T-Mobile Jump on Demand- $15 for iPhone 6- worth it?

[jeff123816]

I have been a long time T-Mobile customer and have been planning on getting an iPhone 6s Plus when it's released in October. Unfortunately, I lost my old LG G3 phone (paid in full) a while back and have been relegated to a Nokia Lumia 521 which suffers from poor battery life and cellular reception and seems to be on its last leg now. I've never been interested in leasing a phone before because I tend to keep my phone at least two years and then sell them privately. Considering all the problems I'm having with the Lumia 521 however, I was wondering what people thought of this Jump on Demand promotion for the iPhone 6. I've had to piece together what I've seen online as I can't locate the terms and conditions of this promotion.

From what I gather, if I took this promotion, I would enter into an 18 month lease agreement and would pay $15 per month for 2 months to lease the iPhone 6 (I could turn in the Lumia to satisfy the device requirement). When the iPhone 6s Plus comes out, I could upgrade in October and at the end of the 18 months, I would have the option of paying the remainder of the 6s Plus retail price and would thus own the 6s Plus outright. Does that sound correct? Are there any hidden costs that I'm not seeing here? Since my original plan was to simply purchase the 6s Plus at full retail (paying monthly installments for 24 as opposed to 18 months) is there any real difference in the total cost of doing this after the 18 month period expires?

Thanks!

 

[bhayes444]

I have been a long time T-Mobile customer and have been planning on getting an iPhone 6s Plus when it's released in October. Unfortunately, I lost my old LG G3 phone (paid in full) a while back and have been relegated to a Nokia Lumia 521 which suffers from poor battery life and cellular reception and seems to be on its last leg now. I've never been interested in leasing a phone before because I tend to keep my phone at least two years and then sell them privately. Considering all the problems I'm having with the Lumia 521 however, I was wondering what people thought of this Jump on Demand promotion for the iPhone 6. I've had to piece together what I've seen online as I can't locate the terms and conditions of this promotion.

From what I gather, if I took this promotion, I would enter into an 18 month lease agreement and would pay $15 per month for 2 months to lease the iPhone 6 (I could turn in the Lumia to satisfy the device requirement). When the iPhone 6s Plus comes out, I could upgrade in October and at the end of the 18 months, I would have the option of paying the remainder of the 6s Plus retail price and would thus own the 6s Plus outright. Does that sound correct? Are there any hidden costs that I'm not seeing here? Since my original plan was to simply purchase the 6s Plus at full retail (paying monthly installments for 24 as opposed to 18 months) is there any real difference in the total cost of doing this after the 18 month period expires?

Thanks!

If I recall correctly, the $15 promo is only good on the 16GB 6 and any upgrade to the 6S+ or larger capacity model 6S will cost you the non-promotional pricing. The only other thing I didn't see you mention is that T-Mobile recommends you get the device protection plan (like $8-9 more per month) to cover the phone that you are leasing. Reason being is that if there is anything they see as "wrong" with the device, when you trade it in, they won't let you JUMP up and you'll be stuck with that phone unless you buy it in full.

 

[Andres Cantu]

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but if you trade-in a working smartphone, you can get the iPhone 6 Plus for $19 now and then jump to the iPhone 6s Plus when it is released. There is a $12 per month credit for the smartphone you trade-in, potentially saving you $216 ($12 x 18) when you pay for it in full at the end of the 18-month lease, since you would have only paid $342 ($19 x 18) and the remaining balance for the phone would be around $192 ($750 - $342 - $216).

 

[jeff123816]

Thanks to both of you for the replies. I'm not so concerned about the monthly payments as I am about the total that I would end up spending to own the device at the end of 18 months. Specifically, what I'd like to get is the 6s Plus 64 GB which should retail for $850. I can live with a iPhone 6 16 GB for the next 2 months while I wait for that to come out. Would it be better, however, to go for a current 6 Plus 64 GB now and then upgrade to the comparable 6s Plus when it's released in October? If I can turn in a cheap Windows phone now and be credited $12 per month for 18 months, it seems like a no-brainer. There must be a catch but I'm not seeing it.

 

[uwdude]

I just signed up for this plan. It is correct that they take $12/month off your bill, whether you get the iPhone 6 or 6+. And then supposedly we get priority for shipping on the 6S and 6S+ when they come out. If you get the higher storage though, I believe you have to pay for the extra storage each time, so with 64gb you would pay $100 up front now, and then another $100 if you get the 64 gb 6S+ in two months. But yes you save $216 off the cost of the phone if you make all 18 payments.

