T-Mobile’s new JUMP! On Demand program is all the rage this morning, with smartphone lovers excited over the idea that they could trade in phones for the new hotness up to 3 times per year. But some of you may be wondering which phones are a part of the program and how much they will cost. We have that info for you now to get you ready for June 28, the day this new upgrade program kicks off.
Phones and Pricing
According to T-Mobile, the first set of phones that are a part of JUMP! On Demand are the Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy Note 4, LG G4, iPhone 6, and iPhone 6 Plus. In other words, all of the best new phones that you would probably be interested in a part of it. T-Mobile also says to expect more phones in the future.
So those are the phones, how much will they cost per month? Take a look at the image below.
Understand that JUMP! On Demand (JOD) is a lease program; this isn’t the same as the original JUMP!, which is an equipment installment plan. With JOD, you are paying a monthly payment for 18 months with payments counting towards the cost of the phone. That means if you were to not upgrade a phone during the 18-month period, there is going to be a “final payment” due to make the phone yours, since you won’t actually pay off the phone in 18 months. For example, a Galaxy S6 at $28.33 for 18 months totals $509.94, but the full cost of a Galaxy S6 is normally $679.92. At the end of your 18-month period, you would still owe some cash to T-Mobile if you wanted to own your Galaxy S6 outright. The exact wording from T-Mobile is, “if you want to own your smartphone, simply pay the remaining lease payment and device purchase option price anytime.” Make sense?
I’m looking for clarification on what “device purchase option price” could mean and will update this post as I have it.
Update: T-Mobile got back to me and clarified that at the end of a lease if you decide to buy the phone, you will only pay the remainder of what the normal retail price would be. In the example above with the Galaxy S6, at 18 months, you would have paid $510, but the Galaxy S6 retails for $680. You would owe another $170. I was concerned that the “device purchase option price” would be higher in JOD to discourage you from buying the phone after a lease, but that doesn’t appear to be the case at all.
The point, though, is for you to never get to that 18-month mark and instead just keep upgrading phones and signing new 18-month lease deals. If you don’t plan on upgrading all of the time, then this may not be the plan for you, unless you don’t mind paying off the rest of the phone after the 18 months is up.
JUMP! On Demand vs. JUMP!
Here is another image showing how this differs from the regular JUMP! plan.
The differences here are pretty clear, right? With JOD, you don’t have to pay the $10 monthly fee, plus you can upgrade at any time, up to 3 times per year. Your monthly payments will be lower on JOD and you can upgrade more often. Assuming you aren’t into keeping phones for 2+ years and always want something new, JOD might be your better choice here.
Still interested?
Via: T-Mobile [PDF]
This post was last modified on June 25, 2015 11:02 am