[HTC Sensation] T-Macgnolia:
This is a post for all T-Mobile US costumers, but all other T-Mobile costumers may want to do some investigation into this as well. Also sorry if this post gets lengthy.

Ok so I have had my Sensation for like 13 months now. When my ole lady and me got our Sensations we got them on a early upgrade so I had to pay full price for them which was $499.99. Now I did not want to drop $999.98 at once for both devices so I paid $399.98 down ($199.99 per device) and T-Mobile put the rest on my monthly bill at $30 ($15 per device) a month for 20 months. Now I have no problem with this arargment, I actually think it is pretty awesome that T-Mobile offers this.

Now today I got to wondering when I would be up for a full upgrade so my ole lady and I can get us some new devices for a discounted price. So I call T-Mobile customer service to get the answer to that question. Now what I learned from this phone call was much more than the answer to that question. I asked the customer service rep when I would be available for a full upgrade. The rep told me that because I am on the Value plan I get my discount on my monthly bill and do not get a discount on my upgrade. Now I was not aware of this so I asked what plan I have to be on to get a discount on a upgrade. The rep told me that I would have to be on the Classic plan and I would be able to get a discount on a upgrade. So I then I asked what the difference in the cost of the two plans are. The rep then told me that the Value plan is $79.98 a month and the Classic plan is $99.98 a month, also the unlimited data plan cost $25.00 a month with the Value plan and $35.00 a month with the Classic plan. I then asked the rep where I could find how much of a discount I could get on devices and the rep then informed me that the discount would be $200 to $250 off the full price of the device depending on what device it is. Last I asked the rep how long does it take to be eligible for a full upgrade. The rep informed me you have to be 23 months into your contract to be eligible for a full upgrade. I then thanked the rep and told her she had been very helpful and that I had no further questions.

Now let us do some simple math and see just how good of a deal it really is to get a discount on a new device. So if you want the discount on a upgrade you have to be on the Classic plan and you have to pay $30 more a month for 23 months, that adds up to $670 more total you pay than a customer that is on the Value plan. Now if you are on the Value plan you do not get a discount on a upgrade but you can put a $100 to $200 down and pay the rest of in monthly payments of $10 to $20 a month on your bill depending on what device you want. Now I know what you are thinking , "Yeah T-Mobile also charges you interest for financing the devices". But actually no they do not charge you interest for stretching the payments out on your device. If you look at the info above I posted on what I paid for our Sensations you will see I am not lieing as I will only have paid $499.99 a piece for my our Sensations. I also went online and looked at devices on the T-Mobile website and clicked on the uugrade button then checked out a couple of devices. And on the website they give the price of the device, the amount you have to put down as well as the amount of the monthly payment and how many months you would pay. When I did the math on all the devices I looked at they all added up to the price of the device posted on the website, no extra charges.

Now knowing this it seems to me that you are better off to be on the Value plan and to make monthly payments on a new device instead of being on the Classic plan and getting a discount on a upgrade. By my math T-Mobile gets another $420 to $370 more off of a Classic plan customer even after giving them a discount on a upgrade. Where as a Value Plan customer pays full price for their device but yet pays less money to T-Mobile than the Classic plan customer. So is the device discount really worth it?