 

[grifftaur]

I just signed up for this plan. It is correct that they take $12/month off your bill, whether you get the iPhone 6 or 6+. And then supposedly we get priority for shipping on the 6S and 6S+ when they come out. If you get the higher storage though, I believe you have to pay for the extra storage each time, so with 64gb you would pay $100 up front now, and then another $100 if you get the 64 gb 6S+ in two months. But yes you save $216 off the cost of the phone if you make all 18 payments.

^^^ this gentleman is correct.

You can get the 16gb iPhone 6 for $15 and $0 down payment. If you chose let's say the 64gb iPhone 6 you would have pay a $100 down payment. Same goes for 6 Plus but instead of $15 a month it would be $19 a month. You are leasing the phone for 18 months. As long as you don't jump to a new iPhone before the 18 months are up you keep your promotional price. If you do jump to a new iPhone then you will lose your promotional price and revert to the normal cost. You will have the option to buy the iPhone 6 outright whatever the remaining balance is after the 18 months if want. Otherwise trade it back to get a new phone.

The best suggestion is to get the 16GB iPhone 6. Pay tax and no down payment. When you upgrade to the 6S then go for a bigger storage if you want and pay the down payment plus tax then. Otherwise you'd pay a down payment on both 6 and 6S. It says in the T-Mobile blog post that you don't, but I am personally concerned that you will end having to and don't trust it. Unless someone has some good intel on it.

I'm considering switching this Friday from AT&T to T-Mobile and going with that strategy.

 

[uwdude]

And just a follow up concerning the tax, at least on my contract here in Florida, they figured the sales tax in with the total cost of the phone and put a little extra on each monthly payment, instead of paying the sales tax up front. I had thought that there was not supposed to be sales tax since this is a lease, but they did put it into the figures of what is financed, so for instance my $19/month for the 6+ turned into about $21. They listed the total of monthly payments (before the $12 credits) as $597, and the payoff figure at the end as $191, for a total price of the phone as $788 for an iPhone 6+ 16gb. So I'm guessing that the extra $39 is sales tax, although that doesn't exactly come out to the sales tax percentage in my area. Maybe it's some sort of lease rate or something.

 

[grifftaur]

And just a follow up concerning the tax, at least on my contract here in Florida, they figured the sales tax in with the total cost of the phone and put a little extra on each monthly payment, instead of paying the sales tax up front. I had thought that there was not supposed to be sales tax since this is a lease, but they did put it into the figures of what is financed, so for instance my $19/month for the 6+ turned into about $21. They listed the total of monthly payments (before the $12 credits) as $597, and the payoff figure at the end as $191, for a total price of the phone as $788 for an iPhone 6+ 16gb. So I'm guessing that the extra $39 is sales tax, although that doesn't exactly come out to the sales tax percentage in my area. Maybe it's some sort of lease rate or something.

Oh snap! I think you might be right. I forgot that it is a lease. That probably does change the sales tax.

Question for you. Are you paying the $10 for the JOD? Or can you choose not to do it and still do the $15/$19 promotion?

 

[ricktat]

And just a follow up concerning the tax, at least on my contract here in Florida, they figured the sales tax in with the total cost of the phone and put a little extra on each monthly payment, instead of paying the sales tax up front. I had thought that there was not supposed to be sales tax since this is a lease, but they did put it into the figures of what is financed, so for instance my $19/month for the 6+ turned into about $21. They listed the total of monthly payments (before the $12 credits) as $597, and the payoff figure at the end as $191, for a total price of the phone as $788 for an iPhone 6+ 16gb. So I'm guessing that the extra $39 is sales tax, although that doesn't exactly come out to the sales tax percentage in my area. Maybe it's some sort of lease rate or something.

A lease in Florida works like this. You pay tax on the monthly payment amount. The total before the $12 credit. Then at the end you would pay tax on the $191 if you buy the phone. $749-$191= $558 plus 7% tax= 597

 

[uwdude]

Oh snap! I think you might be right. I forgot that it is a lease. That probably does change the sales tax.

Question for you. Are you paying the $10 for the JOD? Or can you choose not to do it and still do the $15/$19 promotion?

With the JoD plan, there is no extra $10 fee like the regular Jump! plan. But you do have to decide if you want insurance then, because insurance is no longer included. The insurance is $8. But this does seem better than regular Jump! to me, because you can just switch out phones up to 3 times per year whenever you want.

