T-Mobile is continuing to shake things up.
The No. 4 U.S. carrier on Friday announced a promotion that will offer its entire lineup of phones for no upfront payment. It isn't really dropping the price of phones, just spreading the entire cost of the phone over 24 months instead of using a mix of an initial down payment and monthly payments.
Still, the move shows the flexibility T-Mobile has since moving to a model in which it separates the cost of the phone from its monthly service.
"The number of reasons not to switch to T-Mobile this summer is ZERO," T-Mobile CEO John Legere said in a statement. "This is a fantastic offer and we're making it easier than ever for customers to get the latest amazing devices."
Under the new promotion, which starts on Saturday, customers can get a 16 gigabyte iPhone 5, for example, for no upfront fee and 24 monthly payments of $27 per month. The Samsung Galaxy S4, BlackBerry Q10 and HTC One are all $25 per month, while the entry-level Nokia Lumia 521 is just $5 per month.
The device fee is then added to T-Mobile's monthly service fees. Options range from a $50-per-month plan that includes unlimited talk, text and 500 megabytes of high-speed data to an option for $70 per month that includes unlimited high-speed data. Additional lines for family members cost $30 for the first extra line and $10 per additional line after that.
Though not cutting device prices, the move could nonetheless be attractive to those looking to get a new phone without a big initial cost.
Update: In a telephone interview, T-Mobile Chief Marketing Officer Mike Sievert said that the new option came in response to a move by AT&T to offer some devices for no money down.
"This is really about being fast and highly competitive," Sievert said. "We aren't going to cede one inch of the territory and of the momentum" it has gained from its "un-carrier" approach.
As part of its Next early-upgrade program, AT&T is offering a number of phones for no money down, with installment payments of $15 to $50 per month for 20 months. A Samsung Galaxy S4, for example, would cost $32 a month for 20 months under that program. (Customers would also pay AT&T's standard monthly rates in addition to the device financing payment.)
Sievert did not give an end date for T-Mobile's new offer, but said promotions such as these tend to run days or weeks, and not for months.
He also said this move was not the next step that Legere had hinted will come in the fall.
"Un-carrier 3.0 is still to come," Sievert said.
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