T-Mobile US (NYSE:TMUS) is extending its "Never Settle Trial" promotion through June 27 in an effort to steal away Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) customers. The promotion, which was announced last month, was supposed to run from May 13 through May 31.
"We're extending the #NeverSettle Trial thru 6/27 because, as predicted, @VerizonWireless customers want better," T-Mobile CEO John Legere wrote on Twitter yesterday. "They want @TMobile !"
Verizon's recent advertising slogan uses the "never settle" tag line, and implies that customers who choose the other carriers are settling for inferior network quality. Verizon continues to be the leader in overall performance, network reliability, data speed, data performance and call quality, according to network testing firm RootMetrics. With the promotion, T-Mobile is trying to flip that on its head. T-Mobile now covers 280 million POPs with LTE, compared to Verizon's 308 million, though T-Mobile aims to cover 300 million people with LTE by year-end, which its executives have said will give it parity with Verizon.
Under the promotion, Verizon customers will port their number to a new T-Mobile smartphone and hold on to their old Verizon phone. After the trial, if customers want to switch to T-Mobile, T-Mobile will pay any of Verizon's Early Termination Fees or outstanding device payments, up to $650, when customers trade in their phone and purchase a new one from T-Mobile.
If customers do not want to switch to T-Mobile, they will hand in their T-Mobile phone within 14 days, and T-Mobile will refund any trial costs. T-Mobile also will pay any service costs for returning to Verizon, such activation or other related fees.
Shortly after the promotion launched, T-Mobile started a "#NeverSettleforVerizon" Twitter advertising campaign to coincide with the promotion, which appeared to backfire after a significant number of Twitter users lashed out at T-Mobile and defended Verizon in reaction to the ad. Seemingly in response to the situation, T-Mobile reportedly withdrew its ad on Twitter. However, the continuation of the promotion is an indication that T-Mobile is not backing down from the campaign or its targeting of Verizon.
For more:
- see this Twitter post
- see this TMoNews article
- see this T-Mobile site
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