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Carrier For Verizon users who went to monthly after their subsidized plan expired

L

LincolnsiPod

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 20, 2009
665
98
How much did your overall monthly bill change?

I'm still on contract with 3 of my 4 lines, so I'm not eligible to try the monthly plan until they expire. When I upgrade, I can usually sell my old iPhone for around the same amount needed to buy a new iPhone at the subsidized price, so I rarely pay out of pocket for a new phone.

If I decide not to continue the 2 year subsidized plan, then I'd have to pay roughly $40+ a month for my new phone. The only way it seems worth it is if my monthly bill goes down the same amount or more as a result of being off contract. In other threads I read Verizon drops the bill by $25 a month, but that's still not enough to make up for the higher cost $40+ monthly payment plan, so all in all it seems like I'm paying more if I go off the subsidized plan.

Is there something I'm missing here? That's why I'd like to see how other people's bills had changed by going off contract at Verizon.
 
You save $25 a month as long as you have a data plan over 10GB. Let's take the 6s 16gb for example. It's $27 and change monthly so $2 more per month. BUT you don't pay the $200 subsidized price of the phone. $2 more per month over 24 months is ~$50, so you save ~$150.
Say you get the 64gb that's ~$31 per month, minus $25 that's a difference of ~$6 per month. So over 24 months you pay ~$150 more per month. But you don't pay the $300 subsidized price of the phone so again save about $150.
 
I'm a light data user so I've only been using the 3GB a month plan. So the $25 price break only applies to those using over 10GB?
 
Off contract the per line charge went from $40 to $20 a month. You mentioned that you use to sell your old iPhone in order to buy the new and not have to pay anything. You can still do that, you'll just put the money you made as a down payment on the new phone thus reducing the cost of the phone by probably half. Your monthly charge for the phone will then be $20 a month instead of $40. At the end of the day the contract price and off contract price is the same. Personally I prefer to be off contract for the slim chance I want to leave.
 
willmtaylor said:
I have an 18% employee discount as well. It has more to do with how long you've been a customer and if you've paid on time, etc. (AFAIK)
Click to expand...

Nice, I'll ask then. If it's worth the switch I have to see if I can transfer the upgrade I have now to my iPhone line. I don't think I can though since the only line with no contract now is for my iPad. Assuming I can't I'll just have to wait until the contract expires for my iPhone line.
 
missbing said:
Off contract the per line charge went from $40 to $20 a month. You mentioned that you use to sell your old iPhone in order to buy the new and not have to pay anything. You can still do that, you'll just put the money you made as a down payment on the new phone thus reducing the cost of the phone by probably half. Your monthly charge for the phone will then be $20 a month instead of $40. At the end of the day the contract price and off contract price is the same. Personally I prefer to be off contract for the slim chance I want to leave.
Click to expand...
Thanks, that's the price change I'll be looking for to make sure I don't get ripped off.
 
missbing said:
Off contract the per line charge went from $40 to $20 a month. You mentioned that you use to sell your old iPhone in order to buy the new and not have to pay anything. You can still do that, you'll just put the money you made as a down payment on the new phone thus reducing the cost of the phone by probably half. Your monthly charge for the phone will then be $20 a month instead of $40. At the end of the day the contract price and off contract price is the same. Personally I prefer to be off contract for the slim chance I want to leave.
Click to expand...
That's right if you're one one of the new "The Verizon Plan" data plans then it's $20 per line
 
I'm still on the More Everything plan, switching would have cost $10 more a month so I've stayed where I was for now.

This is pretty tricky, I'm trying to factor the actual cost by embedding the subsidized price (which adds $17 to my current monthly bill), making my total monthly bill $167 currently.

If I opt for a payment plan, that's about $36 for an iPhone Plus 64GB, minus $15 line discount, minus what I would have paid in subsidized price, that still leaves me paying $4 more a month. I'm trying to see if there's something else I missed, but ultimately I'd still be paying $50 more a year to go off contract.
 
LincolnsiPod said:
I'm still on the More Everything plan, switching would have cost $10 more a month so I've stayed where I was for now.

This is pretty tricky, I'm trying to factor the actual cost by embedding the subsidized price (which adds $17 to my current monthly bill), making my total monthly bill $167 currently.

If I opt for a payment plan, that's about $36 for an iPhone Plus 64GB, minus $15 line discount, minus what I would have paid in subsidized price, that still leaves me paying $4 more a month. I'm trying to see if there's something else I missed, but ultimately I'd still be paying $50 more a year to go off contract.
Click to expand...
So you have 4 lines sharing 3gb? $150 per month for 4 lines? If you post a breakdown of your bill it may be easier to see if you would save by switching to device payments
 
XRichard23 said:
So you have 4 lines sharing 3gb? $150 per month for 4 lines? If you post a breakdown of your bill it may be easier to see if you would save by switching to device payments
Click to expand...
Yes, I have 4 lines:

2 iPhones, 2 iPads, 3GB Plan (19% employee discount)

I couldn't get the loyalty discount but I was able to get a 50% discount for one iPhone line used by a family member, so that's been reduced to $20 a month.

So $40 (my iPhone)
$20 (my relative's iPhone, with new discount applied)
$10 iPad
$10 iPad

I can upgrade my iPad line that no longer has a contract to get the new iPhone 6S and switch over to the iPhone line I use (technically you can't normally do this but they can make an exception if I go this route). So that means renewing my two year contract to purchase the phone for $400, or doing the monthly payment plan at around $36 a month.
 
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Well looking at their options right now. The 3gb Verizon plan is $45/month. And your $40 line would then be $20, all other lines would stay as is, I ASSUME. So you would ultimately save $25 per month, then pay ~$35.42 per month for the iPhone. So ~$10 more per month, or $250 over 24 months. I'd call and ask about that. Someone here will correct me if I'm wrong
 
XRichard23 said:
Well looking at their options right now. The 3gb Verizon plan is $45/month. And your $40 line would then be $20, all other lines would stay as is, I ASSUME. So you would ultimately save $25 per month, then pay ~$35.42 per month for the iPhone. So ~$10 more per month, or $250 over 24 months. I'd call and ask about that. Someone here will correct me if I'm wrong
Click to expand...
Actually price break on the line is just $15, so it would be $25 a month. It does seem like the price difference is marginal enough such that the only real benefit is not being under contract.
 
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