The difference is after you pay off the loan they gave you to buy the phone for no money down......your bill goes down! After the same amount of time on AT&T your bill will still be the same. Plus at anytime you can pay the loan amount off and have your bill go down. Plus you get a cheaper plan and unlimited data.
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T-Mobile's 'Un-Carrier 4.0' Initiative Offers Up to $350 Per Line to Switch Carriers
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The difference is after you pay off the loan they gave you to buy the phone for no money down......your bill goes down! After the same amount of time on AT&T your bill will still be the same. Plus at anytime you can pay the loan amount off and have your bill go down. Plus you get a cheaper plan and unlimited data.
Nope. AT&T's bill goes down too. They charge $40 per phone on contract, but only $25 off contract.
How does T-Mobile benefit a customer. But the time you pay it down, you're 2 iPhones behind already! Unless you do that upgrade every year plan for YET ANOTHER $10 a month.
Will AT&T let you pay it off early and be released of your contract? Or are you still locked in for 2 years? I am on AT&T right now.....the plans are cheaper for me to move my 3 lines to T-Mobile and actually get more data or unlimited data
Not to mention that with T-Mobile the data is not shared. Each line gets its own data which no other line eats into. Plus there is no activation fee with T-Mobile, AT&T charges $36/line to activate. Also, with T-Mobile when you exceed your data limit you are throttled, with AT&T you are charged for the overage.
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So I have to give up my phone first? I can't just bring my current 5S over?
Sounds like they are trying to juice iPhone sales since you will have to buy one when you switch. And that's another $25 a month to the bill with their $0 down plans.
With T-Mobile's pricing, I can switch my 3 lines used by my family for $120 on a family share plan. Good deal! Oh, but wait, T-Mobile will make us surrender our phones first, then turn around and sell us new ones for 3x$25, bringing that $120 a month to $195 a month - EXACTLY WHAT I'M PAYING AT&T NOW!
How is this a deal for me T-Mobile? I'm still in the same position of paying a carrier $195 a month!Nice try though.
This.
I keep thinking about the pros and cons. The pros are you get truly unlimited data which is very nice, the cons are it is going to cost $1400 out of pocket no matter how you swing it. For 3 lines I have to buy 3 x $600 phones. The trade in allowance for a galaxy s3, note II, and optimus g pro is only $370. There are taxes involved on both sides so add another $200 to the $1400 cost. In the end the bill will be slightly cheaper and I will have unlimited data but is it worth it? If I just cancel AT&T, pay the ETF which is $1000, unlock my iphone and use my nexus 5, I still have to spring for another $600 phone which is still the same price. Hmmm.
T-Mobile does not force you to buy the phone outright. You have to purchase a T-Mobile phone which could be 3 x $199 and some cases 3 x $0.
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Oh, they'll make $$$ on the new phone sale and they'll make $$$ reselling the phone you trade in. However, keep in mind that while you can get more in a private sale of your phone then you can get from T-Mobile for trade-in that phone you have didn't just pop into your hand / your possession for free. (assuming a 16GB) You paid $200 for it.
So even if you get top dollar -- $600 -- for your phone you are only $400 ahead. Then you have to add in the ETF. Unless your ETF is less then $118 you'll come out ahead just giving T-Mo your phone. $400 profit (private sale) - $325 (full AT&T) ETF = $75. Where T-Mo would pay your ETF and $282 for your phone.
$120/mo T-Mo Family plan means 2.5 gig for all three lines (7.5GB data total). AT&T's Mobile Share Value Plan 8GB (closest match) is $210/mo. You'll save $90/mo. That is, you are saving $15/mo by switching to T-Mo even without trade-in credit and paying full 3 x $25/mo per phone ($90/mo - $75/mo = $15/mo). When you factor in your trade-in credit ($282 per phone) that is a discount of $11.75/mo per phone. ($282 / 24mo = $11.75/mo)
So you are saving $50.25/mo over AT&T. ($90/mo - (3 x $13.25) ) Even after buying new iPhone 5S phones to replace the iPhone 5S you just traded in.
Again, the only reason why you wouldn't want to switch is if T-Mo service isn't good in your area. So figure out if T-Mo service would be good for you and then kick AT&T to the curb.
This is an unequivocal good deal for you, assuming good T-Mo service.
Please see above. Quote erat demonstrandum.How is this a deal for me T-Mobile? I'm still in the same position of paying a carrier $195 a month!
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No -- As in, T-Mobile will not pay your ETF unless you trade in a phone and port a phone number.
