would you pay $1000 for an iPhone 4s

[Applejuiced]

I pay £10 (about $15) a month for 250 minutes, unlimited texts, and unlimited internet on a phone I paid £500 (about $750) for. I tallied this up and it's a far better deal than any contract. I even went into shops run by networks and asked them to beat my deal, and they all told me right out that they couldn't. I can only get this deal because I use pay as you go, NOT contract. The main reason the deal is so much better, aside from the great price, is the fact my network also pays me, so I in fact make a profit each month.

As I said, if you tally it up, the upfront cost is worth the smaller overall cost. But you sometimes have to shop around and find really good deals

I hear you.
Wish we had deals and prices like that in US.
Our prepaid sucks unless you only need talk and texts. For data there is very small, expensive and slow packages. And unlimited is gone on all but 1 carrier on post paid monthly contract only. And the problem is you can only use an unlocked iphone on 2 major carriers. In Europe, UK and rest of the world all carriers use the same GSM standard frequencies making it far better to buy your device and then pick your carrier and plan accordingly.

 

[0dev]

I hear you.
Wish we had deals and prices like that in US.
Our prepaid sucks unless you only need talk and texts. For data there is very small, expensive and slow packages. And unlimited is gone on all but 1 carrier on post paid monthly contract only. And the problem is you can only use an unlocked iphone on 2 major carriers. In Europe, UK and rest of the world all carriers use the same GSM standard frequencies making it far better to buy your device and then pick your carrier and plan accordingly.

Yeah, I really feel for you in the US, I must admit. You get better deals on your hardware (mainly due to much lower sales tax), but boy do you get screwed on your phone plans!

 

[Applejuiced]

Yeah, I really feel for you in the US, I must admit. You get better deals on your hardware (mainly due to much lower sales tax), but boy do you get screwed on your phone plans!

True, save a few dollars in the begging but pay out the a$$ over the 2 year contract.
And on an average a US iphone individual plan with data, texts and after taxes you're looking around $90+ per month with a 2 year agreement.

 

[0dev]

True, save a few dollars in the begging but pay out the a$$ over the 2 year contract.
And on an average a US iphone individual plan with data, texts and after taxes you're looking around $90+ per month with a 2 year agreement.

$90 a month? Honestly? Wow

The most common iPhone contracts here are about £40 (around $60) a month and they tend to come with a fair amount of stuff. Still utterly crap compared my deal, but far better than £70 a month just for a decent data plan with your calls and texts

Then again, as I understand it, you tend to add minutes, texts, and data onto your plan individually, is that correct? Over here we just get packages with lots of stuff built in.

I should note that our "unlimited" data is usually capped to about 2GB depending on the network, but my deal has no fair use (though, in return for that allowance, I can't use tethering, which is more than fair IMO).

 

[Applejuiced]

$90 a month? Honestly? Wow

The most common iPhone contracts here are about £40 (around $60) a month and they tend to come with a fair amount of stuff. Still utterly crap compared my deal, but far better than £70 a month just for a decent data plan with your calls and texts

Then again, as I understand it, you tend to add minutes, texts, and data onto your plan individually, is that correct? Over here we just get packages with lots of stuff built in.

I should note that our "unlimited" data is usually capped to about 2GB depending on the network, but my deal has no fair use (though, in return for that allowance, I can't use tethering, which is more than fair IMO).

Yes, all those are individual seperate charges.
And now on AT&T you only have the options of no texts or unlimited texts for $20. No inbetween like before with $5, 10 or other packages. Then add the minute plan for calls, data plan for $25 for 2GB data with no tethering or $15 for 200mb.
And here if someone calls you and talk on a 6 minute call for example they take out 6 minutes out of his plan and 6 minutes out of the receivers plan. So both caller and receive get charged for the call. Makes no sense.
Same for text messages.

 

[xxcysxx]

maybe i need to go out and get a nice cold drink and hopefully the urge will go away. it's been bothering me for weeks now.

my stupid sony ericsson x10 keep shutting down on me whenever i do some intensive task on it, and i't getting so frustrating.

