And unlimited calls. I baffle my younger friends when I bemoan the old days when I had like 450 minutes a month on Verizon (and that was an employee plan) back in '99.
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Remember when a new iPhone was $199
- Thread starter krause734
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And unlimited calls. I baffle my younger friends when I bemoan the old days when I had like 450 minutes a month on Verizon (and that was an employee plan) back in '99.
I counted the seconds until it was “night and weekend” minutes, so I could call my out-of-state girlfriend/fiancé.
No, this is way better, and even better if you keep your phone over 2 years.
My bill use to cost my family over $280 for 5 lines when subsidized, and you still needed to pay the $200+ when you upgrade. If you didnt upgrade the price was still $280+.
Now i pay less, and get more.
If you’re implying that earlier iPhones such as the iPhone 1 were cheaper they really weren’t. I was one of those first adopters back in 2007 that signed up for a 2 yr contract and still paid the full $599 ($699 for me cuz I had to get the 16 GB)!
iPhone 3G is where Apple finally allowed carriers to subsizdize but you were still paying the high monthly fee!
iPhone 3G is where Apple finally allowed carriers to subsizdize but you were still paying the high monthly fee!
You are forgetting that with the subsidized you paid a portion of the phone up front.
The last phone I subsidized cost me $299 out of pocket, plus taxes, and my line on my plan was $40 per month.
When I got my 6S, I paid the $299 up front just like I would have if it was subsidized, plus taxes, then my plan was $20 per month, plus $18.74 for the phone payments. So since you are complaining about people being bad at math, that is $38.74 per month on my line, or $1.26 less per month than with subsidized.
That is because I actually compared “apples to apples” with a proper down payment on the device. If you don’t put down some money up front, yes it’ll cost more per month than it would subsidized, but that is because you have to pay off more than before! You could put down $500 and pay even less per month. It is just a 0% 24 month loan. You can also pay it off early if you want to, but you have to do it as a lump sum.
Tl:dr it costs more per month because you made it cost more per month.
Obviously not everyone will have the same situation, but I bet most people pay more under these new plans than they did under 2-year contracts. Most likely, the people saving money had several lines they were paying for. Most people with only one or two lines are paying more. My last 2-year contract with AT$T just ended and when I get my iPhone 8 I'll be paying $65 for the plan plus around $35 for the phone. Before I was only paying $80/month without my discount. So sure, I save around $15 on the plan, but spend another $35 on the phone. Now I'm looking at a net loss of $20 a month. The carriers aren't stupid, they aren't going to change their business strategy from contracts to contract-free and lose money in the process. If you believe that, I've got a bridge to sell you.
I remember when AT&T would charge you $200 up front plus tax plus a $40/decision making fee and then divide and include the remaining price of the iPhone out across your phone bill over the next 24 months.
Did you ever try to cancel a 2 year contract?
Early Termination Fee.
Which was reduced month by month until your 24 months was over. So that phone never cost $200.
Even when you do the math properly, most people end up paying more. I did the math myself 2 years ago when buying my 6S, and even including activation fee (which they now charge on these plans like they did under contracts), upfront phone cost, differences in what my discount would apply to. I paid less under contract after 2 years than under the newer plans.
The cost of the phone is clearly defined. No interest is charged, and once paid in full that charge drops off.
When phones were $199 up front the monthly phone bill was not itemized to show portion going for paying the phone. Manufacturers charged cell companies full price. They recouped it by rolling in the extra charge for phone without defining it.
Worst part, that monthly charge never went down. You never knew the phone was paid off, you just kept paying the monthly fee. Free profit for the carriers.
Now providers are showing the cost of the plan, cost of the phone, which drops off after phone is paid off. Yes their are also discounts per phone as well as discounts for certain companies. I get 20% off base phone charge because of company affiliation.
Much prefer how it is now. I know what and how much I am paying for each item on my bill. With zero interest charges I prefer monthly phone lease end of year I give back the phone, get new one and have new monthly zero interest phone lease. Since I take care, so far never had return problem. At end of year I know what I save, half cost of phone. No hassles selling phone. Always have latest phone. And if I decide to can pay off early, keep paying monthly own phone after 24 months.
