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Buying/preording off-contract on release day

mr99 said:
I've always wondered, why do people buy them full price instead of subsidy? I understand not wanting a contract but the difference is many hundreds of dollars. Are you on a share plan that is much cheaper/month since you're not subsidizing a device?
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Buying the device free and clear allows you to shop for the best plan, and switch providers at any time. The difference at the outset is "many hundreds of dollars" or ~$450 in the U.S. However, a contract-free plan can cost much less than a contract plan every month, depending what you want.

Over two years, that will add up. And when you're on a contract, your monthly rate does not go down at the end of two years, which virtually forces you to take the device upgrade at the end of the contract term and re-up for another two years. Going off-contract means that you can always shop for the best plan, and you upgrade your phone when you're actually ready, not just because your contract is up.

In my case, I did not need unlimited minutes, but did want a higher data allowance. T-Mobile offers a $30 prepaid plan with 100 minutes and 5 GB of 4G data (unlimited throttled data), so I went with that when I bought my 5s. I've been happy with the service, and it meets my exact needs. However, if I did not like it or found that my needs had changed, I would have had the option of changing providers at any time and still do.

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EM2013 said:
I'm curious to know if you can preorder a sprint iphone, online not in store, at full price? Will have to buy full price since I used my upgrade last year for 5S :(
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Remains to be seen if Apple will take preorders for the iPhone 6. They did not for the 5s.

My understanding is that you can cannot pay full price online for a device-only Sprint phone. You can only do it in person, and you have to explicitly ask for the device-only option.

Not sure how it works if you want to upgrade early. Maybe if you go to a Sprint store, they can work you into one of those accelerated upgrade plans and pair that with a less expensive BYOD plan. But, you'll need to do the math on that one, especially since there might be termination fees or other costs involved with switching out of your current contract.

Just another reason why I hate contracts...
 
mr99 said:
I've always wondered, why do people buy them full price instead of subsidy? I understand not wanting a contract but the difference is many hundreds of dollars. Are you on a share plan that is much cheaper/month since you're not subsidizing a device?
Click to expand...
I just sell the last one and end up paying around 200 for the newer one.
 
Woochifer said:
Buying the device free and clear allows you to shop for the best plan, and switch providers at any time. The difference at the outset is "many hundreds of dollars" or ~$450 in the U.S. However, a contract-free plan can cost much less than a contract plan every month, depending what you want.

Over two years, that will add up. And when you're on a contract, your monthly rate does not go down at the end of two years, which virtually forces you to take the device upgrade at the end of the contract term and re-up for another two years. Going off-contract means that you can always shop for the best plan, and you upgrade your phone when you're actually ready, not just because your contract is up.

In my case, I did not need unlimited minutes, but did want a higher data allowance. T-Mobile offers a $30 prepaid plan with 100 minutes and 5 GB of 4G data (unlimited throttled data), so I went with that when I bought my 5s. I've been happy with the service, and it meets my exact needs. However, if I did not like it or found that my needs had changed, I would have had the option of changing providers at any time and still do.

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Remains to be seen if Apple will take preorders for the iPhone 6. They did not for the 5s.

My understanding is that you can cannot pay full price online for a device-only Sprint phone. You can only do it in person, and you have to explicitly ask for the device-only option.

Not sure how it works if you want to upgrade early. Maybe if you go to a Sprint store, they can work you into one of those accelerated upgrade plans and pair that with a less expensive BYOD plan. But, you'll need to do the math on that one, especially since there might be termination fees or other costs involved with switching out of your current contract.

Just another reason why I hate contracts...
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads up. I'll probably just wait until the initial wave is over and then walk into a Sprint store or Best Buy and buy it outright.
 
Woochifer said:
My understanding is that you can cannot pay full price online for a device-only Sprint phone. You can only do it in person, and you have to explicitly ask for the device-only option.

Not sure how it works if you want to upgrade early. Maybe if you go to a Sprint store, they can work you into one of those accelerated upgrade plans and pair that with a less expensive BYOD plan. But, you'll need to do the math on that one, especially since there might be termination fees or other costs involved with switching out of your current contract.

Just another reason why I hate contracts...
Click to expand...

That sucks if true :(
 
Sodner said:
i've always got my iPhones on release day at the subsidized price using either my wife's or my own upgrade. But this year I'll be buying the 6 at retail. I can't believe that if I'm prepared to fork over $800 or more they aren't going to take my money and hand me a phone. I don't care if the phone is unlocked or not. I'll just want a phone that works on AT&T.
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Same here please let me know how you are going to go about it. I am going to use my iPhone on a mobile share value plan. I want to buy it in full and not through a contract though, not sure if its technically unlocked or what and I dont care.
 
Woochifer said:
In my case, I did not need unlimited minutes, but did want a higher data allowance. T-Mobile offers a $30 prepaid plan with 100 minutes and 5 GB of 4G data (unlimited throttled data), so I went with that when I bought my 5s. I've been happy with the service, and it meets my exact needs. However, if I did not like it or found that my needs had changed, I would have had the option of changing providers at any time and still do.

----------



Remains to be seen if Apple will take preorders for the iPhone 6. They did not for the 5s.

My understanding is that you can cannot pay full price online for a device-only Sprint phone. You can only do it in person, and you have to explicitly ask for the device-only option.

Not sure how it works if you want to upgrade early. Maybe if you go to a Sprint store, they can work you into one of those accelerated upgrade plans and pair that with a less expensive BYOD plan. But, you'll need to do the math on that one, especially since there might be termination fees or other costs involved with switching out of your current contract.

Just another reason why I hate contracts...
Click to expand...

