New in OS X: Get MacRumors Push Notifications on your Mac

Resubscribe Now Close

T-Mobile Raises iPhone Price by $50, Down Payment on iPhone 5 Starts at $150

Monday May 13, 2013 8:24 am PDT by Jordan Golson
When 4th-place U.S. cell carrier T-Mobile launched the iPhone last month, customers could purchase it for a $100 down payment with 24 monthly payments of $20 to cover the full cost of the phone.

Now, however, T-Mobile has ended that promotion and the 16GB iPhone 5 has a $150 down payment with the same monthly payments, effectively raising the cost of the phone to $630 from $580 over the life of the plan, TmoNews reports.

NewImage
The 32GB and 64GB iPhone 5 models have seen a similar $50 price increase. Buying a 16GB iPhone 5 through T-Mobile is still slightly cheaper than buying an unlocked iPhone from Apple. That phone is $650, though there is no monthly payment option.
Ah T-Mobile, I knew your introductory pricing of $99 down payment wasn’t going to last. As of today, T-Mobile will ask well-qualified customers to drop $149 as their down payment instead of $99 as has been the case since the April 12th launch. I don’t recall anyone or anywhere telling me the $99 price was only good for one month, but in hindsight I should have seen the writing on the wall.
T-Mobile will continue to take trade-ins of current iPhone models to reduce the down payment required. The company reported last week that it had sold more than 500,000 iPhones in less than a month after launch.

[ 56 comments ]


Top Rated Comments

(View all)

Avatar
treyjustice
78 months ago
Seriously? I was wanting to switch to tmobile from AT&T when the 5S came off.... $50 isn' a huge amount but makes me not want to as much
Rating: 7 Votes
Avatar
Plutonius
78 months ago

Tmobile's network is just as good as any other.


I use (and like) T-Mobile and can tell you right now that the cell coverage isn't nearly as good as the other providers. My phone was totally useless when I traveled to a graduation last weekend (might as well been a brick) because there was no T-Mobile coverage in the area. Luckily, I was with people who had a different provider and coverage. I have good coverage at home but, this happens all the time when I travel.
Rating: 6 Votes
Avatar
Plutonius
78 months ago

That's an awfully bold statement. It depends on where you live. In my area T-Mobile has awesome coverage and 3G/4G data speeds that simply destroy Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T to a slightly lesser extent. No LTE coverage yet though.


All mobile carriers have their good and bad areas. In my experience though, T-Mobile's cell coverage is worse then the other major carriers.
Rating: 4 Votes
Avatar
CEmajr
78 months ago

And when us users paid full price for unlimited on Verizon to keep a perk, we got flamed, yet now that TMO is doing the same thing, its revolutionary.

YEAH RIGHT.


The difference is that your bill on Verizon is the same as someone who got a subsidized iPhone from them. While on Tmobile the bill is cheaper if you chose to pay full price upfront for it.

Totally different.
Rating: 3 Votes
Avatar
macFanDave
78 months ago
While the so-called Wall Street analysts bloviate about made-up data and unsubstantiated rumors to smear Apple, here we see an actual move in the real marketplace that indicates that the iPhone 5 is still strong among real-world customers who put hard-earned dollars to purchase them.
Rating: 2 Votes
Avatar
Plutonius
78 months ago

You're in New Hampshire -- not the highest priority for any carrier unfortunately. Closer to Boston, TMO is just fine.


I live in southern NH and I work in Mass. As I said earlier, I have no issues with T-Mobile coverage where I live / work. I was traveling to NY state last weekend and I had no coverage. I have also not had coverage in many other states when I traveled. I'm a happy T-Mobile customer but the T-Mobile coverage isn't up to par with the other major carriers.
Rating: 2 Votes
Avatar
DcGamer05
78 months ago
I live in danbury Connecticut and t-mobile here is atrocious and AT&T is acceptable but Verizon and sprint have excellent coverage that's why I'm on sprint because it works well and is a good value. It's all on where you live what you do and where you go everyone has a different answer. All my friends who have t-mobile here get emergency calls only constantly especially in the rural parts of town
Rating: 1 Votes
Avatar
as0016
78 months ago

If you are someone that holds on to your phone for the usual 2 year period, there is absolutely no reason to NOT be on contract and get a subsidized phone from a carrier and make them eat the ~$450 difference. If you add T-Mobile's $150 down payment and the monthly $20 payment, at the end of two years it all comes down to the same thing pretty much. Now why wouldn't I just stick with AT&T and enjoy wide spread LTE coverage instead of trying to be all 'contract free'? Contract free sounds nice in theory, but there are too many drawbacks IMO.


Because if you look at all the analyses out there - ATT doesn't "eat" the 450, it's built into your plan pricing. Att and Verizon are more expensive. If you stick with it for two years, you save something like 600 bucks+ if you compare T-mobile plan with comparable AT&T plan

Total cost to T-Mobile for 2-years will be $2260 (2310 with new phone price) (this is the price of phone 70 unlimited no throttling plan for 24 months). Verizon and AT&T it’s $2840 - and you get no unlimited.
Rating: 1 Votes
Avatar
rdlink
78 months ago

Tmobile's network is just as good as any other...


Umm, no it's not.

Look, I like TMO, and used them for years. But to suggest that their network has anywhere near the coverage that Verizon's does is completely looney tunes.
Rating: 1 Votes
Avatar
gopnick
78 months ago
I went to their site to switch... thank goodness I checked their coverage. They have only 2G in my area... Sprint has 3G, AT&T and Verizon each have LTE (and have had it for some time, now).

T-Mo needs to seriously work on their network.
Rating: 1 Votes

[ Read All Comments ]