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One line. I told them I'd be saving $350.00 over 24 months with T-Mobile. The SMS waive was for 6 months. So that's $120.00. The $90.00 was a recurring $30.00/month credit for 3 months. So that's $210.00 plus a reduced cost upgrade (although they didn't tell me what that price would be). My ETF is only $135.00. It's an interesting game of chess. I could just pay the ETF, sell the phone for $450.00 and keep the $300.00 and put that towards the new phone on T-Mobile (because the monthly bill would still be cheaper, and unlimited data).
This isn't a 'scam' that a lot of people here say T-Mobile is trying to pull. They're pretty clear about what you get, and what you have to pay. It's pretty simple math (although the majority of Americans are idiots, so...) that you can figure out in a minute or so.
Not quite true. I get a 15% discount off of T-Mobile plans. It's actually better around the same for what i was getting from ATT since the way ATT discounts work if you have a Mobile Share, they only apply the discount to the Data. T-Mobile will apply the discount to both the talk line and data. So while the ATT percentage is larger, i get about the same amount of discount since T-Mobile percentage applies to more items.
If you've got a bit of a discount it is something to consider. So by all means, look at your own bill and compare. With T-Mo paying your ETF now, though, there is no reason to stick around if your monthly rate isn't competitive.
Here's how it broke down for me, for those interested:
For my unlimited plan with Sprint I paid
$80 after taxes, etc plus
$20/month for 2GB of tethering data
With T-Mobile, the bill goes down to $90 a month including the payment for the 5s, saving me $10 a month. I'm also on the Jump plan automatically, so I can trade in for the 6 or whatever when that comes. Additionally, they paid me $167 for my iPhone 5 which paid for almost 2 months of service plus taxes, etc.
Now the question is, do I want to continue saving that $10/month or spend an extra $10 over what I'd been paying with Sprint to throw an iPad in the mix as well?
As a Sprint customer, it would have been stupid not to do this. Their coverage in my area is a joke. If I'm not on LTE (which is often) my 5 didn't even register a connection to the internet. After a day with T-Mo, I can already tell I'm in for an easier time. It'll probably be spotty on the one occasion a year that I travel, but that was the case with Sprint as well.
TL;DR: this is one of the better deals I've ever seen offered by a carrier and after having been with 3/4 of the major carriers I am glad to have settled with T-Mobile for the time being.
For my unlimited plan with Sprint I paid
$80 after taxes, etc plus
$20/month for 2GB of tethering data
With T-Mobile, the bill goes down to $90 a month including the payment for the 5s, saving me $10 a month. I'm also on the Jump plan automatically, so I can trade in for the 6 or whatever when that comes. Additionally, they paid me $167 for my iPhone 5 which paid for almost 2 months of service plus taxes, etc.
Now the question is, do I want to continue saving that $10/month or spend an extra $10 over what I'd been paying with Sprint to throw an iPad in the mix as well?
As a Sprint customer, it would have been stupid not to do this. Their coverage in my area is a joke. If I'm not on LTE (which is often) my 5 didn't even register a connection to the internet. After a day with T-Mo, I can already tell I'm in for an easier time. It'll probably be spotty on the one occasion a year that I travel, but that was the case with Sprint as well.
TL;DR: this is one of the better deals I've ever seen offered by a carrier and after having been with 3/4 of the major carriers I am glad to have settled with T-Mobile for the time being.
I never said otherwise. What does that have to do with what I stated that you don't have to purchase a T-Mobile phone at full price? Besides the question was to BJohnson who is the one who just stated "No.". Not sure why you are answering.
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Untrue. I am getting a 17% corporate discount now off my T-Mobile bill. It seems that every post you have made in thread is not even close to being the truth. Why are you spreading so much misinformation about T-Mobile?
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With the Sprint phone you are always tied to Sprint. Been there, done that. Glad to be rid of that situation.
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I looked at the AT&T wireless plans. I will say this, AT&T has become more competitive. It is nice that AT&T will drop the monthly bill when the contract is completed.
There are a few things that T-Mobile offers that are advantages in my situation. Each phone gets its own data, no sharing of data. With T-Mobile I can increase or decrease the data plan for each phone on a sole and separate basis. I have 3 cell phones on T-Mobile so I like that flexibility. When I add 3 or more lines with T-Mobile, I just pay an extra $10/month extra for each line added. AT&T is charging $40/line no matter how many lines. No data overage fees with T-Mobile, you are just throttled. I get 200MB of free data for my T-Mobile iPad. AT&T would charge me $14.95/month plus any overage if I went over on data usage.
