Best Buy to Relaunch iPhone 4/4S Trade-Ins for 'Free' iPhone 5

[thefourthpope]

I'll happily sell my 4s on craigslist and buy whatever Apple calls the new one (presumably 5s). Squaretrade is great for that kind of thing.

 

[ssspinball]

T-Mobile doesn't force subsidies on you like AT&T and Verizon do.

Buying full price with T-Mobile = lower monthly bill.

Buying on contract with AT&T/Verizon = higher/subsidized bill.
Buying full price with AT&T/Verizon = higher/subsidized bill.

I still have the 2009 phones I got with AT&T. I'm still paying the higher/subsidized monthly prices. I don't want to get "new" phones with them and end up in a contract. That works out for me, because I can now switch my lines to T-Mobile.

T-Mo only costs less if you keep your phone longer than 2 years. I would venture to say the vast majority doesn't do that.

----------

Ever heard of Straight Talk? Net10? T-Mobile? Contracts are so 2 years ago (pun intended). Some of can do math.

Ever heard of LTE?

If HSDPA is fast enough for you, that's great, but some of us want to use our flagship phone with the fastest data speeds up/down available, and are willing to pay a premium for that.

If those MVNOs had LTE, I'd consider them.

 

[mrlittleteich]

Need Advice

My wife's contract has been up for about a year or so (out of contract). AT&T saying she can't upgrade for another year because too many reactivations. About 3 of them. (but we alway pay them and is up too date)

I wanted this changed so we can upgrade the phone to the 5. (to make use of the best buy trade-in program)

I contacted ATT and talked to a lady but she couldn't do anything about it.
Then i demanded a "manager" and talked to him but he couldn't change it. Then he offered me to upgrade to a different kind of phone but not the iPhone 5. He said thats the only thing he can do for me.

Then he suggested that i can cancel that phone number and get a different phone number and new contract.
The problem is that is 1, new phone and 2 we were grandfathered into the unlimited data plan. And i don't want to loss that.

Is that my only option? It just doesn't make any sense for them to do this for an out of contract phone. So do i go to a different carrier? or do i wait for a year? Maybe i should cause of pending iPhone 5s? or do i want to talk to that manager's manager? Advice?

 

[Ingot]

You're the exact type of person who just reads what is the price on the internet and assumes everyone can get that same price OR MORE.

When you see it priced that high, it does not mean any joe blow or jane doe can sell theirs for that price as well. That's the misconception of these sales on the internet; used prices that are just ridiculously high and yet forum members post messages saying "hey, look, it goes for this price online so you are a fool to sell it for any less!" -

You do realize it takes a lot of effort to sell used. Sure amazon or any other buy back online will take it for more but this is not always the case and having bestbuy do this promotion makes it a safe and easy way for EVERYONE to get a new iPhone.

There's really no point in the USA to buy an unlocked phone either. You still pay monthly premiums AND most of the time you are on a contract. If you go out and buy an unlocked phone WITHOUT a contract you are just dumb or have too much money to throw around. Take the 2 year contract and get the phone discounted up front. Otherwise you just pay even more with the non-contract phone.

I travel outside of the country. I need an unlocked phone so I am not paying outrageous international data roaming fees. There is a huge point to having an unlocked phone.

 

[Tapdawg]

Just a heads up to anyone who tries to go in to do this, Best Buy does not have any 64GB iPhones in stock. They made me wipe my phone and then afterward told me they don't stock 64GB iPhones. They also do not have them available online or in any stores in California.

 

[malexandria]

Att

Sucks, I stuck with them because, despite all their faults at least I didn't have to fight with them over my bill every month like I had to with Verizon. But the few times that I dealt with their stores were wretched experiences. I'm fed up and switching to T-Mobile next week - even if I have to pay an ETF to get rid of them.

I just don't know if I want to go Android or iPhone 5 this time. I'm tired of the iPhone - had one for 6 year, but it is easier to use and if something goes wrong I have some place to take it for repair.

 

[AnderMZ]

Carriers really mess up with your budget in USA

p.s. Regarding T-Mobile: That is a good option. But have people had a good experience with network speeds and coverage? I also am lucky to be grandfathered into a (semi)unlimited AT&T plan with a 10 or 15% discount on top and a ton of roll over minutes. My total monthly bill is $75, so I'd be reluctant to give that up to jump ship to T-Mobile.

After reading throughout the post in this thread I'm surprised about the enormous amount of money carriers in the USA rip off people over there.

After doing the math with currency exchange and taxes applied for me in my country (Mexico) I can give you a fair estimate about how much I pay, in US Dollars, for my plan:

4Gb of data (enough for me)
1000 minutes to national numbers (both local or other companies)
10 "unlimited numbers" (who I can call as much as I want, zero fees)
100 to USA and Canada (rarely used by me)
100 Text Messages (who still texts people, anyway?)

45 USD per month. Cost of extra Mb: 0.05 USD.

I can terminate my contract whenever I want with zero fees, just paying the remaining months.

By the way, every iPhone here is unlocked by default, companies don't enslave clients with them.

So that said...I'm surprised AT&T and Verizon have so many clients, and that $75 seems so fair to you.

PD. I know there are a lot of other factors to take into account when comparing prices between 2 countries so different, but I hope many of you realize how much money you throw away with big companies that don't give you back enough.

 

[seminolerob]

System Crashed

We went up to Best Buy today and their trade in system crashed. Didn't know when it would be back up. 🙁