Figured I'd ask here before I resort to dealing with their support..

I'm looking into buying the Galaxy S4 so I can get rid of my Galaxy S2. However I still have a year left on my contract.

Will I be able to get the phone as they advertise "$100 down, and $20/mo for 24 months" while still under contract? Or is there something I'm horribly missing?

 

You'll just restart another 2 yr contract. That's usually how it goes for a lot of carriers (AT&T, Verizon, T-mobile, etc).

You put in about 18 mos or less (that's the usual for me, at&t) and then you're eligible for an upgrade and you just start all over. Your 2 yr contract is there to lock you in, and help with covering the cost(s) of the phone. That's one of the reasons why the termination fees are so steep and why you get the phone at a discounted rate. If you were on prepaid, you'd pay full price for a postpaid phone (that is if you don't like the prepaid phones they have).

Of course you already know once you've completed your 2 yr obligation, you can jump ship w/out any penalties to another company or stay put until you want a new phone and want to upgrade.

 

This no longer applies to T-Mobile since they don't do contracts anymore.

If the OP wants to get the Samsung S4, he'll choose one of two phone payment options... either pay for the S4 in full at $579.99 or make a $99.99 down payment plus 24 monthly payments of $20 in addition to the monthly service plan cost. At the end of the 24 months, the OP will have paid $579.99 to cover the cost of the phone [$99.99 down payment + ($20 x 24 months) = $579.99]

Since the OP still has 1 year left on the original contract, that will carry over. But once that contract is done, the OP will be contract free.

If, for example, the OP decides to leave T-Mobile after 12 months for another carrier, then the OP can do so and not worry about any early termination fee. He'll just have to pay the remaining balance on the S4 which would be $579.99 - $99.99 - ($20 x 12 months) = $240, unless OP paid for it in full.

If you like to upgrade phones frequently (i.e. up to 2 times a year), t-mobile has a new upgrade plan called T-Mobile JUMP http://explore.t-mobile.com/phone-upgrade

You basically pay $10 extra each month for the privilege of being able to upgrade every 6 months.

 

... unless you get your new phone from Best Buy, Staples, Walmart, Target, etc. which still does the 2 year contract thing. But then the OP won't be able to do the $99.99 down payment and $20/month for 24 month thing. That offer's only through T-Mobile directly, and it's no contract if you go through T-Mobile directly.

Just wanted to clarify.

Also, if you go through T-Mobile directly, they may try to change your plan since the old contract plans no longer exist.

It's pretty confusing.

 

t-mobile still does old subsidied plans if you want them.

If you are in a 2 year contract they may require a "fee" to pay for the phone that you got under contract when you switch out to a no contract plan.

 

Thanks for clearing that up AZuser. I forgot T-mobile had changed things up a bit. That' quite a bit of info I left out. I was just thinking along the lines of the standard across the board. T-mobile needs more market share. My nieces/nephews and a sister use t-mobile while I've stuck with AT&T. The reason being is that I get signal everywhere I go, even in the boonies. Where I get signal, they don't. But I am going to have to check them out. Thanks again AZuser. I gotta do my research on JUMP!.

 

AZuser I went to tmobile's site and I could save a bundle by switching over from AT&T. Thanks so much!

 

Well how about if I want just the phone, with my existing plan. I like my current plan which is 500 min a month + unlimited data/text. (This is an addon plan to one of the family plans T-Mobile offers), my mom and dad have unlimited talk/text/data for $140/mo, plus my brother and I for the plan I mentioned above for $30 extra each. So $200/mo all together.

The numbers are pointless anyway, I just don't want to eliminate my plan. Just want the phone :P

 

My mom and sister have had t-mobile for 10 plus years and love it, especially now that they both have official iPhone 5's on tmobile. I loved their coverage and their customer service was top notch but after having unlocked iPhones on tmobile for a few years, I jumped ship and ended up paying a ton of money for Verizon. My contract is about up and if it werent for porting my cell to my free work cell, I would be back with tmobile.

The idea of just paying for the phone and not being under a standard contract is great IMO and while I know very little about Jump!, new phones are always good.

 

You should be eligible for an upgrade, and if you are you should be able to upgrade an keep that same plan, unless it's not availabe anymore, but you could be "grandfathered" in. You should call customer service and check.

Yeah I'm seriously thinking about having my number ported over. The only thing is coverage isn't as great in rural areas as in town. With AT&T I can be in the middle of nowhere and be the only one with a signal. A strong one.

 

actually; I just tried doing this.

because you are in contract; you would have to pay a 200 dollar cancellation fee.
this $200 does not go towards the 100 dollar S4.

I have three months left in my contract, and will be jumping on the 100 dollar s4 as soon as i can


easiest thing to do; is just pick up the phone and call them to see what your options are.
they would not waive the 200 dollars even tho I was ready to drop $ on phone and service.