2.5GB of non-shared data for the 3 cell phones with T-Mobile is $165/month, it would cost me $175/month and have to share 2GB of data among 3 cell lines. At the end of my loan period my T-Mobile bill will be $120/month with 2.5GB data plan, with AT&T at the end of my contract it would be $130/month for the 2GB data plan.
The place where AT&T is less expensive then T-Mobile, is for 1 or 2 lines of service on the 300MB data plan.
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As a current customer of ATT I really like what T-Mobile is doing here and in fact will switch over this weekend.
And here is why:
ATT Current Charges:
Mobile Share 6GB (3 smartphones): $185 before tax
FAN Discount: 21%
Last Bill: $204 (PA Taxes)
T-Mobile Charges:
Line 1 - iPhone 5s (outright - unlocked ATT iPhone 5s)
Line 2 - iPhone 5s (25/month)
Line 3 - iPhone 5s (25/month)
Line 4 - T-Mobile Concord ($50 upfront)
Features: Line 1 on 2.5GB, other 3 on 500mb. Data: 6gb mobile share is only $5 more than 4GB mobile share plan (w/ 3 lines), therefore I do not bother going down to that tier on ATT.
Line Fees before any extras or phone financing: $110
Let's say I take the lazy route for Line 2 & 3 and trade in my iPhone 5 32gb and my Galaxy S4. iPhone 5 trade in value = ~$220. Galaxy S4 = ~$160 (trading in garbage phones for line 1 & 4)
Line 2 becomes $15.90/month.
Line 3 becomes $18.40/month.
Line 2 and 3 are my parents lines and they could have the same phones for a decade and would not care (No JUMP needed). Furthermore, the coverage area of T-Mo in my area is fantastic, with the majority of the places at LTE. Lastly, international flexibility is huge.
Total cost: $144.30 (before employee discount of 15%)
Is there something I'm missing? ETF's are well over $700.
And here is why:
ATT Current Charges:
Mobile Share 6GB (3 smartphones): $185 before tax
FAN Discount: 21%
Last Bill: $204 (PA Taxes)
T-Mobile Charges:
Line 1 - iPhone 5s (outright - unlocked ATT iPhone 5s)
Line 2 - iPhone 5s (25/month)
Line 3 - iPhone 5s (25/month)
Line 4 - T-Mobile Concord ($50 upfront)
Features: Line 1 on 2.5GB, other 3 on 500mb. Data: 6gb mobile share is only $5 more than 4GB mobile share plan (w/ 3 lines), therefore I do not bother going down to that tier on ATT.
Line Fees before any extras or phone financing: $110
Let's say I take the lazy route for Line 2 & 3 and trade in my iPhone 5 32gb and my Galaxy S4. iPhone 5 trade in value = ~$220. Galaxy S4 = ~$160 (trading in garbage phones for line 1 & 4)
Line 2 becomes $15.90/month.
Line 3 becomes $18.40/month.
Line 2 and 3 are my parents lines and they could have the same phones for a decade and would not care (No JUMP needed). Furthermore, the coverage area of T-Mo in my area is fantastic, with the majority of the places at LTE. Lastly, international flexibility is huge.
Total cost: $144.30 (before employee discount of 15%)
Is there something I'm missing? ETF's are well over $700.
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I just don't see how this could be of value to me? Would switching to TMO be even worth it in my case?
I still have unlimited data with VZW, I'm on the 1400 minute NWT&T plan, we have 2 lines (16gb 5c & 32gb 5s) that we just upgraded. I pay roughly $185/month, both phones have the TEC plan ($9.99/line) included.
So, I have 2 lines currently, I would have to pay an ETF fee for each line, correct? $350 is what VZW charges I heard, so I'd owe them $700. Does this new TMO deal give $350 per line in a family plan? If so, my ETF fees would be covered. I now just have to worry about buying the new phones over at TMO and the month plan.
Next step, I get money for our each iPhone. I went to the trade-in page on TMO to see what I'd get, I don't know if I went to the correct page, but it says for the 16gb 5c I'd get $222. They don't have a price for the 32gb 5s though I'm assuming the $300 max is what I'd get. So I'm now of Verizon and have $522 in my pocket.
Now I need to purchase a 32gb 5s ($700) & 16gb 5c ($500) from TMO, minus the $522 I got for the trade-ins, I would still owe $678 spread over the 24 months or whatever.
$678 for the phones, plus $140 for the family plan (2 lines w/ unlimited data) and I would also need to drop $ on protection plans. Am I understanding all of this correctly? This sounds crazy expensive to me and a horrible idea. What would you do?
