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Over the weekend, T-Mobile officially set into motion their latest promotion concocted from the mind of their wacky new CEO, John Legere. According to the press release where I could literally picture wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube men strewn about, well-qualified buyers on T-Mobile now have access to the carrier’s hottest smartphones for no upfront cost.
In a direct response to AT&T Next (which was in response to T-Mobile JUMP and well, you get the picture), devices like the HTC One, Samsung Galaxy S4, and Samsung Galaxy Note 2 can all be had for $0 down, with around $25 monthly payments. Full list of available devices can be found below.
This offer can further be combined with T-Mobile JUMP, the carrier’s early upgrade plan that tacks on an extra $10 a month to existing payments, but allows customers the flexibility of upgrading their device every 6 months. Couple all this with their $60 a month Simple Choice plan that offers 2.5GB of data along with unlimited talk n’ text, and it seems T-Mobile is really doing whatever they can to, not only stick it to AT&T/Verizon, but offer more flexibility at the right prices.
T-Mobile says they’re providing potential network hoppers “ZERO” reasons not switch to their network and according to Chief Marketing Officer Mike Sievert, the best is yet to come with their Un-carrier 3.0 plan still arriving later this year.
[T-Mobile]
Sounds like a great deal for those who like to upgrade to the latest and greatest hardware often.
Still waiting for LTE in St. Louis there John!!
one reason I stayed with Sprint, Sprint has LTE almost everywhere in St Louis now. Got LTE and not have to pay the high prices with At&t and Verizon
I dont get it. Still spending more than 200 bucks every 24 months on a new phone. I guess thats better if you are upgrading your phone every 6 months? Do you get to keep the old phone then? Or do you have to pay 25/month for 24 months = 600 bucks per phone. Anybody paying 600 for a phone every 24 months or less is an idiot or a millionaire.
If you want that option then it’s their for you. Most people wouldn’t every 6 months but close to a year than most people start to itch for a new phone regardless of what you have. Based on 1 yr situation If it was $0 down and $35 (JUMP and EIP) you would have paid $420 plus whatever the plan you have. You buy a new phone, trade yours in for whatever you want and they will give you the new phone and a new payment of any where between $6 (Lumia 521) to $26 for something similar to Note II. Once you traded in your phone you aren’t making payment on the old 1 even though there were 24 payments
Jump was explained to me by a Rep. If the phone is paid off, then there’s no reason to give them the phone, unless you want to get a credit. If you still have some of the phone to pay off, you trade in your phone, and ALL of the remaining phone balances goes away and you can upgrade.
Now what I should have asked is how much of the phone’s value gets put into the upgrade. I wonder if the amount you paid on the phone gets put into the upgrade. I don’t know that. But I feel like the down payment on the upgraded phone won’t be there. I’ll find out when the HTC One Maxx comes out. =.3
would u have to pay a down payment every time you JUMP to a new phone?
That’s what I need to find out. I just said yes since JUMP’s $10 is built into your insurance.
I made a post earlier on this article. If your insurance, like mines, is $12, it goes down to $10. So it’s not necessarily an extra $10. So I just got it anyways. LoL!!
From what it seemed like, you trade in your old phone which covers the down payment and you just start paying that phone off. Don’t quote me on that, but I believe that it does. I don’t remember everything she said. I just liked that it wasn’t an extra $10. LoL!!
But she did say that you turn in your old phone and it gets credited to the new one. So I would assume it does.
fiscally speaking, it would only make sense for them to swallow whatever payments you made on the first device along with trading it in. They gotta win a lil lol. Its awesome how they are just showing up the other carriers. Regular joes are finally starting to ask questions.
I know that everything you need to pay on the old device goes away.
I’d assume everything you paid on your device gets credited. So in 6 months averaging $20, you would have paid $140 which is about the cost of the phones anyways.
I’d assume there’s no down payment if you JUMP.
You have to realize the companies have been charging more a month for your phone plan to help pay for the phone costs. T mobile is just more honest about it, they will stop the extra payment once you pay your phone. Other companies keep charging the same amount a month.
Except for 1 line, your monthly bill will exceed $100, see my other post. It’s actually more expensive to have Jump.
Yes having Jump is more expensive because you end up with more. You can get a new phone every 6 months as long as you pay 50% of the phone cost, and it includes phone insurance. I don’t think everyone will want the Jump plan unless you have to have a new phone all the time and you already get phone insurance, which is about $8 or so?
