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Another sign of the times is upon us, as T-Mobile is soon ending a plan feature that’s been around for a decade.
Over 10 years ago, during the early Un-Carrier days and amidst the peak of John Legere’s tenure as CEO, T-Mobile launched their JUMP! On Demand leasing program. Now, the company is shutting down the program, but with an unexpected perk for some customers.
JUMP! On Demand
The idea, at the time, was simple. Customers could walk into a T-Mobile store and walk out with a brand new phone with no cost up front (not even sales tax). The customer pays a monthly fee for the phone lease, and at any point (up to 3 times per 12 months) could swap to a new phone by trading in their previous one.
In 2017, the company upgraded the perk to where customers could change their phone as often as every 30 days if they wanted.
It’s the sort of program that isn’t too profitable for the company these days. Back at launch, a brand new iPhone 6 with JUMP! On Demand was just $15 per month. Nowadays, the cost of a new phone is so high that in 2018 T-Mobile stopped offering the $0 down perk as part of JOD, with some users reporting up-front costs as high as $750 for a new JOD lease a few years ago.
The end of the program…and a huge bonus
According to leaked documents shared with us here at The Mobile Report, and also confirmed on T-Mobile’s own support page, T-Mobile will be ending the JUMP! On Demand program on December 1st.
Customers currently on a JOD lease with T-Mobile will be contacted beginning today, October 15th, informing them of the change. These customers will also be offered the chance to do one more device jump.
There is a surprising bonus, though. T-Mobile is offering existing JOD customers one more chance to jump to a new device, and whether they do or not, T-Mobile will be forgiving the lease entirely on December 1st. That means these customers will be potentially saving hundreds of dollars on a brand new phone, depending on which phones are still available for the JOD program.
Unfortunately, for those of you thinking you can start a new JOD lease to snag a super discounted phone, you’re out of luck. We’ve seen a few try, and according to support, new JOD leases aren’t able to be started right now. That tracks with part two of the leaked document, shown below, which gives support a talking point if a customer asks about JOD.
Even if new leases could be started, or if you can manage to start one anyway somehow, the up-front cost of a hefty deposit is likely going to make it not worth your time.
As for the standard JUMP! program, which first released about two years before the “On Demand” version, it seems to be sticking around for now.
If you’re on a JUMP! On Demand lease, keep an eye out for an email from T-Mobile detailing the end of the program, along with how you can claim one more JUMP! to a new device before the end.
