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[GK86]

Link. Live blogging of the event here.

Edit- two phone upgrades per year for $10 monthly. Verge was wrong, it isn't unlimited phone upgrades. If a mod could fix the title, that would be great. Thanks.

The Verge has learned that T-Mobile will introduce an unlimited phone upgrade scheme today called Jump that would allow subscribers to "upgrade when [they] actually want to" by paying the same amount for a new phone that a new customer pays, as often as they like without waiting a certain number of months or years to qualify for upgrade pricing. Rumors that such a plan might be introduced were reported first by TmoNews and CNET, which suggests a monthly fee may be involved and that subscribers would need to trade in their current handset to qualify. AT&T and Verizon recently made headlines by extending upgrade qualification times to a full two years, meaning that if a customer wishes to buy a new handset before then, they're required to pay the full unsubsidized price.

T-Mobile's event — at which it proclaims it'll announce its "boldest moves yet" — is later today at 2:30PM ET, and we'll be there live.

 

[Camp Lo]

aka MetroPCS merger begins

 

[kaskade]

10 bucks a month. 2 upgrades per year. Trade your old one in and get a new one. First upgrade after 6 months.

I think I'm enrolling.

edit: typing too fast meant 10 per month.

 

[captmcblack]

I gotta see what the anti-consumer gimmick will be here.

Sounds too good to be true.

 

[Stabby McSter]

I gotta see what the anti-consumer gimmick will be here.

Sounds too good to be true.

this does sound too good to be true

please be mostly true

 

[freshair]

10 bucks a year. 2 upgrades per year. Trade your old one in and get a new one. First upgrade after 6 months.

I think I'm enrolling.

$10 per month ;O

 

[infiniteloop]

$120 a year extra, plus you have to give up your previous phone.

lol, what a shitty deal.

 

[DrFunk]

Tmo is doing big things

Except you know, having decent coverage where I live

 

[Winterfang]

Tmo is doing big things

Except you know, having decent coverage where I live

This, I get zero to full bars where I live. Randomly without me moving an inch. So what's the big deal you might say, nobody calls people anymore. Well is a big deal for me, I'm unemployed and need a good signal to get interviews.

 

[kehs]

$120 a year extra, plus you have to give up your previous phone.

lol, what a shitty deal.

Why? You can switch it out twice.

Most subsidies add $20 a month, and only give one switch out every two years.

 

[Troll]

Why? You can switch it out twice.

Most subsidies add $20 a month, and only give one switch out every two years.

Unless you're only upgrading to iPhones yearly and getting half the value.

 

[hwalker84]

Only 3 things that would make me switch.

Better coverage in Pittsburgh
LTE
Better Windows Phones

 

[BFIB]

Ok,so as of now on TMo, you pay a certain amount per month on your phone.

So I have the HTC One, which when I went with them, was $580 total, and $99 down. So $480 after, and I pay $20 per month, which a period of 2 years totals the $480. Obviously I can pay it off at any time and not be locked on a contract.

So are they offering a deal where I pay the $10 a month, that does not pay towards my phone, but instead pays towards that availability to switch phones?

 

[kehs]

Ok,so as of now on TMo, you pay a certain amount per month on your phone.

So I have the HTC One, which when I went with them, was $580 total, and $99 down. So $480 after, and I pay $20 per month, which a period of 2 years totals the $480. Obviously I can pay it off at any time and not be locked on a contract.

So are they offering a deal where I pay the $10 a month, that does not pay towards my phone, but instead pays towards that availability to switch phones?

Yup. When you decided to upgrade, whatever you owe gets killed off. You trade in your phone, and you start another cycle of payments for your new phone.

This also included handset protection btw. So if you drop if you fuck it up, it's covered.

 

[ThatObviousUser]

Google Play phones are still the best bet if you wanna upgrade regularly (as well as not be effed by carriers.)

Kudos to T-Mo for some much needed forward-thinking though.

 

[Cipherr]

Unless you're only upgrading to iPhones yearly and getting half the value.

Thats sucks for you then.... But I wouldnt be totally against a flagship in the Spring(Galaxy, HTC, or Sony) and another in the fall (Galaxy Note/Nexus etc). Thats sounds sweet as hell.

 

[Rewrite]

This is pretty awesome actually.

 

[this_guy]

Ok,so as of now on TMo, you pay a certain amount per month on your phone.

So I have the HTC One, which when I went with them, was $580 total, and $99 down. So $480 after, and I pay $20 per month, which a period of 2 years totals the $480. Obviously I can pay it off at any time and not be locked on a contract.

So are they offering a deal where I pay the $10 a month, that does not pay towards my phone, but instead pays towards that availability to switch phones?

HTC One after 6 months:

$99 down
$30 x 6 months = $180

$280 after 6 months, now you can upgrade to the latest and greatest but you have to trade in your phone and can't sell or keep it as a back up. Not bad, but not great.

If you don't upgrade until the 1 year mark:

$99 down
$30 x 12 = $360

$460 paid after 1 year, and you have to trade in the phone for the new phone. Not very attractive to me at all if you're not upgrading right away.

 

[kehs]

Android Police did a write up thing.

Looks pretty good if you got the itch and will want to change phones every six months, not if you want to every year though. Like this guy mentioned.

http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/0...-jump-upgrade-plan-is-it-really-a-good-value/

 

[VPhys]

HTC One after 6 months:

$99 down
$30 x 6 months = $180

$280 after 6 months, now you can upgrade to the latest and greatest but you have to trade in your phone and can't sell or keep it as a back up. Not bad, but not great.

If you don't upgrade until the 1 year mark:

$99 down
$30 x 12 = $360

$460 paid after 1 year, and you have to trade in the phone for the new phone. Not very attractive to me at all if you're not upgrading right away.

Thanks for the math, that brings this into perspective.


I DO like to upgrade every year.

The way I see it, this basically takes away the hassle of ebay or craigslist. For example, I just bought a GS4 ($650). I can sell it in a year for (hopefully) $200. So $650-200 = $450.

That's basically a wash with the T-mobile deal, except I don't have to worry about the value I'd get for my old phone. I also wouldn't have to worry about babying my phone for a year to avoid minor scratches that would affect resale value.

If I didn't have unlimited LTE on Verizon, I'd be on T-Mobile right now.

 

[Lexxon]

If you're the phone-destroyer type who already pays insurance (or should be paying insurance), and also don't want to deal with the hassle of reselling your old phone, I think this does work out really well. Usually within 6 months time, there would be a new Android phone worthy or close to worthy of a swap. Hell, I could see myself just going between Note and Galaxy S, or GS and HTC each time, just to keep things interesting.

$10/mo is a lot easier to stomach for most people than $3-600 up front anyday. If you're just an iPhone user though I don't think this is worth it, especially because of how well iPhones hold their value.

 

[mackattk]

The biggest thing for me in all of this is not having to deal with eBay/craigslist to sell your phone. I am always deathly scared when it comes to selling high priced electronics to the public, it is way to easy to get scammed these days.

 

[hodgy100]

is prefer a cheaper plan that limited the upgrades to once a year to be honest....

 

[VPhys]

is prefer a cheaper plan that limited the upgrades to once a year to be honest....

That is this plan. They have a 1 year option.

 

[Phoenix]

So this pretty much means that one could go and get a Nexus4 today and then move over to the Nexus5 when it appears on TMO. Hmmm... that doesn't sound too bad to be honest.

This model appears to work better for late adopters than early adopters.

 

[Goldrush]

It's a boon for the case-less freaks like me.

 

[kehs]

I just saw that it covers theft and loss. That's pretty boss.