I tried in-store as well. would not waive the $200 cancellation fee.

you will not get the 100 dollar s4 deal without canceling your service contract first.
I decided to just wait my remaining 3 months.
I suppose you could pay the full amount of the phone....but thats close to $600 and would still be under contract



actually, i just read an article that states whenever a company changes the TOS, that breaks contractual agreements.
you could argue that point.

 

Had t-mobile. Lost reception way too much. Have AT&T. Contract is not up until March. Will decide what to do then. Have no problems with AT&T.

 

Hmm just as I thought. I might try and argue that with them. Last time I talked to them about...whatever...they didn't seem to budge on the topic and would just repeat the same thing like a broken record.


Sigh...I have another year until my contract is up, son of a beecch.

 

Same reason why I left t-mobile years ago. I would drive up and down the turnpike and have no signals for a good patch of miles. What if the car broke down? I'm paying $95/mo for Verizon. I don't like it when t-mobile is adv the same thing for $70/mo, but Verizon has great coverage.

 

Exactly. That's why I'm on the fence. You never know what'll happen and I get great coverage from AT&T.

 

T-Mobile is very spotty.

My work phone is T-Mobile; sitting at my desk I have zero service on it. Whereas my AT&T phone has full service. Same goes for my house. AT&T customer service has always been outstanding for me.

I hear some markets are better than others, but it's borderline horrible around here.

I know this thread has been derailed, but that's my

 

Eh, I've always had the best luck with T-Mobile, tried AT&T for 2 years a long time ago, and none of us liked it. Probably a lot has changed since 2007 though. Plus their customer service sucked back then.

Then again, if I could afford Verizon I would go to them.

 

YMMV with t-mobile coverage. Their conversion over to 1900 (FINALLY) is complete enough that I can use it on my unlocked international note 2.

I'm using that wonderful $30 ($32 after taxes) 100 minute, unlimited text/data monthly4g plan.

It rocks hard, but you can burn through 100 minutes pretty fast if you aren't careful.

 

After having the same plan with AT&T for 15 years, I finally made the switch to T-Mobile. The coverage is not as good but I have a signal where it matters (like at home). The share plan with unlimited talk/text/data is $100 for 4 people - which is still cheaper than AT&T's new plans. Plus I get an employee discount AND T-Mobile will now pay your early termination fee if you switch.

I got my family Nokia 521s which were a steal for the $60-70 they are going for on Amazon, Target, MS Store etc etc. Plus they are giving out $20 app vouchers with purchase. I am still using my Meego Nokia N9 phone but from what I can tell, Windows is not a bad OS for the average user.

 

I may stop by at a local T mobile store today. $650 to cover the early termination fee and phone trade in sounds really good.

 

Same thing I've been using and couldn't be happier, although I understand it wouldn't work for some people. I get great reception at my house also, which is rare for other providers.

With a little discipline the 100 minutes isn't so bad. I use Google Voice on my laptop to make most of my calls (free). Plus it's only 10 cents a minute after the 100 is up.

 

You should be able to get a much better deal from Tmobile. I have had tmobile for over 10 yrs, I mostly stick because I worked there after college for a few years. I have a family plan, 2 yr contract, and call up a month or two before my term is up and tell them my employer offers good discounts from ATT/verizon and I am going to switch unless they can help me out.

They then transfer me to the retention team and I wind up getting a free phone for myself and wife, plus other discounts. I got the galaxy s3 for myself and a mytouch for the wife, before our contract was even up. Free shipping, waived upgrade fees, etc. They really can't afford to lose customers so i feel it is a fair trade, they give me free phones and i don't switch. My tradeoff is that ATT/Verizon has way better coverage outside of city areas then tmobile...there are many times i have no data signal while friends with other carriers do.

 

I work out in the middle of farmer town USA and even with 1 bar I can still grab 12mbps on HSPA+ that is enough to stream Netflix in HD.

When I changed out to a no contact plan I had to wait until I was near the end of my contract otherwise I would have to pay the difference between the subsidized price and retail price of a HD2...

 

i laugh every time i read this title.

like out of all the millions of customers t-mobile has, none of us on acurazine have it.

 

I've got Tmob, and except for the fact that I don't get a signal at my home, it's been great.

 

Now, is there a better chance to find an aziner with T-Mobile than an aziner that has a vagina?

 

T-Mobile introducing new plan on April 12. Good for those who don't use data much.

Unlimited talk and text + 500MB of data for $40. Once you hit your monthly 500MB limit, data service is suspended so no overage fees. If you run out of data and want more, you can buy a 1 day pass of 500MB for $5, or a 7 day pass of 1GB for $10.

This ends up being a better deal than their Simple Choice Plan which is unlimited talk and text + 1GB data for $50 because for the same $50 ($40 Simple Starter plan + $10 for 1GB of data), you get unlimited talk and text + 1.5BG data (500MB + 1GB)

http://www.t-mobile.com/offer/simple...750&PID=361116

 

Had T-Mobile for 10+ years, love them. Just bought a Nexus 5 from Google, works flawlessly