That's how they get you they make you pay for the highest tier and when it is time for you to upgrade they make you think you getting $1000 back for your phone when it was included in your monthly plan.
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Get Ready for iPhone 15 Pre-Orders With This List of the Best Carrier Deals
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Try selling it on eBay my cousin is selling her 13 Pro on eBay for $799 and she got multiple offers the highest so far was $650.
These are essentially rebranded contract periods. The problem is they gradually extended them to 3 years. If you change the plan within 3 years you pay what's remaining on the device instead of the old "ETF." At 3 years your device doesn't usually have max trade in value. Also, instead of the old $200 fee to get the device you have to surrender taxes + a device. In my case they are offering around $200-$300 more for my device than I could get for it selling locally. If you have multiple lines, get discounts on the plan (or don't want to do MVNO for whatever reason), and aren't going to change carriers, they can make sense. The three year period is making it less desirable though. Am I missing anything?
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I take trade-ins to a corporate store to avoid this. It's worked so far.
I do the same but I recommend you use Apple Card, you get an extra 3 % discount on the price, and you can simply pay the card right after. It is not a huge amount but it's saving anyway.
I know it's been said before but it bears repeating - the trade in rebates are usually statement credits spread out over two or three years, so if you think you'll be upgrading your device sooner than that you may want to reconsider (AT&T has been 3 years for a while, Verizon just went to three years earlier this year, T-Mobile is the lone holdout for two years). I bought my iPhone 13 Pro with a $1000 Verizon trade in credit two years ago and just received the final credit for the full $1000 this month, so for me it was worth it, but I also don't upgrade every year. I might go another year before upgrading so three years could work for me, but that's a decision each person would have to make.
I have an iPhone 12 PM (which I also got through the AT&T credit system, and I did receive them (swapped through store)). Going back through my records, the terms at the time was 30 months.
I intend on keeping my current UE AT&T plan (~$80/mo total) for three years (considering they're not likely to get any cheaper). Not happy about having to keep the device that long (though tbf, I've had mine roughly that long), but Apple is only offering $450 for the 12PM.
Am I one of the niche users where it actually makes sense to do a carrier trade-in, or where am I going wrong in my thinking?
I intend on keeping my current UE AT&T plan (~$80/mo total) for three years (considering they're not likely to get any cheaper). Not happy about having to keep the device that long (though tbf, I've had mine roughly that long), but Apple is only offering $450 for the 12PM.
Am I one of the niche users where it actually makes sense to do a carrier trade-in, or where am I going wrong in my thinking?
Problem with eBay is that its so consumer friendly that almost no matter what, they'll go with the buyer on any disputes. I sold a Moto X phone as broken because it had some chips in the wood on the back (remember that!) and the person wanted me to give them a new phone because of the issue I described. Disputed it with ebay, and they sided with the buyer despite it not being sold as working.
Most transactions will be totally fine, but the chance of it going sideways stops me from using it for expensive items.
You wouldn't want to go back to the good old days of the big carrier plan prices (adjusting for inflation), however. The cheapest AT&T plan for an iPhone in 2007 was $59.99/month (single line) which included unlimited data but was limited on talk (450 weekdays, 5,000 nights and weekends) and text (200). $59.99 is around $89 in today's dollars. That's even higher than AT&T's current top level "Unlimited Premium" plan.
Yeah but the iPhone was cutting edge back then and was exclusive to AT&T so they got away with that. But then again they are still trying…. What I mean by good old days is the straight forward upfront subsidized phone with no trade in required. That’s how most of the carriers operated until about circa 2015.
The convulted BS of needing to trade in and then finance the phone with bill credits strung out over 2-3 years is just a no go for me.
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if going through Apple card monthly installments all phones are unlocked. You just need to select a carrier at purchase but you can change carriers at any time.
I think the phone carriers were getting ticked off that people were buying unlocked phones through Apple and reselling them with no intention of having phone service so now they want someone to already have service to purchase through Apple
I think the phone carriers were getting ticked off that people were buying unlocked phones through Apple and reselling them with no intention of having phone service so now they want someone to already have service to purchase through Apple
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Unless you’re on a family plan, I still think that paying for the phone outright and doing T-Mobile prepaid is the best way to go. No activation fees, taxes included, mobile hotspot included, data not prioritized below their postpaid plans. I pay $45/month for 10 GB for one line and have never reached that data limit. I’m ultimately paying less than I would for any carrier postpaid deal, AND I’m not stuck with it for 3 years.
Nah, it's any phone that meets a minimum threshold of a $230 trade-in value. My 12 Pro Max with 256 is eligible for the $1K. AT&T doesn't seem to publish a list of which ones are eligible, although I'm wondering if they just go off of Apple's list
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Yeah, go figure Verizon would have the wrong terms and conditions on their website lol
pure insanity to not use an MVNO like USMobile for $25 flat Unlimited now with priority data and coverage, literally the same Verizon.
That’s exactly how I see it too with ATT.
You get $800 discount spread out over 36 months.
$22 off your bill monthly. IF you trade in your phone in 2 years, then you lose the remaining $22 a month credit over the next 12 months.
So basically you traded in your phone for $800-$264=$536.
Anyone looked at Boost Infinite’s brand new program that lets you update to a new iPhone every year for just $60 a month with the unlimited plan included? Seems like a great deal on paper. I currently pay $50 on TMO just for the plan so for $10 a month more I could get a brand new iPhone every year. It doesn’t even require a trade in to start.
https://www.boostinfinite.com/newsroom/infinite-access-for-iphone
https://www.boostinfinite.com/newsroom/infinite-access-for-iphone
Where is this T-Mobile BOGO deal mentioned in the article? I don't see it anywhere on T-Mobile's website and it's the first I've heard of it. Details??
Yeah it only really makes sense if you know you’ll keep the same phone AND carrier for 3 years. But even then it’s no better deal than other options that don’t tie you to long term commitments.