What is more worth it??

[delpiero99]

I'm using ST in my Nexus right now and in the past 3 weeks I've been traveling a lot and have used over 15GB on my phone without any problems. I have the exact same coverage as my iPhone 4 on AT&T, and sometimes better coverage. I seem to have HSPA+ almost everywhere and get 3-8Mbps.

wow thats amazing

 

[delpiero99]

bump

 

[Wrathwitch]

Basically you are saving more money if you buy the phone outright. At least in Canada now with the change in how the carriers subsidize the phone, the only "deal" you are getting is not paying full price upfront.

However, if you calculate the cost of the contract plan that you lock into (multiply the monthly amount 48months) you MORE than pay for the cost of the phone. Besides now it seems that you don't have to pay to get out of contracts, but what you are paying off is the difference in the phone remaining from your initial subsidized phone.

So if you do the math:

1) iPhone5 bought outright aprx 800.00
2) your current phone plan x 48 months.

3) iPhone5 paid with subsidy (usually something like 159.00 or 200.00)
4) multiply your more expensive plan by 48 months. (you will likely discover that you end up paying over the total cost of the phone by 2-3x)

At least if you buy the phone outright, you have the flexibility to switch carriers or find a plan price that agrees with you.

 

[delpiero99]

Basically you are saving more money if you buy the phone outright. At least in Canada now with the change in how the carriers subsidize the phone, the only "deal" you are getting is not paying full price upfront.

However, if you calculate the cost of the contract plan that you lock into (multiply the monthly amount 48months) you MORE than pay for the cost of the phone. Besides now it seems that you don't have to pay to get out of contracts, but what you are paying off is the difference in the phone remaining from your initial subsidized phone.

So if you do the math:

1) iPhone5 bought outright aprx 800.00
2) your current phone plan x 48 months.

3) iPhone5 paid with subsidy (usually something like 159.00 or 200.00)
4) multiply your more expensive plan by 48 months. (you will likely discover that you end up paying over the total cost of the phone by 2-3x)

At least if you buy the phone outright, you have the flexibility to switch carriers or find a plan price that agrees with you.

thanks alot for the advice! this really helped me out

 

[LittleGwen]

I think it depends on where you live, how long you're planning on keeping your phone, and how satisfied you are with your carrier. For me, I'll never buy phone at full price. Why? Because I can get an upgrade every 2 years for third of the price and I'm pretty happy with my carrier. But like everyone says, it really depends.

 

[Wrathwitch]

thanks alot for the advice! this really helped me out

You are welcome!

I figure if you can afford to buy the phone outright and keep your cheaper plan (as long as it still fits your needs) over the period of time that you would have been on contract you will save much more money just based on the plan cost, not necessarily the phone subsidy. Where they get you with the plans is generally you have a minimum plan cost requirement ie: $50.00.

50.00 x 48 (3 year)= $2400.00 + 250.00 (subsidy price for phone) = $2650.00

*I am just guestimating the subsidy price on phone for 3 year contract and estimating the cost of the iPhone at $800.00.*

35.00 (think I remember reading your current plan was aprx $35.00) x 48 (3 year) = 1680.00 + 800.00 (buy phone outright) = 2480.00

Basically it looks as though you are really only saving $170.00 But that being said, if you are NOT on term, you can upgrade when you wish, leave the carrier if you wish. If you were on contract, that amount paid goes up by the total cost of the phone and down the months of the contract that you would not be using for the remainder of the term.

I don't know if you have to buy out the difference on your contracts in the States or not. Here in Canada if we want out, we just have to pay the balance remaining on the subsidy plus an "administrative" fee of up to $50.00 depending on the carrier.

Anyone please feel free to correct me if I have anything skewed here.

 

[delpiero99]

You are welcome!

I figure if you can afford to buy the phone outright and keep your cheaper plan (as long as it still fits your needs) over the period of time that you would have been on contract you will save much more money just based on the plan cost, not necessarily the phone subsidy. Where they get you with the plans is generally you have a minimum plan cost requirement ie: $50.00.

50.00 x 48 (3 year)= $2400.00 + 250.00 (subsidy price for phone) = $2650.00

*I am just guestimating the subsidy price on phone for 3 year contract and estimating the cost of the iPhone at $800.00.*

35.00 (think I remember reading your current plan was aprx $35.00) x 48 (3 year) = 1680.00 + 800.00 (buy phone outright) = 2480.00

Basically it looks as though you are really only saving $170.00 But that being said, if you are NOT on term, you can upgrade when you wish, leave the carrier if you wish. If you were on contract, that amount paid goes up by the total cost of the phone and down the months of the contract that you would not be using for the remainder of the term.

I don't know if you have to buy out the difference on your contracts in the States or not. Here in Canada if we want out, we just have to pay the balance remaining on the subsidy plus an "administrative" fee of up to $50.00 depending on the carrier.

Anyone please feel free to correct me if I have anything skewed here.

i live in canada too!
currently with rogers paying 25$/month on pay as you go.

if i get the new iphone ill probably be upgrading to a 37$/month contract with 150 minutes and 10mbs of data

but i dont think the iphone will be 800$? when the 4S came out wasnt it less than that?

