Hey folks,
I hope you're in excellent health. Every year, I either give away or sell my current-gen iPhone for a new one and have been doing this since the I got my first one in 2008. For this year, I'm trying to compare the three major services available at launch for tonight, for my situation. I'm an avid app development engineer who wants to work with the current version of iPhone without a contract because I already have a prepaid phone with an incredibly low-rate plan that I've grandfathered from Virgin Mobile, upon first launch in 2004 or so.
I'd just get AT&T again, but with Sprint and Verizon, I called every service and did a ton of research to see what's the best option.
A lot of people think that you can get an AT&T iPhone with the subsidy and then pay the $325 ETF, and it will actually end up being cheaper than an unlocked unit. However, this is NOT the case. You must pay for the first month's plan charges, even if you don't use the minutes/data. On a least expensive level, you can get the $40 voice and $20 data that are mandatory, and with the activation charges and taxes, that'll already be around $140 extra. This way, the iPhone becomes nearly $800-900 after ETF with taxes and fees. The customer service assistant on AT&T Wireless recommended I wait for an unlocked iPhone at $649 to be available sometime in October/November.
On Sprint, the ETF is $350, but their cheapest plans are even more expensive than AT&T's... starting at $80 and going up. You need to pay first month's plan fees regardless of usage. It's pro-rated basis. That won't work for this.
Verizon seems to be great for this perspective. The representative told me that I would be able to pay a $350 ETF along with its associated taxes and cancel the contract without needing to pay any accrued plan charges, given that I did not use any minutes/texts/data and cancel the contract upon receiving the iPhone. This looks fantastic... but wait.
This is the iPhone 5. Not the 4S. So... if you look on eBay and Amazon and see that the prices for the AT&T 4S and Verizon 4S are relatively identical, it's because they're both World Phones.
While the GSM iP5 may be a world phone and work on T-Mobile, I don't think the same can be said for the CDMA iP5 on Sprint and Verizon, and that could only mean that by this time around next year when the next-gen iPhone may arrive, their resale values are significantly less than their AT&T counterparts which could be used all around the world with their nanoSIM slots.
So here's a dilemma... what seems to be the best offer between Verizon and AT&T? Pay much less for the Verizon "No Service" iP5 up front (subsidized price + ETF + taxes & fees) and expect less-to-no return when selling (maybe $300... who wants/needs an out-of-contract CDMA Verizon iPhone 5)? Or pay MUCH more for AT&T's "No Service" iP5 now (subsidized prize + ETF + activation + first month's charges + taxes & fees) and get a decent return later ($500ish)?
The 8-10 month old prices for current-gen iPhones run around $400 to $550 for a 16GB base model. These are typical of AT&T phones. I don't know what Verizon iPhones would sell for, if they do at all. Since they're career-locked, not many people want to buy an out-of-contract Verizon iPhone because they can just get a subsidized one and start a contract.
Any ideas? Thanks for your help.
I hope you're in excellent health. Every year, I either give away or sell my current-gen iPhone for a new one and have been doing this since the I got my first one in 2008. For this year, I'm trying to compare the three major services available at launch for tonight, for my situation. I'm an avid app development engineer who wants to work with the current version of iPhone without a contract because I already have a prepaid phone with an incredibly low-rate plan that I've grandfathered from Virgin Mobile, upon first launch in 2004 or so.
I'd just get AT&T again, but with Sprint and Verizon, I called every service and did a ton of research to see what's the best option.
A lot of people think that you can get an AT&T iPhone with the subsidy and then pay the $325 ETF, and it will actually end up being cheaper than an unlocked unit. However, this is NOT the case. You must pay for the first month's plan charges, even if you don't use the minutes/data. On a least expensive level, you can get the $40 voice and $20 data that are mandatory, and with the activation charges and taxes, that'll already be around $140 extra. This way, the iPhone becomes nearly $800-900 after ETF with taxes and fees. The customer service assistant on AT&T Wireless recommended I wait for an unlocked iPhone at $649 to be available sometime in October/November.
On Sprint, the ETF is $350, but their cheapest plans are even more expensive than AT&T's... starting at $80 and going up. You need to pay first month's plan fees regardless of usage. It's pro-rated basis. That won't work for this.
Verizon seems to be great for this perspective. The representative told me that I would be able to pay a $350 ETF along with its associated taxes and cancel the contract without needing to pay any accrued plan charges, given that I did not use any minutes/texts/data and cancel the contract upon receiving the iPhone. This looks fantastic... but wait.
This is the iPhone 5. Not the 4S. So... if you look on eBay and Amazon and see that the prices for the AT&T 4S and Verizon 4S are relatively identical, it's because they're both World Phones.
While the GSM iP5 may be a world phone and work on T-Mobile, I don't think the same can be said for the CDMA iP5 on Sprint and Verizon, and that could only mean that by this time around next year when the next-gen iPhone may arrive, their resale values are significantly less than their AT&T counterparts which could be used all around the world with their nanoSIM slots.
So here's a dilemma... what seems to be the best offer between Verizon and AT&T? Pay much less for the Verizon "No Service" iP5 up front (subsidized price + ETF + taxes & fees) and expect less-to-no return when selling (maybe $300... who wants/needs an out-of-contract CDMA Verizon iPhone 5)? Or pay MUCH more for AT&T's "No Service" iP5 now (subsidized prize + ETF + activation + first month's charges + taxes & fees) and get a decent return later ($500ish)?
The 8-10 month old prices for current-gen iPhones run around $400 to $550 for a 16GB base model. These are typical of AT&T phones. I don't know what Verizon iPhones would sell for, if they do at all. Since they're career-locked, not many people want to buy an out-of-contract Verizon iPhone because they can just get a subsidized one and start a contract.
Any ideas? Thanks for your help.