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As tempting as the iPhone is... it's just too darn expensive

wrldwzrd89 said:
Not the phone itself, but the plans are what drives me batty. Right now I simply cannot afford to pay around US$80 per month ($60 for the cheapest voice plan + $20 for the cheapest mandatory data plan). Now I'll be the first to admit that I have no idea what goes into phone plan pricing... but I know I can find a MUCH better deal elsewhere that meets my needs perfectly. An ideal plan for me would offer 300 minutes (since I don't even come close to using up 300 minutes most months and that's the fewest I've seen anyone offer) and unlimited text, web, etc. It just so happens that I've found a plan from Virgin Mobile offering EXACTLY what I'm looking for... and it's cheaper than what I pay now (by $5 a month). The only thing left to decide on is which phone model out of the 5 offered.

*sigh* I'd REALLY love an iPhone... but just can't afford one.
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I don't think anyone can really argue with what you've laid out here. As others have stated, any smartphone is a luxury, whether its paid for out of pocket or covered by your employer. As much I would love for my wife to have an iP4 (for facetime plus the fact I think she'd really love it) she just doesn't need 90% of the bells & whistles. So it doesn't make fiscal sense to get her one, period.

The plans you quoted are a bit higher than the actually lowest available ones from AT&T (haven't seen VZ's offerings yet), but folks love to omit taxes/fees which can add up quickly. So I think $70/month is a pretty reasonable estimate depending on where you live for an iPhone with the basic package ($55 before taxes and fees).
 
Just hook up with some friends/family members in the same predicament and get a family plan. Only if you trust them, though. Using a family plan is the only way I can justify having my iPhone. My brother and I split our bill and each pay $75 for unlimited data, text, and 700 minutes. My girlfriend might be coming onto our plan and it'll further reduce the overall price we pay individually. Just an idea.
 
supermac96 said:
i just dont see how people can pay 70 buks a month for a phone.
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That's how I feel about cable. Everyones priorities are different and depending on your income these types of decisions may be easier or harder. For me my cell phone is my primary means of communication. I do not have a home phone. And I also use it endlessly on the go. To me it is worth the cost, but I can see how people could question it. I can also say that I can afford it so that helps of course. If times were tuff and money was really tight I would have to re-evaluate my position.
 
It really is expensive so I hope to hold onto this iPhone 4 for a long time. I had the 3G before, skipped the 3Gs and got the 4. I anticipate this time that I'll simply swap contracts to a cheaper one and keep it for 3-5 years as I'm quite happy with the phone. The 3G worked fine but it was just slow and while future phones will be faster I am happy with the performance of the iPhone 4.
 
wrldwzrd89 said:
Not the phone itself, but the plans are what drives me batty. Right now I simply cannot afford to pay around US$80 per month ($60 for the cheapest voice plan + $20 for the cheapest mandatory data plan). Now I'll be the first to admit that I have no idea what goes into phone plan pricing... but I know I can find a MUCH better deal elsewhere that meets my needs perfectly. An ideal plan for me would offer 300 minutes (since I don't even come close to using up 300 minutes most months and that's the fewest I've seen anyone offer) and unlimited text, web, etc. It just so happens that I've found a plan from Virgin Mobile offering EXACTLY what I'm looking for... and it's cheaper than what I pay now (by $5 a month). The only thing left to decide on is which phone model out of the 5 offered.

*sigh* I'd REALLY love an iPhone... but just can't afford one.
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as many have said, a smart phone (any brand) is a luxury for many. Personally, it's a business requirement for me, in the IT field. My employer gives me a $50/month reimbursement towards my phone, the phone must have data, sync with email, calendar and contacts with our MS Exchange server. this all puts me on the life line end of the need matrix. all that said, I'm very happy with my iPhone choices as I went from the 3G to the iP4 and am still lovin'it.
 
jplusc said:
That's how I feel about cable.
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Exactly how I feel about it. I use my iPhone every single day but I don't understand how people can throw out hundreds of dollars for cable. I can watch anything I like to watch on TV on my computer, and actually about 80% of what I watch I COULDN'T watch on TV. But like you said, everyone is different.
 
The more I've been thinking about this whole thing, the more I've been considering the idea that all I really want is a data plan... provided the data plan is unlimited and the coverage is there.

