T-Mobile CEO John Legere gets fired up about the future of the mobile internet

By Jared DiPane
last updated

John Legere is looking to rally together smartphone users to make sure that the future of the mobile internet is not left in the hands of the wrong people. In a new blog post and vlog, Legere states "if you're not pissed off, you're not paying attention." This type of behavior is what we have come to expect from the outspoken CEO, but when he is passionate about something he wants to make sure that passion is shared. From his blog post:

Spectrum is valuable, and there is a finite amount…. And right now, AT&T and Verizon are feverishly protecting their wireless duopoly by hoarding spectrum at the expense of American consumers. They are trying to control the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) like they do these airwaves, and I think it's important that consumers really understand what is at stake.

Of course, the vlog is slightly on the NSFW side, so be sure to keep that in mind before clicking play.

Spectrum is important, and Legere wants to be sure that the smaller competitors are able to purchase more in the auction as well. Be sure to check out the full post for all the details.

Source: T-Mobile (opens in new tab)

Jared DiPane
Jared DiPane

Jared started off writing about mobile phones back when BlackBerry ruled the market, and Windows Mobile was kinda cool. Now, with a family, mortgage and other responsibilities he has no choice but to look for the best deals, and he's here to share them with you.

30 Comments
  • Inb4 the debates.
    (If the arguments get too heated, this can be used as a break thread.)
  • Pass
  • On what?
  • Sheep
  • Ok so I am in the Modern App for WCentral, and while the article says, click play, and clearly referenced a video throughout, I see no links thereto...what am I missing? I see view images and share. And a link to T-Mobile. Why so hard to find?
  • Here is a direct youtube link to the video from the article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRcH0d5JpY4
  • I went to videos instead of links (on the phone)
  • Not hard to find at all, except on your phone I guess.
  • He is worried about smaller competitors getting greater access to spectrum. Great, he should be eager to work with Microsoft, smaller of mobile platforms, to have better access to sell mobile devices for their network.
  • He is only after his own interests. There are no convictions or principles.
  • I can't help but think this guy is a real sleezeball :/ It's okay to be looking for the best interest of your business, but when you present it as if it's in someone else's best interest? :/
  • He may be looking out for his own self-interest or that of his business (I don't really see a problem with that), but that doesn't change the fact that what he's saying is true.  The duopoly has hurt the consumer over the last decade or so.  Only since T-Mobile and Sprint have started becoming aggressive with their pricing has the pricing from AT&T and Verizon started to come down.  We in the US pay way more for the same services as our European counterparts.  Sure, there are a lot of factors that come into play, but much of it is simply down to "because we can" pricing from the duopoly.  We need more competition in this space to keep prices down for the consumer.
  • I don't know about that, he's basically arguing for more competition and that's a basic principle (i.e. fairer access to spectrum).
  • Hah. In the notification center all you see is "T-Mobile CEO John Legere gets fired" and it's truncated after that. I feel like I just totally got trolled. :P
  • Haha that's hilarious!
  • I really really want scrolling notifications haha
  • Microsoft should have a dedicated departmet/team to have permanent communication with AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile about how are carriers receiving the notice that the app gap of Windows Phone today vs iOS and Android will be over starting in 2016 with new Microsoft's compiler tools. This will make big players like Facebook (Whatsapp, Instagram), Snapchat, Reddit, Twitter, Uber, Pinterest, etc to bring their latest apps they have on iOS and Android to WP platform without code changes. This is big since these app companies have billions of users that could potentially migrate to WP in the future once the services arrive as premium to WP devices This could be the first time I'm confident that Android days can be counted.
  • He's right u know. Mobile internet shouldn't be sold in a la carte. It should be unlimited and both veri and att are cashing on this shit. When I found out I wad paying for overages. I ran away from att asap. Its a total dirty scheme.
  • And I'm sure T-Mobile would do the same, if given the chance. He doesn't want protection for consumers, he wants protection for his business. It's like those dumb commercials they have where they tell you to join them because they have the most bandwidth per-customer--if people switched, that'd no longer be the case.
    The argument he makes is a decent-enough one, but he's making it for the wrong reason.
  • I think you can be altruistic and want profit. He's did say in interviews that he hopes his rivals copy his innovation to help the consumer. I genuinely believe he wants to help the people here.
  • And that belief shows that he is at least really good at PR.
  • I'm not a gullible fool; I just think he seems to be genuinely trying to help the consumer, which is often a good business tactic anyway, really.
  • True. Check his history. He has no real track record of philanthropy...Not judging, but he has no fruits to prove his benevolence.
  • Yeah would be cheaper to buy spectrum on the cheap if startup provider goes under lol
  • I would switch to T-Mobile in a heart beat. If only they could provide coverage where I live. I'm sorry 2G won't cut it. I'm constantly checking for when they might cover me. If they do in a couple years or so, that's where I'm headed. For now I'm sadly chained to Verizon (Great service, but way overpriced and negligent of concern for the customer in my experience).
  • This is what the rant is about.  If AT&T and Verizon horde low band spectrum, the other carriers like T-Mobile won't have an easy way to provide service to people in rural areas.  Low band spectrum has better penetration and wider coverage areas. Now it is self serving to his company, but the counter point is that T-Mobile has been forcing the big two to implement more consumer friendly choices.  Better pricing, better plans are only being offered because they are feeling the impact of users leaving for T-Mobile.  With better coverage, more people like TrophyNostalgia will possibly switch creating more competion and even more agressive pricing. Overages and capped data plans are rediculous.  When Verizon says that offering unlimited data is impossible because of the costs, but then reports profits in the billions it just doesn't equate. Verizon and AT&T would not suffer from being left out of this auction since they already have a majority of low band spectrum.  If they got even more, it would become a game of "keep away" and competiton would suffer.  
  • T-Mobile has no claim to better price :I, Actually, thats Sprint's cake. They have the best prices and MUCH greater 3G coverage. 4G is comparable. But Sprint is plenty cheaper than T-Mobile in most cases.
  • John Legere is a clown. T-Mobile needs cash; Legere is a marketing tool to make T-Mobile look like a attractive acquisition target. I hope another company buys T-Mobile so we don't have to hear his desperate cries for attention and government subsidy. I left them because their coverage sucks and getting customer service in their stores is a myth.
  • Well, that's T-Mobile's problem at the moment.  Deutsche Telekom has had them up for sale for 5 years no, is not infusing them with capital for upgrades and the $5 billion from the AT&T break up fee is gone.  They did purchase A block 700MHz spectrum from Verizon from that cash and did wonders upgrading their network where it already existed, but they need new ownership to keep investing heavily. Legere I think is perfectly aware that long term T-Mobile is the 'odd man out'.  Verizon and AT&T already have a great network and network footprint in place as well as the capital to keep those networks upgrading.  Now that Softbank has purchased Sprint they are pouring billions of dollars into making Sprint competitive with AT&T and Verizon.  The upgrades Sprint is doing, especially when it comes to expanding their footprint takes time, so a lot of people may not have noticed it yet.  But in 12 to 18 months, Sprint is going to be in a totally different place than where they are now. Deutsche Telekom really needs to stop playing games with the sale of T-Mobile and hopefully the Dish deal happens.  That will give T-Mobile access to a lot more spectrum as well as ownership that can invest in them.  The US can support 4 major carriers and it would be better for all if there were.
  • Hey, id switch to tmo if they had better coverage and also flagship worthy WPs and actual support (dropping the 810 was a red flag saying they dont care for crap).