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iPad mini Mini... Buy at Apple Store or Verizon?

J

jayes

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 11, 2011
176
2
Learned something new today as I was on a quest for a LTE Mini on VZN. If you buy from the Apple store, you are able to sign up for a 1 gb plan (per their website) for $20 a month. If you buy at the VZN store, you have to sign up for their 2 gb for $30 plan. The 2 gb for $30 is also available from Apple.

I was bummed because I actually found one at the VZN store... but refused to pay for more data than I need. We have an ipad2 (bought at Apple last year) that never goes over its 1 gb per month.

If I were to put the two ipads (mini and standard) on a VZN share plan (exclusive of my phone contract) it would be $50 a month. The VZN guy told me that it's because the mini is on LTE.. that is why it's more expensive. That does not match up to Apple information. Can anyone who has purchased from Apple verify that the Apple version does have that 1 gb option?

I never thought there was a difference in where you purchased, but evidently there is. I wonder if there is a difference in phone prices in terms of where it is purchased.

And no luck at Apple.. ended up ordering a mini online with a Jan 4th delivery.
 
tymaster50

tymaster50

Suspended
Oct 3, 2012
2,833
58
Oregon
jayes said:
Learned something new today as I was on a quest for a LTE Mini on VZN. If you buy from the Apple store, you are able to sign up for a 1 gb plan (per their website) for $20 a month. If you buy at the VZN store, you have to sign up for their 2 gb for $30 plan. The 2 gb for $30 is also available from Apple.

I was bummed because I actually found one at the VZN store... but refused to pay for more data than I need. We have an ipad2 (bought at Apple last year) that never goes over its 1 gb per month.

If I were to put the two ipads (mini and standard) on a VZN share plan (exclusive of my phone contract) it would be $50 a month. The VZN guy told me that it's because the mini is on LTE.. that is why it's more expensive. That does not match up to Apple information. Can anyone who has purchased from Apple verify that the Apple version does have that 1 gb option?

I never thought there was a difference in where you purchased, but evidently there is. I wonder if there is a difference in phone prices in terms of where it is purchased.

And no luck at Apple.. ended up ordering a mini online with a Jan 4th delivery.
Click to expand...

Dang, Jan 4th? I wonder why shipping says 1 week but it gave you like 2. But your best bet is to just call Apple directly.
 
D

davideotape

macrumors 6502a
Nov 16, 2012
530
145
I never heard of this. I bought my mini at a verizon store and i have the $20 1gig prepaid plan. You should be able to just buy the device outright, take it home or to a coffee shop and activate a prepaid plan directly from the device.
 
J

jayes

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 11, 2011
176
2
davideotape said:
I never heard of this. I bought my mini at a verizon store and i have the $20 1gig prepaid plan. You should be able to just buy the device outright, take it home or to a coffee shop and activate a prepaid plan directly from the device.
Click to expand...
I agree with you. Went round and round with manager. Showed them Apple site showing 1gb for $20. They would not sell it to me unless I agreed to 2gb for $30. I asked if i could turn it off when I got home and opt for the lesser data. I did not want to chance being stuck with more than I needed. I would not be surprised if they truly did not know.
 
D

davideotape

macrumors 6502a
Nov 16, 2012
530
145
I think they might have been giving you the hard sell. Didyou go to more than one verizon store?
 
J

jayes

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 11, 2011
176
2
davideotape said:
I think they might have been giving you the hard sell. Didyou go to more than one verizon store?
Click to expand...
No. Only one store had stock. I spoke to two people today at my local store One more last night when I went in the first time. All three said the same thing. They could not sell me a mini without a plan. And that the mini from VZN did not support 1 gb plan. Clearly not true. Think I will call VZN customer service. Time to verify what they told me.
 
RetiredInFl

RetiredInFl

macrumors 68020
Jul 7, 2008
2,422
237
FORMERLY NJ now FL
davideotape said:
I never heard of this. I bought my mini at a verizon store and i have the $20 1gig prepaid plan. You should be able to just buy the device outright, take it home or to a coffee shop and activate a prepaid plan directly from the device.
Click to expand...

You got lucky.

jayes said:
No. Only one store had stock. I spoke to two people today at my local store One more last night when I went in the first time. All three said the same thing. They could not sell me a mini without a plan. And that the mini from VZN did not support 1 gb plan. Clearly not true. Think I will call VZN customer service. Time to verify what they told me.
Click to expand...

Most all the Verizon stores will only sell you a POSTPAID plan under the guise of it being PREPAID. Their POSTPAID plan is similar to their PREPAID plan except for the fact you can't "use it only when you need it." You have to pay every month and if you cancel after (example) 2 months they kill your sim card and then won't sell you a new one for PREPAID. This has been going on since the iPad 3 was released with VZW stores and have caused a lot of people major headaches. Fortunately you can buy sims off eBay for around $6 and set them up on the regular 1GB plan.

If you have some time read this thread (there are dozens like it all over the web): https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3944328?start=0&tstart=0
 
J

jayes

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 11, 2011
176
2
I just got off the phone with VZN CS and the rep I spoke to claims that you can buy a mini and leave the store without having any cellular service. The rep is going to follow up with the store and get back to me. He suggested I go back to the store tonight and call CS if they refused to do this, but they only had one 16 gb mini this morning so the chance of it still being there is slim to none.

I'm not quite sure I understand what you are saying about the difference between prepay and postpaid. I want to buy 1 gb of data each month like I do on my ipad 2. I set that up on the ipad itself and it charges automatically once a month. So is that prepay? Is this still available? I ended up ordering a mini today through Apple and they in fact list this plan on their website. If I had let VZN set up the service at $30 for 2 gb, does that mean I could not cancel that service and then set up 1 gb for $20 on the mini? Is that what you refer to when you talk about needing a new SIM card?

Will read through the link provided above. Perhaps that will clarify it a bit.
 
K

kallyq

macrumors 6502
Apr 12, 2010
270
77
No Verizon for me because of their $70 restock fee even if it is returned unopened.
 
J

jayes

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 11, 2011
176
2
Thank you TB07-NJ for the link to the Apple discussion.
A bit bleary eyed after reading all 7 pages, but it definitely clarifies the situation. (Makes me pretty annoyed as well)

It also makes me think twice about buying a VZN mini over the AT&T version. The holdup being the price of data. AT&T does not offer 1 gb for $20. They offer 250mg for $15, 1/4 of the data for 3/4 of the price.

I will, however, steer clear of the VZN store and activate my prepay on the mini. I have never turned off data on my ipad 2. To tell the truth, did not know you could do that. But clearly, it would be wise to purchase a SIM or two on Ebay for safekeeping should I have decide to Deactivate LATER on the Mini.

Also curious if I will ever get that call back promised from the CS rep at Verizon on Dec 26th. It is infuriating that sales people (the manager included) either outright lie to customers or are so ill informed that they give out misinformation on a daily basis!

----------
kallyq said:
No Verizon for me because of their $70 restock fee even if it is returned unopened.
Click to expand...
That was why I ordered at apple.com even though delivery is two weeks off. I want the option of being able to return it if I can't get the data plan I want without have to pay a restock fee. WHY? if it's not opened, would VZN feel they deserve $70 for putting it back on the shelf??!!!
 
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