T-Mobile upgrade your phone twice a year (T-Mobile Jump)

[Roland00Address]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57593117-94/t-mobile-announces-jump-an-early-upgrade-program/

I am summarizing from what I heard yesterday (note I am not a T-Mobile user)

T-Mobile Jump

Costs

• An extra 10 dollars on your monthly bill (on top of the 20 dollar monthly bill interest free loan charge)
• Trade in your old phone
• You pay whatever a new customer would pay for the phone (what a new customer "pays down") when the new customer would do the 20 dollar monthly bill interest free loan charge. Thus with the s4 you would pay $99, note 2 $169.

Benefits

• You get to upgrade your phone twice a year.
• Must have been enrolled in the program for 6 months prior to first upgrade. The 2nd upgrade can occur as soon as 1 month later, but you can't do the 3rd upgrade till its been 12 months since the first upgrade.
• Free insurance on your phone against malfunction, damage, or theft. Note you will still have to pay a deductible with said insurance.
• You can upgrade at the same time as doing a malfunction or damage insurance claim.

So in a sum if you were going to get insurance on your phone anyway, this is a no brainer. Want the newest model of samsung, apple, htc, lg, sony, etc you just have to pay the down payment.

Am I missing something?

 

[Roland00Address]

If I am doing my math correctly this is a $100 dollars a month plus taxes

$50.00/mo Simple Choice Plan (Unlimited Talk and Text)
$20.00/mo Upgrade to Unlimited 4G data with no throttles (500 mb hotspot data)
$20.00/mo Device Payment Plan (interest free loan)
$10.00/mo T-Mobile Jump (can upgrade phone after 6 months of T-Mobile Jump+Device Insurance)

So if you are in a place with good t-mobile service this seems an awesome deal.

 

[dlock13]

I want to switch from Verizon to T-Mo, but I feel like coverage in my area is not good enough to be OK with switching to them sadly.

I love the moves they've been making, but they don't have enough service in America to compete. I know from a business perspective it makes sense to roll out to metros first, but it leaves a lot of people out for just focusing on that.

Anyway, does anyone know how well the coverage is in 16148? I checked their map, and it shows it's good coverage. The only thing is I don't believe it. Verizon says they have 4G everywhere in my area, but I always dip in and out of 3G/4G all the time when I'm driving.

Gr...

 

[bearxor]

Yeah, I was doing the math on this and this is what I figured out for a 12 month period switching between flagship Android phones.

Day 1, put down $100 for a GS4, pay $20/mo + $10/mo for jump.
6 months later, trade in your GS4 for a Note 3, pay the down payment (likely to be $150)
6 months later, switch to a GS5, pay the down payment, let's say $100.

So over the course of a year, you've got three devices, always staying on the cutting edge of what's been released. You've spent $360 in monthly fees (device + jump) and put down $350 in payments to get each phone, so you've spent $710 (not including taxes) and you have nothing to really show for it. Just a GS5 that you've got to start paying $20 a month on.

I think you'd be better off just using your device for a year and trading it in when the successor device comes out. TMobile already has a trade in program in place.

For instance, you bought a GS3. Used it for a year. Want a GS4. You would have paid $100 down and spent $20 a month under Tmobiles system. That means you should have about $250/270 left on your device. TMobile is currently giving you $225 for a GS3 when you trade it in. That means you upgrade to the GS4 for only about $150.

I guess if you upgrade your device every six months, this makes sense. Or if you're prone to lose/break it. But once a year seems like a more sane upgrade schedule to me.

 

[bearxor]

I want to switch from Verizon to T-Mo, but I feel like coverage in my area is not good enough to be OK with switching to them sadly.

I love the moves they've been making, but they don't have enough service in America to compete. I know from a business perspective it makes sense to roll out to metros first, but it leaves a lot of people out for just focusing on that.

Anyway, does anyone know how well the coverage is in 16148? I checked their map, and it shows it's good coverage. The only thing is I don't believe it. Verizon says they have 4G everywhere in my area, but I always dip in and out of 3G/4G all the time when I'm driving.

Gr...