I still have unlimited data with VZW, I'm on the 1400 minute NWT&T plan, we have 2 lines (16gb 5c & 32gb 5s) that we just upgraded. I pay roughly $185/month, both phones have the TEC plan ($9.99/line) included.
So, I have 2 lines currently, I would have to pay an ETF fee for each line, correct? $350 is what VZW charges I heard, so I'd owe them $700. Does this new TMO deal give $350 per line in a family plan? If so, my ETF fees would be covered. I now just have to worry about buying the new phones over at TMO and the month plan.
Next step, I get money for our each iPhone. I went to the trade-in page on TMO to see what I'd get, I don't know if I went to the correct page, but it says for the 16gb 5c I'd get $222. They don't have a price for the 32gb 5s though I'm assuming the $300 max is what I'd get. So I'm now of Verizon and have $522 in my pocket.
Now I need to purchase a 32gb 5s ($700) & 16gb 5c ($500) from TMO, minus the $522 I got for the trade-ins, I would still owe $678 spread over the 24 months or whatever.
$678 for the phones, plus $140 for the family plan (2 lines w/ unlimited data) and I would also need to drop $ on protection plans. Am I understanding all of this correctly? This sounds crazy expensive to me and a horrible idea. What would you do?
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T-Mobile's 'Un-Carrier 4.0' Initiative Offers Up to $350 Per Line to Switch C...
This! I got a 15% discount on AT&T but it only applied to mobile share data plans. On TMo, I get 15% off my entire plan. It's a military discount for those that are wondering.
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Did the math to switch my wife from AT&T onto my TMo plan. Her iPhone 5 32 is estimated at $228 and the ETF is $205. I watched an eBay auction with the same exact phone go for $358. The eBay phone had apple care until September 2014 too. Point being, for us it's better to do the old trade-a-roo instead if selling privately because TMo offers a better deal ($433 vs $358). Plus the wife wants the 5s.
This! I got a 15% discount on AT&T but it only applied to mobile share data plans. On TMo, I get 15% off my entire plan. It's a military discount for those that are wondering.
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Did the math to switch my wife from AT&T onto my TMo plan. Her iPhone 5 32 is estimated at $228 and the ETF is $205. I watched an eBay auction with the same exact phone go for $358. The eBay phone had apple care until September 2014 too. Point being, for us it's better to do the old trade-a-roo instead if selling privately because TMo offers a better deal ($433 vs $358). Plus the wife wants the 5s.
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Thats a great point! I did not realize the discount was only applied to part of the plan with AT&T.
Plus on T-Mobile….if you finance the phone through them after you pay it off your bill goes down…same as AT&T but then you have no contract. You can pay it off early and are not tied to any contract at all.
St. Louis' market is terrible, as is every other moderately sized city and smaller. Everyone I know on T-Mobile here has to frequently travel to another location of the building they're in in order to keep their call alive. That coupled with NO 4G LTE makes their network a joke.. among other things. But I guess if you're in or around one of the Big Ten cities, you're golden.
Well, you said you pay $185/mo with VZW. And you say you'll pay $140/mo with T-mo. So that's $45/mo you'd save.
After trade-in credit you said you would still owe $678 for phones. $678 / 24 mo = $28.25/mo
Therefore $45/mo - $28.25/mo = $16.75/mo savings. Over a year that would be $201.
At the very least I would call VZW and ask for a discount. Because $45/mo (difference from T-Mo) x 12 mo = $540 / year. If they won't budge on price or offer only temporary savings. Then maybe figure out if T-Mobile service is good in your area.
It sounds like it would cost you some money to more over to T-Mobile:
1) Purchase 16GB 5C for $0 down, $20.83/month for 24 months
2) Purchase 32GB 5S for $299 down, $25/month for 24 months
3) T-Mobile would pay your $700 Verizon ETF for both lines
4) T-Mobile would credit the trade-in amount for your VZ 5C against your loan on the T-Mobile 5C.
5) T-Mobile would credit the trade-in amount for your VZ 5S against your loan on the T-Mobile 5S.
6) Unlimited data plan for 2 lines would be $120/month
So you would have to pay $199+tax up front, to purchase the 32GB 5S and 16GB 5C. Your total monthly payment would be $165.83 + taxes for both lines.
Your VZ 5C trade-in would get applied to the new 5C loan which means you would owe the remaining balance of $277.92 or ~13 months of $20.83.
Your VZ 5S trade-in would get applied to the new 5S loan which means you would owe the remaining balnace of $300 or ~12 months of $25.
So in ~13 months your payment would go from $165.83/month to $120/month.
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