Rumor Round 2: Uncarrier Phase 3 To Include Refurb Phones In Stores

Screen Shot 2013-09-27 at 11.48.34 AMHappy Friday folks and welcome to rumor round 2 for T-Mobile’s Uncarrier Phase 3. The good news in this, the second rumor on Phase 3 that I’ve posted is more confirmation for the idea that T-Mobile will remove deposits for Simple Choice customers. Now, before I move on…it seems some clarification is in order for the word “deposit.”

A deposit is a dollar value carriers can require above and beyond the price of a phone to customers that aren’t considered “well-qualified.” It’s generally based on credit history and can range from a hundred dollars to well beyond that. Now, credit can also affect the purchase price of a device on T-Mobile which is why the carrier always prefaces their retail down-payment pricing with the words “based on well-qualified.”

As for the second part of this rumor, there’s more wind kicking up the dust that T-Mobile will offer refurb smartphones in their retail company-owned locations. This is a rumor that first came to my attention shortly after the end of the company’s Phase 2 event in New York City. T-Mobile has carried refurb phones on their website for years, but this would be one of the first times you could pick those up in stores. There’s no indicators about how pricing would work or whether it would be different than the company’s online refurb pricing. I’d say this rumor is pretty reliable and could come to pass. There’s a good chance some of these “refurb” devices will be devices that are traded in under the company’s JUMP! upgrade platform.

Last but not least and I can’t urge the skepticism I have with this part but it’s come to my attention that T-Mobile may consider opening up their network to free calls to Mexico. I can only hope that along with Mexico, T-Mobile would include free calls to our neighbors to the north but I can’t emphasize that the entirety of this free call to international zones should be taken with a heaping grain of salt.

What do we think about Phase 3 rumors so far?

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