Verizon Eliminates Two-Year Contracts for Smartphone Upgrades

[Bawstun]

Well, there are still reasons beyond that, like coverage that might be better for someone, for example.

This isn't 2002. Not to be sarcastic and I know Midwest areas and certain other spots may be an exception, but for 99.9% of people those issues are long gone. Network congestion isn't like it used to be even in the big cities IMO.

 

[C DM]

This isn't 2002. Not to be sarcastic and I know Midwest areas and certain other spots may be an exception, but for 99.9% of people those issues are long gone. Network congestion isn't like it used to be even in the big cities IMO.

2002 or not there are still areas where people can have better coverage with some carrier(s) and worse with some other(s). Things are certainly better, but it by no means means it's the same everywhere for everyone.

 

[pmt513]

Meh, they were the last ones to have them anyway. T-Mobile, Sprint and AT&T ditched them already. The new way is cheaper for like 99% of people too

Sprint still does contact only online, for now at least.

 

[Skysthelimit91]

Officially they stopped offering that for lines that didn't have that discount applied to them at some point before. Lines that had it before generally can get it again (even potentially automatically) when it would be applicable to them. For lines that never had it it's not something that is supposed to be available, at least not officially. Of course, it's certainly possible that some agents might overlook that or do it as some incentive (kind of like in some instances some people can get out of paying activation/upgrade fees, while many others they don't).

This is correct. Hasn't been available for quite some time now. Just to double check, I just pulled up the account of a customer with The More Everything Plan. There is no option for adding on the month to month discount. It was removed (a long time ago). So I don't know how anyone could have gotten it added on recently.

 

[C DM]

This is correct. Hasn't been available for quite some time now. Just to double check, I just pulled up the account of a customer with The More Everything Plan. There is no option for adding on the month to month discount. It was removed (a long time ago). So I don't know how anyone could have gotten it added on recently.

Best I can tell, aside form special codes and/or representatives with some sort of override abilities being involved, if at some point those particular discounts were added to the account/lines then that discount would still be available even now whenever it would apply (basically even if a line ended up having a device payment plan for a while and then paid it off then the month to month discount that was previously added at some point would kick in now that the device payment discount would no longer apply).

 

[AndrewDesjardin]

Still fail to understand how this is possible. I've been holding onto an upgrade and pretty upset about losing it. How is paying full price for a phone spread out over two years cheaper than paying up front? For an iPhone 7, I can pay 199.99 today for a two year contract or can sign up for a payment plan of 27.08 monthly paying a total of 650 over 24 months. I could be completely missing something but always saw the doing away with contracts to actually be a greedy move by carriers to not subsidize phones.

Verizon, in the past fronted $450.00 on your behalf when Apple got full payment for your iPhone on day one when you signed the dotted line for a two year contract. This contract was basically a promise to pay back $18.75 per month for 24 months which is equal to your $450.00 discount.

Verizon, now does not want to wait to be paid back the $450.00 over 24 months, so if you can't front the full price of a phone on day one of purchase, Verizon will allow you to take up to 24 months to pay off a phone or let you re-commit to a new payment agreement after 12-payments are made on a current payment commitment. So, a Verizon customer pays sales tax on day one on the full declared value of an iPhone and then pays 24-prorated payments based upon the value of the device. So, if the phone is a value of $649.00, then your payment is $27.04 monthly.

Apple, now offers a payment program that includes the cost of AppleCare+ in the monthly payment for $5.38 more instead of paying $129.00 all up in front allowing you to get repair coverage at 50% off if you want a new iPhone once every 12-months.

 

[campyguy]

It seems like as of today those contract options might also be done for.

Killjoy.

I've figured as much about the end coming. IMHO so many nitwits beating on the network without regard for others - on a recent bridge replacement job, my inspector and I couldn't get any data at all in a rural area despite a strong LTE signal, it turned out a sub was running 6 file servers 24/7 off of two smartphones. The nitwit was terminated, and we could finally get through. Grrr.

