Thinking about switching from AT&T, but have a few questions?

[Abhinav Subramanian]

Hello,

My family is thinking about switching to T- Mobile from AT&T, but before we make the jump, I have a few questions.

Firstly, I understand that if you trade in your phone, you can get money for it. However, my phone is rooted and has a custom ROM on it. Will they still accept it? I have a Galaxy S3, if that makes a difference.

Secondly, the fact about there being no contract seems a little hard to believe. Is it really true that you can upgrade whenever you want?

Thanks for your help,

Abhinav

 

[B. Diddy]

You can't upgrade whenever you want--you have to be enrolled in their Jump program, which also includes phone insurance for $10/month. With T-Mobile, you don't pay for the phone upfront--the retail cost of the phone is spread out over 24 months, so you end up paying about $25-30/month in addition to your wireless plan until the phone is paid off. Jump allows you to change to another phone after 12 months (when you've paid at least 50% of the phone's cost). If you want to leave T-Mobile, you can do so any time without an early termination fee (but if you haven't paid off your phone, I think you have to return it in excellent shape). Here's more info on Jump: Cell Phone Plans | Cheap Cell Phone Plans & Unlimited Data | T-Mobile

Not sure about the rooted phone issue, but it probably doesn't matter. I've heard of people buying some crappy old flip phone and activating it on their old network, then trading that phone in to qualify for the ETF reimbursement so that they could keep their better original phone. So if they're ok with that, they probably don't care if your phone that you're trading in is rooted. But best to call them and ask.

 

[Abhinav Subramanian]

You can't upgrade whenever you want--you have to be enrolled in their Jump program, which also includes phone insurance for $10/month. With T-Mobile, you don't pay for the phone upfront--the retail cost of the phone is spread out over 24 months, so you end up paying about $25-30/month in addition to your wireless plan until the phone is paid off. Jump allows you to change to another phone after 12 months (when you've paid at least 50% of the phone's cost). If you want to leave T-Mobile, you can do so any time without an early termination fee (but if you haven't paid off your phone, I think you have to return it in excellent shape). Here's more info on Jump: Cell Phone Plans | Cheap Cell Phone Plans & Unlimited Data | T-Mobile

Not sure about the rooted phone issue, but it probably doesn't matter. I've heard of people buying some crappy old flip phone and activating it on their old network, then trading that phone in to qualify for the ETF reimbursement so that they could keep their better original phone. So if they're ok with that, they probably don't care if your phone that you're trading in is rooted. But best to call them and ask.

So Jump seems similar to AT&T Next, and I called them and they said that my rooted phone qualifies. Thanks for your help!

 

[Closingracer]

You can't upgrade whenever you want--you have to be enrolled in their Jump program, which also includes phone insurance for $10/month. With T-Mobile, you don't pay for the phone upfront--the retail cost of the phone is spread out over 24 months, so you end up paying about $25-30/month in addition to your wireless plan until the phone is paid off. Jump allows you to change to another phone after 12 months (when you've paid at least 50% of the phone's cost). If you want to leave T-Mobile, you can do so any time without an early termination fee (but if you haven't paid off your phone, I think you have to return it in excellent shape). Here's more info on Jump: Cell Phone Plans | Cheap Cell Phone Plans & Unlimited Data | T-Mobile

Not sure about the rooted phone issue, but it probably doesn't matter. I've heard of people buying some crappy old flip phone and activating it on their old network, then trading that phone in to qualify for the ETF reimbursement so that they could keep their better original phone. So if they're ok with that, they probably don't care if your phone that you're trading in is rooted. But best to call them and ask.

If you decide to leave before you pay off the phone you are required to pay it all off when you leave. You can also upgrade the month after you buy the phone given you paid off 50% of the phone which you can pay any amount on top of what you pay monthly so for example I pay $24.50 a month for my phone but I can pay $209.5 to pay off the 50% which would allow me to then upgrade early

 

[Abhinav Subramanian]

So I went to T- Mobile today, and they just checked if my phone was water damaged. The guy was scrolling through my settings when he saw my Superuser and he was like, "What's superuser?" but then he just opened it and said, "Oh, just another app," and I got full credit on my phone. Thanks so much for your help.