How to Cancel T-Mobile & Leave for Good

T-Mobile’s Uncarrier moves have had a huge impact on the wireless industry in the United States. Shortly after it failed to merge with AT&T, T-Mobile began refashioning itself as the ultimate place for those that didn’t want to be taken advantage of. It stopped tying the sale of smartphones to two year contracts with Early Termination Fees. It announced unlimited music streaming and gave people on certain plans the option to keep their unused high-speed data for up to a year. It also eliminated bill overages. There’s a lot of reasons you’d want to switch to T-Mobile. It’s not that hard to find reasons to want to cancel T-Mobile either.

For all its talk of freeing users from contracts, it’s not really doing that. It knows that the many of its users will want the latest iPhone or Android device, and they won’t want to pay its real price. They’ll gladly sign up for Jump On-Demand leasing that requires some financial pain to get out of. T-Mobile’s LTE network has improved a great deal, but there are still dead spots in smaller cities where you get little to no reception. Rural areas are still a challenge for the carrier too.

If you’re ready to cancel T-Mobile, here’s what you need to know.

How to Cancel T-Mobile: What You Need to Get Started

For the best experience cancelling T-Mobile, you’re going to want to do a bit of planning. Start by having a copy of the last bill that the carrier sent to you. If you use digital billing for the company, you can find that bill in the My T-Mobile area of the company’s website.

What you’re looking for on that bill is your account information and an idea of what you’ll need to pay to leave the carrier. As with the other wireless companies, it’s a good to pay off whatever remaining bill balance that you have with them while you’re cancelling. You’ll be asked to do so later if you don’t, plus the carrier has the right to refuse to unlock your phone if you don’t.

It’s important to know how you’re paying for your phone. Look on your bill for EIP or Jump-On Demand. EIP stands for Equipment Installation Plan. With an EIP, you’ve financed a phone purchase through T-Mobile. When you cancel, you’re only on the hook for the remaining amount that’s left to pay out on your phone and any bill. There’s no termination fee.

Jump On-Demand is a bit more complicated than that. The phone that you have isn’t yours. It was never yours to begin with. T-Mobile simply leased it to you. The company doesn’t expect Jump On-Demand customers to stick with a device longer than a year, which is how long it takes to get close to paying it off.

When staying on the network, you can only get out of a Jump On-Demand lease by fulling the amount of payments on the lease and upgrading, exercising the buy-out option on your lease, or turning in the device.

If you’re canceling a Jump On-Demand lease before your lease term is up, you’ll need to pay the amount of lease payments you have left, according to T-Mobile Support. You can also find this in the My T-Mobile area under billing. You’ll have to turn in your device, and you could be charged for any access wear that’s happened to the device in your care.

Jump On-Demand users will then need to exercise the payment option in their lease to buy their phone and take it with them to their new carrier. That amount is outlined on My T-Mobile too. To give you an idea of how much using that purchase option can cost, for the iPhone 6s with 32GB of storage, it’s $182.

How to Cancel T-Mobile: Calling in to Make the Cancellation

To cancel T-Mobile, you can call 1-877-453-1304 or head into your local store. You’ll want to use the support number only if your purchased your phone through an installation plan or EIP.

Those that used Jump On-Demand need to visit a retail store to cancel T-Mobile. That’s because the carrier needs to inspect your phone if you’re planning on turning it in rather than using your purchase option to keep it and unlock it for another carrier.

Be sure to have any information that you need on-hand, like your bill so that you have your account number and such. The calling agent will walk you through how much your final payment will be and anything keeping you from taking your smartphone with you.

How to Cancel T-Mobile: Fees, Charges & Costs You Can Expect

Again, because T-Mobile’s programs are intricate, it’s hard to give a definitive prediction of cancellation costs.

EIP users should only be asked to pay their last month’s bill and whatever amount is left on their installation plan. Jump On-Demand users can expect to pay their last month’s bill and any lease payments left on their device. They’ll also be asked to give back their device or pay more to purchase it outright.

How to Cancel T-Mobile: Taking Your Phone with You

Taking your phone with you when you cancel T-Mobile is mostly straight forward. T-Mobile Support outlines the carrier’s policy on unlocking devices.

Read: How to Unlock Your T-Mobile Phone: Requirements & Options

The carrier says it won’t unlock any device that has been reported lost or stolen. The account associated with the device must be paid up in full, and you can’t have asked for more than two unlock codes from the carrier in the last year. Additionally, you need to have had the device on T-Mobile for at least 40 days. Finally, you need to have paid for your EIP or Jump-On Demand lease in full.

The phone area at the My T-Mobile website lets you check the unlock status of your device.

Your call center representative will walk you through the final steps in unlocking your device, or explain to you why your device can’t be unlocked. Because T-Mobile is a GSM carrier, your phone will work on AT&T and any virtual carrier that uses AT&T or T-Mobile’s network.

Good look trying to cancel T-Mobile.