As for me, all of my lines are under contract for at least another 14-24 months - I've never kept any of the subsidized handsets I bought. Forgot to mention earlier, I used the BBM with the Apple.com web portal. My guess is that we'll see feedback from one of a 2-3 threads on HoFo and SlickDeals in the coming weeks. I'm going to AOL one more UL line and transfer my full account to an EIN, no more consumer crap for me. Cheers!

 

[Chidoro]

3. This is similar, but not exactly the same, as how drug companies squeeze extra profits by claiming R&D costs on a new use of an existing drug.

While it is a strategy to extend patent life, there are R&D costs associated with new uses for an existing drug.
A lot. Carry on.

 

[4jasontv]

While it is a strategy to extend patent life, there are R&D costs associated with new uses for an existing drug.
A lot. Carry on.

LOL. I'm sure they are excessive. There is no way that information is simply gathered during original development and that sat on.
[doublepost=1483796884][/doublepost]

I've figured as much about the end coming. IMHO so many nitwits beating on the network without regard for others - on a recent bridge replacement job, my inspector and I couldn't get any data at all in a rural area despite a strong LTE signal, it turned out a sub was running 6 file servers 24/7 off of two smartphones. The nitwit was terminated, and we could finally get through. Grrr.

You ruined someones life because you chose an ISP that sucked? That makes you sound aweful. Sure, if it was company property that would be a good reason to discipline them. But hopefully you did so because they were using company property for personal use after they had been told not to and NOT because it simply interfered with your service. It's the ISPs job to manage traffic not the customers. There is no excuse for one device maxing its available bandwidth having a detrimental effect on another device.

 

[sbailey4]

It's not advertised, but they didn't do away with it. It doesn't apply automatically when your contract ends, you have to ask for it. I just chat them on their website and ask for them to apply the off contract discount to whatever line. I have a $25 discount on 3 lines, last line just started it in December. I'm on the more everything loyal 6gb plan.

Interesting. I just asked for it in Oct and was told it was gone and no longer an option. I had it before in the past on the same lines before we got new iP6. back when they came out. Also a VZW rep in this thread just confirmed the option is no longer available in their system to select so not sure how you managed to get that recently on a new line.

 

[campyguy]

You ruined someones life because you chose an ISP that sucked? That makes you sound aweful. Sure, if it was company property that would be a good reason to discipline them. But hopefully you did so because they were using company property for personal use after they had been told not to and NOT because it simply interfered with your service. It's the ISPs job to manage traffic not the customers. There is no excuse for one device maxing its available bandwidth having a detrimental effect on another device.

Careful here. I didn't write anything about turning in the person, reporting the issue, or even talking to anyone about the issue - and I didn't. One of the neighbors close to the project site told me about the reason and the fallout - they're the ones who complained to the carrier, and they'd been putting up with crappy service for 2 years prior to the project start, according to the neighbor. Hell, I didn't even know who the source of the issue was. My inspector and I were only conversing between each other, and he never talked to the local residents. Read a bit more closely before lashing out - not at all cool.

 

[4jasontv]

Careful here. I didn't write anything about turning in the person, reporting the issue, or even talking to anyone about the issue - and I didn't. One of the neighbors close to the project site told me about the reason and the fallout - they're the ones who complained to the carrier, and they'd been putting up with crappy service for 2 years prior to the project start, according to the neighbor. Hell, I didn't even know who the source of the issue was. My inspector and I were only conversing between each other, and he never talked to the local residents. Read a bit more closely before lashing out - not at all cool.

You are right, you didn't say who got the person fired. Lack of details, name-calling, a clear benefit to you, led to that assumption. I took the "Grrr" comment to mean you were thankful he was gone. My apologies for assuming that.

Please tell me you called the neighbor close to the site a "nitwit" for putting up with it for 2 years and then allowing the carrier to pass blame to someone who, like them, was trying to use the service they paid for. I hope you helped them be aware of how their behavior and lack of taking ownership of the issue led to this poor "sub" losing their job.

 

[B4U]

The subsidies have been getting worse and worse as we move further away from the times when smartphones weren't to be seen EVERYWHERE and pretty much expected.

They don't need the pitch anymore and you can feel it, especially as soon as Apple got in and found more and more ways to add 100€ to your device bill here and there.

