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Verizon CEO says he's open to dropping contracts

I'm so glad T-Mobile offers contract-free plans. T-Mobile will be responsible for starting this trend. ATT, Verizon, and Sprint will have to follow and offer it too to compete. I'm defecting Sprint because of it in Oct. T-Mobile is affordably reasonable and has very good cell service for my needs.
 
AFDoc said:
Not true. He would pay the same monthly rate if he paid outright for his phone, so there are no "hidden" costs.


True.
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On that plan yes, but if you buy your own phone and get s prepaid account you'd pay less because you aren't subsidizing your phone.

With a contract you ARE paying full retail whether you about it or not, it's just not as clearly stated as with this deal and they let you off the hook once it's paid off. ATT won't, so this means you can upgrade as much as you want long as your phone is paid off
 
tardman91 said:
I want European plans. You can get unlimited talk, text, and data for like $40 a month in some places over there. I'll gladly dish out $600 for a phone with plans like that. Hell, I would probably even sign a contract.
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Those prices would be nice, but those places probably have much denser populations and probably more wireless saturation. So you don't have to put up as many towers to cover land area. You're worrying more about bandwidth.
 
taedouni said:
Oh they'll end contracts alright.... Same monthly price , just no commitment and no subsidized phone.
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Yep. Hard to trust these people.
Have to be careful what they mean.

My main issue is that customers are still paying the same price after their contract ended. It should be cheaper once the term has finished.

Michael CM1 said:
Those prices would be nice, but those places probably have much denser populations and probably more wireless saturation. So you don't have to put up as many towers to cover land area. You're worrying more about bandwidth.
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This is true. And also, nationwide service in the US would be the equivalent to having service from London to Moscow. But in Europe, you just have service for your country which is just a small part of that entire distance.
 
I don't see that happening any time soon with Verizon or AT&T but I hope I'm wrong.
They will find a way to nickel and dime their customers some more and make it sound like they're giving them a deal:D
 
Slow Programmer said:
I am buying my first iPhone ever soon and it looks like it will be through T-Mobile. I hate contracts.
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The real difference with T-Mobile's plans isn't the lack of contracts, since you're either paying extra upfront for the phone or paying in installments and are on the hook for that for two years. So that's kinda just semantics. The key difference is not requiring you to pay that extra money per month if you already have a phone -- say someone who gets a hand-me-down iPhone 4 or 4S -- or when you pay off the hardware in a couple of years. I think that would save most of us $20/month for the same exact service.

T-Mobile's service isn't as good as Verizon's from what I hear, so if Verizon changed that would be huge. I'd much rather be able to shop for phones not tied to a carrier. I could buy an iPhone at Target and save 5 percent on release day just like I did for my iPads.
 
I think this would be a great thing for Verizon and us as customers. They've been doing this in Europe for years and it just makes sense. The pressure will fall to manufacturers to either make their phones worth the money new or bring the price down to a more realistic level. Right now, if you buy a 64GB iPhone 5 on contract for $399, Apple doesn't make less. Verizon pays the remaining $450 (or whatever they negotiated with Apple) and you "pay less". But actually you're not paying less overall. Break that $450 up over 24 months. That's $18.75/month. If Verizon messes you over and you want to switch carriers, you pay a declining $375 ETF. If they stop subsidizing contracts, they will have to focus more on maximizing their value and customer service even more to keep customers because we won't have the obligation to stay.

All that is coming from a devoted Verizon customer. This will eventually happen. Contracts will be gone and so will subsidized phones. It will be better for everyone. AND if you trade phones or sell phones, this will bolster that market as well.
 
I have little doubt they want to drop contracts, get customers to pay MORE for their phones but they won't lower the prices on their service. They will just tout how great the coverage is. I want great coverage and reasonable prices.
 
I do not see the benefit. Who cares about 100 dollars? T mobile charges you 100.00 up front for an iPhone 5 and then charges you per month. Their plans are cheaper but you get what you pay for.
 
lulla01 said:
I do not see the benefit. Who cares about 100 dollars? T mobile charges you 100.00 up front for an iPhone 5 and then charges you per month. Their plans are cheaper but you get what you pay for.
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The benefit is for those that have good tmobile signal in their area, and don't move out of the city or ever travel.
 
T-mobile aquired a chunk of AWS LTE spectrum form verzion. Metro pcs LTE is voice over LTE. If metro pcs merger goes through will be extremely close to taking 3rd place.
 
I would love it, but they would NOT lower the prices, so it wouldn't make any real difference. I'd love the European model that the person making the call pays for it and not the person receiving the call. That way I wouldn't use up minutes when spammers call.
 
tardman91 said:
I want European plans. You can get unlimited talk, text, and data for like $40 a month in some places over there. I'll gladly dish out $600 for a phone with plans like that. Hell, I would probably even sign a contract.
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250 minutes, unlimited texts, and unlimited internet for £12 (~$18) a month, no contract ;)

I think this might actually happen in the US if T-Mobile's approach catches on. Competition using this model would put pressure on the other carriers to follow suit to keep up.
 