Personally I would just buy a Nexus device or the phone at full price without Jump and take the $60 2.5GB or $70 unlimited plan on Tmobile.
Only thing is even if you go the “Unlimited Data” route you aren’t getting a truly unlimited data service provided. It’s one of the main reasons I have yet to switch. My typical usage: 5GB-7GB High Usage: 8GB-12GB
Other than national roaming, I’m not sure what you mean by not truly unlimited data. My average usage is about 19 or 20 gb a month with no issue.
Kellex @ Droid Life states during this article that 2.5GB @ 4G speeds is what is given to you, so after that point you are throttled. If I have to go find an aticle on Android Central Android Police & this Site I will to prove I’m not making it up. Go on the T-mobile website & start a new line of service & it states it in the small print as well.
http://www.droid-life.com/2013/07/16/comparing-verizon-att-and-t-mobiles-new-upgrade-plans/
He was using that data package as a reference. He’s talking about the $10 2.5gb feature. There is also the $20 unlimited high speed data feature. no throttle point. This is not new
Hmmm Intersting…..so that $70 plan is still available?
He was referring to what the plan is offering and not Tmo’s Unlimited-No-Throttle Plan. So this deal wouldn’t benefit him, and you, in this case.
At least, that’s what I’m assuming.
It is unlimited data. My first month I was so excited about crazy speeds and downloading everything and checking speeds every where I sent. I used upwards of 30 GB. My services wasn’t throttled or slowed down. Now I used any where from 5-10 GB
Tmo has an Unlimited-No-Throttle Plan. I’m surprised people still don’t know about that yet. LoL!!
And for $10 more you can increase your 500MB Tethering to 2.5GB of tethering. I know, I sound like a representative. LoL!! I’m just finding out about all this.
I knew about that but thought they squashed that $70 plan & gave people 2.5GB of un-throttled data & 2.5GB of additional data for tethering only for $30. Maybe that friend of mine who’s a store mgr is majorly confuzzled lol….& I’m getting the wrong info
$50
500mb shared mobile+tethering 4G/LTE speeds
unl call/text
$60
2.5gb shared mobile+tethering 4G/LTE speeds
unl call/text
$70
unlimited 4G/LTE speeds on mobile
separate 500mb tethering 4G/LTE speeds (you can add $10/1GB after this)
unl call/text
Ok I gotcha now, hey I really was confused by all this info. My bad everyone. So it sounds like I’m gonna be switching soon. I get a 25% discount on t-mobile thru my company. & here in Sacramento they have HSPA+ & LTE as well.
Except its not shared data. Each line gets 500MB right off the bat. You have to pay $10 more for each line to get 2.5GB each. Then $20 more for unlimited on each. T-Mobile has no shared data. That would be others like rip off Verizon.
LoL!! No. I have that plan. I refuse to be throttled with all that Netflix and Google Music I be doing.
And I recently got Tmo back in May, so it’s not a grandfathered plan or anything.
I just got Jump. It’s not necessarily $10 extra. It’s part of your insurance. So if you’re insurance is $12, it goes down to $10. But if it’s $8 it goes up to $10.
It’s not an extra $10 added on.
Since I was paying $12 for both phones, then I might as well get Tmo Jump. Also, if you started your contract already and did 6 months then you’re automatically eligible. So I’ll be eligible this Nov., since I started in May.
The Rep in the Tmo store told me this when I went to pay my bill. So that makes Jump even MORE better than it already sounded.
What I meant was anyone who was paying just for service alone, could add JUMP for $10 more a month.
But yeah, JUMP is a much better deal when you’re already paying for insurance on your device.
The way it’s been stated, I always thought it was an additional $10. I know it’s hard to specify that it’s part of your insurance. LoL!!
I’m so glad I decided to pay my bill at the store instead of over the phone. I was like let me go see these people since they’re cool.
It was so funny. I paid the bill and was in my car. Had my car in reverse to back out and saw I was getting a call. Answered it and it was the Rep telling me about JUMP. And she explained how it’s the same as your insurance and whatnot. I’m sure you know the rest. LoL!!
Let me save those $4. So now every month I can buy a decent app with the money I save. =.P
Another tricky way to get what you want is to have insurance on the phone. Make it “broken” after its old and out-dated. File s claim. When its no longer available as refurbished, you get a new (different) phone as a replacement.