 

[uwdude]

A lease in Florida works like this. You pay tax on the monthly payment amount. The total before the $12 credit. Then at the end you would pay tax on the $191 if you buy the phone. $749-$191= $558 plus 7% tax= 597

Thank you! That makes sense and would explain the amounts correctly. I guess they would have to exclude the payoff amount in the sales tax calculation, since that is optional and wouldn't necessarily be paid.

 

[ghsDUDE]

^^^ this gentleman is correct.

You can get the 16gb iPhone 6 for $15 and $0 down payment. If you chose let's say the 64gb iPhone 6 you would have pay a $100 down payment. Same goes for 6 Plus but instead of $15 a month it would be $19 a month. You are leasing the phone for 18 months. As long as you don't jump to a new iPhone before the 18 months are up you keep your promotional price. If you do jump to a new iPhone then you will lose your promotional price and revert to the normal cost. You will have the option to buy the iPhone 6 outright whatever the remaining balance is after the 18 months if want. Otherwise trade it back to get a new phone.

The best suggestion is to get the 16GB iPhone 6. Pay tax and no down payment. When you upgrade to the 6S then go for a bigger storage if you want and pay the down payment plus tax then. Otherwise you'd pay a down payment on both 6 and 6S. It says in the T-Mobile blog post that you don't, but I am personally concerned that you will end having to and don't trust it. Unless someone has some good intel on it.

I'm considering switching this Friday from AT&T to T-Mobile and going with that strategy.

I was thinking about getting the 6 Plus now (128GB) and paying $199 up front for the storage and have my $19 payments.

When the 6s Plus comes out next month I'd get the same phone (128GB) and be on my 18 month lease.

1) Do you really think they'd make me pay $199 twice?

2) And at the end of 18 months would I have the option to trade it in for the 7 Plus and keep my $19 payments? Or is this promo only available for one phone (6 and 6s with the promo).

3) What would my final payment be at the end of 18 months for the 128GB 6 Plus?

Thanks

 

[grifftaur]

I was thinking about getting the 6 Plus now (128GB) and paying $199 up front for the storage and have my $19 payments.

When the 6s Plus comes out next month I'd get the same phone (128GB) and be on my 18 month lease.

1) Do you really think they'd make me pay $199 twice?


2) And at the end of 18 months would I have the option to trade it in for the 7 Plus and keep my $29 payments? Or is this promo only available for one phone (6 and 6s with the promo).


3) What would my final payment be at the end of 18 months for the 128GB 6 Plus?


Thanks

1) Do you really think they'd make me pay $199 twice?

The concern is they might. I have yet to find a definitive answer on this. On the T-Mobile blog it says this, "Just swap it out and pay NOTHING more—nothing up front and no change to your monthly payment. No deposit. No fees. Nothing. You get the next iPhone guaranteed.". No deposit and no fees makes me think they wouldn't. I have reservations and prefer to get the 128GB size of the 6 Plus now, but don't want to get screwed having to pay another $200 down payment.

2) And at the end of 18 months would I have the option to trade it in for the 7 Plus and keep my $29 payments? Or is this promo only available for one phone (6 and 6s with the promo).

If you trade in your 6S plus for the 7 plus the $19 promo will be forfeited. You'll start over again with the 18 months lease and pay $31 a month since it's a 128gb plus. This is only good for the 6 plus to the 6S plus.

3) What would my final payment be at the end of 18 months for the 128GB 6 Plus?

I think it will end up being $170 or close to that.

 

[ghsDUDE]

1) Do you really think they'd make me pay $199 twice?

The concern is they might. I have yet to find a definitive answer on this. On the T-Mobile blog it says this, "Just swap it out and pay NOTHING more—nothing up front and no change to your monthly payment. No deposit. No fees. Nothing. You get the next iPhone guaranteed.". No deposit and no fees makes me think they wouldn't. I have reservations and prefer to get the 128GB size of the 6 Plus now, but don't want to get screwed having to pay another $200 down payment.

2) And at the end of 18 months would I have the option to trade it in for the 7 Plus and keep my $19 payments? Or is this promo only available for one phone (6 and 6s with the promo).

If you trade in your 6S plus for the 7 plus the $19 promo will be forfeited. You'll start over again with the 18 months lease and pay $31 a month since it's a 128gb plus. This is only good for the 6 plus to the 6S plus.

3) What would my final payment be at the end of 18 months for the 128GB 6 Plus?

I think it will end up being $170 or close to that.

Thanks, this is a tough decision. I have an iPhone 6 on Verizon and I think I may just pass on the offer for now, use this phone on T-Mobile all year and hopefully they have another cool promo like this next year. What would you do lol.

