T-Mobile offers 'free' iPhone 7 with Black Friday trade-in promotion
The U.S. branch of T-Mobile on Tuesday announced a series of Black Friday-related promotions, most notably letting people get a "free" 32-gigabyte iPhone 7 or 7 Plus with a qualifying trade-in.
For a regular iPhone 7, people must trade in an iPhone 6s, or one of a number of recent LG or Samsung devices. Similar deals apply for the 7 Plus, though the trade-in devices must be more expensive, such as a 6s Plus.
People who have an older and/or cheaper phone can also get their iPhone of choice, but may have to pay extra -- for instance $100 for the standard iPhone 7 if they have an iPhone 6, or $350 if they have an iPhone 5, 5c, or 5s. Further premiums apply if a person wants to upgrade the amount of storage they get.
There are other catches as well -- the cost of the new iPhone is simply credited against 24 monthly bills, and people must sign up for a One or Simple Choice Unlimited plan, which can be more expensive. The trade-in deals will last from Nov. 24 through Nov. 27.
Separately, T-Mobile is offering $200 per line for people switching numbers to the carrier, up to a limit of $2,400. Each line must be signed up to a One plan with eligible device payments -- the bonus cash comes in the form of a prepaid MasterCard.
Between today and Nov. 26, T-Mobile will be supplying a free hour of Gogo Wi-Fi on domestic U.S. airline flights. This notably includes everyone, not just the carrier's customers.
For a regular iPhone 7, people must trade in an iPhone 6s, or one of a number of recent LG or Samsung devices. Similar deals apply for the 7 Plus, though the trade-in devices must be more expensive, such as a 6s Plus.
People who have an older and/or cheaper phone can also get their iPhone of choice, but may have to pay extra -- for instance $100 for the standard iPhone 7 if they have an iPhone 6, or $350 if they have an iPhone 5, 5c, or 5s. Further premiums apply if a person wants to upgrade the amount of storage they get.
There are other catches as well -- the cost of the new iPhone is simply credited against 24 monthly bills, and people must sign up for a One or Simple Choice Unlimited plan, which can be more expensive. The trade-in deals will last from Nov. 24 through Nov. 27.
Separately, T-Mobile is offering $200 per line for people switching numbers to the carrier, up to a limit of $2,400. Each line must be signed up to a One plan with eligible device payments -- the bonus cash comes in the form of a prepaid MasterCard.
Between today and Nov. 26, T-Mobile will be supplying a free hour of Gogo Wi-Fi on domestic U.S. airline flights. This notably includes everyone, not just the carrier's customers.
Comments
For new customers it's just a nice perk. But ... combined with their weekend deal (expiring today), one could have conceivably received iPhone 7s and 4 lines of 'unlimited' LTE data for $120/mo. That's pretty excellent.
The old carrier subsidy model was a very convincing magic trick. They'd ring up the phone it would show $650 (or whatever), you'd sign their service agreement obligating yourself to 2-years of service, and *poof* $450 would disappear. You only paid $200 + tax for the phone. What you didn't see and, to this day some still can't understand or see, was that the $450 that disappeared was because you were given a $450 loan which you unknowingly repaid though your base service fee. In the end, at 2-years your loan was paid off so you netted zero value from your "commitment" and unless you immediately resigned and recommitted on a new phone for another $450 loan -- instead you began losing value because you continue to make payments on the payed off loan you never knew you had.
With T-Mobile, you know what your monthly service fee is. You know what the balance on your 'phone contract' is and you T-mobile will literally pay of the phone for you, over 2-years. If you leave early, you owe the balance on the phone and forfeit all future credits for the phone. But, the credits you received for the duration you stayed with T-Mobile are yours to keep. Here is the actual breakdown of my own.
On this Black Friday promo an iPhone 6 only worth $550 (where as I got $650), but you won't get $550 for an iPhone 6 from anyone else. So the calculation for an iPhone 6 on this Black Friday promo would be: $550 - (trade-in value of iPhone 6 awarded) = This amount / 24 months = Your monthly bill credit. (adjust the formula base on what phone you trade in)