Crazy to pay Verizon non-contract iPhone price?

[buryyourbrideau]

Yes, although to be fair not with Verizon (never been their customer).

Ah, so you say you've done it, although you haven't, because you've never been a customer with VERIZON.

You can't do this, they know you are doing it to cheat them out of money.

Like the other poster said, call up and try to do it. There is a 90 day window of which service has to be cancelled before it can be re-activated and you given a subsidized price.

Maybe if you have like 5 lines on a family plan, this would work, but for just you? No way.

Feel free to not believe me because other carriers have let you do so, but I'm just arguing against someone who refuses to believe they are wrong.

And FWIW, ATT does this now as well. I bought an EVO when it first launched, ported my number out from ATT to do so.

I returned the EVO on my 30th day, tried to port back into ATT and get a subsidized phone and was unable to, they activated my old contract and refunded me the ETF.

 

[maflynn]

Why not just wait a few more months? Personally, I'd not want to spend 600 bucks on a phone. Why drop 600 now when by summer you can have it for substantially less.

 

[ssbearsfan]

Why not just wait a few more months? Personally, I'd not want to spend 600 bucks on a phone. Why drop 600 now when by summer you can have it for substantially less.

I agree.

To me, $700 is a lot of money and can go a long way. That can go towards the mortgage, groceries, gas, clothing, and even a vacation. You have a phone that functions just fine now, why not wait a few months and get the phone at the cheaper price? The idea of having something we desperately want now might be reason enough to spend the money but once the "new product" feeling has worn off you may be left with buyers remorse knowing you spent more than double the price of what you could have bought it for.

Maybe you can buy the phone when you are elligable for an upgrade and then put the other $500 dollars you would have spent in the savings? You never know when you may need it - even it if may not be all that much money to you.

 

[OptyCT]

Take the $700 and buy 2 shares of Apple stock. Wait until you're eligible for Verizon upgrade pricing and purchase the iPhone then.

 

[drummingcraig]

*Bolding Mine*

I do have the money to spend..sold a bunch of stuff on ebay and have the $ in my paypal account. Plus you can always sell iPhones at a high price. 3gs's still going for $350 on ebay. If I buy off contract, I don't have to extend and when the next gen comes out, I'll easily be able to sell the iPhone 4 for a hefty price.

Also, I don't have kids to take care of, so I'm not spending my kid's college fund!

Just remember that you're never going to make back that $700 though. You might make back half or 2/3 best case. Especially if its after the next generation comes out. I also don't think Verizon iPhones will have the same "aftermarket" sales performance that the GSM AT&T iPhones have, seeing as how the latter can be unlocked and used on carriers around the world. That won't be the case with the VZ devices.

I'm with the following poster:

Take the $700 and buy 2 shares of Apple stock. Wait until you're eligible for Verizon upgrade pricing and purchase the iPhone then.

 

[alejovh1]

OP, I will be paying full price as well; if you can afford it go for it. I have saved enough cash so I don't have to charge it and get in debt for a phone.

 

[bigjnyc]

I paid full price for my i4 when it came out.
Sold my 3GS on ebay and only end up paying $250 out of pocket and Im eligable for an upgrade in March of 2011.

I think thats what I'm going to do with the next iPhone. Sell my iPhone 4 unlocked on ebay and then buy the new one full price.

 

[stewart715]

Bottom line is the iPhone is $400 more for the retail/no-contract version. If you can spare an extra $400 and not feel it, then go for it.

But I wouldn't slap it on a credit card and put yourself an extra $400 bucks in debt for it.

As for me, I am also paying the full retail price. And you can still use your upgrade (as I will) when iPhone 5 comes out. Your upgrade date doesn't change when you buy a phone at retail price.

 

[hitekalex]

You can't do this, they know you are doing it to cheat them out of money.

Like the other poster said, call up and try to do it. There is a 90 day window of which service has to be cancelled before it can be re-activated and you given a subsidized price.

You are not paying attention to what I am saying. I was not talking about canceling and THEN re-activating. But adding 2nd contract with brand new iPhone on top of the original one. And some time after - canceling the original one.

Or are you saying the Verizon would stop you from adding a brand new contract for iPhone if you're already under a different contract?? That would make no sense, as many people have multiple phones/contracts (home, business, etc).

 

[BriChi]

what I would assume would happen being a verizon customer and my contract not up till 2012 is add the iphone as a second line BUT if I cancel the main line (my droid) I will be slapped with an ETF fee of $270 on that number. OR you can just add the iphone as an addon, $10 extra a month, then add data, switch the phone numbers so the iphone is your main number now then take the other number and port it to a crappy dumb phone you probably have laying around and then cancel the data portion being that you don't need it, in the end, you are paying $200 for the iphone and only $10 addition a month instead of paying $600 for the iphone

the advantage of paying full $600 is you do not have to renew for another 2 years

 

[Travisimo]

What I'm planning on doing is buying the iPhone 4 at full price and then waiting until 2012 to upgrade again. I think the iPhone 5 update that comes out this year will just be an incremental one, so by buying the iPhone 4 at full retail, I'll still be able to buy the iPhone 6 in 2012 at the promo price.

