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why is everyone saying this is good / aggressive. I have an iPhone 5s from ATT and I'm not handing it over to TMobile for 350$. This would be an amazing deal if they just flat out paid your ETF fees for taking the leap and switching. However, they are paying you 350$ for your iPhone that you could sell on eBay for 500$

Give me 350$ no questions asked to switch to you TMobile, and I will

They're also paying your full etf. And you're out of your contract and can go anywhere if it's not for you. You can't complain about what they're doing. It's almost too good to be true.
 
why is everyone saying this is good / aggressive. I have an iPhone 5s from ATT and I'm not handing it over to TMobile for 350$. This would be an amazing deal if they just flat out paid your ETF fees for taking the leap and switching. However, they are paying you 350$ for your iPhone that you could sell on eBay for 500$

Give me 350$ no questions asked to switch to you TMobile, and I will

You are not understanding the deal. First, you get up to $350 to cover early termination fees (you show T-Mobile your last bill with the fee). Second, you get up to $300 for a phone trade in based on the value of the traded in phone.

It is a pretty good deal if you live in an area where T-Mobile has good coverage especially if you have a competitor plan costing more than $80 a month (without taxes and fees). On T-Mobile you get unlimited everything for $60 a month, with things such as HD voice and data sharing all included (high speed is throttled after 2.5 Gigabits down to 3G or Edge). Further, there is no contract and T-Mobile will give you zero interest loans along with no money down deals for phone purchases, including the iPhone. My girlfriend picked up an iPhone 5C for no money down. The cost of the phone is about $22 a month.
 
Are you on a family plan or an individual plan?

My family has 5 smartphone lines and 2 iPad lines. Unlimited messaging and (essentially) unlimited talk. 3 lines are still on grandfathered unlimited data, 2 are on 5 GB data plans and the iPads are on 3 GB and 250 MB.

We pay about $420 total with all taxes and fees. Plus we have 7 subsidies we can use every two years. And AT&T's data/network is about as fast and reliable as it comes - at least where I live and travel.

So families like mine (granted we are on the extreme end of family plans) are who T-Mobile is targeting with this deal.

It's a family plan with 4 lines. It's about 290 a month with 10gb shared. The problem is 2 of the lines don't use much data at all and reducing the shared data limit doesn't save that much. The T-Mobile plan makes it around 200 a month instead with appropriate amount of data for each line.
 
All down for T-Mobile succeeding, but they need to fix the inconsistent HSPA data and upgrade EDGE to at least 3G. Why so much EDGE and GPRS in 2014, T-Mobile?

Once they fix the swiss cheese coverage, they'll be a real threat to AT&T and Verizon.
Huh?

Over the holiday my wife (T-Mobile) and I (AT&T, due to work) went from Long Beach, CA to Logan, UT then to the Grand Canyon then Phoenix then back to Long Beach, CA

My wife consistently had 4G LTE where I had NOTHING and when I say nothing, I mean it, not even 1 bar of voice, let a lone data.

This is truly a great deal for families that have staggered contracts, really this is very disruptive, I just wish they would offer it for businesses as well.
 
In summary..if you leave ATT to TMob..

You pay..

(New Phone price - Trade in value of your Phone).

ETF is taken care.

Let's say you have very old phone (iPhone 4s) then you may get around $150 for that. Now you will have to pay TMob $500 (I assume 16GB 5S price is 650).
 
Are you on a family plan or an individual plan?

My family has 5 smartphone lines and 2 iPad lines. Unlimited messaging and (essentially) unlimited talk. 3 lines are still on grandfathered unlimited data, 2 are on 5 GB data plans and the iPads are on 3 GB and 250 MB.

We pay about $420 total with all taxes and fees. Plus we have 7 subsidies we can use every two years. And AT&T's data/network is about as fast and reliable as it comes - at least where I live and travel.

So families like mine (granted we are on the extreme end of family plans) are who T-Mobile is targeting with this deal.

With T-Mobile, you would pay about $350 for a similar plan. The differences would be that the limits would only apply to high speed data, then it gets throttled to 3G speeds (if you have 4G) or 2G speeds (if you have 3G), but is otherwise unlimited. You also get the cheaper international roaming, text and data on T-Mobile. So over the course of a year, you would save about $840 over AT&T.

T-Mobile's network is by far more reliable around in the western U.S., as my previous post indicates.
 
In summary..if you leave ATT to TMob..

You pay..

(New Phone price - Trade in value of your Phone).

ETF is taken care.

Let's say you have very old phone (iPhone 4s) then you may get around $150 for that. Now you will have to pay TMob $500 (I assume 16GB 5S price is 650).

Actually and iPhone 4s nets about $250 with TMobile, assuming it's not broken in any way. So, your net out of pocket is $400 or $16 per month when the payment plan is used over two years.

As previously stated, T-mobile is about $45 cheaper per month, which means that you save about $29 a month, which works out to about $350 saved a year.
 
Actually and iPhone 4s nets about $250 with TMobile, assuming it's not broken in any way. So, your net out of pocket is $400 or $16 per month when the payment plan is used over two years.

As previously stated, T-mobile is about $45 cheaper per month, which means that you save about $29 a month, which works out to about $350 saved a year.

Yes depending on whatever you get out of your phone in trade-in.
 
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This sounds like a great way to leave Verizon for AT&T.

Here's how it goes...

Leave Verizon early, termination-fee-free for T-Mobile and their credits - which they'll give you for leaving ANY carrier. After you get your number ported safe and sound to T-Mobile, head over to AT&T for their deal, which you can ONLY get for leaving T-Mobile.

Boom.