0dev said:
250 minutes, unlimited texts, and unlimited internet for £12 (~$18) a month, no contract ;)

I think this might actually happen in the US if T-Mobile's approach catches on. Competition using this model would put pressure on the other carriers to follow suit to keep up.
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I can only dream...
 
somehow, I do not see AT&T or VZ lowering the monthly costs by that much. I just looked at my 3 IP5's if I move to T-Mobile and for 4G it would cost $150.00 per month?

So where is the savings, since I get LTE on AT&T for my 3 IP5's and it only costs me $178.00 granted we have a combined 6GB and we rarely use more than 2GB.

I am sorry but the monthly cost would have to drop way more, and I would wait for LTE on T-Mobile, not worth it now, plus I would lose my FAN which saves me over $20 per month.

----------
0dev said:
250 minutes, unlimited texts, and unlimited internet for £12 (~$18) a month, no contract ;)

I think this might actually happen in the US if T-Mobile's approach catches on. Competition using this model would put pressure on the other carriers to follow suit to keep up.
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But is that just for 3G and 4G service or is this for LTE as well? Also what speeds are the 3G and 4G in comparison to what I get on AT&T in my area?

However if I were only paying say $75.00 per month for all that and 3 IP5's I wouldn't mind 4G only.
 
Wicked1 said:
But is that just for 3G and 4G service or is this for LTE as well? Also what speeds are the 3G and 4G in comparison to what I get on AT&T in my area?

However if I were only paying say $75.00 per month for all that and 3 IP5's I wouldn't mind 4G only.
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There's no LTE on most UK networks yet but all the major ones are rolling it out this year. The network which provides the deal I mentioned above (giffgaff) probably won't be getting LTE for a while as it's a relatively small MVNO for O2.

If cheap LTE is important to you, though, look no further than Three. Their prices are also very good (£15 a month buys you 300 minutes, 3000 texts, and unlimited data on pay as you go) and when their LTE network is up and running this year there will be no additional costs for it at all. The LTE prices will literally be exactly the same as the 3G prices and everyone with a Three SIM and an LTE phone will automatically get to use the LTE network.
 
If they lower the plans to remove the subsidy then it's a win situation for the consumer.

Currently to take the best advantage of what you are paying for, you must upgrade when you are first eligible (otherwise you are still paying for a subsidy you are no longer getting). If the plans are contract free, you can upgrade when you want and not give them extra money in the mean time.

The hard part is getting the average consumer to understand subsides and how they are built into current plans. The average consumer looks at the low upfront phone price only and don't want to pay a higher price for the phone upfront to save on their monthly bill.
 
osofast240sx said:
what happen to 3G?
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Extinct.

3G/HSPA at upto 7.2mbps evolved into 4G/DC-HSPA+ at upto 42mbps. Frequency is the same and the communication protocol is similar (similar to 802.11b -> g -> n)

All blurred together. If your device only supports 3G though, you still got that... At the data amounts listed for 4G
 
bidwalj said:
If they lower the plans to remove the subsidy then it's a win situation for the consumer.

Currently to take the best advantage of what you are paying for, you must upgrade when you are first eligible (otherwise you are still paying for a subsidy you are no longer getting). If the plans are contract free, you can upgrade when you want and not give them extra money in the mean time.

The hard part is getting the average consumer to understand subsides and how they are built into current plans. The average consumer looks at the low upfront phone price only and don't want to pay a higher price for the phone upfront to save on their monthly bill.
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Do you really not get any saving from refusing your upgrade?

Over here if you don't upgrade your phone you get a lot more minutes, texts, and data for your money and a lower monthly bill if you agree to renew that contract. In fact, even if you do upgrade the phone you can still try and get a saving and a better allowance for renewing the contract if you ring around the other networks first and play them off against each other, that pretty much always works. If you're willing to sign another 24 month contract the network is pretty much your bitch.
 
0dev said:
Do you really not get any saving from refusing your upgrade?

Over here if you don't upgrade your phone you get a lot more minutes, texts, and data for your money and a lower monthly bill if you agree to renew that contract. In fact, even if you do upgrade the phone you can still try and get a saving and a better allowance for renewing the contract if you ring around the other networks first and play them off against each other, that pretty much always works. If you're willing to sign another 24 month contract the network is pretty much your bitch.
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No. You keep paying the same amount and you get no other benefits other than the upgrade and another 2 year contract.
 
0dev said:
There's no LTE on most UK networks yet but all the major ones are rolling it out this year. The network which provides the deal I mentioned above (giffgaff) probably won't be getting LTE for a while as it's a relatively small MVNO for O2.

If cheap LTE is important to you, though, look no further than Three. Their prices are also very good (£15 a month buys you 300 minutes, 3000 texts, and unlimited data on pay as you go) and when their LTE network is up and running this year there will be no additional costs for it at all. The LTE prices will literally be exactly the same as the 3G prices and everyone with a Three SIM and an LTE phone will automatically get to use the LTE network.
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Thanks, but I am in the US anyway, do not have these choices, and T-Mobile is not that much cheaper then the plan I have now with AT&T, plus on AT&T I get LTE for the same cost, so I would have no plan to move to T-Mob
 
To get back on topic, I would love for all carriers to follow the no contract model. But this will truly work only if our government makes it a requirement for all cell phones to be factory unlocked so we could use any phones for any carrier. as long as you have carrier specific phones, they can charge higher fees then the market dictates.
 
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