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Who purchased their iPhone 4 outright and why?

J

jellybean

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 27, 2006
223
15
In selected countries Apple are now selling the iPhone outright, without a sim, with no contracts etc. (Why don't they just provide that option in the US to end all the fuss over AT&T?!) But it's a pricey way of buying it: £499 ($775 USD) for the 16gb model and £599 ($930 USD) for 32gb. Just wondering who else chose to purchase their iPhone this way and why rather than getting it subsidised on a contract?

I'm asking partly out of curiosity, and partly because it'll be somewhat reassuring to know there are other nutters out there like me who also spent £600 on a new phone :eek: :D
 
I bought my phone outright for two reasons.

1) I wanted it factory unlocked, for better resale value

2) I didn't want the iPhone tariffs, they're terrible value. I have a sim-only plan that not only works out slightly cheaper over the 18 months but I get far more minutes and texts, with the option to cancel at any time.
 
I have 3 business lines with contracts all ending before Jan/11. All lines were eligible for an upgrade. I opted not to re-sign a 3 year contract and bought my phone straight out from apple. Cost $779.00.

I the following weeks I inquired about what bell and telus had to offer. I then contacted Rogers retentions and ended up with the best plan i've ever had. My new plan will be honoured till August 2012 with no contract. All in all, I have cut my bill almost on half....so to me it was worth it. Mind you, i might have been able to get the same plan without having the unlocked iphone but not being tied in to any one carrier is what i was looking for.
 
Bought it outright because my job gets me Unlimited Data, Messaging, 2000 Minutes and Free Nights and Weekends all for $50.
 
finland is f*ucked up i paid 720€ for my 32gb :( and its not even unlocked (they dont sell unlocked iphones in finland) and becouse my work place pays my cellphone bills so i had to JB and UL my phone to even use it.But it was worth it im thinking of using this phone for a long time (used my iphone 2g allmost 3 years)
 
jellybean said:
In selected countries Apple are now selling the iPhone outright, without a sim, with no contracts etc. (Why don't they just provide that option in the US to end all the fuss over AT&T?!) But it's a pricey way of buying it: £499 ($775 USD) for the 16gb model and £599 ($930 USD) for 32gb. Just wondering who else chose to purchase their iPhone this way and why rather than getting it subsidised on a contract?

I'm asking partly out of curiosity, and partly because it'll be somewhat reassuring to know there are other nutters out there like me who also spent £600 on a new phone :eek: :D
Click to expand...

Me. I'm from the UK. :p
I purchased the 32GB model which was £600.

I did this because, I already had a contract which started in December 09 and because I'd gone through 3 phones and thought if the iPhone 4 is not for me then i'm too picky lol.

My previous phones were: Blackberry Storm 2 *cringe*, HTC HD2, Blackberry Bold 9700 and now happilly i've settled down with the iPhone 4. :)

Also for the higher resale value it being factory unlocked and 32GB. :)
 
moussekateer said:
I bought my phone outright for two reasons.

1) I wanted it factory unlocked, for better resale value

2) I didn't want the iPhone tariffs, they're terrible value. I have a sim-only plan that not only works out slightly cheaper over the 18 months but I get far more minutes and texts, with the option to cancel at any time.
Click to expand...

I second that. ip4 isn't available in Austria without contract so I bought one in London factory unlocked.
 
If I wanted the IP4 I had to buy it outright - I have only been living in the UK for a few months and don't have any credit history here. Apparently you need to have been a resident for at least 3 years to take out a contract :(
 
I bought a 16Gb outright on launch day (well, pre-ordered) for a couple of reasons:

1) The networks were terribly slow at announcing their price plans. That made a sensible comparison virtually impossible.

2) I didn't want to be tied to a single network for 18 or 24 months. I travel a fair bit within the UK and currently we rent our home. A network that gives good coverage in my current circumstances may give terrible coverage in a new home in a few months time.

3) This was my first modern smartphone (the last one I had would have been the HTC Universal) and I wasn't sure I was going to hang on to it or if I'd use it enough to justify the cost. Having an unlocked phone on a 30 day rolling contract gives me the freedom to change my mind and sell the iPhone on if I need / want to.
 
It's cheaper in the long run but the disadvantage is that the heavy initial outlay that is involved. Also you can get much better 30-day rolling contracts sim only. The flexibility of it all is nice as at any time I can sell the iPhone for a good price since it is factory unlocked and my contract is only 30 days :)
 
Going with what a lot of the previous posters have said, but here goes:

In addition to the freedom to choose 30-day rolling contracts for much cheaper, it means that the iPhone 5/6/7/8 will be cheaper. The initial outlay of £499 for the 16gb gets you onto the "upgrade path" easier; i.e. you can sell the iPhone 4 for £350 in a year's time and as a result only have to pay £150 for the iPhone 5, and so on.

Not being tied down to a specific phone, network or contract is a pretty handy way of being able to jump ship when a better deal comes along, too.
 
I nearly bought it outright but thanks to the fact that the Apple store never had any instock I grew impatient.

