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Full price from Verizon - service options?

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puma1552

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Original poster
Nov 20, 2008
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Looking at the current 5S options in anticipation that the 6 options will be the same or very similar.

I'll be a new Verizon customer (leaving AT&T).

My wife and I want a pair of 32 gig phones.

I know that if I sign a 2 year contract and get 2 GB shared data, we would be looking at 2 phones at $200 each plus $36 activation each, and a monthly bill of $130/month, and tied to a contract.

Edge doesn't look appealing, the whole leasing/renting thing and I'm sure you pay the most going this route.

But what about full retail price with no contract? That would be $1500 right off the bat (ouch), but then what are our service options? The Verizon site conveniently doesn't show how service works when you pay full retail for a phone and have no contract.

I'm mainly curious to see how much per month the same service as the 2 year contract would be (2 phones and 2 GB shared data)? It would have to be substantially cheaper than $130 per month considering I'd need to make up the additional $900 initial outlay of cash to buy outright vs. on contract just to break even.
 
puma1552 said:
Looking at the current 5S options in anticipation that the 6 options will be the same or very similar.

I'll be a new Verizon customer (leaving AT&T).

My wife and I want a pair of 32 gig phones.

I know that if I sign a 2 year contract and get 2 GB shared data, we would be looking at 2 phones at $200 each plus $36 activation each, and a monthly bill of $130/month, and tied to a contract.

Edge doesn't look appealing, the whole leasing/renting thing and I'm sure you pay the most going this route.

But what about full retail price with no contract? That would be $1500 right off the bat (ouch), but then what are our service options? The Verizon site conveniently doesn't show how service works when you pay full retail for a phone and have no contract.

I'm mainly curious to see how much per month the same service as the 2 year contract would be (2 phones and 2 GB shared data)? It would have to be substantially cheaper than $130 per month considering I'd need to make up the additional $900 initial outlay of cash to buy outright vs. on contract just to break even.
Click to expand...

It's been rumored that if you pay full price or bring your own devices (or allow your contract to end and not upgrade), you can get the same discounts on the $40/mo access as Edge. But I can't seem to find anything on Verizon's website about that. Might be worth a call to customer service. I wouldn't bother dealing with a store unless you've already had a good experience.
 
puma1552 said:
I'm mainly curious to see how much per month the same service as the 2 year contract would be (2 phones and 2 GB shared data)? It would have to be substantially cheaper than $130 per month considering I'd need to make up the additional $900 initial outlay of cash to buy outright vs. on contract just to break even.
Click to expand...
Assuming the discounts are similar to AT&T's, I'd say it's not worth it for 2GB. On AT&T, discount on plans lower than 10GB is just $15/month per line so a total of $720 over a 24-month period. You usually need around 3-4 lines minimum and at least 10GB data before EDGE/NEXT starts to make sense.
 
rui no onna said:
Assuming the discounts are similar to AT&T's, I'd say it's not worth it for 2GB. On AT&T, discount on plans lower than 10GB is just $15/month per line so a total of $720 over a 24-month period. You usually need around 3-4 lines minimum and at least 10GB data before EDGE/NEXT starts to make sense.
Click to expand...

I'm not talking about Edge though, I'm just talking about buying a phone straight up and getting no contract service.

...or is EDGE what you have to get in that case as well?
 
puma1552 said:
I'm not talking about Edge though, I'm just talking about buying a phone straight up and getting no contract service.

...or is EDGE what you have to get in that case as well?
Click to expand...
I'm not sure about EDGE but on AT&T, the discounts for NEXT and BYOD are the same. On Verizon, service discounts used to be EDGE only but I remember reading somewhere that they've extended the discounts to off-contract and BYOD as well. Again though, it doesn't really give a good enough discount to offset subsidized pricing until you reach 10GB.
 
God that sucks, maybe I'll just drop the iPhone altogether and get some crappy Boost Mobile phone or whatever...tired of paying these scumbag companies so much for so little.

When I was 18 my phone was $35/month. Now I'm at $80+ per phone, and I barely use apps or data.
 
Where do you live/travel that requires you to use Verizon? I would look into cheaper carriers or prepaid options.

Also Straight Talk offers Verizon coverage but for a much lower price if you really require it
 
Full price from Verizon - service options?

I doubt you'll be able to get a 32GB iPhone 5s for $200.
Why not go with AT&T mobile share plan? You can get 10GB data for 160 a month for you and your SO with the data shared between the two of you.
 
Have to agree with the poster above - why the move to Verizon?

If you're happy with AT&T service but want to cut the bill I'd look at Straight Talk - they provide access to AT&T's LTE (but throttled) for $45/month per line.

Another option is T-Mobile. They are even even cheaper at $80 for both phones if you only need 1GB per line. Coverage will only be good if you live in a major city otherwise you'll see Edge. Their push to get LTE to rural areas won't be completed until sometime next year - but when it happens they will be a viable alternative to Verizon.
 
AT&T is basically a deadzone in my apartment. Never really wanted them to begin with but when the 4S launched I couldn't get the order through on Verizon's site. I had Verizon prior to living overseas and that was fantastic service so I'd like to go back to that.
 
puma1552 said:
AT&T is basically a deadzone in my apartment. Never really wanted them to begin with but when the 4S launched I couldn't get the order through on Verizon's site. I had Verizon prior to living overseas and that was fantastic service so I'd like to go back to that.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if it makes a difference, but Verizon Edge is 20 payments if you wanted to buy the iPhones that way. So it's not 24 months like T-Mobile.
 
KUguardgrl13 said:
I'm not sure if it makes a difference, but Verizon Edge is 20 payments if you wanted to buy the iPhones that way. So it's not 24 months like T-Mobile.
Click to expand...
Curious, when did Verizon change the terms of their EDGE program? It used to be 24 months same as T-Mobile. Before, only AT&T was 20 months.
 
you might want to look into this plan. it's 2gb data per line with unlimited talk/text for $60/mo, and it includes a phone subsidy. a friend of mine was on a two line family plan but switched to two of these lines, got more and saved money on top of that.
 
Verizon DOES offer the same discounts as the EDGE program if you buy it outright. You just need to call and they apply it.
 
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