Also, I'm doing the 10GB 4ALL plan and all 4 of my family members are coming over. Will they pay all ETF's for the 4 of us or only 1 person?

 

[grifftaur]

Thanks, this is a tough decision. I have an iPhone 6 on Verizon and I think I may just pass on the offer for now, use this phone on T-Mobile all year and hopefully they have another cool promo like this next year. What would you do lol.

Also, I'm doing the 10GB 4ALL plan and all 4 of my family members are coming over. Will they pay all ETF's for the 4 of us or only 1 person?

As of right now I am planning to go this Friday and switch from AT&T to T-Mobile. I have an unlimited data plan with AT&T. I can't upgrade till November and don't want to wait till then. My best option is NEXT. The issue with that though is I read that many people who upgraded last year to the iPhone 6 with an unlimited data plan for NEXT, they got booted off their plan and had to fight to get it back. Because of that I just don't want the hassle. Unlimited data plan is great and all, but I just don't feel like worrying and working so hard to keep it.

Personally I think this is a good deal. I can get a new iPhone right now and get a newer one in a month. Reception where I am is good. Most of time is spent at work where I get really good reception.

I think they will cover your family's 4 ETF's up to $350 each. The downside with the ETF is T-Mobile gives you a visa card with money on it. They don't give you cash or check. You'd have to pay Verizon out of pocket.

On T-Mobile's website front page right now they have 4 lines for 30 each a month with a 10GB shared data plan.

 

[ghsDUDE]

As of right now I am planning to go this Friday and switch from AT&T to T-Mobile. I have an unlimited data plan with AT&T. I can't upgrade till November and don't want to wait till then. My best option is NEXT. The issue with that though is I read that many people who upgraded last year to the iPhone 6 with an unlimited data plan for NEXT, they got booted off their plan and had to fight to get it back. Because of that I just don't want the hassle. Unlimited data plan is great and all, but I just don't feel like worrying and working so hard to keep it.

Personally I think this is a good deal. I can get a new iPhone right now and get a newer one in a month. Reception where I am is good. Most of time is spent at work where I get really good reception.

I think they will cover your family's 4 ETF's up to $350 each. The downside with the ETF is T-Mobile gives you a visa card with money on it. They don't give you cash or check. You'd have to pay Verizon out of pocket.

On T-Mobile's website front page right now they have 4 lines for 30 each a month with a 10GB shared data plan.

Yeah, I'm trying to figure out what the total costs are if I lease for 18 months or keep my phone and sell it myself next year and buy outright.

I get that the 128GB iPhone 6 Plus = $950.

$200 (128GB upfront) + $342 (over 18 months at $19 per month) + $170 (after 18 months to buy it) = $712.

If I were to buy it outright it would cost $950 but I'm not sure of my math is right or if I'm missing anything.

 

[Tenashus1]

If I recall correctly, the $15 promo is only good on the 16GB 6 and any upgrade to the 6S+ or larger capacity model 6S will cost you the non-promotional pricing. The only other thing I didn't see you mention is that T-Mobile recommends you get the device protection plan (like $8-9 more per month) to cover the phone that you are leasing. Reason being is that if there is anything they see as "wrong" with the device, when you trade it in, they won't let you JUMP up and you'll be stuck with that phone unless you buy it in full.

I just did the Jump lease for a 64 gb with $100 down, and $15 a month. No device protection.

 

[bhayes444]

I just did the Jump lease for a 64 gb with $100 down, and $15 a month. No device protection.

Okay...

 

[grifftaur]

Yeah, I'm trying to figure out what the total costs are if I lease for 18 months or keep my phone and sell it myself next year and buy outright.

I get that the 128GB iPhone 6 Plus = $950.

$200 (128GB upfront) + $342 (over 18 months at $19 per month) + $170 (after 18 months to buy it) = $712.

If I were to buy it outright it would cost $950 but I'm not sure of my math is right or if I'm missing anything.

You're missing the $216 in credit. That counts towards the total $950. They give you a credit of $12 each month since it's only $19 a month. Normally you would $31 a month for the 128GB 6 plus.

 

[jeff123816]

I really appreciate everyone's comments here. I am going to try this today. I wish that there was more clarity about the memory upgrade fees but from everything I'm hearing, it sounds like it would be safest to take the 16 GB iPhone 6 today and then upgrade to 64 GB when the 6s comes out. Only a month to go, so it shouldn't be a big deal. It just seems silly that they can't clarify this.