"Low" price to advertise, before all the mumbo jumbo.

Oh, need the better camera? Get the Plus! Or for the bigger screen of course, 16GB not enough, ... (today 32, good ****ing riddance on the 16GB, even though 32GB on a flagship phone is kinda sketchy as well, but eh...)

Glassed Silver:mac

32GB is okay if and ONLY IF, there is a micro SD slot to expand it.

 

[campyguy]

You are right, you didn't say who got the person fired. Lack of details, name-calling, a clear benefit to you, led to that assumption. I took the "Grrr" comment to mean you were thankful he was gone. My apologies for assuming that.

Please tell me you called the neighbor close to the site a "nitwit" for putting up with it for 2 years and then allowing the carrier to pass blame to someone who, like them, was trying to use the service they paid for. I hope you helped them be aware of how their behavior and lack of taking ownership of the issue led to this poor "sub" losing their job.

No worries.

About my name-calling, I was considering it as a non-directional point. While not pleased at the person causing the bottleneck, my comment was directed at both the persons not dealing with the issue in the first place and the client, which expected me to deal with a project's issues while being aware of it - the need to get timely information into and out the site is key to keeping what is, in essence, $4k per hour moving in a positive direction. The comment from the person conveying the amount of time they'd dealt with "slow data" while being aware of the issue did annoy me at the time, given that I was told after "they turned the guy in" after two years - I related to him at the time that they may not have cut the guy off but simply re-provisioned everyone's accounts in the area, and all I got back was an "Oh…" and the deep look of satisfaction disappeared. As to me offering a comment, I never do that - I get hired and paid to resolve issues - but it's nice when I don't have to drive miles to get a signal - however, my comment that the carrier could have resolved the issue differently than "cutting off the guy" as he's posed liked quelled his (IMHO) sense of "victory" to a degree. I've also learned that agencies - some of my clients - like to leave their consultants with a bag of ticked-off cats just for the entertainment value, and in the rural areas I've worked I've really met some interesting, and wonderful, people.

That written, Cheers, and Happy New Year!

 

[SkippyThorson]

You may be on an older plan, and in many of those situations keeping the contract plan made sense. However, on their recent plans, the line access fee was much higher for two year plans than for payment plans or fully-paid phones. Also, with payment plans, the payments stop when you have fully repaid the phone whereas the higher line access fees of the contract plans persisted in perpetuity until you switched to a payment plan.

Two year contract:
$200 for device = $200 (charged once)
$40/mo line access fee = $480 annual
plus whatever data bucket you get
Total after two years: $1160 (plus whatever data bucket you get)
Total after three years: $1640 (plus whatever data bucket you get)

Payment plan:
Device is $0 down
$27.08/mo device payment = $325 annual (this fee ends after $650 is paid)
$20/mo line access fee = $240 annual
plus whatever data bucket you get
Total after two years: $1130 (plus whatever data bucket you get)
Total after three years: $1370 (plus whatever data bucket you get)

The longer you wait between upgrades, the better of a deal the payment plan is.

This was the most sense I have ever seen regarding the at-end cost. Well done good sir!

 

[jwpoof]

This isn't 2002. Not to be sarcastic and I know Midwest areas and certain other spots may be an exception, but for 99.9% of people those issues are long gone. Network congestion isn't like it used to be even in the big cities IMO.

Is the middle of Los Angeles considered the Midwest for you? I can walk to two Apple stores in under 15 minutes from my house, but anybody with ATT or TMobile gets no service inside my house and on the street is not much better.

I hate Verizon. The only reason I use them is because they work inside my home.

 

[BruiserB]

Is the middle of Los Angeles considered the Midwest for you? I can walk to two Apple stores in under 15 minutes from my house, but anybody with ATT or TMobile gets no service inside my house and on the street is not much better.

I hate Verizon. The only reason I use them is because they work inside my home.

Assuming you have home internet, T-mobile's wifi calling should work great in your house. If the problem extends to your neighborhood outside of your house, that's different depending on how much time you spend there.

