why buy a 4s when youll be stuck wth 3g for 2 years?

[FreakinEurekan]

Hmm.. the iPhone cost to the carriers is supposed to be $600. So if you don't take the iPhone, they just keep the extra $400 it would cost them? That's really, really ******. Or alternatively it's a massive opportunity for anyone with a more customer-friendly business plan

That is correct. The only difference here in the USA is that you aren't on contract, but that's almost a moot point because there are only two national GSM providers, and one of them (T-Mobile) uses 3G frequencies that are incompatible with the iPhone. AT&T has no incentive to offer a cheaper off-contract price, because we basically have no alternative.

England has multiple carriers to choose from, which encourages competition. However the USA is over 70X the geographical area of England, which makes it a lot harder for a competing network to get going.

 

[BoxerGT2.5]

Has it occured to you that many of us can AFFORD to buy a new iPhone without waiting for a two year upgrade?

I would wager a guess that over half this site scrapes together the money to buy the phone, has mom or dad pay for it, or puts it on a credit card because they don't have the money for it. Take a look around, people act like they've reached the pinnacle of cell phone status when they get their shiny new glass phone. Kind of like a 30's or 40's something thinking they've reached the top of the mountain when they buy a 3 series BMW.

 

[HeatherA]

Heck I've been using Edge forever on T-Mobile. It's acceptable for me so I'm happy to have the phone I have now. If I always worry about what's upcoming I'd never enjoy what's here.

Plus 4G is just another way for the carriers to get more money from everyone monthly for data charges. Just my opinion... they're raping us on data charges as it is and we're letting them. Hence the reason I don't mind sticking to my $6 edge plan. I hate being told I HAVE to subscribe to data to use a specific phone on a network. I should have the option to have NO data if that's what I chose.

 

[Stealthipad]

I would wager a guess that over half this site scrapes together the money to buy the phone, has mom or dad pay for it, or puts it on a credit card because they don't have the money for it. Take a look around, people act like they've reached the pinnacle of cell phone status when they get their shiny new glass phone. Kind of like a 30's or 40's something thinking they've reached the top of the mountain when they buy a 3 series BMW.

I am sure the iPhone 4S release caused a few bills to not get paid for many here! LOL! It is all about freedom to do what you want with your money. Many make poor choices but they have the right to do so.

 

[nepalisherpa]

Want an iphone as my droid is garbage, but being trapped in a 3g network that is quickly becoming outdated, seems foolish. Reminds me of the analog to digital transition a decade ago. Thoughts on this?

I heard that we will have a 6G network by 2018. I think you should definitely hold your purchase till then!

 

[B777Forevar]

Cause It's my god given right to blow off cash on some shiny phone made by kids on China.

 

[BoxerGT2.5]

I am sure the iPhone 4S release caused a few bills to not get paid for many here! LOL! It is all about freedom to do what you want with your money. Many make poor choices but they have the right to do so.

For sure, only problem is then those same people can be seen holding up decent working people chanting 99 vs. 1 and it's everyone else's fault they can't pay their bills.

 

[mrgreen4242]

It's highly unlikely that 2 out of the 3 carriers with the iPhone will get LTE in my area in the next 2 years. Verizon might (they're advertising it but who knows), though. If ATT upgraded us to HSPA+ I'd be plenty satisfied - I'd be perfectly happy with the speeds it can deliver and some extra battery life over 4G.

I don't get why people are so excited about LTE. If carriers were providing the backhaul and capacity to actually use current 3G to it's limits everyone would have 3mbps or more, which with a 2gb cap is plenty fast. My home DSL is 3mbps and I can stream multiple Netflix movies through it. What are you doing on your phone that 3-15mbps isn't fast enough?

I think that it's just demand created by carrier advertising.

 

[SurferMan]

Want an iphone as my droid is garbage, but being trapped in a 3g network that is quickly becoming outdated, seems foolish. Reminds me of the analog to digital transition a decade ago. Thoughts on this?

3G isn't outdated, there's no "true" 4G and what's available today is a battery draining system that's barely faster then hspa+. So actually in that regards AT&T was smart in enabling that, why? B/c now the 4S and even Droids like the SGII have speeds similar to LTE and even faster then Sprints WiMax, w/o the battery drain of LTE?

So how is that outdated? It's going to be years before true 4G is established as 4G right now is basically a tweaked version of 3G. If you had an LTE only phone right now, good luck lasting more then 2 hours in a day if using it for online and calls, push etc. No need for 4G with how quick hspa+ is, they need to focus on chip and battery technology to make LTE efficient which its far from right now.

Everyone brags about how fast LTE "can" be... yeh theoretically it kicks ass even currently, however nobody approaches the theoretical speeds, not even remotely close. Verizon LTE is all over down here in FL, and it's barely faster then hspa+ in the real world.

 

[deeddawg]

I don't get why people are so excited about LTE. If carriers were [using] current 3G to it's limits [snip] What are you doing on your phone that 3-15mbps isn't fast enough?

While avoiding "640k is enough for anyone", I've also wondered what the reason for excitement is about LTE. How exactly does it improve real world usage compared to 3+Mbps on 3G from a phone? I can see the benefit if tethering, but for a phone I'm not understanding the benefit?

 

[rkeato1]

If the next iPhone is 4G, the battery is going to need to be gnarly.

 

[ApplePie22]

thanks everyone, so the concensus is for the next two years, 3G will still be the dominant network, 4g is a ways away, and if you do need to upgrade, you sell 4s used and pay retail on a 4G Iphone?