 

[uwdude]

What I'm wondering now is how they are going to handle this deal of being able to preorder the new one with shipping priority for the people on this plan. And does that mean we will only wait 4 weeks instead of 8 weeks for everybody else, or does T-Mobile usually have some stock shipping during the first week or two. I've never been with T-Mobile for an iPhone launch before.

 

[ghsDUDE]

I really appreciate everyone's comments here. I am going to try this today. I wish that there was more clarity about the memory upgrade fees but from everything I'm hearing, it sounds like it would be safest to take the 16 GB iPhone 6 today and then upgrade to 64 GB when the 6s comes out. Only a month to go, so it shouldn't be a big deal. It just seems silly that they can't clarify this.

I talked to a rep today and they said the following.

From an internal memo -

"If customers already paid a down payment they do not have to pay it when they upgrade to the next generation iPhone."

Only if upgrading to a higher storage option, they would have to pay the difference.

I have 4 people switching over to T-Mobile from my family plan. Does T-Mobile cover $650 total or $650 per person in ETF's?

 

[ghsDUDE]

What I'm wondering now is how they are going to handle this deal of being able to preorder the new one with shipping priority for the people on this plan. And does that mean we will only wait 4 weeks instead of 8 weeks for everybody else, or does T-Mobile usually have some stock shipping during the first week or two. I've never been with T-Mobile for an iPhone launch before.

That's exactly what I'm wondering too.

I went to my store today to do it and they didn't have any 128GB in stock and said the deal only applied to the phones they had in stock.

They said I couldn't have it shipped to my house since it voids the Jump! On Demand terms.

I think I may go with the 16GB Plus for now and hopefully I can get a 128GB 6s Plus before 12/31. That would suck if they only had 64GB in stock and I couldn't get the size I wanted without voiding the promotion.

 

[jeff123816]

I went to the store yesterday and picked up a 6 Plus 64 GB. I was lucky enough to be dealing with the store manager and he mentioned that the memory upgrade fee issue had come up in discussions with corporate and was still being worked out. He assured me that, in the end, I would not be shorted an extra $100 for upgrading the memory of the 6 and the 6s. He said that there were two possibilities when the next iPhone comes out for people that choose to upgrade the memory: (1) We would have to pay another $100 memory upgrade fee upfront and then we would receive a bill credit for $100 or (2) by the time the 6s is released, their computer systems would be updated to make it possible for employees to waive the $100 memory upgrade fee when a customer jumps from one 64 (or 128) GB device to another. He stated that there was no way we would have to pay twice to upgrade the memory. I took his word for it, as he said he would stand behind it.

On a side note, this 6 Plus is the first iPhone that I've used in in 5 years and I'm finally seeing why people choose these instead of Android/Windows Phones. There is a huge difference in terms of quality both hardware and software. I keep waiting for annoying programming bugs and battery drain from some runaway background process but it's not happening. Despite the fact that the internal hardware specs are lower, these phones outperform their Android competitors when it comes to usability.

 

[bhayes444]

I went to the store yesterday and picked up a 6 Plus 64 GB. I was lucky enough to be dealing with the store manager and he mentioned that the memory upgrade fee issue had come up in discussions with corporate and was still being worked out. He assured me that, in the end, I would not be shorted an extra $100 for upgrading the memory of the 6 and the 6s. He said that there were two possibilities when the next iPhone comes out for people that choose to upgrade the memory: (1) We would have to pay another $100 memory upgrade fee upfront and then we would receive a bill credit for $100 or (2) by the time the 6s is released, their computer systems would be updated to make it possible for employees to waive the $100 memory upgrade fee when a customer jumps from one 64 (or 128) GB device to another. He stated that there was no way we would have to pay twice to upgrade the memory. I took his word for it, as he said he would stand behind it.

On a side note, this 6 Plus is the first iPhone that I've used in in 5 years and I'm finally seeing why people choose these instead of Android/Windows Phones. There is a huge difference in terms of quality both hardware and software. I keep waiting for annoying programming bugs and battery drain from some runaway background process but it's not happening. Despite the fact that the internal hardware specs are lower, these phones outperform their Android competitors when it comes to usability.

I have a question for you on this: when you initially signed up for the JOD plan, if you weren't on a JUMP plan already, did you have to trade in your device that you were using on T-Mobile, or could you just trade in a super cheap device? I only ask because it lists that as a requirement for the promotion, and I really don't like the idea of giving them my current device, over some cheap burner type phone.