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Get Ready for iPhone 15 Pre-Orders With This List of the Best Carrier Deals

chevman said:
Seriously, look at Mint Mobile (yes, they use T mobile's network) - when I ran the numbers last year when getting my wife's 14 Pro this was the cheapest overall when looking at all costs, credits, promos, etc over the 2 year period. Saved about $900 all in compared to anything else I could find, including T-mobile themselves!

Here's a link if you want to sign up thru my referral code - http://fbuy.me/t-i7J

Both my wife and I have been on them for a year now with zero problems. 2 lines, unlimited talk/text and 5GB of data per line per month for $30/month total.
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Using Mint here along with my daughter on the "family" plan, and it definitely saves money. I used to be on T-Mobile's cheap "Connect" plan but Mint was even cheaper.
Then, T-Mobile bought Mint out -- but they're still keeping it the same (so far).

Only issue we've had (my daughter, much more than myself) is poor signal strength in many places. She's regularly finding places where the data service becomes non-existent and voice calls get marginal and drop out a lot. I've experienced it too, but she's still on an iPhone XR while I'm on a 13 Pro and I believe my 13 supports more of the frequencies T-Mobile uses, so that might be why I get better results?
 
xpxp2002 said:
The problem is that it's artificially driving the prices of phones up, making payment plans and promotions the only way many people can afford to buy one.

If phones were only sold without financing, Apple would never be able to charge $1200 for a base tier Pro Max. They'd either sell far fewer units or have to accept less profit and charge a more reasonable price. And I use the Pro Max as one example, but it really applies across the board. You'd see a lot more people running iPhone SE and other older models and Apple would have to charge more reasonable prices.

But as long as carriers keep letting people trade in "any phone, any condition" for $800-1000 in credit and a three-year ball-and-chain to get the promotion to pay out, phone prices will be artificially inflated for anybody who actually wants and can afford to pay upfront and not leverage those "deals".
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So my wife and I just get the new phone every year. We buy cheap trade ins, this year the 11 pro for $225 has been the sweet spot. Trade them in for 15 pros. Give the 14 pros to the kids. Sell their 13 pros for ~$500. Take the remaining $250 and apply it towards each line. My job pays $80/month for my phone. I realize that’s a perk not everyone gets. 15s are paid off in less than a year. Credits keep rolling for 2 years. Bill with 4 current phones, home internet and 4 cellular watchs(hardware paid upfront) and my bill runs $80-90/month. Currently getting about $240/month in bill credits.
 
dannyyankou said:
Yeah, no way I'm getting their most expensive plan just to save a little more on a trade in. I have their Essential Saver plan for $50, which is actually a decent price for a single line plan. I'll just trade in with Apple and take my $450 from them.
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Yeah I have a plan that costs $25 a line and they'll have to pry it from my cold dead hands.
 
pmm1221 said:
I don’t see it either. I only see the trade in deal.
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Same. That's what I came to the comment thread looking for. Maybe that only goes active once the 15 launches? I am planning to upgrade in this cycle and was figuring on a 15 Pro but would definitely consider the 14 Pro for a nice savings.
 
webkit said:
Which T-Mobile prepaid plan has "taxes included"? I thought only their upper end postpaid plans (Go5G, Magenta Max, Magenta) have taxes and fees included.
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You’re right, I had that wrong. Mine is $40 plus tax so ~$45. I’ve been taking advantage of discounted prepaid cards for so long that I forgot what the actual monthly charge is.
 
coachgq said:
So my wife and I just get the new phone every year. We buy cheap trade ins, this year the 11 pro for $225 has been the sweet spot. Trade them in for 15 pros. Give the 14 pros to the kids. Sell their 13 pros for ~$500. Take the remaining $250 and apply it towards each line. My job pays $80/month for my phone. I realize that’s a perk not everyone gets. 15s are paid off in less than a year. Credits keep rolling for 2 years. Bill with 4 current phones, home internet and 4 cellular watchs(hardware paid upfront) and my bill runs $80-90/month. Currently getting about $240/month in bill credits.
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Damn, your kids must be eating good.
 
Expos of 1969 said:
Not a criticism, just a comment from outside the US.

Your carrier shenanigans, hocus pocus, mathematical complexities and cost structures rival your HMO medical insurance red tape and bafflegarb :oops:

However, with regard to phones, you pay far less than we do in Europe.
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Aren’t prices in Europe quoted with VAT included? The price you see in the US is of course without sales tax added because that amount varies by state and local jurisdictions. Just wondering if that is the difference you are seeing.
 
xdhd350 said:
Aren’t prices in Europe quoted with VAT included? The price you see in the US is of course without sales tax added because that amount varies by state and local jurisdictions. Just wondering if that is the difference you are seeing.
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I realize the VAT is included. What I was getting at and not too clearly, is that in Europe (at least in my part) carriers do not give huge credits when buying a new phone from them or substantial trade in cash or credit. As a result, even though users in the US are locked into a contract, it appears to me the overall cost for the phone is much less than in Europe. I stand to be corrected if I am missing something.
 
Looks like Walmart is offering $1100 savings: https://www.walmart.com/cp/apple-iphone-terms-conditions/5116563?gbo=1

  • Save up to $1,100 with AT&T​

    Purchase the iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max, $100 instant savings by purchasing on installment. Meet qualifications for AT&T up to $1,000 Trade-in, details below.
    Purchase the iPhone 15 or iPhone 15 Plus, $100 instant savings by purchasing on installment. Meet qualifications for AT&T up to $800 Trade-in, details below.
 
