4 ms·

I'm glad that T-Mobile has become a customer focused company in recent months, but let's not forget that just a short while ago, they were just like all of the

by phaus 13y ago

I'm glad that T-Mobile has become a customer focused company in recent months, but let's not forget that just a short while ago, they were just like all of the other major carriers. T-Mobile had a sudden change of heart not because they give a shit about their customers, its because their network wasn't good enough for people to put up with typical carrier bullshit. As a normal carrier, they were losing money and customers so fast that they had to either change or go out of business. I highly doubt they would have made the same philosophical changes if they had been successful doing things the scummy way.

chimeracoder 13y ago
> I'm glad that T-Mobile has become a customer focused company in recent months, but let's not forget that just a short while ago, they were just like all of the other major carriers. Not just that, but in other countries (not the US) where they have the dominant market position, they seem just as despised as Verizon and AT&T are in the US. Not that I'm complaining; I enjoy the consumer-side benefits of competition as much as the next guy - it's just good to remember exactly where things stand.
cracker_jacks 13y ago
T-Mobile had a sudden change of heart because they had a sudden change in CEO in 2012. He's the one that's been pushing the 'uncarrier' movement within the company.
- mortenjorck 13y ago
  John Legere is... interesting. Check out the original 'uncarrier' press event from this summer: http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/26/4148836/stop-bullshit-says-tmobile-ceo-john-legere http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/26/4148836/stop-bullshit-says... "Carriers are really nice to you... once every 23 months. This is the biggest crock of shit I've ever heard in my entire life. Do you have any idea how much you're paying?" This is not a quote from an angry blog commenter. This the CEO of the United States' fourth largest mobile service provider speaking at a press conference. Refreshingly bizarre.
  - wyclif 13y ago
    Refreshingly honest, I would say.
  - phaus 13y ago
    It is refreshing to see a telecom executive make a statement like that, but its hard not to feel as if it might just be a clever marketing tactic. Apparently he used to be the Chief Executive of AT&T Asia. I wonder how cellular service plans are structured there. I know that Europe has traditionally favored the no-contract plans that are just now starting to get attention in the U.S., I wonder if perhaps Asia does too.
alive-or-not 13y ago
Same as Apple - when they were almost dead they had to use and contribute to open source projects and treat the customer fair. Nowadays they are making it clear all iThings out there belong to Apple and working hard to wall Mac OSX as well.
- X-Istence 13y ago
  Apple still contributes to open source A LOT.
  - kunai 13y ago
    Barely. OpenDarwin is dead. WebKit was stolen from KHTML. CUPS has barely any development anymore. Apart from LLVM, what have they really contributed to OSS? Okay, it's more than Microsoft, but net contribution is still nothing compared to Google or Sun (when they were still alive).
    - matthewmacleod 13y ago
      KHTML was not stolen - it was used as the basis for Webkit in compliance with its licence, which is exactly how Open Source is supposed to work. Have a look at http://www.apple.com/opensource/ http://www.apple.com/opensource/ - which outlines the Open Source components that Apple use and contribute to. You're right - it might not be as much as some other companies (though I don't know if it's practically less than Google or Sun) but they are consistently among the largest participants in Open Source among large tech companies.
      - dylandrop 13y ago
        I think my biggest beef with them is that they tend to make up for their small amount of OSS in a negative way by being such patent trolls. This is more true of their presence in the hardware world.
      - awad 13y ago
        Also note that Google's Blink project did the exact same
jamesbritt 13y ago
but let's not forget that just a short while ago, they were just like all of the other major carriers. I've been using T-Mobile for five years or so and have always had really good customer service.
rscale 13y ago
Why T-Mobile made the change is unimportant to me. I care that they made the change, and that they committed to it via zero lock-in contracts. If I feel that I'm not getting sufficient value at some point in the future, I can simply walk away from T-Mobile without spending $325/line in termination fees. And as for the network, I'm fortunate that it's not a trade-off for me. T-Mobile's coverage has proven superior to AT&T's for my precise work/home/travel combination.
esw 13y ago
>I'm glad that T-Mobile has become a customer focused company in recent months I was a T-Mobile customer until the first iPhone came out, and they were fantastic back then. I'd switch back now if it weren't for the fact that they have lousy coverage in Vermont.
tytso 13y ago
I've always had really good customer service with T-mobile. I remember once time almost 5-10 years ago when I needed help getting the right AT commands to connect to GPRS using Linux. The help desk heard me use the appropriate technical terms (AT commands, chat script, GPRS, etc.) and immediately forwarded me to the level 3 help desk folks who actually could handle technical questions, and they helped me even when I told them I was using Linux and could set up my own chat/expect script once I knew the required parameteres for their GPRS network. Compare and contrast that with my previous experience with AT&T, and there was absolutely no comparison.
- wyclif 13y ago
  Yes, disagree with the parent for this reason. I've been with T-Mobile since 1999/2000-ish when they were known as VoiceStream (they renamed it T-Mobile in July 2002). That was my personal phone. When I used company-issued phones on AT&T, Sprint and Verizon, the difference was readily apparent: T-Mobile always had better quality customer service than the other carriers, more appealing plans, easier to change plans when you wanted, &c.
lobster_johnson 13y ago
Interestingly, just a couple of months ago T-Mobile had great online customer service -- you could log into your account and open a chat with a customer support person. They removed that in favour of a generic "support community" based on Jive. So now you have to "start a discussion" if you have a problem, or, annoyingly, call their support line.

