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Comments on news posted 2014-02-14 16:32:21: T-Mobile continues to be a disruptive force in the market, and will soon announce some additional tweaks to the company's "Jump" handset early upgrade program. ..

Chubbysumo
join:2009-12-01
Duluth, MN
Ubee E31U2V1
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Netgear WNR3500L

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Chubbysumo

Member

The JUMP program is just garbage anyways

as are a majority of these scam style handset upgrade programs that AT&T started. You pay for the phone, and then at the end of it, you have to give the phone back, that you fully paid for, so that the carrier can turn around and sell it again, all the while, your paying for another new phone.

amarryat
Verizon FiOS
join:2005-05-02
Marshfield, MA

amarryat

Member

AT&T copied based on rumors. After 6 months, no money down, you've paid $150 plus $60 for jump and you return your phone for a new one. Not bad.

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium Member
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

dvd536 to Chubbysumo

Premium Member

to Chubbysumo
that phone you just turned in is obsolite. they probably get a few bucks for it in scrap.

fonzbear2000
Premium Member
join:2005-08-09
Saint Paul, MN
·Verizon Wireless

fonzbear2000 to Chubbysumo

Premium Member

to Chubbysumo
said by Chubbysumo:

as are a majority of these scam style handset upgrade programs that AT&T started. You pay for the phone, and then at the end of it, you have to give the phone back, that you fully paid for, so that the carrier can turn around and sell it again, all the while, your paying for another new phone.

You don't pay for it if you get it for a down payment of $0. And T-Mobile offers that quite a bit.

w0g
o.O
join:2001-08-30
Springfield, OR

1 edit

w0g

Member

the new delay is..

They won't even let you start swapping till you pay 50% of the phone cost.

Current model works like this: buy phone on installment plan, plus $10/mo jump, swap to new phone every 6 mos .. keep paying off the original balance, I thought, till 100%.

So... now you can upgrade as much as you want, but only once you have paid off 50%? Or are they making us pay 50% for each phone for an upgrade (couldn't be, hope not)...

The plan was awesome before cause it is only $240 extra over two years on top of $600 headset, .. and you always would have the latest model, basically making sure you didn't lose resale value as well (turn in phone for new model plus new phone, resale at brand new price of ne model phone if you're switching carriers or whatever).

TAZ
join:2014-01-03
Tucson, AZ

TAZ

Member

It sounds like the 50% includes the trade-in value of the phone. So it's the trade-in value + all payments you've made.

K3SGM
- -... ...- -
Premium Member
join:2006-01-17
Columbia, PA

K3SGM to fonzbear2000

Premium Member

to fonzbear2000

Re: The JUMP program is just garbage anyways

And the JUMP! fee is also the handset insurance, which you would probably already be paying, even if you had no plans to upgrade anytime soon.

$10/mo combo for Jump/Insurance on a $650 phone isn't that bad, when you consider what a cracked screen, or a stolen phone will set you back.

My kids are great at running phones through the washing machine, so the insurance pays off very well vs. having to pay full price for new phones every time.

Of course, when the phone depreciates below the cost of the insurance deductible, you either upgrade, or drop the extra $10/mo fee.

davoice
join:2000-08-12
Saxapahaw, NC

davoice to w0g

Member

to w0g

Re: the new delay is..

Taz has it correct I think.

650 phone - trade in value - payments made MUST = at least 50% of 650, so 325.

650 - 250 trade in - (6 months x 27/mo = 162) = 238. So that would cover the $325. Effectively, it means that if you buy phones that retain high trade-in value over time and trade them in early and often, you can always have the newest phone.

But it will eliminate people buying less popular phones and trying to do the same - as the trade-in values will be lower. It will also be interesting to see what trade-in values they give to tablets!

}Davoice

w0g
o.O
join:2001-08-30
Springfield, OR

w0g

Member

ok..

So the plan will be..

Pay 50% of phone off, get new phone when old one is traded in, anytime you want.

Trading in refunds paid amount and applies it to new phone? Still $10/mo fee to stay in program, which is reasonable.

Mr Guy
@charter.com

Mr Guy to Chubbysumo

Anon

to Chubbysumo

Re: The JUMP program is just garbage anyways

Sorry but if you actually make all the payments you get to keep the phone. Its only if you upgrade before then that you give the phone back.
Mr Guy

Mr Guy to w0g

Anon

to w0g

Re: the new delay is..

said by w0g:

They won't even let you start swapping till you pay 50% of the phone's cost

So what is wrong with that?
itguy05
join:2005-06-17
Carlisle, PA

itguy05 to amarryat

Member

to amarryat

Re: The JUMP program is just garbage anyways

If you buy a decent phone (I'm looking at you iPhone) you will get almost all your money back at 6 months if you sell it on Ebay, Craigslist, etc. iPhone 5s (16GB) have closed for $500 on Ebay recently...