Expos of 1969 said:
What I was getting at and not too clearly, is that in Europe (at least in my part) carriers do not give huge credits when buying a new phone from them or substantial trade in cash or credit. As a result, even though users in the US are locked into a contract, it appears to me the overall cost for the phone is much less than in Europe. I stand to be corrected if I am missing something.
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It's not necessarily that phones are cheaper, it's about how they are marketed by carriers to get people to switch from the competition, add additional lines, and/or lock in for 2 to 3 years on a high(er) priced and high(er) margin plan.

Essentially, part of the higher plan price is used to "discount" or "subsidize" (often via an inflated trade value) the phone price and spread the "savings" over 2 to 3 years to lock customers in for that time frame in order to get the full credit/discount. Also, the "savings" figure can be misleading as part of it may be the customer's trade-in value.
 
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maverick22 said:
With the T-Mobile BOGO deal, do you have to trade a phone in?
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No trade-in is required. If you are an existing T-Mobile customer, you have to add at least one new line to an "eligible" plan. If you are new/switching to T-Mobile, you have to sign up for at least two lines on an "eligible" plan. The $700 discount on second phone is spread over 24 monthly bill credits.
 
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I have verizon unlimited. There is me, the wife, the daughter and the granddaughter on my plan. So I went with the unlimited data and text. It made sense, rather than get a message that I am soon to be out of data , here we are. The wife uses it as sometimes a hotspot for her mac when she is out and about and that eats up data. So... Here we are. The daughter has an android, but I won't hold that against her. So down the road when something that has that "wow" factor for me comes along, I will go with that. I have the watch with the phone option incase I am away from the phone and need some assistance. I am 76 and worried that if I fall or get sick it made sense. So, sure I would love a new phone, but again a lot of money for something that works.
 
orangeadrenaline said:
Wifi calling FTW
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Rather a big loss. WiFi calling is abyssmal in my experience, dropped calls, calls sound like they are underwater, echoes, and no handoff when switching from WiFi to cellular. Thankfully Verizon provided us a free LTE repeater which gives full signal, I'm sure Tmobile has one as well.

I don't know what the issue with my house is, but I suspect it's because we are right in the middle of 5g and 4g towers and the 1-2 bars I get inside the house on Verizon just constantly go back and forth between 5g and 4g making my phone useless.
 
spinedoc77 said:
Rather a big loss. WiFi calling is abyssmal in my experience, dropped calls, calls sound like they are underwater, echoes, and no handoff when switching from WiFi to cellular. Thankfully Verizon provided us a free LTE repeater which gives full signal, I'm sure Tmobile has one as well.

I don't know what the issue with my house is, but I suspect it's because we are right in the middle of 5g and 4g towers and the 1-2 bars I get inside the house on Verizon just constantly go back and forth between 5g and 4g making my phone useless.
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Calls are still entirely VoLTE -- whether you see "LTE" or "5G" in the status indicator makes no difference.

If the LTE microcell works better, it is more likely poor Wi-Fi connectivity that is impacting Wi-Fi calling.
 
B-Mc-C said:
Has anyone noticed that Apple’s AT&T carrier offer is different from AT&T’s? Apple is offering $800 off a 15 Pro if you trade in a 12 Pro, while AT&T’s website is offering the full $1000 off (since the 12 Pro trade-in is valued above $230). What the heck!
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The ATT website to me shows the 12 Pro as $130-$229:

  • To qualify for $830 credit, minimum Trade-In value must be $130-$229 after device condition questions have been answered
  • Eligible devices:
    • Apple iPhone: 11, 11 Pro, iPhone 12mini, 11 Pro Max, 12, 12 Pro, 13 mini
 
Apple_Robert said:
Unless you are already on one of the top tier plans, the deals aren’t deals. They are sucker plans that give more profit to the carrier.
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Exactly. I went on the Verizon site and they offer $1,000 trade-in for my old phone, but the difference between my prepaid plan and the post-paid plan costs more over 24 months. A lot more.

Best deal I see so far is to buy the phone outright from Apple with a trade-in and keep my existing plan.
 
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xpxp2002 said:
The problem is that it's artificially driving the prices of phones up, making payment plans and promotions the only way many people can afford to buy one.

If phones were only sold without financing, Apple would never be able to charge $1200 for a base tier Pro Max. They'd either sell far fewer units or have to accept less profit and charge a more reasonable price. And I use the Pro Max as one example, but it really applies across the board. You'd see a lot more people running iPhone SE and other older models and Apple would have to charge more reasonable prices.

But as long as carriers keep letting people trade in "any phone, any condition" for $800-1000 in credit and a three-year ball-and-chain to get the promotion to pay out, phone prices will be artificially inflated for anybody who actually wants and can afford to pay upfront and not leverage those "deals".
Click to expand...
You can easily see an upward trend of iPhone pricing once AT&T started Installments
 
Roddly said:
If it’s a carrier deal then yes in the form of losing all future bill credits which is basically the whole trade in
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Yes there is no reason to pay it off unless you are going to upgrade if you are getting bill credits
 
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