T-Mobile amps up plan to let you upgrade more often
NEW YORK — No one at T-Mobile is commenting for the record about ongoing reports that the nation's fourth-largest wireless carrier is in merger talks with Dish Network.
But T-Mobile did make an announcement on Thursday about amping up some of the "Un-carrier" initiatives that have helped the company, and outspoken CEO John Legere, disrupt the wireless industry and attract new customers. Some of those initiatives included relaxing contract restrictions, paying early termination fees for customers who switch to T-Mobile and week-long test drives of iPhones.
The latest announcement is highlighted by a plan T-Mobile dubs JUMP! On Demand, which lets buyers upgrade their phones up to three times a year, at no extra cost. If you choose to upgrade, you swap in your existing handset. T-Mobile will test the phone you're trading in to make sure it is in full working order. You'll also have to have proper credit to qualify.
During the course of the plan, you'll have to make monthly payments on your phone for 18 months — those payments cover the cost of the new phone and the freedom to switch whenever you want, with no new payment due (or even sales tax) when and if you make that switch. Following the 18 months, you can turn in your phone with nothing more to pay, or upgrade to your next new phone and start a new plan, or make a final payment and keep your phone. If you keep your phone and make the final payment, the total of your payments will equal the retail price of the phone, T-Mobile says.
The new plan is available on select higher end handsets such as the latest iPhones and Samsung Galaxy's. You'll have to pay for insurance, which is optional.
T-Mobile still offers the original JUMP! plan available on most of the phones it sells, in which you pay an additional $10 a month on top of regular phone costs, and have the ability to upgrade every 12 months. And you will have to pay sales tax on new phones, with no other upfront costs.
After T-Mobile launched the original JUMP! program, rival carriers AT&T, Verizon and Sprint, offered their own early access incentives.
"While the carriers are breaking every promise they've ever made with their knock-off upgrade programs, we're racing full speed ahead, making one of our most popular moves even better," Legere said in a press release. "JUMP! On Demand is the best way to get a new smartphone whenever you want. Zero out the door. Zero at upgrade. Zero fees. Zero wait. Zero BS."
Added T-Mobile chief operating officer Mike Sievert in an interview: Customers "want to feel that nobody is standing in their way between the phone that they have and the phone that they want."
The new plan kicks in Sunday.
Separately, and for a limited undisclosed period, T-Mobile is offering a 16GB iPhone 6 for $15 a month, when you trade in your current device. That's a reduction from the regular monthly price of $27.08, or $37.08 under the earlier JUMP! program.
But not all the buzz surrounding T-Mobile and the iPhone has been positive.
The MacRumors website is reporting that T-Mobile iPhone users have been suddenly experiencing frequent crashes and "blue screens of death." Sievert says that Apple and T-Mobile engineers are investigating the problem.