This is REALLY interesting. I've been with AT&T for about 12 years and am on a family plan with my parents and wife (5 lines) and I pay them my portion, about $80/month. I have unlimited grandfathered data and my wife has 2GB. We use about 7-8gb of data/month between us 2. I have never explored switching carriers, but now I might. I barely use any minutes just like you, probably way less than 100/month but my wife uses a few hundred. Wondering if it might be wise to change to T-mobile's plan like you and buy the phone outright for $650 then sell my 5s for $350 or so when the iPhone 6 launches. I will be paying $10 less per month for my line (assuming $40 is my portion on my fam plan), but won't be on contract and can change whenever I want, assuming T-mobile would pay my ETF as well. I'd love to bring my wife with me but i'm not seeing anything that would combine us 2 and net somewhere around $80 with our data and minute needs.

I'm ALL FOR finding the cheapest deal around but ETF's might hurt me, my line is on contract til Sept 2015 and my wifes until Sept 2014.

Any input?
 
mr99 said:
This is REALLY interesting. I've been with AT&T for about 12 years and am on a family plan with my parents and wife (5 lines) and I pay them my portion, about $80/month. I have unlimited grandfathered data and my wife has 2GB. We use about 7-8gb of data/month between us 2. I have never explored switching carriers, but now I might. I barely use any minutes just like you, probably way less than 100/month but my wife uses a few hundred. Wondering if it might be wise to change to T-mobile's plan like you and buy the phone outright for $650 then sell my 5s for $350 or so when the iPhone 6 launches. I will be paying $10 less per month for my line (assuming $40 is my portion on my fam plan), but won't be on contract and can change whenever I want, assuming T-mobile would pay my ETF as well. I'd love to bring my wife with me but i'm not seeing anything that would combine us 2 and net somewhere around $80 with our data and minute needs.

I'm ALL FOR finding the cheapest deal around but ETF's might hurt me, my line is on contract til Sept 2015 and my wifes until Sept 2014.

Any input?
Click to expand...

I don't think T-Mobile will pay the ETF on the $30 prepaid plan that I have. You would need to go with one of their postpaid Simple Choice plans, which start at $50 per month and 1 GB 4G data. Their data is unlimited for all their plans (except their $40 starter plan), but they will throttle you down to EDGE speeds once you go over your 4G cap.

If much of your data usage consists of music streaming, then you should know that T-Mobile now whitelists the top music streaming services (Pandora, Spotify, iTunes Radio, iHeart Radio, and a few others), so they don't count against your 4G data cap.

You might want to try T-Mobile's test drive program to see how their network performs in your area. Going from AT&T to T-Mobile, you generally trade down on network coverage. The areas that T-Mobile serves, they've greatly improved over the past year. However, they have not done much to fill their coverage gaps in rural and outlying areas.

With the test drive, they'll send you an iPhone 5s to try out for 7 days. At the end of 7 days, you return the phone to a T-Mobile store. All that's required is a credit card preauthorization. Great way to see for yourself if it's worthwhile to make the switch.
 
Woochifer said:
I don't think T-Mobile will pay the ETF on the $30 prepaid plan that I have. You would need to go with one of their postpaid Simple Choice plans, which start at $50 per month and 1 GB 4G data. Their data is unlimited for all their plans (except their $40 starter plan), but they will throttle you down to EDGE speeds once you go over your 4G cap.

If much of your data usage consists of music streaming, then you should know that T-Mobile now whitelists the top music streaming services (Pandora, Spotify, iTunes Radio, iHeart Radio, and a few others), so they don't count against your 4G data cap.

You might want to try T-Mobile's test drive program to see how their network performs in your area. Going from AT&T to T-Mobile, you generally trade down on network coverage. The areas that T-Mobile serves, they've greatly improved over the past year. However, they have not done much to fill their coverage gaps in rural and outlying areas.

With the test drive, they'll send you an iPhone 5s to try out for 7 days. At the end of 7 days, you return the phone to a T-Mobile store. All that's required is a credit card preauthorization. Great way to see for yourself if it's worthwhile to make the switch.
Click to expand...

In my case, having those music streaming services whitelisted has been amazing. Prior to switching to T-Mobile from Verizon I was using around 4-6GB a month, but on T-Mobile I'm paying for 3GB a month and barely even use 1.5-2GB because my music streaming (which I use everyday) doesn't count towards my monthly data bucket. I wish other carriers did this.

And yes, you're correct; T-Mobile will only pay for your ETF's if you sign up for one of their postpaid Simple Choice Plans.
 
That $30 TMobile deal is amazing, though, and may save enough over time to even make paying the ETF fees worth it. Especially if you're on a huge contract monthly bill. I switched, and went from $220/month for two lines to $60/month. That big a difference in your bill makes up for a lot of ETF fees or full price iPhones over time. Even if I were to go over on the minutes and use, say, 200 minutes one month instead of 100, it would only be an extra $10 at 10 cents a minute. But I just rarely use more than like 50 minutes in a month, so I don't need unlimited talk.
 
*noob here*
So you can't buy an off-contract iPhone on release day...
Does that mean that if you're technically not eligible for your 2-year upgrade (say if you bought a 5s a year earlier and wanted to upgrade to the 6) you won't be able to buy the phone?

Or is this strictly for people who aren't subsidized by carriers?
 
Chrsanthny5 said:
*noob here*
So you can't buy an off-contract iPhone on release day...
Does that mean that if you're technically not eligible for your 2-year upgrade (say if you bought a 5s a year earlier and wanted to upgrade to the 6) you won't be able to buy the phone?

Or is this strictly for people who aren't subsidized by carriers?
Click to expand...
You can buy off contact on launch day.
 
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