In my case T-Mobile works great all over Minneapolis and is the only carrier that has a signal in my underground parking garage.

 

[Rique]

I read through this thread (OK, TBH, I skimmed it and used "search") and I can't find an answer to my question. If I purchase my next phone using non-contract terms, do I actually own the phone at the end of the two year contract - or is the deal structured more as a lease than as a purchase?

From what I've read here and elsewhere, I've inferred it IS a purchase, but I'm not 100% clear on that. We prefer to sell our phones on Glyde at the end of our contract terms (and in this new plan, that would be at the end of the period by which time the phones would be fully paid for) and use receipts from the sale to pay for an upgrade to the latest and greatest - it sounds as if we won't be able to pay for our upgrade up-front anymore (given there would be no contract), but do we retain ownership so that we can at least sell our phones (after they are fully paid for)?

Sorry if this is an uninformed question, but I can't seem to find something which definitively states it one way or the other. Can someone please advise on this? Thanks!

 

[Carnegie]

I read through this thread (OK, TBH, I skimmed it and used "search") and I can't find an answer to my question. If I purchase my next phone using non-contract terms, do I actually own the phone at the end of the two year contract - or is the deal structured more as a lease than as a purchase?

From what I've read here and elsewhere, I've inferred it IS a purchase, but I'm not 100% clear on that. We prefer to sell our phones on Glyde at the end of our contract terms (and in this new plan, that would be at the end of the period by which time the phones would be fully paid for) and use receipts from the sale to pay for an upgrade to the latest and greatest - it sounds as if we won't be able to pay for our upgrade up-front anymore (given there would be no contract), but do we retain ownership so that we can at least sell our phones (after they are fully paid for)?

Sorry if this is an uninformed question, but I can't seem to find something which definitively states it one way or the other. Can someone please advise on this? Thanks!

There are plans which effectively work as leases, but with the device payment plan that Verizon offers you are actually purchasing the phone. Whatever the price of the phone is, it is divided into 24 equal monthly payments. You pay the tax on that price up front. And you can off course pay the phone off early if you want. But at that point you can do what you want to with it.

 

[wynnnj1977]

If you buy outright, what are the chances you'll get to keep your UDP? Just curious.

You can do DPP to keep unlimited data plan as well. I just did a week before Christmas.

 

[citi]

It's hard enough to wait 2 years to upgrade, let alone 3 years. Hardly anybody will benefit jumping from an older plan to the new plans. With that said, after no more subsidies, it'll be crazy to stay with the old plan.

iPhone 6+ here. Still waiting for an iPhone that is worth my money.

 

[i hate phones]

This is correct. Hasn't been available for quite some time now. Just to double check, I just pulled up the account of a customer with The More Everything Plan. There is no option for adding on the month to month discount. It was removed (a long time ago). So I don't know how anyone could have gotten it added on recently.

I'm on the more everything loyal 6gb plan if that makes any difference, I thought the loyal part was just for the data allotment though. Do you work in a verizon store or what? I always get the discount from their website chat support. My third line just went off contract this past December and I contacted them and they applied the discount, so it's there somewhere I've had it on one of my lines since Nov 2015 so I don't know if that makes a difference (making it available on my account or whatnot)... had it added to my other two lines in sept and dec of 2016.

edit...
I just looked at my bill detail, the $25 discount that was added in 2015 reads as $25 OFF SMARTPHONE MONTH2MONTH the other two that were added in late 2016 read as $25 SP DEVICE PAYMENT DISC (one of those lines is on the apple IUP, and the other is on verizon monthly device payment)

 

[C DM]

I read through this thread (OK, TBH, I skimmed it and used "search") and I can't find an answer to my question. If I purchase my next phone using non-contract terms, do I actually own the phone at the end of the two year contract - or is the deal structured more as a lease than as a purchase?

From what I've read here and elsewhere, I've inferred it IS a purchase, but I'm not 100% clear on that. We prefer to sell our phones on Glyde at the end of our contract terms (and in this new plan, that would be at the end of the period by which time the phones would be fully paid for) and use receipts from the sale to pay for an upgrade to the latest and greatest - it sounds as if we won't be able to pay for our upgrade up-front anymore (given there would be no contract), but do we retain ownership so that we can at least sell our phones (after they are fully paid for)?

