Instead, Legere (pronounced like “ledger”) delivered a profanity-laden talk that seemed more fitting for a comedy club than a corporate press event. He called AT&T’s network in New York City “crap” and quipped that capped data plans put a crimp on watching porn on phones.

Legere has reason to be aggressive. T-Mobile is the last-place national carrier in a game where bigger is always better. At a time when AT&T and Verizon Wireless are using their considerable marketing muscle to cement their leadership positions, T-Mobile faces the daunting task of convincing subscribers to switch services.

Despite decades of wearing a suit and tie to work, Legere told CNET that his current job matches how he dresses and likes to look.

Earlier this week, CNN’s Jake Tapper tweeted to Legere that T-Mobile was charging the wife of a soldier killed in action three years ago for his account. Showing an unprecedented level of accountability for a telecom executive, he responded and apologized within the hour and resolved the issue less than two hours later.

Some of his antics fall flat. At an event in July, where T-Mobile unveiled its Jump early upgrade program, he had four American Girl dolls set up in chairs in a parody of the recent run of AT&T commercials featuring a spokesman sitting with four children. He attempted to mock the spokesman with fake conversations with the dolls but didn’t elicit much of a reaction from the audience.

Turns out, it wasn’t true. And by slashing the prices of its plans and moving to a no-contract model, T-Mobile has shone a spotlight on the hidden costs of wireless service plans. It only helped Legere’s case when a week later, AT&T and Verizon opted to copy T-Mobile’s no-contract, early upgrade plans, but without a break in the monthly bill – a fact that Legere isn’t letting anyone forget.