NEW YORK (AP) – T-Mobile wants to change how businesses buy phones and wireless services – two years after it changed how consumers do so.
T-Mobile says its new business plans are about simplicity, with rates based solely on how many lines and how much data the company needs. The company believes its new plans will be particularly attractive to smaller businesses without staff trained to negotiate rates with larger carriers.
“Anybody can figure out the cost,” John Legere, T-Mobile’s CEO, told The Associated Press. “At the counter, on the phone, in two minutes, we can tell you exactly how much.”
T-Mobile is also offering new deals for the families of those who use its business plans, along with a pledge to pay the balance of phone-installment plans for those switching from other rivals.
Two years ago this month, the Bellevue, Washington, company shattered a long-standing industry practice of tying consumers to two-year service contracts in exchange for phone discounts. Customers now pay full price for phones in installments, and the company no longer inflates rates for voice, text and data services to make up for those phone discounts. Verizon, AT&T and Sprint now have no-contract plans, too.