Hell no. I would only purchase a phone for contract price.

i thought about this too, and when i calculated it out i will ended up paying more for the device in the long run due to the monthly contract than when i pay for it in full up front. the subsidize price for the phone require you to buy the crappy data plan that don't worth crap. the crapy data plan by itself will cost more than the price of the phone in full.
perhaps i could finance the iPhone through apple and pay them back about $150 a month, that way i wouldn't have to absorb the upfront thousand dollar hit. it's interest free, and it's essentially like you would go with a month to month plan. but i would finish paying for it sooner. what do you think about this?

I'll use a flip phone before I pay $1,000 for an iPhone.

i have actually thinking abut doing this for two weeks now. but then that would mean i would have to carry a separate digital camera for taking pictures of class notes and other miscellaneous important moments. i've used my nanny's flip phone for a week while i was trying to fix my xperia x10 and it was so refreshing when i can go for a full week without charging the phone and calls were always clear and reliable.

 

[0dev]

Yes, all those are individual seperate charges.
And now on AT&T you only have the options of no texts or unlimited texts for $20. No inbetween like before with $5, 10 or other packages. Then add the minute plan for calls, data plan for $25 for 2GB data with no tethering or $15 for 200mb.
And here if someone calls you and talk on a 6 minute call for example they take out 6 minutes out of his plan and 6 minutes out of the receivers plan. So both caller and receive get charged for the call. Makes no sense.
Same for text messages.

What a con...

Oh yeah, I forgot both ends get charged for calls as well. I really have it so good over here! I didn't know you had to pay to receive texts as well though!

Honestly, no wonder you're all making such a big deal about the whole AT&T/T-Mobile merger. You need all the competition you can get in that market, it's sounds utterly terrible. It's abuse of monopoly power if I've ever seen it!

Just out of pure curiosity (and because it may very well help my upcoming economics exam), do you have any sort of regulator for the mobile phone networks over there?

 

[Applejuiced]

Just out of pure curiosity (and because it may very well help my upcoming economics exam), do you have any sort of regulator for the mobile phone networks over there?

Not really, the big companies can rip off the consumer as much as they want and like you said there isnt much competition besides the big 4 wireless carriers. And it would have been worst if Tmobile was out of the picture with just 3 left.
And the top 2, Verizon and AT&T have similar expensive plans and seems like they're price fixing. Once one comes out with a new way to nickel and dime their customers the other one follows shortly.
Best part all US iphones sold under contract in the US stay locked to the carrier even after your 2 year agreement has expired or if you bought out your contract by paying the ETF still locked.
So an AT&T iphone can never be officially unlocked and can only be used on their network. A Verizon iphone cannot be activated or used on Sprint or AT&T or any other US carrier and vise versa with Sprint iphones also.
On a positive note Verizon and Sprint unlock their iphones only to be used outside of the US with other international carrier GSM sims but in the US they will not accept AT&T or Tmobile USA sims.

 

[phon]

charge on AMEX to get free extended warranty

 

[0dev]

Not really, the big companies can rip off the consumer as much as they want and like you said there isnt much competition besides the big 4 wireless carriers. And it would have been worst if Tmobile was out of the picture with just 3 left.
And the top 2, Verizon and AT&T have similar expensive plans and seems like they're price fixing. Once one comes out with a new way to nickel and dime their customers the other one follows shortly.
Best part all US iphones sold under contract in the US stay locked to the carrier even after your 2 year agreement has expired or if you bought out your contract by paying the ETF still locked.
So an AT&T iphone can never be officially unlocked and can only be used on their network. A Verizon iphone cannot be activated or used on Sprint or AT&T or any other US carrier and vise versa with Sprint iphones also.
On a positive note Verizon and Sprint unlock their iphones only to be used outside of the US with other international carrier GSM sims but in the US they will not accept AT&T or Tmobile USA sims.

That's just ridiculous. Not much else to really say about it.

I can now count this as studying for my exam though

 

[Apple Expert]

Not completely true.....

I had a flip phone with contract and cancelled it, and had to pay the remaining amount after receiving $5 off each month I had the phone, than purchased a new contract with the iPhone and a new 2 yr contract, but did not have to pay full price.