I was lucky enough to grab a CLEAR iSpot during the holidays for only $20. The unlimited 4G service is $25 per month, no activation, no contract. I figured I'd give it a shot for a couple of months, and if I don't like it, I can probably sell off the device for more than what I got it for.

Luckily, they started to blanket my area pretty well with 4G. So much so that I hardly use my iPhone 4's data plan, which I'm grandfathered in at $30 a month.

Since I've been bitching to AT&T to make data plans optional, or introduce a family/shared data plan, to no avail yet, I'm thinking that if it really came down to it, I could go with an iPod touch 4G or the next generation that comes out. No restarting contracts, no contracts at all. Just pay for the device and keep on moving.

Now, for the phone part, I've been trying out VoIP solutions, but they all seem to still be in their infancy (app-wise), and most still charge around $10 a month, which is no less than an add-on price to a family plan.

Talkatone uses Google Voice and calls are done entirely over data for free. Unless I'm mistaken, they're they only solution on the App Store for this. Add Google Voice or GV Mobile or GV Connect and you've got texting for free, too.

The downsides are that you have to carry two devices everywhere, and my iSpot lasts for about 4 hours on a single battery charge. Granted, it uses mini-USB, so I'm always near a charger or USB port ready to feed it some juice, so it never wears down on me.
 
Kauai said:
Exactly how I feel about it. I use my iPhone every single day but I don't understand how people can throw out hundreds of dollars for cable. I can watch anything I like to watch on TV on my computer, and actually about 80% of what I watch I COULDN'T watch on TV. But like you said, everyone is different.
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My wife and I have made this shift in our spending ways as well. We ditched cable last year. Even having the lowest tier package we could get (which was almost $60/month incl. taxes) we realized we didn't watch 80% of it. Once we got used to Hulu and other online options it was a no brainer and we feel great about not contributing to all of the crap that is on TV these days.

We're now dropping our land line this week so we will both only have our cell phones. In my case, I travel a great deal for work purposes so it is an absolute necessity for me to have a cell phone(in the business sense), and while I could manage without a smartphone it is worth it to me to pay the premium for an iPhone as I feel I use its features enough.
 
drummingcraig said:
My wife and I have made this shift in our spending ways as well. We ditched cable last year. Even having the lowest tier package we could get (which was almost $60/month incl. taxes) we realized we didn't watch 80% of it. Once we got used to Hulu and other online options it was a no brainer and we feel great about not contributing to all of the crap that is on TV these days.

We're now dropping our land line this week so we will both only have our cell phones. In my case, I travel a great deal for work purposes so it is an absolute necessity for me to have a cell phone(in the business sense), and while I could manage without a smartphone it is worth it to me to pay the premium for an iPhone as I feel I use its features enough.
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I agree 100%. On TV I watch a football game on sunday if lucky, that's it. The lady watches a show here or there, but mainly netflix. The kids watch a couple minutes of sprout, or disney, but nobody enough to justify the prices. We use about 6 channels total.

For me a smartphone is mandatory. That or it'd need to go back to carrying around a laptop and datacard.

To op though like said your best bet is probably to keep the touch and get a regular phone. I see no point in both a touch and iPhone. Even if you could afford the iPhone plan I'd still see no point in both and say sell the touch once you get it.
 
dukebound85 said:
In the US, the iphone is officially supported on ATT and soon to be Verizon. Unofficially on T-Mobile

You can't have an iphone on virgenmobile to my knowledge in the US
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Virgin Mobile USA uses CDMA, so technically if an unlock comes out, you can use it on there as well as Sprint (assuming the new Verizon iPhone will be locked to Verizon).
 
OP, if you really want an iPhone, then you should check into all the options as far as discounts. There are FAN discounts for many, many different employers as well as certain credit union members, students at pretty much any college, university or community college if you have an .edu email address.

