Sprint really, really wants people to switch to its network.
The carrier is now offering people the chance to switch their plans over to Sprint and pay half of what they were paying with other carriers.
“Customers have 28 days to experience Sprint service. If they are not satisfied, customers can return their device with no restocking fee,” Sprint said in an announcement on Wednesday.
For example, a family paying $100 for 15GB at AT&T can get the same amount of data for $50 if they switch.
The deal ends in January 2018 for people who switch between this Friday and January 7, 2016.
The company is also giving existing customers a free Alcatel tablet with one year of free service if they sign a two year contract.
“Our company would be nothing without our existing customers so we wanted to make sure we showed our appreciation to them, too,” Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure said in a statement.
Wednesday’s announcement was widely expected.
Sprint says it wants to “celebrate” the launch of its new LTE Plus network.
To promote the news, the carrier set up a dedicated website with a countdown clock, created the hashtag #SprintCountdown, and Claure tweeted hints about the news several times over the past week.
Sprint’s new deal comes a week after T-Mobile announced it would stop counting certain video streams against customers’ data plans.
The two carriers seem to be locked in a perpetual price war to attract new customers — as well as a PR race with back-to-back timing on their statements.
Earlier this year, when T-Mobile offered a $5 a month iPhone promotion, Sprint came out with a $1 deal a few days later.
Both companies are trying to steal market share from Verizon and AT&T, which have better overall network performance.
But Claure says he has bold plans beyond pricing.
“We will have the best network in the next two years,” he told CNNMoney in an interview in September.