 

[verwon]

I've never considered myself 'stuck' with any phone.

I switch when I want to.

 

[Jordan921]

Want an iphone as my droid is garbage, but being trapped in a 3g network that is quickly becoming outdated, seems foolish. Reminds me of the analog to digital transition a decade ago. Thoughts on this?

If you are on At&t there is only about 10markets that have 4g atm. Alot of people are just now getting 3g where they live. 4g isn't even widespread right now so I think people could care less if they are stuck with 3g for 2 years.

 

[cyks]

thanks everyone, so the concensus is for the next two years, 3G will still be the dominant network, 4g is a ways away, and if you do need to upgrade, you sell 4s used and pay retail on a 4G Iphone?

Can either pay retail or, more likely, buy a new iPhone at a discount subsidized price. After only a year or so, it may not be for $200, but it'll be less than full price (and about what your year old used phone would sell for).

 

[Sandman1969]

I get an upgrade every 12 months, so I am not stuck with 3g. However, a good bit of my area is HSPA+ so I am happy

 

[paulrbeers]

thanks everyone, so the concensus is for the next two years, 3G will still be the dominant network, 4g is a ways away, and if you do need to upgrade, you sell 4s used and pay retail on a 4G Iphone?

Yep either you get an upgrade every year as many do or you just sell your current iPhone for a few hundred (i.e. maybe $300-400) and then buy the new one at full retail.

No Android phone keeps that kind of value. My 1 year old Droid X I just gave to my sister (she was rocking the original droid) because it was only worth about $75 used.

 

[DirtySocks85]

att has allowed me to upgrade every year to the new iPhone at regular price ($199) if I just agree to sign a new 2 year contract. I think they pretty much do this for everyone unless you pay for the lowest plan, basic data, and no sms.

Out of curiosity, what do you have on your plan, and how much do you pay per month (if you don't mind telling me)? I get an upgrade every 18 months (which means I'll probably skip the 4S altogether).

My plan currently includes:
450 minutes - $40
200 SMS - $5
Unlimited Data - $30

Once you add in all taxes and take out the FAN discount I get, I pay about $72/month.

 

[mrgreen4242]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

This isn't even a 640k is enough for anyone type situation. The carriers aren't even providing the backhaul to saturate current 3G technology that is deployed. Why bother upgrading the wireless side to 4G if they can't saturate 3G. It's more like we have a computer with a gig of ram but the OS can't acces more than the first 256mb and the computer manufacturers are trying to sell us a second gig.

 

[Macman45]

Similar

I get a subsidized upgrade every year.

But here in the UK, I have a decent choice of carriers and because I buy my phones sim free form Apple, If I get P*****d with my provider, I just change.

I've been with O2 for years, and have alway's been happy with the service. BUT.....Am moving home to NY in the new year, and am going to have to choose (already have) Verizon comes out top's, friends and family and consumer reports seem to concur.

I dislike the visual monopoly back in the States, but have little choice. My sim free phones won't be hard to sell, and I will buy a cheap something or other to use during the move.

When I get home...I am going to lobby / annoy / pester until something is done about the lack of choice!

 

[Cowboy8467]

3G isn't outdated, there's no "true" 4G and what's available today is a battery draining system that's barely faster then hspa+. So actually in that regards AT&T was smart in enabling that, why? B/c now the 4S and even Droids like the SGII have speeds similar to LTE and even faster then Sprints WiMax, w/o the battery drain of LTE?...

While it's true that what's available today is a battery draining system it definitely isn't true that it's barely faster than HSPA+. I was eligible for an upgrade last week on ATT and having only gotten iphones starting with the 3G I decided to give the Samsung Galaxy SII skyrocket a whirl. I live in the DC area so I do live in a full LTE network. When I was doing speedtests on my phone I was getting speeds ranging from 40mbps to 65mbps down. It was crazy fast, but on the downside the battery life was absolutely atrocious due to the large screen and the LTE network, and even though the data was fast as hell it was extremely inconsistent and would constantly be cutting in and out.

If they could get LTE to work properly it would be great, but I just don't think it's ready for prime time. At any rate, I returned the SGII after 3 days and ordered a 4S.

 

[xraytech]

Want an iphone as my droid is garbage, but being trapped in a 3g network that is quickly becoming outdated, seems foolish. Reminds me of the analog to digital transition a decade ago. Thoughts on this?

Don't believe the 4G LTE Hype. 3G is here to stay for quite a while.

 

[stu.h]

So you guys across the pond can't just walk into an Apple store and just buy a 4S and walk out and that's it?
They cost like £500 for the 16gb model, but then you are free to put any pay as you go sim into it or whatever.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

So you guys across the pond can't just walk into an Apple store and just buy a 4S and walk out and that's it?
They cost like £500 for the 16gb model, but then you are free to put any pay as you go sim into it or whatever.

Sure we can. $649. Problem is you're still stuck with AT&T for service if you want all the features to work, and AT&T will not drop the monthly price.

You can get a prepay SIM but data is an issue; it's either non-existent or expensive on the prepay packages here.

The benefit of buying an unsubsidized/unlocked phone here in the USA is if you travel internationally, you can grab a prepay SIM in whatever country you're visiting. If you get the subsidized phone, it's SIM locked to the carrier and you have to pay that carrier's international roaming rates.

 

[stu.h]

I'd still do a swap for your fuel prices
£1.40 a litre here at the mo