“T-Mobile has been running a free iPhone 7 offer ever since Apple announced its new flagship smartphone,” Adnan Farooqui reports for UberGizmo.
“Well, technically free, given that there’s some fine print that you need to go through first to truly know what you’re getting in this offer. Basically, new and existing T-Mobile customers can get a free iPhone 7 32GB if they trade in an iPhone 6 or newer handset,” Farooqui reports. “T-Mobile has now said that this offer is only good until this Sunday.”
“Interested customers can trade in an iPhone 6, 6s, 6 Plus or 6s Plus. They must own the device and it should be in working condition without any screen or water damage. Eligible customers will then get a 32GB iPhone 7 free with a 24 month finance agreement. Those who want the 32GB iPhone 7 Plus need to pay $100 after the trade in,” Farooqui reports. “More storage can be purchased by paying $100 per tier.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: For those looking to make the move to T-Mobile and upgrade their iPhone, now’s your chance.
At first, the programme was great. Then, after the actual iPhone release date last Friday, it became not so great.
Initially, if you were on their old “Simple Choice” unlimited plan ($50 for single line, $80 for family of two, $10 for each additional line), you could have taken advantage of the offer while the iPhone was still on pre-order. Since it came out, you now must abandon the old plan and sign up for the new T-Mobile One plan, which eliminates data limit throttling, but is quite more expensive. Four lines that used to cost $100 are now $140, and each additional is twice as expensive ($20).
I missed the first window, so I’ll be waiting for the holidays. T-Mobile has so far been quite aggressive with their short-term promotions (such as offering SE for $200, then even for free, this spring), so I hope they do something again (but without forcing me over to the new plans).
Too bad…
“Eligible customers will then get a 32GB iPhone 7 free with a 24 month finance agreement.”
Free? Um, no. Free means no cost, period. Nothing free here. It’s a trade-in in which you pay the difference between the trade-in value and list price. You are giving up an item with residual value AND paying additional cash in return for a new phone. That is not “free” in any sense of the word.
It is free since the difference is zero. Good luck getting $650 credit for a iPhone 6 anywhere else
It is free. You only pay retail tax.
You have to sign for a two-year loan to pay for it, but t-mobile will be paying your monthly installments.
Do, yes, it is FREE.
The phone is not FREE. You may call it a free UPGRADE if you wish, but the phone is not free as you give up an existing phone. Yeeesh.
That’s exactly correct. You are getting a free upgrade, and you only have to pay tax on the new one. The carrier is essentially buying your old one off you and selling you the new one at no additional surcharge. So, no, you are NOT paying the difference between the residual value of your old phone and the retail price of the new one. T-Mobile is absorbing that.
Today, the Verizon CEO said sales of the iPhone 7 are better than the 6s because of all the free offers. He also said when the deals end sales will decrease and match the 6s. He then mentioned the unlimited LTE others are offering, and said Verizon isn’t going to match.
One of the reasons why I’m switching from Verizon to T-Mobile is because most of my content consumption is on my iPhone or my Apple TV. With unlimited LTE on the phone and paying a little extra for the unlimited LTE hotspot, I don’t need wifi any longer. Having unlimited LTE also means my iPhone or Mac doesn’t have to connect to someone else’s wifi when mobile. This saves me a ton of aggravation and money.
If I had a NAS or was big into home automation then the wifi connection would stay, which brings up another point: Hopefully, Apple builds a hub into the Apple TV, and/or T-Mobile offers a cheap/low data service for $5-$10 a month that allows me to access home automation solutions when mobile.
And a final note: I can’t be the only one switching away from Verizon. If Verizon iPhone 7 sales are HIGHER then the iPhone 7 sales in the US must be pedal to the floor.
Be careful before giving up your home WiFi. The all-unlimited plans of T-Mobile do have bandwidth limits on tethering (1.5Mbps, which is insufficient for HD on AppleTV). Not only that, T-Mobile selectively limits stream quality for video to SD (480p). So, even though you have the unlimited everything, and your device supports LTE (and network gives you up to 30Mbps), the all streaming video will be streamed in SD (around 500kbps).
They do have this “Premium” add-on for $25, which allows for full bandwidth tethering, but you still need a “HD Day Pass” to stream HD video, although they give it for free with that Premium add-on.
I’m not sure what Verizon has (I’ve been on T-Mobile for a few years now), but it may end up being more expensive having all these necessary add-ons in order to allow full HD on tethered devices.
