T-Mobile rebrands One plans to Magenta, lets switchers keep discounts
The wireless carrier is also changing how it handles bundled Netflix.
T-Mobile goes full magenta.
T-Mobile's prospects for its merger with Sprint are changing by the day, but that hasn't stopped the nation's third-largest carrier from continuing to go after rivals.
Its latest move: matching the discounts -- though not the plans -- offered by AT&T , Verizon and Sprint .
If you have a 15% corporate discount for your AT&T plan, for example, T-Mobile will match the discount for its service if you switch. The process needs to happen in a T-Mobile store and applies to corporate, affiliate, military and senior discounts.
The company said Thursday that it will match discounts "dollar for dollar" in $5 increments up to $15 for one line and up to $30 total for two lines or more.
"Before the Un-carrier, people were locked into annual service contracts and financing plans, and we changed all that," T-Mobile CEO John Legere said in a statement. "Now, we're freeing millions more."
T-Mobile's new branding.
The new offer goes into effect June 2. In addition to going after rivals, T-Mobile is also giving its plans a slight makeover, rebranding its T-Mobile One and One Plus as Magenta and Magenta Plus. Although T-Mobile is phasing out One and One Plus, it won't require existing customers to switch to Magenta or Magenta Plus.
T-Mobile isn't changing the prices for any plan, but it has made two tweaks that are worth highlighting.
First, those with the Magenta plan will get 3GB of 4G LTE hotspot data per line, a nice boost given that T-Mobile One didn't offer a high-speed hotspot. (Unlimited hotspot data remains on the plan, though it was capped at 3G speeds.)
The second move effects Netflix. T-Mobile will still offer Netflix but it's passing along some of Netflix's fees to customers following the streaming giant's rate hike earlier this year.
Those who stay on T-Mobile One will have to pay $2 per month starting in July to continue to receive Netflix's standard plan, with T-Mobile covering $10.99 of the now $12.99 monthly rate.
Magenta customers will have Netflix included, but it will be the $8.99 basic plan that's limited to one screen at a time and doesn't include HD. The standard plan allows two people to watch at a time and streams in HD.
One Plus and Magenta Plus will include Netflix's standard plan.
T-Mobile One users who don't want to pay the $2 fee can turn off the "Netflix on Us" feature or switch to the Magenta plan. T-Mobile One users who want to upgrade to Netflix's $15.99 per month 4K premium plan can still do so, with the user paying the difference ($5 per month). Magenta customers can similarly upgrade if they are willing to pay the extra monthly costs -- $4 to upgrade to standard and $7 to upgrade to premium.
T-Mobile's latest efforts come as regulators debate its proposed $26 billion merger with Sprint. After new concessions, multiple FCC commissioners, including chairman Ajit Pai, have said they will support the deal. The Department of Justice, however, is still not on board, with reports circulating Wednesday that the DOJ might try to block the deal over concerns that it will harm competition.