T-Mobile's CEO on the Mobile Industry and Porn Killing Shared Data Plans

T-Mobile’s new CEO is a boss (in more ways than one). John Legere ripped the entire mobile industry at CES during his Q&A session. PC Mag had the responses and let me say, these responses are great, you can’t make this stuff up. And the best part of it all is that it’s funny because it’s all very true.

On AT&T: “Does anyone use AT&T in New York City? Is anyone satisfied with their service? Of course not. The network’s crap.” [and then later] “I didn’t say the network’s crap, it’s just not as good as ours. That’s not the common person’s understanding, but it’s true, and it’s going to get even better.”

BT: Being that I live in NY, let me tell you the AT&T coverage in NYC is horrific. And it’s really unfortunate that it’s one of the only places right now with LTE within New York. There are only a handful of places on Long Island with LTE currently. That being said, I cannot really comment on T-Mobile’s network being superior, but hey, when you’re the underdog you can get away with comments like that.

On Sprint LTE: “You mean when Sprint announced it, and then they announced that they were behind, and then they announced the two markets they would announce later?”

BT: Sprint is a joke. Their coverage is really terrible as is their service, it’s no wonder they have to offer unlimited data to entice people to even consider them.

On Verizon: “The way they covered those dust bowl states with LTE, I think, is admirable… they have a beautiful network, incredible capability. They spent more money than a small nation building out that network. But shared data plans are a thing of the past. A 10-gigabyte, 5-device shared data plan, when Joe Schmoe Junior starts to watch porn on his phone, isn’t going to work.”

BT: True, Verizon’s network is great, even in really remote places. But we all hate shared data plans, I really hope they bring back unlimited data to Verizon and AT&T.

On How We Buy Phones: “If you landed from Mars on this planet and you looked at the way people sell to customers in this industry, you would go back to where you came from. The CEO of Verizon said in one of his quotes, ‘I’m just not sure the world is ready for $700 iPhones.’ Are you kidding me? That’s how much they cost! That’s why you’re in prison for multiple years!”

On Subsidized Phones: “You are paying every penny for their phones. You are not getting a $99 phone. Anyone who thinks they are, come with me into the back. While you’re handcuffed, they go into your pockets and they take your money.”

BT: Excellent points, I think carriers need to allow us to buy new smartphones when we want and offer incentives to stay with the company long-term, instead of locking us into ridiculous two-year contracts. Hey wireless carriers, if your services doesn’t suck and your company is a pleasure to deal with, I think your customers wouldn’t mind staying with you for a long long time.

But it wasn’t just ripping the competition that Legere recognized as a much needed tactic, the CEO also realized that there are a few things that T-Mobile needs to do in order to compete, regaining “the cool factor” and continuing to differentiate are on the top of the list to help propel the carrier into dominance.

Will it work? At this point it’s hard to tell, but I like what I hear. Between all the talk and the fact T-Mobile is getting the iPhone this year and is also supposed to be rolling out its LTE network within the next few weeks it can’t hurt to try.