Since you get a different (refurb) phone similar to the one thats borked; you can negotiate what you want. Pay a little extra and get exactly what you wanted.
That’s called fraud, and you may will probably have to wait a lot longer than six months to get that “upgrade”.
Im not aware of any term that uses a companies guidelines in my favor is fraud…but you’re entitled to your opinion. I pay for insurance and the deductible. If this entitles me options thats not fraud. That is using the system to my advantage.
you realize you already paid enough in your insurance at that time with a little extra to get a refurb higher tier phone..
and even if that works, starting with today’s high-end devices (Z, Note II, One, S4, BB10, iPhone 5, 925) there will be huge supply of refurbished smartphones in 6 months when the first rounds upgrades from JUMP plan users start to kick in. it will be smarter to participate in JUMP plan for brand new phones twice a year (after 6 month initial wait) or buy refurbished phones outright by then.
You suck. Fraud costs everyone.
I don’t understand the reason why Canadian carriers don’t adopt this type of phone subsidy system, other than wanting to abuse Canadian consumers :(
So funny the oldest phone is the most $$$$ ! FU A!
I have one reason not to switch to T-Mobile, and it’s actually quite a big reason. No service at my house. There are only 2 providers that work at my house, Sprint, which I’ve been on for 14 years, and Verizon. Verizon’s service is spotty compared to Sprint, at my house, but still works. Just not worth the amount that I’d be paying if I made the switch. Now, if T-Mobile service starts to actually reach some consistency at my house, I may just consider jumping off Sprint.
both carriers offer options for those that lack strong signal in their homes but have available wifi/broadband access. Sprint can give you an airave booster and I believe tmobile allows wifi calling.
I’m aware. I have an airave for Sprint, for those times that the Network is going through updates (which lately, has seemed to be all the time). T-mobile just won’t be an option until it at least gives me some signal at home. It’s more-so the roaming that would make battery drain a nightmare with T-mobile.
Um. WiFi Calling is the perfect solution for the problem you just stated. You would get perfect reception at your home and even better battery life because your cellular radio would be powered down while all calls, texts, and data go through wifi. Your phone works just as normal through WiFI on capable T-Mobile phones.
Didn’t know that existed for T-Mobile, until now. It’s something I might just consider when my contract is up.
Call t-mobile and get a free signal booster device that you plug in your house.
Never going to give up my unlimited plan with att I use over 30gig a month and no I don’t tether my phone
hmmm okkk
Damn!! That’s a lot of porn. Ur phone ain’t tethered, but I bet Ur hand is!
T-Mobile offer 500MB of free Mobile Hotspot plus unlimited data for $20 a month
if i had a truly unlimited grandfathered data plan on one of the big two i wouldnt give it up either.
unlimited data + great coverage = jackpot!
sux that they dont offer anything like that anymore.
I don’t understand. Your monthly bill will be $70 for the service, plus $25 for the device. That’s over $100 after fees. How is that cheaper for the consumer, than buying a subsidized phone? With Amazon wireless, you can buy phones for 1 penny, and standard contract rates, which end up $70 per month, so again, how is the beneficial to consumers?
The difference is clear, so either you’re trolling, or stupid. Pick one.
How is the difference clear? By paying $25 every month for 24 months, that’s $600. This plan is not cheaper for consumers, it actually ends up more expensive because the monthly voice/data fee is the same as when purchasing a subsidized device. Care to explain your perspective without insults?
Your incorrect use of the word ‘subsidized’ in your original post had me thinking you were asking why t-mobile at $X was any different than verizon/att/sprint at $X, so, sorry for the kneejerk.
(The only obvious diff wrt to this t-mobile news is that you pay less upfront, which people like. In the end, you still pay, one way or another – just less on t-mobile)
Except that the plans on T-Mobile sans contract are cheaper than the contract plans everywhere else. So the $70 plan on T-Mobile is basically equivalent to the $95 plan on AT&T/Verizon.
What phones and plans are you talking about? I looked on Amazon for a Galaxy S4 on ATT. Even for 900 minutes at $60, 3GB of data for $30, messaging is $20 and $150 to get the phone.
I bought my GS4 from Best buy on Sprint and it cost me $100.00. I add it to my family plan and it cost $29.99@ month for unlimited data web talk text.