Go to WalMart, buy a Lumia 521. Activate it on the $30 prepaid plan. Return it before your 14 days are up, you're only out the $30 for service. Will give you an excellent chance to see what coverage is like.

 

[dlock13]

Go to WalMart, buy a Lumia 521. Activate it on the $30 prepaid plan. Return it before your 14 days are up, you're only out the $30 for service. Will give you an excellent chance to see what coverage is like.

That's not a bad idea at all. Hmm.. Thanks for the idea!

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Ugh. Dammit carriers, stop subsidizing phones. If it's a $599 phone, let people pay for it across the months, that's it. The more they subsidize, the less they spend on actual costs of running the network.

I'd rather my $70/month go for paying for running the company, maintaining its network, future network improvements, rather than because they spent $20 billion on iPhones in some stupid deal with Apple.

 

[AstroManLuca]

This is a great idea for T-Mobile. Cash in on gadgetholics.

 

[dlock13]

This will also kill the resale market or kill the upgrade a line/sell it right away for some customers.

(For T-Mo that is)

 

[Ravynmagi]

This is just leasing a phone. And leases always cost more than buying and selling your own stuff. But the lease does provide more protection with the insurance in case you are accident prone. For most people, I would say this isn't a good deal, you'll save money buying and selling your own phone.

 

[TheStu]

Ugh. Dammit carriers, stop subsidizing phones. If it's a $599 phone, let people pay for it across the months, that's it. The more they subsidize, the less they spend on actual costs of running the network.

I'd rather my $70/month go for paying for running the company, maintaining its network, future network improvements, rather than because they spent $20 billion on iPhones in some stupid deal with Apple.

They aren't subsidizing phones... you do a down payment, and then an amount is added to your monthly bill to pay off the device. If you bring your own device, or pay off what you have, then you are only paying for your monthly service

 

[Red Storm]

I wonder what the value is compared to keeping the phone for 6 months and selling it yourself rather than just handing it in to T-Mobile. Get an HTC One for $100 down, pay for it for 6 months ($120), plus the additional $10 per month ($60). So you will have paid $280 for the One over 6 months.

Hmm... I feel like after 6 months I could sell the phone myself for about $100 less than I paid for it, which would mean I only spent $100 on the phone over that same time period. In other words, assuming my math is right this Jump program is the equivalent of buying a flagship phone at $580 and then six months later selling it for $300. Which if that's the case then this idea sucks.

 

[AustinInDallas]

Ugh. Dammit carriers, stop subsidizing phones. If it's a $599 phone, let people pay for it across the months, that's it. The more they subsidize, the less they spend on actual costs of running the network.

I'd rather my $70/month go for paying for running the company, maintaining its network, future network improvements, rather than because they spent $20 billion on iPhones in some stupid deal with Apple.

70 dollars of the bill does go to the network. If you want to subsudize a phone, you pay the 20 bucks a month. And t-mobile isnt spending any extra money with the "jump". With good trade in, they might actually make money

 

[Ravynmagi]

I wonder what the value is compared to keeping the phone for 6 months and selling it yourself rather than just handing it in to T-Mobile. Get an HTC One for $100 down, pay for it for 6 months ($120), plus the additional $10 per month ($60). So you will have paid $280 for the One over 6 months.

Hmm... I feel like after 6 months I could sell the phone myself for about $100 less than I paid for it, which would mean I only spent $100 on the phone over that same time period. In other words, assuming my math is right this Jump program is the equivalent of buying a flagship phone at $580 and then six months later selling it for $300. Which if that's the case then this idea sucks.

That is pretty much the same conclusion I reached when doing the math too. Buying and reselling a new phone after 6 months would cost me less than doing this Jump thing would. And the longer you wait to upgrade with Jump, the worse it gets too.

 

[Red Storm]

That is pretty much the same conclusion I reached when doing the math too. Buying and reselling a new phone after 6 months would cost me less than doing this Jump thing would. And the longer you wait to upgrade with Jump, the worse it gets too.

Right, you'd have to do it every 6 months or you're losing even more money. For someone who buys and resells on their own every six months this Jump thing is basically the equivalent of paying around ~$30 a month for insurance (six month cost of $280 compared to ~$100). No thank you.