Sorry if this is an uninformed question, but I can't seem to find something which definitively states it one way or the other. Can someone please advise on this? Thanks!

The phone is yours, in a sense similar to how it has been with contracts. You just have a 2-year financing loan set up for you to be paid off for the price of the phone.
[doublepost=1483989280][/doublepost]

I'm on the more everything loyal 6gb plan if that makes any difference, I thought the loyal part was just for the data allotment though. Do you work in a verizon store or what? I always get the discount from their website chat support. My third line just went off contract this past December and I contacted them and they applied the discount, so it's there somewhere I've had it on one of my lines since Nov 2015 so I don't know if that makes a difference (making it available on my account or whatnot)... had it added to my other two lines in sept and dec of 2016.

edit...
I just looked at my bill detail, the $25 discount that was added in 2015 reads as $25 OFF SMARTPHONE MONTH2MONTH the other two that were added in late 2016 read as $25 SP DEVICE PAYMENT DISC (one of those lines is on the apple IUP, and the other is on verizon monthly device payment)

Sounds like the last month-2-month discount was still from a time when they offered it, while the latest ones are device payment discounts which still exist.

 

[dlimes13]

I'm in a somewhat of a unique situation. I am on a very minimal, now discontinued plan of 250 MB, Unlimited T&T for $45 + tax (about $51). I could care less about data, as I'm around Wi-Fi 99% of the time.

What I used to do was buy on upgrade every two years for the discounted price (I would buy outright every other year I wasn't eligible because I wanted the latest phone). By the time I sold my phones on eBay, Craigslist, etc., I wouldn't be paying much at all.

Math:

Bought: iPhone 6 Plus for $300
Sold: iPhone 5S for $500
Bought iPhone 6S Plus for $750
Sold: iPhone 6 Plus for $500
Bought: iPhone 7 Plus for $320
Sold: iPhone 6S Plus for $500

Total Investment: Net Profit of $130. NOTE: This does NOT include any activation fees, which would basically cancel out the profit.

If I did the same thing buying outright, I would be at:

Bought: iPhone 6 Plus for $750
Sold: iPhone 5S for $500
Bought iPhone 6S Plus for $750
Sold: iPhone 6 Plus for $500
Bought: iPhone 7 Plus for $770
Sold: iPhone 6S Plus for $500

Total Investment: Loss of $770.

If I did device payment plan, it's hardly better, and this does NOT factor in a plan change, which would be required.

Bought: iPhone 6 Plus for $32.08/Month for 12 Months
Sold: iPhone 5S for $500
Bought iPhone 6S Plus for $32.08/Month for 12 Months
Sold: iPhone 6 Plus for $0 (CAN'T SELL, MUST TURN IN UNLESS IT'S PAID OFF)
Bought: iPhone 7 Plus for $32.08/Month for 12 Months
Sold: iPhone 6S Plus for $0 (CAN'T SELL, MUST TURN IN UNLESS IT'S PAID OFF)

Total Investment: Loss of $654.88, and it's only that because of my 5S before I would have started DPP. Otherwise it's a bad deal, as I might as well just buy outright and sell myself if I want a new phone.

I am on Verizon, FYI. So once the new iPhone comes out, I will likely switch to prepaid on Verizon, because DPP does not make sense to me at all. Or look into T-Mobile, just for the option of unlimited data which I really do not need. Verizon currently (through Walmart) has a 7 GB option for $50, which is really tempting.

I could be wrong, but I've done the math over and over again and come up with the same numbers.

I knew they would axe them eventually. Just sucks the time is now.

 

[i hate phones]

Sounds like the last month-2-month discount was still from a time when they offered it, while the latest ones are device payment discounts which still exist.

yeah I see that now but what's the difference? one of the lines that has the device payment discount isn't on a verizon device payment plan. I just asked them for the out of contract discount and that's what they gave me. My access fees are $15 per line, so I'm happy. They can call the discount whatever they want