You might try calling and asking AT&T, going to a store, or googling (insert employer/school) and "At&t discount".
 
wrldwzrd89 said:
Not the phone itself, but the plans are what drives me batty. Right now I simply cannot afford to pay around US$80 per month ($60 for the cheapest voice plan + $20 for the cheapest mandatory data plan). Now I'll be the first to admit that I have no idea what goes into phone plan pricing... but I know I can find a MUCH better deal elsewhere that meets my needs perfectly. An ideal plan for me would offer 300 minutes (since I don't even come close to using up 300 minutes most months and that's the fewest I've seen anyone offer) and unlimited text, web, etc. It just so happens that I've found a plan from Virgin Mobile offering EXACTLY what I'm looking for... and it's cheaper than what I pay now (by $5 a month). The only thing left to decide on is which phone model out of the 5 offered.

*sigh* I'd REALLY love an iPhone... but just can't afford one.
Click to expand...



Hey don't blow money you can't afford no matter how much something is appealing to you. It is one of the reasons this Country is so in Debt, we all need to have McMansion's, expensive Cars, luxury items, for What?

I remember my first cell phone, it was the size of a Shoe, it cost about $200 per month and all I got was 60 Minutes, no txt, no internet, no social networking etc.

Can't wait until my 18 year old gets off my plan and goes on his own, just looking to cut my bill down as I have 4 iphones and it costs me $250 per month? y job pays for mine, but it is truly a waste of money for everything else, but once you go Smartphone, it is really hard to go back to a basic flip.

Wait for the right time, and you will enjoy it more, just dont let people manipulate you ro tell you get with the times, save your money.
 
Well think of it from this stat:

$55 is the lowest ATT plan for an iphone. 450 minutes plus free nights and weekends plus free ATT to ATT calling anytime ($39.99) plus $15 for 200MB data...ok you can add $5 for 200 text. So roughly $55-60 plus taxes. $65 if you want 2GB of internet (or unlimited if grandfathered $70)

But consider this stat: 51% of young adults 25-29 do not even own a landline. Back in the "days" (I am in my mid 30s), I had a cell phone plus a landline (well I still have a landline cause I need it for real faxing...non of this efax crap).

But the majority of young adults "save" by not having a cell phone and a landline.

So instead of paying $40 for a cell phone PLUS $30 for a landline (without long distance). Young adults pay roughly the same for a cell phone with data and long distance included.

So the iPhone is expensive to maintain monthly, but it's really not out of line with what Verizon charges.

Sprint has a mandatory $69.99 for their smartphone (free text/data 450 plus free calling to any mobile). T-mobile has similar plans
 
jplusc said:
That's how I feel about cable. Everyones priorities are different and depending on your income these types of decisions may be easier or harder. For me my cell phone is my primary means of communication. I do not have a home phone. And I also use it endlessly on the go. To me it is worth the cost, but I can see how people could question it. I can also say that I can afford it so that helps of course. If times were tuff and money was really tight I would have to re-evaluate my position.
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That is EXACTLY how I feel about cable. And with a big screen TV you can't just get standard cable or it will look a mess. So tack another $10 on per month... it's just ridiculous. But $70/month for a computer in your pocket is worth it to me. Especially now with netflix and such.
 
I think it is the cheapest thing i've bought taking into consideration all that it does, I no longer need an iPod, a Phone, or a PDA, I can send mails wherever I am and use GPS to search for anything.
 
AT&T's family plans are very reasonable.

All five members of my family are on it, we all have iPhones (my parents with the $15 data plan), and pay around $240 for all five of us.

Plus, thanks to the A list (lets us add 10 out of network numbers that we can call as much as we want without using up our minutes), and rollover, it's basically impossible to go over your bill.

Find some family or close friends and share the costs with them to go in on a family plan.
 
wikoogle said:
AT&T's family plans are very reasonable.

All five members of my family are on it, we all have iPhones (my parents with the $15 data plan), and pay around $240 for all five of us.

Plus, thanks to the A list (lets us add 10 out of network numbers that we can call as much as we want without using up our minutes), and rollover, it's basically impossible to go over your bill.

Find some family or close friends and share the costs with them to go in on a family plan.
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I feel this is a good route to go if you are trying to save some money when jumping from dumb phone to smart phone. I use to pay roughly 85 dollars a month by myself w/ a non smart phone. Now after I joined my cousins family plan I pay 70 w/ unlimited data. I am happy :)
 
How do you guys get such cheap bills?

I'm in SF Bay area and my bill is always 120+ per month,

59 base plan. 30 unlimited data and 20 unlimited text. That's 110 then add tax and all that other crap I'm over 120 every month.
 
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