 

[Ravynmagi]

I'm pretty sure this is more an invention of the marketing department, than something meant to be a useful feature to customers (guess if you are already the type that pays for insurance maybe this isn't so bad a deal)... AT&T and Verizon extended the length of time customers can upgrade on their contracts, and this is T-Mobile's marketing response to that.

 

[AustinInDallas]

Right, you'd have to do it every 6 months or you're losing even more money. For someone who buys and resells on their own every six months this Jump thing is basically the equivalent of paying around ~$30 a month for insurance (six month cost of $280 compared to ~$100). No thank you.

If your under contract with the other guys you are still paying that 20 bucks a month, its just not itemized on your bill.

And after you sell your phone in 6 months, what are you going to use after that?

 

[Red Storm]

If your under contract with the other guys you are still paying that 20 bucks a month, its just not itemized on your bill.

And after you sell your phone in 6 months, what are you going to use after that?

You sell it then get the next flagship, and the process starts over. Doing this allows you to keep pace with flagship phones at a pretty low cost. Much lower than Jump, which I've concluded is nothing more than a somewhat cleverly disguised money grab.

 

[Ravynmagi]

If your under contract with the other guys you are still paying that 20 bucks a month, its just not itemized on your bill.

And after you sell your phone in 6 months, what are you going to use after that?

You start the same process over again. Buy a new phone for $580. Or pay the $100 down, $30 a month with T-Mobile. It still ends up costing more with Jump.

 

[vshah]

i'll stick to buying/selling my own phones.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

70 dollars of the bill does go to the network. If you want to subsudize a phone, you pay the 20 bucks a month. And t-mobile isnt spending any extra money with the "jump". With good trade in, they might actually make money

It's still subsidized. $20/month * 24 = $480. A GS4 runs for $600. I'm pretty sure T-Mobile is covering some of the costs but on the surface is trying to separate the phone from the plan.

Just make it $600/24. Done.

Want a phone in 6 months? $600/6. Want to make the consumer feel better about spending that much? Offer a trade in program at 6 months.

At $10/month extra, the consumer is paying $60 extra for the getting a new phone in 6 months? I don't get it.

 

[Red Storm]

It's still subsidized. $20/month * 24 = $480. A GS4 runs for $600. I'm pretty sure T-Mobile is covering some of the costs but on the surface is trying to separate the phone from the plan.

Just make it $600/24. Done.

Want a phone in 6 months? $600/6. Want to make the consumer feel better about spending that much? Offer a trade in program at 6 months.

At $10/month extra, the consumer is paying $60 extra for the getting a new phone in 6 months? I don't get it.

You're forgetting the $100 down, it's $580 dude. No subsidizing.

Jump is just more of the same typical corporate greed, they like to fool people with marketing.

 

[AstroManLuca]

So basically this is the equivalent of trading in a used car rather than selling it on your own. Remove the hassle, lose out on a significant chunk of the potential value.

 

[bearxor]

It's still subsidized. $20/month * 24 = $480. A GS4 runs for $600. I'm pretty sure T-Mobile is covering some of the costs but on the surface is trying to separate the phone from the plan.

Just make it $600/24. Done.

Want a phone in 6 months? $600/6. Want to make the consumer feel better about spending that much? Offer a trade in program at 6 months.

At $10/month extra, the consumer is paying $60 extra for the getting a new phone in 6 months? I don't get it.

You can do that with TMobile now. The SGS4 is $100 down and $20/mo with good credit. If you have worse credit, the cost of your down payment goes up.

But nothing is written in stone that you have to pay $20 a month only. You can pay $40 a month and pay the phone off in a year. You can pay the full $580 up front. TMobile is just giving you the option to be able to pay it off in small increments as opposed to shelling it all out at once.

TMobile has a trade in program and you can trade in your phone at any time you like. The only catch with doing that is if you owe anything on it, your trade in will go to paying the device off. Jump allows you to trade in your device and not worry about if you have a balance on your loan left. The trade in is taken and zeroed out and then you just pick the next device you want.

 

[cronos]

WTH T-Mobile, I am disappoint

I thought it was going well with the 'Uncarrier' thing, but now this crap.