Oh…it’s on Sprint..well that explains it. And it’s not fair to compare a family plan to an individual plan. All the family plans are cheaper.
when you get a subsidized phone your signing a two year contract for the phone and service.
With T-Mobile you sign a contract just to pay for the phone.
After your done paying for the phone your bill goes down to $70
With Verizon AT&T and Sprint your bill doesn’t go down after you pay for the phone.
This option is only for people who cant afford to pay for the phone up-front.
What i do is buy a used phone im getting a Galaxy Note II for 460. I sell my Galaxy S III for 200 and pay 260 in cash. I’m currently not on a contract. So i reap all the benefits
Bottom Line either way the consumer is paying full price for the phone but with T-Mobile your bill decreases after your done paying for the phone and you have no two contract for the service.
Sure, T-Mobile’s plans plus an installment payment is an average going rate for a subsidized phone plan.
BUT
T-Mobile has just sweetened the offer with Jump. On every other carrier paying that rate a month allows you an upgrade only once every two years while on T-Mobile you get two phones a year at a low out of pocket price while that monthly rate essentially stays the same.
The same thing on at&t or Verizon will cost a lot more and you’re stuck with that phone for two years. Let’s say you only keep one phone on T-Mobile for two years the cost of owning that phone on Verizon or At&t is almost $1,000 more expensive in a two year period.
What people don’t factor in, is the fact that you don’t get to keep the device when you Jump, you have to surrender it to T-Mobile. Otherwise you would sell it on eBay, Swappa, Craigslist.
that $70 is for unlimited talk, text, and high speed internet. no throttles, no overage charges. plus the monthly minimum payment for your device which goes away once the device is payed off. you can pay the device off early and that $25 comes off your bill. tmobile is currently running a promotion where you can get a phone for $0 down.
going to ATT or verizon and getting their highest data allowance plan you would be paying nearly double that amount.
I’m paying $70 for each line on Verizon for unlimited data. 1400 minutes, but I don’t even use them.
the only unlimited data plans Verizon has are grandfathered plans they no longer offer. best you can get is a 10gb allowance which will run you some $180 for a single line.
tmobile doesnt have contracts anymore, but if u cancel ur plan early Amazon will hit u with their own ETA if i’m not mistaken, plus Amazon doesn’t have penny deals that often anymore
I don’t plan to end contract early. They still have penny deals, on last year phones.
those last year phones wont cost $25/mo on tmobile either, and yes you can single out a sale that is better than the regular plan… but isnt that what sales are supposed to be?
Don’t forget that when you cancel service with T-mobile you have to payoff the rest of the device. Depending on when you cancel service ETA could be less.
T-mobile: $20 upfront + $150/mo for 2GB, 24 mo. = 3620
Verizon: $240 upfront + $140/mo for 2GB, 24 mo. = 3600
And if I used Wirefly Friends and Family for Verizon,
Verizon: $180 upfront + $140/mo for 2 GB, 24mo = 3540
ATT: $300 upfront + $140/mo for 2 GB = 3660
So what is so great about this plan. Maybe if you plan on keeping the same phone after the -two years is up, but how many of us realistically do this? And T-Mo’s service is not that great outside of large metro areas as well as this is for “well-qualified” buyers.
is your pricing based on a plan with 2 lines?
where are you getting $150 a month from?
$100 for the plan and $25 each for the phones: 100+25+25=150
well here’s two things, still not sure where you are getting your Numbers from, here are my numbers for 2 lines on each…
Tmobile: $0 upfront + $150/mo for 2.5gb ea(5gb 4g,unlmtd 3g)= 3600
Verizon: $400 upfront + $150/mo for 4gb shared data toal = 4000
That’s also if you don’t get nexus mind you, or you keep your phone longer than 2 years… which a lot of people actually do… whether they are waiting 3 months for the next flagship or what have you..
aka worse case scenario tmobile is ALMOST as expensive as verizon, then you have several scenarios where you can make it much cheaper.
ALSO, people keep saying “only if you are in a strong tmobile area” They act like verizon is strong everywhere. The coverage is much better than tmobiles yes, but its not all that fast anymore in many places. My tmobile speeds in NY are twice as fast as my verizon buddies who only seem to pull down 4-6 mbps now.
That just goes to show you it is a deal to some but not all. I just take issue with all of the media outlets calling the plans “unprecedented” and T-Mo pretending like you are not on a contract. The money is about the same as you would pay before this package was announced. They just changed the part you were tied to.
