While T-Mobile‘s name seemed to be synonymous with value, affordability, and industry competitiveness just a couple of years ago, the “Un-carrier” is finding it mighty difficult nowadays to escape controversy and online vitriol for more than a few weeks in a row.
What the operator is essentially doing is seeking new ways to ensure its subscribers keep their money with T-Mobile rather than spending it elsewhere. In order to do that, certain deals that used to qualify for a virtual prepaid Mastercard are now merely eligible for “Magenta” cards.
These can only be used at, you guessed it, Magenta for things like bill payments, equipment purchases, and monthly installments instead of allowing you to buy virtually anything (pun intended) wherever good old fashioned Mastercards are accepted.
Yes, you can once again score up to a $1,000 discount for bringing as many as five lines to T-Mo from a competing carrier, but said discount is now effectively a bill credit, which is also what Verizon and AT&T are currently giving their own network switchers.
What we’re basically looking at here is another textbook industry play patented by the traditional US carriers, which T-Mobile used to call “dumb and dumber”… before starting to emulate their behavior and imitate their tricks. Is the latest policy change a big deal? That’s for you to decide and us to listen to.