You just used T-Mobile as your middle-man pawn to jump from one carrier to the other. Seriously considering this for the other half!

Or leave AT&T and go back. It sends a message that you're threatening to leave. Sounds like a good plan if it doesn't waste too much time.
 
Wait...So if I want to join this, I would have to turn in the phone that I have already bought outright and be devalued for what its worth in the market.

Then, I need to cough up the ETF out of pocket and then get reimbursed by a prepaid card instead of good old cash.

After that, I would then need to buy a new phone where the old one is perfectly fine and not really OLD by any means.

Last but not least, I have to port over the numbers and start all over with all the paperwork and hassles.

All while the area I live in is like a T-mobile signals black hole? (Even the map says it has good coverage, but clearly not the case with my buddy's iPhone 4S when he comes over to play).

This sounds like a no-brainer to me...

Not that I think this is not a good deal when comparing to what we have seen so far, but still not enough bait for me to switch...
 
Math

I just did the math based on what I pay with AT&T now. The ETF fee is a wash since I have to pay it anyway. So far I'm even. They would give me $216 for my 5C and charge me $600 for a new one. I'm out $384.00. I currently pay $62/month including taxes and fees on AT&T for unlimited data and more minutes & texts than I ever use. Assuming I go with T-Mobile's $60 plan, which will be around $67 after taxes and fees it would cost me $168 more over the 2 year contract I recently renewed. Total extra cost to me would be $552.00. I think I'll stick with AT&T who I have zero complaints about. Great coverage and excellent customer service, at least for me.
 
why is everyone saying this is good / aggressive. I have an iPhone 5s from ATT and I'm not handing it over to TMobile for 350$. This would be an amazing deal if they just flat out paid your ETF fees for taking the leap and switching. However, they are paying you 350$ for your iPhone that you could sell on eBay for 500$ Give me 350$ no questions asked to switch to you TMobile, and I will
This is a good/aggressive deal because T-Mobile's offer to give new customers $650 to switch over doesn't require a 5s, and not everyone has a 5s anyway. Stop sounding so whiny and entitled.
 
Actually and iPhone 4s nets about $250 with TMobile, assuming it's not broken in any way. So, your net out of pocket is $400 or $16 per month when the payment plan is used over two years.

As previously stated, T-mobile is about $45 cheaper per month, which means that you save about $29 a month, which works out to about $350 saved a year.

Where did you come up with $250? A black 64 GB 4S from AT&T estimates to be $120.00 via their trade-in link provided for this new deal on their site. (I tried to provide the link but for some reason it directs you to their phone page when you click it.)
 
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why is everyone saying this is good / aggressive. I have an iPhone 5s from ATT and I'm not handing it over to TMobile for 350$. This would be an amazing deal if they just flat out paid your ETF fees for taking the leap and switching. However, they are paying you 350$ for your iPhone that you could sell on eBay for 500$

Give me 350$ no questions asked to switch to you TMobile, and I will

I think they are giving you 350 for your etf and up to another 300 for you phone.
http://money.cnn.com/2014/01/08/technology/tmobile/
For a potential total of $650 per line on a 3+ family
 
With respect to a single line, this plan is really at it's best if you don't have a newer phone with AT&T. Otherwise you'll probably lose money via the trade-in alone via going Swappa/eBay/Craigslist.

For most people AT&T and Verizon are still superior choices with respect to coverage. One must do the math in their respective scenario and figure out the pros/cons.

Personally I love this move for T-Mobile. It's aggressive and keeps the other 3 on their toes. I'm an AT&T post-paid customer and am I'm planning on staying with them and simply switching to GoPhone at some point. $60/month for 2GB of LTE plus unlimited talk/text is a great deal IMO. It's pretty rare that I go over 2 GB a month.
 
Wonder if there is a requirement for the type of phone. What if I trade in a crappy smart phone, get the little they offer and sell my 5s (or the one I have to buy) and cover the cost of the new device. This basically gets my etf paid and allows me to keep my device or sell it.
 
I'm off contract right now... could I swap my iPhone 4S for an iPhone 6 (when it comes out) for money? I realize there's no contract for them to cover, but might they give me $300 for the 4S?
 
I think this is the least "un-carrier" announcement I've seen so far. Phone buy-backs have been used by other carriers already and AT&T previously announced they were offering $$$ to switch from T-Mobile. Is the revolutionary announcement that they combined the two? Meh...
 
Wonder if there is a requirement for the type of phone. What if I trade in a crappy smart phone, get the little they offer and sell my 5s (or the one I have to buy) and cover the cost of the new device. This basically gets my etf paid and allows me to keep my device or sell it.

You can go to their website and see which ones qualify.
 
I honestly can't believe some of the things I'm seeing on this forum. Whether you like or dislike T-Mobile, can you take your face out of your screen for just a second to realize this is only great news for everyone?

Even if T-Mobile doesn't offer great service in your area, it's their Uncarrier tactics that have brought down 2-year phone agreements for ATT and Verizon. Sprint is downright desperate for customers and seemingly matches if not undercuts T-Mobile's prices, and the entire industry is scrambling to not look like greedy Goliath *******s after T-Mobiles moves.

Please, take a moment to realize your position. It's when companies like T-Mobile and Google shake things up that the everybody else lose their Cartel-like status and have to offer better prices for the same or better service. I understand your "but Verizon has much better coverage" argument, but to bash T-Mobile because their offering the best of their services for a fraction of the cost or commitment should be very welcoming news to everyone. You're only trying to find synthetic reasons to support throwing your money away and you should instead be excited to see how the industry has to match or compete with these new incentives.
 
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