I got the add-on, and thought it was $20 extra, but will recheck the contract. I asked two different reps if I could stream at any quality, and they said yes. I’m still waiting on the phone to see what speeds I get, but they said my area averages 100 Mbps, which is much faster than my landline connections.
One remaining question: if the hotspot is enabled on the phone, can I mirror onto the Apple TV? My best guess is no because the phone wouldn’t be sharing the same wifi, but the MacBook Pro mirror to the Apple TV will probably work via the hotspot. And maybe the iPhone can mirror to the Apple TV using Bluetooth. I’ll check when I get the lucky 7 sometime in November.
T-Mobile FREE phone offered is a ripoff, after you paid the full price and than the phone is free? Only stupid people think like T-Mobile. FREE mean you pay nothing. T-Mobile please delete the word “FREE” from your fine print.
You didn’t read the offer. It is free. You only pay tax.
This is how it works. You sign up for a two-year interest-free loan, but t-mobile is paying your monthly installments by giving you statement credit for that installment.
So why not give you the phone free right upfront? Because this way, they lock you in as a customer for two years. If you switch carriers, you must pay off the rest of the loan and T-mobile won’t give you credit for that balance.
Let’s not forget, you are exchanging your old phone.
Remember, you own the “free” phone after two years and can sell it, so it’s a wash – the iPhone is really free if signing a 2 year contract. I’m paying a little extra because I got a 7+ 128GB and am now upgrading yearly. Again, in 2 years the 7s+ or 8+ (whichever is next year’s phone) can be sold back to the market.
Judging by some of the responses (and plentiful positive feedback on those responses), many here clearly don’t understand that this offer actually is (almost) FREE (you only pay tax).
Apparently, T-Mobile isn’t communicating properly here. There is never such a thing as free lunch, but in this case, the strings are a two-year installment plan, for which T-Mobile gives you money, which would stop if you were to leave before that installment plan is fully paid off, leaving you with a balance to pay off.
Based on the math for this offer, for T-Mobile, the value of holding onto a customer for the next two years is around $200-300 (difference between the traded-in old 6 / 6s and new 7). That is a pretty big expenditure in order to hold onto a customer.
What you’re not getting here is that this is a trade-in. The phone is NOT FREE. You have to trade in your existing phone. https://newsroom.t-mobile.com/news-and-blogs/iphone-7-offer.htm Call it a free upgrade if you ignore the 2-year thing, but it is not a FREE phone.
Further, if you brought your own phone to T-mobile, they will almost certainly convert you to their new Unlimited Everything plan which represents a significant price increase for most customers.
Still a T-mobile fan and customer, but if you think this is a FREE iPhone then you probably think you’re not actually paying for the “free” item in a buy-one-get-one free sale.
That’s exactly what I said: it is a FREE upgrade. You DON’T have to pay the difference between your trade-in and the retail value of the new phone.
And as I said in the first post above, if you are on T-Mobile’s Simple Choice, this would require an expensive plan upgrade, which is why I won’t do it.
People really need to understand what ‘Free’ means. Here is the dictionary explanation:
“provided without, or not subject to, a charge or payment”
So if you have to give any money (including sales tax) it is not free.
Basic English.
I don’t think anyone here expects sales tax to be paid for by the carrier, even if they are giving anything away for free.
Free-with-rebate product promotions aren’t new. They have been around forever, and in almost all cases, the product is discounted by the full price via a mail-in rebate, or some similar equivalent offer, after the customer purchases it at full price. The rebate will always only cover the full price, but not the retail tax, which is always responsibility of the customer.
Anyone who has ever taken advantage of “Free” offers knows that they should expect payment of retail taxes on the product. I believe there is some law or regulation that prevents retailers from discounting goods below their actual retail prices (i.e. paying the consumer), which is what this would end up being.
So, while it may be Basic English, most people who have been adults long enough in the US know that retail tax can never be discounted and must always be paid by the consumer.
On T-Mobile’s site, this is clearly marked: “FREE* iPhone 7 with trade-in of your old 6 and 6s”.
*Tax not included.
And, as JimBob mentions, the important thing that is getting lost a bit in the discussion is that it is a free upgrade. You have to give them your old 6 / 6s.
Normally, upgrading form an old iPhone to the new one will cost you around $200 – 300 (for the same model level). T-Mobile is absorbing this (in order to keep you for two years).