T-Mobile’s Jump early upgrade program may just be the best thing it’s ever done

NEW YORK CITY — T-Mobile has already killed the two-year contract, and now it’s going after the early upgrade fee.

At an event in New York City today, the company announced Jump, its new phone upgrade program. Under Jump, T-Mobile customers can easily upgrade their devices up to twice a year.

Think of it this way: If you buy, say, the iPhone 5S on T-Mobile, you won’t have to wait until the iPhone 6S comes out to upgrade without a fee. This makes Jump the early adopter’s dream.

“Contracts and limitations work for carriers — but they don’t work for you. It’s all about greed,” T-Mobile CEO John Legere said.

The move is most significant, however, because of how different it is from what T-Mobile’s competitors are doing. AT&T and Verizon both recently extended their upgrade qualification times to two years, which is a pretty bad deal in a time when new devices are released every six months.

As far as drawbacks go, Jump has a few obvious ones: Not only does it cost $10 a month, but T-Mobile’s customers will only be eligible to upgrade their phones after they have their current devices for six months. It also means trading in your current phone (which also raises a bunch of questions).

“Two years is too long to be locked into a phone. That’s 730 days of watching new phones that you can’t have,” Legere said.

T-Mobile’s move is the latest in its increasingly bold attempts to undercut its competitors by being as kind to customers as possible  And so far, it seems to be working. Go figure.

“We are trying to redefine a stupid, broken, arrogant industry,” Legere said.