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T-Mobile will now pay $350 for you to leave AT&T, Sprint, or Verizon

T-Mobile will now pay $350 for you to leave AT&T, Sprint, or Verizon

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Just as predicted, T-Mobile's latest hyped-up plan to change the cellular industry is this: the company will pay your early termination fee if you agree to switch. Starting tomorrow, the company will pay you up to $350 per line to cover early termination fees and release you from a contract with AT&T, Sprint, or Verizon.

Unfortunately, there are quite a few catches. You'll also need to trade in your existing phone, buy a new T-Mobile phone, sign up for a new T-Mobile plan, and even port your existing phone number to T-Mobile — in case you weren't going to do that anyway.

T-Mobile also won't be paying out a lump sum of $350, but rather the actual amount you pay your existing carrier if you break your contract to switch. You'll need to send proof to T-Mobile directly at this website or mail it to the company, and presumably wait for your money. You do, however, get an instant credit for trading in your existing smartphone at the time of the deal, with T-Mobile paying up to an additional $300 depending on the phone you trade in, and you won't have to pay right away for your new smartphone since T-Mobile is making almost all of them $0 down on contract.

"We're giving families a ‘Get Out of Jail Free Card.'"

Unsurprisingly, T-Mobile is trumpeting the idea as a bold new idea. "We're giving families a ‘Get Out of Jail Free Card," writes Legere in the press release. But in many ways, AT&T just beat T-Mobile to the punch. Last week, AT&T announced that it would pay $200 for every line that T-Mobile customers switched over to its own network, an offer that also requires those customers to buy a new AT&T phone.

"Try the network, try what we're doing, and if it doesn't work, these pricks will pay you to come back!"

At the time, Legere called AT&T's promotion a "desperate move," accusing AT&T of trying to buy customers back, and his own plans aren't that much different. However, as Legere points out on stage, the fact that both T-Mobile and AT&T are paying you to switch could be pretty great.

"Try the network, try what we're doing," Legere asks. "And if it doesn't work, these pricks will pay you to come back!"