Source: Don't expect T-Mobile to introduce carrier unlocking as part of UN-carrier 5.0

On Wednesday, T-Mobile is expected to introduce UN-carrier 5.0. On the menu should be a plan to simplify data plan pricing with tax and regulatory costs already priced in, similar to what you might see from a pre-paid carrier. On Sunday, we told you about a version of the Samsung Galaxy Avant, heading for T-Mobile, that featured a carrier unlocking app in the app launcher. Clicking on the app unlocked the phone, allowing it to work with a Verizon SIM card.

And while it sounds crazy to allow a customer to just walk away by clicking on an app, no company has been more pro-consumer in the industry than T-Mobile. If the latter was allowing you to be free by being the first to get rid of two year handcuffs, it wouldn't be out of line to expect that the same carrier would allow you to unlock the phone you bought with your own money, and use it with the mobile operator of your choice.

While many of you hoped to see such an initiative announced on Wednesday, better not count on it happening. One of our loyal readers who has used test handsets before, says that the app is installed on such models just in case it is important to see how the phone runs on a competing pipeline. He goes on to tell us that T-Mobile has made no change to the request-code process. Even with an app, those testing the handset would have to call T-Mobile for the unlock code. Otherwise, as he pointed out, customers could quickly walk away from one carrier to another. 

Stay with us. As soon as we find out exactly what new marketing tool T-Mobile CEO John Legere has announced on Wednesday, we will pass it on to you.

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Sprint agrees on $40 share price for T-Mobile acquisition

US carrier Sprint continues to pursue the acquisition of its local rival T-Mobile and today the negotiations reached a new milestone. Sprint has agreed to pay $40 a share for its stake in T-Mobile or 17% than the current market value.

The deal, should it go through at that price, will increase the valuation of T-Mobile to $32 billion, or more than twice what it cost a year ago. Investors in current T-Mobile parent company Deutsche Telecom investors seem moderately happy with the agreed price, sending its shares up 1.4% today.

However Hannes Wittig, an analyst at JP Morgan, believes that the $40 price is low and Deutsche Telecom should be looking to negotiate a price in the high 40s.

If the deal comes through it would mean the third and fourth largest carriers in the US will join forces. The total number of subscribers on the two networks is now just over 103 million, putting them closely behind AT&T's 116 million in the second place. Verizon is still in the lead with 122 million subscribers.

However, the deal might face resistance from the authorities as both the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) have declared that they prefer at least two more network operators to provide competition to the two market leaders. Previously, the regulators prevented AT&T from acquiring Sprint as they feared it would affect competition badly and would end up in higher price for the consumers.

T-Mobile CEO John Legere learns meaning of Instant Karma

T-Mobile CEO John Legere has had it in for AT&T for some time. At CES 2013, he called the AT&T network "crap". So when the Air Conditioning failed during Game One of the 2014 NBA Finals at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Legere quickly hit his Twitter account. "It's bad enough when you can't power a network, but now you can't power the AC during the finals?!?!" Obviously, it was a tongue-in-cheek comment from the pro-consumer executive. AT&T pays to have its name on the building, and has nothing to do with the the AC at the arena.

But the executive found out that what goes around, comes around. By Friday morning, there was talk that T-Mobile's network was experiencing problems, forcing Legere to send out a tweet explaining how T-Mobile was dealing with a nationwide problem on its pipeline. Eventually, the problem was repaired.

Will this bit of Instant Karma stop T-Mobile's top executive from using his wit against the competition (especially AT&T) in the future? Don't count on it.