No More Contracts What Will You Do

[Wicked1]

So if all carriers do away with contracts and charge full price for the phone, but keep the cost of monthly service low what will you do?

I personally would rather save money monthly and upgrade every 3 + years or so, not interested in the new device each year.

 

[djransom]

I'm strongly contemplating upgrading every couple years now and sticking w/ the S cycle for the iPhones and just trade in me and my families iPhones for new ones and finance it.

 

[I7guy]

I don't change phones often. My last phone (Storm 2) I had for almost 4 years. I paid full retail for my 5s. The plan is to to pay full retail for the 6 and then give my spouse my 5s.

 

[maflynn]

AFAIK, VZW and ATT are still offering contracts and the subsidized phones. I personally prefer this as it appears to be cheaper then what either are offering with their no contract options.

To be fair, the VZW EDGE program looks very confusing but running the numbers, it appears to be cheaper for me if I stay on contract. I'm not interested in upgrading any sooner then 2 years

 

[Wicked1]

I prefer lower monthly and keep phone a little longer, however if you can afford to buy full retail every 2 years or every year I think this is ok.

Those Next and Every Two plans seem to be a rip off because the trade in prices stink. I would rather buy a phone and sell it on eBay, however eBay prices may get lower on the iPhones in the future, I do not see the market maintaining such a high resale value.

I do not plan on getting anything but an iPhone but we will see what the future brings, to me Windows and BB phones are not even a consideration, Android and iOS are the only options for me.

 

[cambookpro]

This is what I do in the UK at the moment - buy unsubsidised then pay £12 a month for unlimited data, texts and 300 mins.

However, I still only upgrade every 2 years as, in my opinion, it makes the most sense for a number of reasons.

I essentially pay (599÷24)+12 = £37 per month

Much better value than most contracts, and I'm not locked it for more than a month. However, the initial outlay is obviously quite a bit.

 

[talmy]

Makes no difference to me. Only my first cell phone had a contract, and I'd say that was because I didn't know any better. Current phones (including my wife's 5s) were bought retail and are contract free using T-Mobile pre-pay. We keep our phones for many years, basically until they wear out.

 

[has.marvel]

I will buy at full retail and decide when to upgrade based on what the new phones provide in function and features. There are a couple of upgrades I did in the past just to take advantage of the subsidy. I did not want to leave money on the table but in the future, Apple will have to provide some real feature and function improvements to get me to upgrade. No more, little faster processor, little bit better camera, little bit longer battery life give me $849 for a new phone upgrades. They will have to earn the upgrade by improving what is already a pretty mature phone device.

 

[Agent-P]

Up until now I've upgraded every year, however I'm considering after the iPhone 6 to just use it until it stops working. I do that with my laptops and seem to get by just fine. No need to spend money every year when it's not necessary.

 

[carjakester]

every other year when i don't have a contract upgrade ill sell my iPhone and buy the other at retail, it ends up at almost the same price it would have been if i upgraded with a new contract.

 

[spinedoc77]

I'm just going to finance my phones and get a brand new top of the line smartphone every year. I'll probably end up buying another phone full price as I like to swap around phones.

0% financing can't be beat IMO, and it takes away the hassle of having to sell my phone and all the risks and hassles of that. With these new ATT plans I can get a plan AND finance the phone for less than what I was paying ATT just a year ago.

 

[CEmajr]

I'll finance and get a new phone every year.

- iPhone 6: Pay $99 down (for 32GB Version)
- Pay $27 per month for 12 months ($324)
- Sell my iPhone 6 for around $450
- Get the iPhone 6S for $199 down (for 32GB Version)

Rinse and repeat. T-Mobile has made it very easy to upgrade every year.

 

[Jessica Lares]

I'd buy full retail price. I don't upgrade until my stuff breaks anyway.

 

[Rodster]

I've been off contract since 2009. I'm now with Straight Talk (Nexus 4/AT&T). I usually keep my phone on average 4 years or when it quits working.

 

[T5BRICK]

I'll finance and get a new phone every year.

- iPhone 6: Pay $99 down (for 32GB Version)
- Pay $27 per month for 12 months ($324)
- Sell my iPhone 6 for around $450
- Get the iPhone 6S for $199 down (for 32GB Version)

Rinse and repeat. T-Mobile has made it very easy to upgrade every year.

Pretty sure when you upgrade your phone you need to have completely paid off the previous phone or trade it in. I'm not a T-Mobile customer, but this is how the other carriers are handling their plans.

 

[viewfly]

AFAIK, VZW and ATT are still offering contracts and the subsidized phones. I personally prefer this as it appears to be cheaper then what either are offering with their no contract options.



To be fair, the VZW EDGE program looks very confusing but running the numbers, it appears to be cheaper for me if I stay on contract. I'm not interested in upgrading any sooner then 2 years

The ATT no contract plan is cheaper for a phone to get every 12 month or even to own.

NEXT plan: $37.5* 12 months= $450, and you trade in for a new phone. No upfront charges.

If you decide not to upgrade, you payout over 20 months. $37.5* 20= $750. (32Gb model). That's the Apple retail price. The phone is yours and ATT will unlock. And you drop the extra $37.50 a month.

