
T-Mobile’s $95 unlimited data plan is not eligible, for starters. The discount also doesn’t apply to taxes and other add-on charges.
Lastly, although Sprint no longer requires people to turn in their cell phones when they switch, some new customers may have to hand them in and get new phones.
“Customers have 28 days to experience Sprint service. If they are not satisfied, customers can return their device with no restocking fee,” Sprint said in its announcement.
The discounted rates end January 2018 for people who switch between this Friday and January 7, 2016.
The company is also giving existing customers a free Alcatel tablet with one year of free service if they sign a two year contract.
T-Mobile will cover all of your switching costs, including early termination fees, the balance of your smartphone payments or whatever other fees your old carrier charges you.
And AT&T will give you up to $300 for switching — $100 in bill credits plus up to $200 for a trade-in.