So you had to start a new line (phone number) in order to get a discount?

 

[xxcysxx]

charge on AMEX to get free extended warranty

very interesting statement. can you please elaborate more on this. i didn't know.

thanks

edit:

oh never mind, it doesn't apply to me since i get my amex cards from retailers, like mace's and costco.

 

[LapsangSouchong]

$90 a month? Honestly? Wow

The most common iPhone contracts here are about £40 (around $60) a month and they tend to come with a fair amount of stuff. Still utterly crap compared my deal, but far better than £70 a month just for a decent data plan with your calls and texts

Then again, as I understand it, you tend to add minutes, texts, and data onto your plan individually, is that correct? Over here we just get packages with lots of stuff built in.

I should note that our "unlimited" data is usually capped to about 2GB depending on the network, but my deal has no fair use (though, in return for that allowance, I can't use tethering, which is more than fair IMO).

And again, if you travel abroad frequently this becomes quickly obvious. So, yeah, AT&T subsidizes the up front cost, then reams you on the monthly fees. And God bless you if you travel and actually PAY those frigging roaming fees....
I'd rather pay up front and then use whatever carrier I need. Most of the time, sadly, that's still AT&T, but several months a year, that's European carrier, which is ALWAYS cheaper.

 

[saving107]

very interesting statement. can you please elaborate more on this. i didn't know.

thanks

edit:

oh never mind, it doesn't apply to me since i get my amex cards from retailers, like mace's and costco.

I have an American Express through Costco, and yes the extended warranty applies to that card as well (I should know, I've used the extended warranty and 90 day price match guarantee). Also Master Card (through Best Buy) offers the same policy.

 

[EmbraceTheOne]

Or just buy a brand new Macbook Air…

 

[Virgo]

I basically did pay over $900 with tax for my 64gb unlocked iPhone 4S. I'm on a T-Mobile family plan and my parents pay for the actual phone bill, and I really wanted an iPhone, don't want to wait for it to come to T-Mobile (if that ever even happens?) so I decided to shell out the dough. I know I will get most of it back once I sell it for the next gen, and maybe by then I can buy the new one subsidized so I'll have plenty of money left over.

 

[Eager Beaver]

No way Jose -

 

[Duckit]

The most I would ever spend on an iPhone would be $300.

 

[Big D 51]

When I first read the thread, I was thinking never in my life would I do such a dumb thing then I thought about it. I probably would if I had to and that was what I wanted.

I have paid for 3 iPhones at full price because I hate cases and keep breaking them. This doesn't count the ones I've paid for at contract price.

 

[xxcysxx]

wow, after reading all these post i felt a bit lesser of a cheapskate. after all, i was just being sane.

 

[wordoflife]

Nope, not worth that much to me.

 

[Faux Carnival]

Are you kidding me? I would pay $10000.

 

[M Quick]

I pay £10 (about $15) a month for 250 minutes, unlimited texts, and unlimited internet on a phone I paid £500 (about $750) for. I tallied this up and it's a far better deal than any contract. I even went into shops run by networks and asked them to beat my deal, and they all told me right out that they couldn't. I can only get this deal because I use pay as you go, NOT contract. The main reason the deal is so much better, aside from the great price, is the fact my network also pays me, so I in fact make a profit each month.

As I said, if you tally it up, the upfront cost is worth the smaller overall cost. But you sometimes have to shop around and find really good deals

Same here, £500 for the phone from apple store ireland and then using it with a pre-paid/pay as you go for about the same amount as you, the funny thing is i always end up having all the money left for calling at the end of the month, so when i fill it up with the plan i end up with more and more money even though i use everything that is included free... at i got $110 on the account to call for hehe..


It's a little funny though how some people think it's actually cheaper to buy the iPhone with a contract... there is a good reason you buy it without one if you got the money to fork out (which many doesn't).. Otherwise it would be useless.

 

[X5-452]

I paid $891.45 for my unlocked 64GB iPhone 4S....

 

[ISKOTB]

I paid $720 about 7 month ago for a new IP 4/16G...I swapped it with the 4s/16GB and paid $320 difference