The contract plan is now 24 months for a new phone. So $25 extra for 2 years is $600 plus the $299 you paid up front. That's $900.

So $750 vs $900 for a phone you own. 20 months vs 24 months.

 

[Bacong]

bought my 5s off contract. Thinking about getting the 6 on AT&T next and using the 450 or so that I get for the 5s as a huge payment on the 6.

 

[CEmajr]

Pretty sure when you upgrade your phone you need to have completely paid off the previous phone or trade it in. I'm not a T-Mobile customer, but this is how the other carriers are handling their plans.

Yep, that's where the $450 comes in. I'd owe $424 at the 12 month mark and the $450 from reselling the phone on eBay/Craigslist would take care of that.It pays the remaining balance on the phone so that I can pay $99 down again for the newest one.

Not sure how VZW/AT&T handle their financing but that's how it works at TMO.

 

[Wicked1]

I will buy at full retail and decide when to upgrade based on what the new phones provide in function and features. There are a couple of upgrades I did in the past just to take advantage of the subsidy. I did not want to leave money on the table but in the future, Apple will have to provide some real feature and function improvements to get me to upgrade. No more, little faster processor, little bit better camera, little bit longer battery life give me $849 for a new phone upgrades. They will have to earn the upgrade by improving what is already a pretty mature phone device.

Yeah I agree, I will only upgrade if the phone has much better features, done with S model upgrades, and if the 6 is lackluster I will stay with the 5.

It will be interesting to see how Apple does the pre orders in the future because they were always based on eligibility and since a lot of plans are going away from the 2 year contracts most upgrades will be for Unlocked phones which they do not sell for 2 months after the release dates.

They also need to make the base model a 32GB IMO because after the iOS you have like 12.5GB on a 16GB and that is nothing anymore. I refuse to keep paying more to get the 32GB with no Micro SD slot.

 

[aneftp]

Post paid ATT/Verzion are still a major ripoff of single lines.

My non USA peeps don't realize that most Americans are on family lines.

So no more contracts still won't help the single line person. They are better off on prepaid.

 

[deeddawg]

I'm unsure why there's any sort of question here?

When a new iphone comes out, I decide if the new model benefits are worth the cost of upgrading from my current phone. If so, I upgrade. If not, I don't. I don't see how there's any time factor here, just cost/benefit analysis.

Contracts (or lack thereof) merely affect the cost of upgrading. You could ALWAYS upgrade while in contract on AT&T, it was just a matter of cost. Did Verizon force you to keep the contract phone on the line?

 

[Wicked1]

Post paid ATT/Verzion are still a major ripoff of single lines.

My non USA peeps don't realize that most Americans are on family lines.

So no more contracts still won't help the single line person. They are better off on prepaid.

Here in the US AT&T gives you unlimited talk and text with 10GB of data and $15.00 cost of your phone so $115.00 per month single line.

T-Mobile costs $70.00 Unlimted Everything on LTE/4G if you have your own phone, but coverage is not as Great as other carriers, namely AT&T and Verizon.

Not sure what you pay for a single line in EU?

 

[deeddawg]

Not sure what you pay for a single line in EU?

For the UK, there's some pricing comparison at http://www.theverge.com/2013/8/29/4668116/uk-lte-buyers-guide

So it seems a little cheaper in the UK than in the US.


Build out costs are a bit different given the amount of territory to cover. Compare the size of the UK against the US using this cool tool where you can drag the UK map around to overlay any part of the continental US: http://www.sarmonster.net/UK.htm

 

[C DM]

I'm unsure why there's any sort of question here?

When a new iphone comes out, I decide if the new model benefits are worth the cost of upgrading from my current phone. If so, I upgrade. If not, I don't. I don't see how there's any time factor here, just cost/benefit analysis.

Contracts (or lack thereof) merely affect the cost of upgrading. You could ALWAYS upgrade while in contract on AT&T, it was just a matter of cost. Did Verizon force you to keep the contract phone on the line?

Yeah, with Verizon you can always upgrade, just the price would be different--while in contract and not eligible for discounted upgrade, you can upgrade at full price essentially (or buy another device on your own and switch to it).

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I'll finance and get a new phone every year.

- iPhone 6: Pay $99 down (for 32GB Version)
- Pay $27 per month for 12 months ($324)
- Sell my iPhone 6 for around $450
- Get the iPhone 6S for $199 down (for 32GB Version)

Rinse and repeat. T-Mobile has made it very easy to upgrade every year.

Except you don't get to actually sell the phone and get that money from the sale (unless you actually paid off the whole price of the phone). That's the whole catch behind it all.

 

[deeddawg]

Except you don't get to actually sell the phone and get that money from the sale (unless you actually paid off the whole price of the phone). That's the whole catch behind it all.

Should be able to:

1. Get phone on 0% financing program (AT&T NEXT or T-Mobile EIP, don't know about Verizon)
2. Enjoy for a or however long you like.
3. Pay off the phone early using money from savings or wherever
4. Get new phone on 0% financing program (AT&T/T-Mobile/NEXT)
5. Sell previous phone and put proceeds into savings or wherever
6. Repeat cycle