Also, If you’re going Nexus, or bringing your own device, you’re better off going prepaid usually anyways.
i know what you are saying, but at the same time you can’t say just because 1 worst case scenario out of the 5 possible is similar to the rest’s best case scenario(but still cheaper), that their whole strategy is misleading.
I used to be prepaid on nexus but that $30 plan was hard to keep under 100 minutes a month… just because you are better off doesnt mean it doesnt help on postpaid anyway, right now me and my girlfriend right now are a two line planed (me nexus4, her new iphone5) and we pay 120/mo for 2.5 gb 4g each.. when her phone is paid off it’ll drop down to 100/mo.
Also, its not considered on contract price because the price varies per phone, BYOD and its no “contract” whatso ever, buy a cheaper phone with the same down payment and your “contract” is 1 year vs 2 years… There are many flexible options…
Its just that the easiest most convenient option happens to be only $400 cheaper than verizon’s base plan… same monthly play with no downpayment, or same downpayment with lower monthly rate….
either way its win all around.
Where is $150 coming from? One line on T-mobile with 2.5 GB is $60, 2 lines is $100, 3 lines is $120 and 4 lines is $140. Please explain.
With t-mobile simple choice and their jump plan; people try to interpret differently to see benefits. But, first, you have to have good coverage/service(i.e. t-mobile) at locations in a day where you need to use the phone(home, job, kids school) most. After that, take example of t-mobile $0 down and 24 months installment with samsung galaxy S4 for $25/month. So, if you want to upgrade after a year than you already paid $300 towards phone and when you upgrade than you reset your installment for new phone and loose $300. This means you leased your current phone. Now, can you afford to let go $300 in a year to simply use the phone. Now, deal can be better if $300 is allowed to use towards credit to new phone upgrade which suppose to bring down price from $600-$300 = $300 for new phone. But, NO, you have to trade-in your phone to loose the $300 that you built paying for a year. So, it’s basically a leased equipment.
Now, look at JUMP as an insurance mainly but let you upgrade for your leased phone and let you loose that installment you paid for.
The main reason people like t-mobile is allowing them to pay per month lot less than other carrier, allow them to buy low cost new or used phone, get benefit by keeping phone longer, not pay for built-in phone cost after the phone is paid off, not panalize for using smart phone to do call/text(with ATT or others, soon as you upgrade to smart phone, they will add data plan automatically making you pay for even you do not need to use data).
If you own your phone it’s only $70 for unlimited. I have a family of 4 and we have 4 lines with unlimited for $180 because our phones are paid for, plus, I could walk away any time I would want to.
I would totally switch if they had impeccable service like Verizon, but I pay what I do for service and I can’t justify the switch yet
how long does it last?
If Tmobile really wanted to beat VZW and AT&T all they would have to do now is pay the ETF on competing carriers since no one is with those two companies for any reason expect for their contracts not being up yet. (yes you can argue vzw service is good, but its not worth double the price)
Yes, if T-Mo would pay my ETF, I would be signing up today
Agreed.
“You Get what you Pay For”, all organization are here to make
money. Look at their presentations and speeches to Wall Street. If an
Organization is telling Wall Street they are going to make more money and on
other hand can they afford free product/services? There is always something…all
these CEOs are not mother-Teresa.
But, it will be great if these organizations can be ethical and moral.
This is implied for any organization. If an Organization is plagued with
corrupt directors who are giving hard working employees job to his buddies just
because this hard working sincere employee didn’t change numbers in a report
and represented functional result honestly to senior leaders, how can this type
of organization will be ever sincere and honest to their customers? And if
senior leaders close their eyes to such corruption, that says a lot about them
and their organization. In most cases they will be last in their industry.
that all sounds good except not living in metropolitan area T Mobile only works in about 20% of a 50 mile radius so around here T Mobile is worthless
Does paying 25-30 a month include the service? They are very vague when mentioning that…
T-Mobile isn’t providing for current, long time loyal members at that, to be able to take advantage of switching to the cheaper plans, or JUMP plan or anything cuz they will still charge you migration fees that are expensive! And, when you call customer service, get a two who keeps changing their answers, and get promised a callback by a supervisor that never called, it makes you want to CANCEL T-Mobile! Thinking about canceling T-Mobile cuz of all this aggravation and no help!