T-Mobile has been making a lot of changes lately, seemingly for the better too. They rolled out their new plans earlier this year, changing from a traditional subsidized program to the “value plans” they have now. If you’re unfamiliar with T-Mobile’s value plans they work something like this: Value plans are cheaper than most traditional plans out there because they don’t include phone upgrades. Rather than paying a built-in cost as carriers like AT&T and Verizon do, you buy your phone outright and enjoy a cheaper monthly plan because of it. T-Mobile offers the ability to finance the phone over a 2-year period by giving you the option to put money down and then pay $20 a month for 24-months on the average smartphone. This is where today’s announcement comes in; T-Mobile is waiving the requirement to put money down on all phones in its inventory. That means that while you won’t be putting any money down for a new phone, the cost will instead be spread out over the full 24-month period. Here’s a breakdown of the cost for each device:
Device | Down Payment | Monthly Payments 24 equal monthly payments for 0% APR on approved credit1 |
Samsung Galaxy S® 4 | $0 | $25 |
Samsung Galaxy Note® II | $0 | $27 |
Samsung Galaxy S® III | $0 | $22 |
Xperia® Z from Sony | $0 | $25 |
HTC One® | $0 | $25 |
Samsung Galaxy Tab(TM) 2 10.1 | $0 | $20 |
Per the current policy you can always elect to pay the phone off earlier if you’d like, or even just pay up front for the whole cost of the device. This policy comes right after T-Mobile announced its new 6-month “Jump!” upgrade plan, which gives customers the ability to upgrade their phone every 6 months by paying an additional monthly cost. While we’ve got a couplediffering opinions around here as to whether or not “Jump!” is worth while or not, it seems to be a relatively easy sell for T-Mobile, especially when considering that many people already pay only a few dollars less per month for the insurance that “Jump!” also includes. While other carriers are trying to offer upgrades plans like T-Mobile’s, no one has responded directly to T-Mobile’s value plans in the same way. T-Mobile’s President and CEO John Legere has this to say about the new plans:
“The number of reasons not to switch to T-Mobile this summer is ZERO,” said John Legere, president and chief executive officer, T-Mobile US. “This is a fantastic offer and we’re making it easier than ever for customers to get the latest amazing devices. Adding Zero Down in addition to JUMP!, and Simple Choice with no contract is all about making wireless work for consumers and shaking up this industry.”
T-Mobile has also been expanding their LTE network, and is now reportedly available in 116 metropolitan areas and reaches an estimated 157 million people. Their goal is to reach over 200 million people by year’s end with LTE by having said network available in over 200 metropolitan areas. They’ve made some pretty amazing progress considering their first LTE network went live in April of this year, so it won’t be any surprise if they do end up meeting their goal by the end of 2013. T-Mobile is trying just about everything it can to remain relevant, but has been in 3rd or 4th place depending on the month, and constantly vies for the 3rd place spot with Sprint. AT&T and Verizon are the two largest carriers in the US, with 3 to 4 times the number of customers of either T-Mobile or Sprint. The two-horse race may eventually come to an end if T-Mobile’s latest shenanigans work out, and any time there’s more competition in the marketplace it’s always a good thing for consumers.