by phaus 13y ago

chimeracoder 13y ago

> I'm glad that T-Mobile has become a customer focused company in recent months, but let's not forget that just a short while ago, they were just like all of the other major carriers. Not just that, but in other countries (not the US) where they have the dominant market position, they seem just as despised as Verizon and AT&T are in the US. Not that I'm complaining; I enjoy the consumer-side benefits of competition as much as the next guy - it's just good to remember exactly where things stand.

cracker_jacks 13y ago

T-Mobile had a sudden change of heart because they had a sudden change in CEO in 2012. He's the one that's been pushing the 'uncarrier' movement within the company.

mortenjorck 13y ago
John Legere is... interesting. Check out the original 'uncarrier' press event from this summer: http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/26/4148836/stop-bullshit-says-tmobile-ceo-john-legere http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/26/4148836/stop-bullshit-says... "Carriers are really nice to you... once every 23 months. This is the biggest crock of shit I've ever heard in my entire life. Do you have any idea how much you're paying?" This is not a quote from an angry blog commenter. This the CEO of the United States' fourth largest mobile service provider speaking at a press conference. Refreshingly bizarre.
- wyclif 13y ago
  Refreshingly honest, I would say.
- phaus 13y ago
  It is refreshing to see a telecom executive make a statement like that, but its hard not to feel as if it might just be a clever marketing tactic. Apparently he used to be the Chief Executive of AT&T Asia. I wonder how cellular service plans are structured there. I know that Europe has traditionally favored the no-contract plans that are just now starting to get attention in the U.S., I wonder if perhaps Asia does too.

alive-or-not 13y ago

Same as Apple - when they were almost dead they had to use and contribute to open source projects and treat the customer fair. Nowadays they are making it clear all iThings out there belong to Apple and working hard to wall Mac OSX as well.

X-Istence 13y ago
Apple still contributes to open source A LOT.
- kunai 13y ago
  Barely. OpenDarwin is dead. WebKit was stolen from KHTML. CUPS has barely any development anymore. Apart from LLVM, what have they really contributed to OSS? Okay, it's more than Microsoft, but net contribution is still nothing compared to Google or Sun (when they were still alive).
  - matthewmacleod 13y ago
    KHTML was not stolen - it was used as the basis for Webkit in compliance with its licence, which is exactly how Open Source is supposed to work. Have a look at http://www.apple.com/opensource/ http://www.apple.com/opensource/ - which outlines the Open Source components that Apple use and contribute to. You're right - it might not be as much as some other companies (though I don't know if it's practically less than Google or Sun) but they are consistently among the largest participants in Open Source among large tech companies.
    - dylandrop 13y ago
      I think my biggest beef with them is that they tend to make up for their small amount of OSS in a negative way by being such patent trolls. This is more true of their presence in the hardware world.
    - awad 13y ago
      Also note that Google's Blink project did the exact same

jamesbritt 13y ago

but let's not forget that just a short while ago, they were just like all of the other major carriers. I've been using T-Mobile for five years or so and have always had really good customer service.

rscale 13y ago

Why T-Mobile made the change is unimportant to me. I care that they made the change, and that they committed to it via zero lock-in contracts. If I feel that I'm not getting sufficient value at some point in the future, I can simply walk away from T-Mobile without spending $325/line in termination fees. And as for the network, I'm fortunate that it's not a trade-off for me. T-Mobile's coverage has proven superior to AT&T's for my precise work/home/travel combination.

esw 13y ago

>I'm glad that T-Mobile has become a customer focused company in recent months I was a T-Mobile customer until the first iPhone came out, and they were fantastic back then. I'd switch back now if it weren't for the fact that they have lousy coverage in Vermont.

tytso 13y ago

I've always had really good customer service with T-mobile. I remember once time almost 5-10 years ago when I needed help getting the right AT commands to connect to GPRS using Linux. The help desk heard me use the appropriate technical terms (AT commands, chat script, GPRS, etc.) and immediately forwarded me to the level 3 help desk folks who actually could handle technical questions, and they helped me even when I told them I was using Linux and could set up my own chat/expect script once I knew the required parameteres for their GPRS network. Compare and contrast that with my previous experience with AT&T, and there was absolutely no comparison.

wyclif 13y ago
Yes, disagree with the parent for this reason. I've been with T-Mobile since 1999/2000-ish when they were known as VoiceStream (they renamed it T-Mobile in July 2002). That was my personal phone. When I used company-issued phones on AT&T, Sprint and Verizon, the difference was readily apparent: T-Mobile always had better quality customer service than the other carriers, more appealing plans, easier to change plans when you wanted, &c.

lobster_johnson 13y ago

Interestingly, just a couple of months ago T-Mobile had great online customer service -- you could log into your account and open a chat with a customer support person. They removed that in favour of a generic "support community" based on Jive. So now you have to "start a discussion" if you have a problem, or, annoyingly, call their support line.