Ting announced recently that they have implemented a new and improved phone trade-in system/policy along with offering a 30% credit to those who trade-in phones from AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile. This new Ting phone swap offer is just another way for them to encourage people to switch to their tiered rate cheap cell phone plan. In addition, it is one of the ways that Ting makes the switching process from other networks easier since most people moving to Ting do not have a Sprint CDMA compatible phone which they utilize.
Potential customers wishing to switch to Ting and trade-in their old phone for the 30% credit can do so by following the instructions on this page. In order to qualify for the credit, you would need to sell your non-Sprint phone using the Glyde marketplace which Ting has a partnership and also activate a new Sprint device with Ting either 60 days before or 90 days after the sale of the non-Sprint device. The reason for the time limits, which are perfectly reasonable, is to make sure that people aren’t abusing the system by selling an old device long after they’ve switched.
Of course, if you are coming from Sprint or a Sprint based MVNO then it is possible that you already have a compatible phone. Thus buying a new device would not be necessary for the switch since you can save money buy using your existing phone.
In addition to the Ting phone swap credit, this is on top of the already existing 25% reimbursement (up to $75 per device) for early termination fees. This is similar to other carriers who are trying ploy customers from other wireless services. So if you are an AT&T customer for example and you cancel in the middle of a two year contract to switch to Ting, then they will reimburse you 25% of the contract cancellation fee. While certainly a nice offer, Ting’s termination fee reimbursement is only 1/4 of T-Mobile who offers full reimbursement to switchers.
Finally, one other improvement that Ting has made recently, which is related to switching wireless carriers, is its process for porting your phone number to the service. The new porting process now sends you updates on the progress of the number port along each stage. For example, you’ll receive a message when the porting process has been initiated and also when the transfer is complete.
Overall, these are some nice new additions to Ting’s offerings for those considering making the switch to a cheaper mobile phone plan, although they likely don’t have much choice if they want to stay competitive in the escalating wireless wars.