If you buy the iPhone 4 at full price and then use your upgrade this summer to buy the iPhone 5, then you won't be eligible again for another 20 months. Of course, you could always buy the NEXT one at full retail price, so in the long run, I guess it doesn't really matter...

The way I look at it is this: even when I upgrade to another iPhone, the old one will still be a great second device as an iPod and WIFI-only device. So it's like having an iPod Touch as a compliment to your new iPhone. So paying full retail may seem like a lot, but in the long run, it's really not.

 

[davidhawkins123]

I payed £500 for my iPhone 4, it works out cheaper over a year because my network is giffagff

 

[Wicked1]

I'm a current Verizon customer. I switched from AT&T and an iPhone 3gs back in June because I couldn't take the dropped calls on AT&T any longer. I'm now not eligible for an iPhone at the promotional price until 7/21/2011. I really do miss my iPhone compared to Android, and really don't want to wait until July. Am I crazy to spedn $700 on a phone?

You can buy a laptop for that, besides think about it because I am not sure the CDMA aftermarket (eBay) will be as good for Verizon as it is for all GSM iPhones.

$700 is a crazy amount of money to spend on a phone, it would be cheaper to close your account and start over, sell your Android based phone and buy a new subsidized priced iPhone 4.

 

[drummingcraig]

You can buy a laptop for that,

...or an iPad.

besides think about it because I am not sure the CDMA aftermarket (eBay) will be as good for Verizon as it is for all GSM iPhones.

ding ding ding....winner winner!

$700 is a crazy amount of money to spend on a phone, it would be cheaper to close your account and start over, sell your Android based phone and buy a new subsidized priced iPhone 4.

I think we've already established that VZ will not allow this.

 

[Olivia23]

Does anyone know if I can add a line to my verizon family plan and get the iphone on that line, then activate the iphone with my number? I currently have the Droid X and I don't want to pay 600 for a new iphone. I want to switch the Droid X to the new number and use my old number on the iphone.

 

[buffalo]

I'm on a family share plan with four lines. Anybody know if I would be able to buy the iPhone on a new fifth line, then cancel my current line? I'm currently using a Droid 1. I purchased it in early November 2009, pretty sure before the ETF was raised, so my ETF should be in the range of $100. I would be tempted to wait until my upgrade date in July, but my Droid has been spuratically acting up (sometimes normal, sometimes very nonresponsive to touch) the last couple weeks, so I don't even know if I'd be able to put with this phone until then.

 

[johndallas999]

I'm a current Verizon customer. I switched from AT&T and an iPhone 3gs back in June because I couldn't take the dropped calls on AT&T any longer. I'm now not eligible for an iPhone at the promotional price until 7/21/2011. I really do miss my iPhone compared to Android, and really don't want to wait until July. Am I crazy to spedn $700 on a phone?

LMAO! 700 on a phone! You gotta be kidding! I think 300 is the most anyone should ever spend on something that is replaced every 1-2 years like phones are.

 

[Applejuiced]

LMAO! 700 on a phone! You gotta be kidding! I think 300 is the most anyone should ever spend on something that is replaced every 1-2 years like phones are.

It depends on your money situation and its also a personal choice.
But Iphones usually hold their value well if you sell them within a year or so you can expect to get about %70 of you money back maybe more depending on the condition and if you can sell it unlocked.

 

[drummingcraig]

It depends on your money situation and its also a personal choice.
But Iphones usually hold their value well if you sell them within a year or so you can expect to get about %70 of you money back maybe more depending on the condition and if you can sell it unlocked.

I agree with that statement aside from the fact that if you spend $700 up front I don't think you're going to see a 70% return on investment so-to-speak. If you're buying at the subsidized price then you can easily reclaim that much if not more. However I don't foresee VZ iP4's selling used for $500.

 

[skidog1111]

take the $700 and buy 2 shares of apple stock. Wait until you're eligible for verizon upgrade pricing and purchase the iphone then.

+1

 

[Applejuiced]

I agree with that statement aside from the fact that if you spend $700 up front I don't think you're going to see a 70% return on investment so-to-speak. If you're buying at the subsidized price then you can easily reclaim that much if not more. However I don't foresee VZ iP4's selling used for $500.

I bought my 16GB i4 for full price $599 about 6 months ago.
Its in great condition and can be unlocked and the average price they're selling on ebay now is around $500-$600.
Even 5-6 months down the road I could get 70% of its value up or down about $420 IMO.
But you're right, I dont think CDMA iphone's will be selling as high as GSM iphone's but we'll see how that turns out.