T-Mobile is making moves at the outset of this year with an aim to include lower credit customers a little more in its competitive pricing. A couple of days back it announced Smartphone Equality which will let any loyal customers of any credit class – as long as they have made 12 straight monthly payments – get access to EIP with $0 down on the best phones.
And now – if our sources’ information is correct – the company is about to add to that with a new program called SCORE!
SCORE! is a $5 per month scheme which will let specific customers who don’t qualify for JUMP! upgrade their device early. Customers who have paid full price for their device, or who are on Prepaid or Postpaid without EIP, plus those who have brought their own device, can sign up.
Qualifying customers subscribed to Simply Prepaid, SCNC, Simple Choice Pay in Advance Monthly, Simple Choice as well as New Classic and Legacy plans will be able to add the $5 per month SCORE! to their plan.
In short: “JUMP! is for postpaid customers with EIP. SCORE! is for everyone else.”
After 6 months, customers will be able to upgrade free to an entry level phone. Or, if they wait until 12 months have passed they will qualify for “Special Handset pricing” on more high-end products. Once you’ve redeemed SCORE!, your tenure resets and you start again as if from your first month.
The chart below shows the differences between SCORE! and JUMP!:
As for which devices are included in the “entry level option”, at the moment examples would include smartphones like the OneTouch Evolve 2, OneTouch Fierce 2, LG Optimus L90 or the T-Mobile Concord II. If you wait 12 months, you’ll get access to the “special pricing” on flagship phones. Exactly what that special pricing is, we don’t know. We’ve reached out to our sources and will update if we hear any more specifics.
SCORE! will supposedly be live on January 25th, which is only two days away. As always, plans can change and dates can be pushed back.