 

[Wrathwitch]

i live in canada too!
currently with rogers paying 25$/month on pay as you go.

if i get the new iphone ill probably be upgrading to a 37$/month contract with 150 minutes and 10mbs of data

but i dont think the iphone will be 800$? when the 4S came out wasnt it less than that?

Depends on which version you buy. I bought the 32GB version iPhone4 and it came almost to 800.00. Wow... 10mb data??? that will blow harder than you can imagine! Why even get a smartphone with such limited data?

Here's a suggestion: Go check out Virgin Mobile. You can land a $35.00 talk and text plan which has pay as you go data (not at exorbitant rates either). For $35.00 you can get 1) 10 faves across Canada. 2) no long distance anywhere in Canada, 3) 200 regular minutes 4)6pm early calling and 5) either a limited amount of text message and voice mail OR unlimited texting within Canada and U.S. I was going to put my mother on this plan but she was still under Roger's thumb with a buy out cost of $200.00

What is nice is they don't have activation fees, no system access fees, no long distance anywhere in Canada and they share Bell's towers so you will have 4g/LTE as well.

If I didn't get a stellar deal (well as far as contract deals goes) with Telus I would have switched to Virgin.

Oh and the best thing... no contracts, but if you want to leave them you have to pay off the difference of the subsidized phone (they use the "tab" system) 10% of your bill per month goes to pay off the difference in the phone cost. Once it is paid off, you can accrue points to get a new phone without having to pay the full deposit for subsidizing.

 

[delpiero99]

Depends on which version you buy. I bought the 32GB version iPhone4 and it came almost to 800.00. Wow... 10mb data??? that will blow harder than you can imagine! Why even get a smartphone with such limited data?

Here's a suggestion: Go check out Virgin Mobile. You can land a $35.00 talk and text plan which has pay as you go data (not at exorbitant rates either). For $35.00 you can get 1) 10 faves across Canada. 2) no long distance anywhere in Canada, 3) 200 regular minutes 4)6pm early calling and 5) either a limited amount of text message and voice mail OR unlimited texting within Canada and U.S. I was going to put my mother on this plan but she was still under Roger's thumb with a buy out cost of $200.00

What is nice is they don't have activation fees, no system access fees, no long distance anywhere in Canada and they share Bell's towers so you will have 4g/LTE as well.

If I didn't get a stellar deal (well as far as contract deals goes) with Telus I would have switched to Virgin.

Oh and the best thing... no contracts, but if you want to leave them you have to pay off the difference of the subsidized phone (they use the "tab" system) 10% of your bill per month goes to pay off the difference in the phone cost. Once it is paid off, you can accrue points to get a new phone without having to pay the full deposit for subsidizing.

well with rogers where i live their highest data plan is 200 mbs and thats 53$/month..... big waste of money!
and i never thought of looking at virgin mobile! you think they will carry the new iphone when it comes out?

 

[Wrathwitch]

well with rogers where i live their highest data plan is 200 mbs and thats 53$/month..... big waste of money!
and i never thought of looking at virgin mobile! you think they will carry the new iphone when it comes out?

Well they brought out SSGS3 flagship with all of the big carriers. I see no reason why they wouldn't bring out the next iPhone. That being said there is no way in hell I would pay for any data plan that had only 200mb especially considering how much they are charging. I mean hell, for 7.00 more you can get their "alleged" Super Plan which has all of the minutes you want, ten faves, unlimited texting AND 6GB data. If I was you, I would shop around to all of the carriers find the plan that best suits your needs, and tell Rogers (if that is who you want to stick with) what you want. If they can't or won't match it, jump companies to either Bell or Telus. If you get Telus's "super plan" with the 6GB at least they include caller id and voice mail as part of all of their plans. Seriously though, take a look at Virgin's website if Bell is a solid tower reception near where you live.

 

[delpiero99]

Well they brought out SSGS3 flagship with all of the big carriers. I see no reason why they wouldn't bring out the next iPhone. That being said there is no way in hell I would pay for any data plan that had only 200mb especially considering how much they are charging. I mean hell, for 7.00 more you can get their "alleged" Super Plan which has all of the minutes you want, ten faves, unlimited texting AND 6GB data. If I was you, I would shop around to all of the carriers find the plan that best suits your needs, and tell Rogers (if that is who you want to stick with) what you want. If they can't or won't match it, jump companies to either Bell or Telus. If you get Telus's "super plan" with the 6GB at least they include caller id and voice mail as part of all of their plans. Seriously though, take a look at Virgin's website if Bell is a solid tower reception near where you live.

bell has good reception.
my father is with bell and the only time he has minor problems with reception is when hes in the basement but thats about it!

and i will definately look into virgin when the iphone comes out, apparently their announcing it september 12th which is closer than i thought.

 

[delpiero99]

sorry to bring this back up, so my best choice is to get the phone subsidized rather than paying full price?