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Yep remember those days
Contracts three one plan unlimited everything including unlimited tethering free iPhone 4s £35 bargain
This reply is so bunk. You still have to factor in inflation from past times, and minimum wage has zero to do with iPhone prices.
With older plans there was no point in buying a cheap used phone off contract when you could wait for a "free" phone deal on a nicer newer (maybe not bleeding edge) phone. Now you can actually save money by doing that.
I used to pay $140-$150 for 2 lines on Verizon with 2 gb of data per line and 700 shared minutes whether I was in contract or not. Now I pay $100 for 4 lines on Cricket with unlimited talk/text and 4 GB of data per line. Even if I factor in phone cost we still come out way ahead. 2 of the 3 lines have 2-3 year old phones that are still going strong, and the 4th line buys cheaper Android phones.
I used to pay $140-$150 for 2 lines on Verizon with 2 gb of data per line and 700 shared minutes whether I was in contract or not. Now I pay $100 for 4 lines on Cricket with unlimited talk/text and 4 GB of data per line. Even if I factor in phone cost we still come out way ahead. 2 of the 3 lines have 2-3 year old phones that are still going strong, and the 4th line buys cheaper Android phones.
You still don’t understand. For example I may have paid let’s say $100 for my plan before. And paid $199 for a new phone every 2 years. Now my plan may be $80 a month with the discount I get for financing the phone. But I’m also charged $40 to finance the phone. So in reality even though my plan may be $80. My total cost each month is $120 with the finance charges. So how is that better then before?
What kind of phone are you getting that you gotta finance $40 a month for? Thats a $1000 phone or so if im not mistaken? Do you think if you were to get an X on contract you would pay up front only $200? It'll be more like $500-600.
No, you don’t understand that in your first example you put $199 down, and in your second you didn’t.
Put the $199 down on a phone that costs the same, and the plan plus the phone repayment will be less than on the old plan.
You could argue that the base plans cost more these days, but there are a couple fallacies with that:
1. You probably are getting a lot more with your plan now then you did.
2. Your provider would have upped the price of the base plan whether the phone was subsidized or with the repayment plans and long term you would still be paying more on that part
If you’re paying $40/mo now for a phone, then you have a $960 phone.
A phone that expensive back in the contract days would have cost you $399, not $199. $199 was for the $649 phone.
Even the $550 or so an X would have cost out of pocket would still work out to less money after 2 years for most people. Nobody has explained why the telecoms were so generous as to make less money off of us consumers by moving from contracts to contract-free. Here's a dose of reality, they didn't. Relatively few managed to save money, while the large majority pays more now.
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If you buy a new phone very two years now as before it's a wash. The cost of the subsidy was built in to the plan. Once the two years passed and you kept the same phone the phone company pockets the subsidy as profit. If you got a new phone, and a new 2 year contract, it was a wash for them. If you got a high end phone like a iphone you coughed up an extra $200 (or more depending on memory) in addition to paying the subsidy built into the service plan. If you got a mid-range phone you didn't have to pay anything. If you got a cheap phone it was free and the phone company pocketed the extra cash.
If you don't need to get a new phone every two years you are way ahead now. I'm paying $45 now vs $93.xx before. Still rocking a 5s and no pressing need to replace. I'm way ahead.
If you don't need to get a new phone every two years you are way ahead now. I'm paying $45 now vs $93.xx before. Still rocking a 5s and no pressing need to replace. I'm way ahead.
They actually reduced it more than the cost of the subsidy. I have been with Verizon for years, and when I switched away from the contract plan my bill dropped $35 per month. Buying my iPhone 7 last year ended up being $27 per month for 2 years on the payment plan- so I'm still coming out $8 cheaper per month than when I was on contract. And when the phone is paid off (I paid it off early), my bill drops by $27- something I couldn't do on the old plan.
