Changing carriers just to get a new phone at cheaper price... Good idea

[jstar002]

Just realized I'm not on contract with ATT anymore. Wouldn't it make sense for me to buy my new phone with a new carrier in order to get a cheaper deal? The top phones (iphones, galaxy etc are over $800 or in that range but for brand new customers sometimes just cost $299 as an example or a bit higher or less).... Verizon is also good in my area in terms of coverage and it doesn't matter to me if I'm with ATT or Verizon. After 2 years switch again...

Is this the best way to get a new phone every 2 years without having to pay full price for it?

 

[Spink10]

If you are satisfied with the coverage of both carries and you truly save money by switching then go for it!

 

[FoxFifth]

If your contract is up with AT&T you don't need to pay full price for a new phone. They will give you a discounted phone if you are willing to do a new 2 year agreement.

 

[rigormortis]

i dried my brother about this. if i want to i can post a huge message to back up what i am going to say. please don't ask me

with the new plans from 3 carriers ( AT&T , t-mobile , sprint)
it does not matter if you take the subsidy ( 2 year contract discount ) or
if you pay for the phone in payments, you will end up paying the same or more regardless of what plan or cell phone company you choose.

typically in order to save any money on cell plans you have to subscribe to 10 to 15 gigs to get worthwhile discounts. if you subscribe to 6 or 8 gigs you end up getting ripped off.

the only way to save money on buying an iPhone or "get a deal' on an iPhone is to buy one at full price from the apple store. and then to use a prepaid carrier, like walmart and pay $30 to $50 a month

in my email to my brother i pointed out that if you took 4 discounts on a family plan with AT&T and subscribed to 15 gigs, you would end u paying $1071 more for those discounted phones then paying for the phone full price

a 6 gig family plan deal endied up costing $159 more on the discounted 2 year plan then full price

 

[maflynn]

If you're out of contract you can just buy a new phone under your current carrier. If you're not out of contract, then you'll have to pay an early termination fee, which means switching carriers will not be all that economical (unless you switch to sprint or t-mo who both promised to pay the ETF)

 

[rigormortis]

prices based on iPhone 6 16 gb on AT&T

AT&T next 24 ( payments for 30 months)
1 gig
71.67 * 30 = 2150

AT&T 2 year contract ( 24 months)
1 gig
65*24+40+199= 1799

only reason it seems your spending more on next 24 is that its 30 months


after 24 months you paid $78 more for your discounted phone

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if your out of contract and you pay full price for a phone. your bill might not go down, like verizon
where AT&T will knock off $25 a month