So yeah, it is a poor deal....
itguy05

itguy05 to dvd536

Member

to dvd536
quote:
that phone you just turned in is obsolite. they probably get a few bucks for it in scrap.
Perhaps for an Android or Windows phone but there are others that even at 3 years old still command $200...

My 34GB iPhone 4S still gets $200 on Ebay.

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

It's like renting the phone

It's like renting the phone in the old days of Ma' Bell. At least you can either pay it off in full and keep it or trade it in when 50 percent is paid off. Back with Ma' Bell you never got to keep the phone.

I don't mind giving the phone back. The only good that old cell phones do in my house is add to the clutter. I have so many outdated cell phones that I've been giving them to the Verizon HopeLine program to get rid of them. I like the idea of being able to upgrade more often and the one year upgrades with these programs will align with the one year product cycles of the iPhone.

At least it's better than waiting two years to upgrade when they release a new phone every two weeks.

Mr Guy
@charter.com

Mr Guy

Anon

Yep the point of keeping an old phone was a back up if you needed a new one if your phone broke because $500+ plus was a lot to come by. But if your on one of these programs well the whole point is upgrading earlier than 2 years anyway.

w0g
o.O
join:2001-08-30
Springfield, OR

w0g to Mr Guy

Member

to Mr Guy

Re: the new delay is..

nobody said anything was wrong with that. I was just pointing out, that's the new plan..

I was interested in knowing if anything else changed price wise. like I hope to god they're not keeping a part of the cost of the phone, cause this gets expensive. the $120 a year fees are pretty reasonable and I figure in that helps make up for loss of value on the phone.

amarryat
Verizon FiOS
join:2005-05-02
Marshfield, MA

amarryat to itguy05

Member

to itguy05

Re: The JUMP program is just garbage anyways

If you're taking about the new Jump, I agree. But the old one isn't a bad deal if you like to upgrade every 6 months.

w0g
o.O
join:2001-08-30
Springfield, OR

1 edit

w0g to IowaCowboy

Member

to IowaCowboy

Re: It's like renting the phone

This plan is way better.. it is more of a trade up plan, you still own your phone, but they let you swap it for the model of your choosing for a $120/year fee.

Once you trade it in, it has resale value to the company, and its like a recycling program underneath it all. It guarrantees you the latest model at all times as a benefit.

Go ahead and keep your phone out of the program and you can do upgrades, but you would be keeping your phone and paying full price or selling your old one for a significantly reduced amount. You might buy an S4 for $600, but sell it on craigslist for only $350, barely enough to pay for half a new $600 phone, part of the appeal of Jump.

You are potentially saving $380 a year with Jump if you upgrade twice .. after the $120 fees.
itguy05
join:2005-06-17
Carlisle, PA

itguy05

Member

Still not a good deal. You're forgetting the $300 you've already paid into the system. So you've paid $420 for a phone worth $300. And you get to start payments all over again.

Better to forgo these BS upgrade plans, buy a good phone with a good resale (that excludes most Androids and all Windows Phones), and sell it when you want to upgrade.

These companies are not doing this to save you $$.

thxultra
@mooseintl.org

thxultra to amarryat

Anon

to amarryat

Re: The JUMP program is just garbage anyways

Couldn't agree more. If you sell your phone on ebay there are ebay fees and paypal fees these add up and then you have to worry about scamers. Glad I can keep my old JUMP plan because it is a great deal to get a new phone every 6 months for a extra $12... No way I would get a full price phone without the insurance and it is $8 a month so only $2/month for the jump option. Got my Galaxy S4 and when the S5 comes out I will be Jumping to that. When the new phone comes out the current phone drops quite a bit in value also. Still think I would be hard pressed to get enough to pay off the balance on my current phone if the new phone is out unless I bought my current phone right when it was released then it may be close. In this case I didn't and didn't care the new one was coming because I knew I could switch after 6 months...

amarryat
Verizon FiOS
join:2005-05-02
Marshfield, MA

amarryat

Member

That was my thinking too. Got the HTC One in August when I switched to T-Mobile, and when the M8 comes out, I'll probably Jump to that. And then once the 700MHz spectrum is deployed in the fall, Jump to the M9 or whatever phone has support for those frequencies (who knows, maybe with the right updates all of the current phones will be able to support those frequencies).