I was on Vodafone pay as you go where I would be topping up at least £20 a month. The only crap thing about Vodafones PAYG was that it was drinking money on my 2G iPhone. I would top up, say not make any calls or text messages for 2 days and when I check my balance - like £16 left and I was like WTF - where did £4 go in 2 days of me not doing anything? Plus I figured that £20 over a year is about £240. So by buying the phone outright at £600 plus £240 - thats £840 total.

2 weeks ago I got wind of a delivery of iPhones to a Tesco near me so dashed there and managed to snag one. The reason I went with Tesco is simply because they are the only people that offer a 12 month contract (so i'll be able to pick up an iPhone 5 if I feel like it). Also they offer the cheapest iPhone 4 contract in the UK. £429 for the 32GB + £20 a month for 12 months works out at £669 total. So basically I pay £69 extra over a whole year inclusive of calls/data compared to buying the phone outright for £600. I was also lucky because it was on 4.0.1 firmware. So after I activated it this weekend - I jailbroke it AND unlocked it. Now I can use it abroad - USA in 2 weeks Asia in 3 Months.

Many years ago when contracts started at £35 a month and you had to sign for 18/24 months - it made PAYG viable. But nowadays with contract tariffs at £20 a month and only for 12 month options - it makes contracts a bit more viable and certainly helps subsidise the phone. I would still buy an unlocked phone outright if I had an amazing SIM card deal. I don't, however I do have a contract that I pay as much for as I did when I was on PAYG with none of the benefits (1GB of data a month) etc and a subsidised iPhone 4 32GB.
 
I'd buy it outright, but you're right it's a stack of cash

I bought my ip4 on day #2. I was #2 in the queue, which was then split into out-right buyers and contract buyers. I jumped to the contract buyers queue (if you're old enough and grew up in the UK during the late 70's early 80's you understand that it was similar to a sequence from Mike Reid's Runaround kids TV show).

Anyway, there were only TWO of us in the contract queue.

I took my ip4 back on day #8 cause I was on the Three network, and the 3G signal just wasn't strong enough and I had to be sure I was happy with it since the Three contract was 24 months.

I've been watching, and considering joining the party again, but almost certainly on Vodafone. However in the UK the shortest contract VF provide is 18 months which is too long.

18 moths is too long given the next iphone release is more likely to have a more significant revision than we were expecting. Just to be clear: the 3G->3GS wasn't a major change, the 3GS->4 was a big change. I'm not expecting a big change when we upgrade 4->4+ or 4G or whatever but there's something significant that could be addressed.

Tesco (who operate through O2's network) do a 12 month contract, but being back on O2 at the moment is rubbish for real world coverage compared to what I've seen and people near me see on V/F on the iphone 3G/S.

If I do buy an ip4 in the next few months (which I'll excuse myself if the 3G gets broken ;-) ) I'll be going for the out-right purchase as I'll be looking to sell it on next summer; though I may reconsider being an early adopter next time;-).
 
Bought one of my ip4's outright. My contract was done, and while I will probably stay with ATT I just hate being in a contract, even though it doesn't make sense. I had received a gift of an ipod touch so by returning that I ended up paying about $200 for an unsubsidized 16gb so really I figured it was the same as just contracting. Plus I'm assuming in one year when the ip5 comes out they won't offer early upgrades so I figured I was saving my upgrade for that as usually the 2nd revision of a particular iphone model is usually much nicer.
 
Because I'm out of contract and have unlimited everything for less than your average iPhone contract on o2.
 
I travel a lot and it would not make sense to get a phone thats locked to ATT that i would not be able to use overseas.
 
If you're gonna use your phone for 2yrs then why buy it outright? Here in the US you still have to sign up via ATT no matter how you buy it. (Please don't mention T-Mobile cause Edge is horrible) You just want the option to cancel early? Doesn't make too much sense to me. The only way I would buy an iPhone straight out is cause i'm locked in, the iPhone is too damn expensive to pay retail i'll settle with the ETF if necessary. Might just go Droid since it's looking better and better by the week since they release new phones every week lol.
 
I paid full price because i was not eligible for an upgrade and I wanted it. I figure next year when iPhone 5 comes out, I'll sell my iPhone 4 for a good amount and get the new iPhone 5 for the cheapest possible, thus making up for paying too much this year.

At least that's what I tell myself. I know, in the end, I'd be better off waiting 2 years before upgrading, but damnit I want the new model each year. At least so far I have.
 
I bought mine outright and locked to Telus. Sounds wierd eh? WEll firstly, i didnt want to wait 3 weeks just for it to ship. Secondly, you always get the best contract deals when your contract is up and you are negotiating. Oddly I got a hell of a deal upgrading to iP4 with two years still remaining on my contract.

My problem is that every time I wanted to upgrade it involved you constantly being re-locked into a 3 year contract (missing out in the bartering power). This way I got:

300 mins daily talk
Unlimited Evenings and weekends
Early calling (6pm)
Five favourite anywhere/anytime unlimited talk and text
5gb data
unlimited texting and Caller ID

for about 80.00 per month. I didn't have to re-negotiate for 3 more years. I know I can do better when my contract is up.

I guess I just got tired of being roped into 3 year contracts and wanting to upgrade my phone after a year.

WW
 
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