How exactly do phone monthly payments work on T-Mobile?

[Nguyenning]

I'm trying to understand what the catch is... I've never done a monthly payment system before.

So, I pay like $30/month for a new phone... and let's say I want a newer phone in a year. Do I just trade this phone in and continue making the $30/month payment on the new phone?

Rinse and repeat forever? What's the catch? I have to be losing out somewhere, right?

 

[egorre]

you trade back in your previous phone and the $30/mo will stop. when you get a new phone you get the eip amount of that phone, not the previous one. rinse and repeat.

it has to be in good condition, else, there's a multiple tier deductible that's non-refundable. on top of that is $10/mo jump fee. the phone is their property, not yours. when you cancel service, either pay off your remaining eip or return the phone. deductible applies as well. it's a non-contract contract.

 

[cpaight]

Typically it's the contract that gets you. Usually if you have a 2 year contract and if you want to trade the phone in after a 1 year you pay an early termination fee or the balance of the phone AND re-up at that time for another 2 years. Some carriers are changing that model (check out T-Mobile's JUMP plan), so just check out what each has to offer and see what works best for you.

Just curious, have you always just done pre-paid before? I switched to that option and bought my Nexus 4 off contract and it's more than paid for the phone in the amount I've saved.

 

[Nguyenning]

So let's say a phone retails for $750...

I buy it with monthly payments of $30/month for 12 months which totals $360.
When I trade it back into T-Mobile, I'm assuming they'll offer me $300 or so... bringing the total to $660... And then I will be responsible for paying that $90 difference to "pay off" the phone? ($750 minus $660). Then, that phone will be done with... and the total out of my pocket would be the $360 from the monthly payments and $90 from the final payment to pay it off? $450 total.

Then, I get the iPhone 6s and repeat the process.

I guess I'm just a little confused. Trying to make sense of it with actual numbers. Does all of that make sense?

 

[Closingracer]

No. Once you pay half they basically erase the payment plan of your old phone and then you get a new one with the new phone

 

[Nguyenning]

So let's say a new phone costs $648 total retail.

On the Tmobile Jump plan, you would pay $27/month for 24 months to pay it off completely ($648). If you choose to stop after 12 months, you will have paid a total of $324... which is half the retail price. However, you will also have paid $120 in Jump costs ($10 x 12 months). Bringing your total to $444

You then trade the phone back into T-Mobile. This is what I'm not sure of. I don't know how much T-Mobile would give for a good condition 1 year old phone. I'm ASSUMING at least half the retail price. So, I'm assuming they'd give you $324 for the trade-in... so you'd be all paid off and be done with.

Then, you get the new phone and repeat the process.


Lots of assumptions in there lol. I need to talk to a T-Mobile rep or something

 

[cpaight]

If you Google it there's a bunch of sites that did comparisons of the overall cost of JUMP, and I'm sure there's others out there for the other carrier's plans as well.

 

[boogas8]

you trade back in your previous phone and the $30/mo will stop. when you get a new phone you get the eip amount of that phone, not the previous one. rinse and repeat.

it has to be in good condition, else, there's a multiple tier deductible that's non-refundable. on top of that is $10/mo jump fee. the phone is their property, not yours. when you cancel service, either pay off your remaining eip or return the phone. deductible applies as well. it's a non-contract contract.

Egorre your are incorrect about how Jump works. First half of the device has to be paid off. Second you must be upgrading in order to trade in the phone have that amount wiped out and then start EIP on a New phone. T-Mobile will not allow you to just trade in your phone to wipe off remaining balance.
The phone is not property of T-Mobile, your are financing it through them. If you stop paying they don't ask for the phone back, they ask for the money. You CANNOT give the phone back and have them take away the remaining balance if you cancel.

Sent from my LG G3 via The Uncarrier

 

[boogas8]

So let's say a new phone costs $648 total retail.

On the Tmobile Jump plan, you would pay $27/month for 24 months to pay it off completely ($648). If you choose to stop after 12 months, you will have paid a total of $324... which is half the retail price. However, you will also have paid $120 in Jump costs ($10 x 12 months). Bringing your total to $444

You then trade the phone back into T-Mobile. This is what I'm not sure of. I don't know how much T-Mobile would give for a good condition 1 year old phone. I'm ASSUMING at least half the retail price. So, I'm assuming they'd give you $324 for the trade-in... so you'd be all paid off and be done with.

Then, you get the new phone and repeat the process.


Lots of assumptions in there lol. I need to talk to a T-Mobile rep or something

If you have Jump they will either wipe away what you owe or give you the trade in amount, it depends on which is more. Typically its the first one. NEVER assume after one year that trade in value will be about half the price of the phone, that is not a good assumption for sure for a phone that has been out awhile. Based off the numbers you used the phone that was 648 is the iphone 5s which went down to $600 a few days ago. They do hold value longer than android but it has been out a year.

Sent from my LG G3 via The Uncarrier

 

[raptir]

Everyone seemed to jump (heh) on this being about the Jump program, but T-Mobile does offer a regular monthly payment plan in addition to the Jump option. In the case of the EIP (equipment installment plan) without Jump, you can pay off the phone at any time to start a new EIP with a new phone. The phone is yours to sell (you can use a site like Swappa to make it easier). The only issue is you need to have the ~$325 cash available to pay off the phone since you need to do so before you sell the device. If you're planning on going with the iPhone this is probably your best bet. To do the math for the 16GB 5S...

Original price: $648
Monthly payment: $27

With Jump, you would end up paying $27 * 24 (cost of the monthly payment over two years) + $10 * 24(cost of the Jump program for two years) = $888 every 2 years to use Jump to get a new iPhone every year.

The 16GB T-Mobile iPhone 5S is still going for $420 on Swappa. Assuming that will continue to drop once the 6 is actually out, let's go with $400. Without Jump you have $27 * 24 + $324 (cost to pay off first iphone) - $400 (sale of first iPhone) = $500. In both cases you end up with a phone that is half paid off. Even if you want insurance, which is included in Jump, Applecare is only $99 for two years so you end up at $599 vs $888.