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Why would you ever buy an unlocked iPhone?
- Thread starter Dwalls90
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yeah my mother-in-law is a good example. Talked about getting an iPhone for literally 2 years. Would not spend $99-$199 on the iPhone. Was constantly talking about wanting one ALL the time though. FINALLY when the iPhone 4 promotion at $49 (didn't want 3gs) hit she eventually went and got it on the last day. But the entire time she told me she didn't care about how much the monthly bill was, she was more concerned with the initial cost of the device. I'm like uhhhhh lol.
Anyways, she pays like $100/month just for herself, but that's OK she says.
That's not the way it works in Singapore.
If you have your own phone, a phone+data plan will be cheaper (~$20/month). But if you buy an iphone on subsidy, the monthly bill can easily be up to $60 a month depending on how much subsidy you want.
In theory, I could pony up $1k for an iphone up front, but the savings after 2 years isn't really that significant. So it is really either you pay now or pay later, but in the long run, you actually pay more or less the same.
I know, it works exactly like you describe around here too. And I suspect in most countries. But I'm told on this forum that in North America, or at least in the US, it doesn't matter if you get a plan+phone or just a plan if you already own a phone. The monthly bill will be the same. As AT&T or any other carrier is not giving away mobile phones, we can safely assume that over the two-year contract, you'll pay for that subsidized iphone to the very last cent. There are no savings, which was the point I was trying to make.
I also have trouble believing the op's premise that by gaming the system, you can get AT&T to basically give you a 100+ dollar discount. If the math's being done correctly, it probably works out in one's disadvantage.
That's true, but there are some carriers who are different about it. T-Mobile in the US I believe gives cheaper plan options when you don't take a subsidy. Bell in Canada for example gives a 10% discount when not signing a term for a device subsidy (though it definitely isn't enough of a discount that a subsidy would have been). Another good example in Canada is Koodo - They have some excellent plan options, but you get only $150 in a tab form towards the purchase of a phone, whereas if you want a fully subsidized iPhone, you have to choose a specific iPhone plan which is relatively more expensive with less features.
But it's definitely not transparent across all carriers like it is in europe or other parts of the world I'm sure.
One thing to keep in mind is geographical area, the US has more ground to cover than the UK, so that's one reason why prices are higher in the US.
I mentioned one reason, this is the other
because not many companies have the resources or are willing to use their resources to build their own nationwide network. Mad expensive in the US with the all that land and everything so spaced out.
