Cheapest place to buy iPhone / cell plan?

ZapBrannigan

ZapBrannigan

If it ain’t a Boeing, I’m not going. No choice.
Happy New Year all.

So ATT is ditching the 2 year contract. That kind of sucks because I liked getting the phone for a reduced rate and I was thinking of upgrading my iPhone 4S anyway.

Right now with a corporate discount I'm paying around $130 a month for 2 lines, unlimited call and text, and 5 gb of data shared. We typically use around 2GB.

NOT interested in ATT next or anything because I don't want the monthly payment. I liked buying the phone for a reduced price with the two year contract, but after January 8th that option isn't on the table.

Looked at Sprint, they have a good deal. $25 for 5GB shared, unlimited calls and text, and another $25 for 2 lines... So $50 per month BUT...

... My ATT iPhone 4 won't work with it. So will have to get new phones. And, the deal expires in 2 years so no way to tell what it will cost after that two year "promotional" period.

Open to suggestions. If I'm leaving ATT anyway, would like to save some money on the plan. If I'm staying with ATT will probably make the decision to upgrade the phone and sign another 2 years before January 8. Thanks!
 
Just realized I asked a similar question a few months ago, so I apologize but humor me. The wife isn't onboard with Cricket, Straight Talk etc.
 
Buy a used iPhone 6 from gazelle.com. Much cheaper than buying the latest and greatest, and they still have a 30 day return policy. I bought one in "good" condition and it was nearly flawless. I'd stay away from eBay and Craig's List. Thumbs up for T-Mobile too.
 
You've always paid for the phone at a higher price, you've just made payments on it.

Choose your carrier first, phone second. If you like the service that T provides, stick with them and purchase the phone you want. You don't buy TVs on a monthly payment plan, why do that with phones.

Almost all carriers are doing this now.
 
I've had ATT, Verizon and have Sprint currently....Sprint is the worst by far, I have the unlimited plan ($90 for unlimited everything) but the service is terrible, I usually will have a call dropped at least once a day and rarely get LTE speeds, only in high population centers. My work phone is ATT and is almost always 4G LTE even in the most rural parts of Utah last week. Will leave Sprint as soon as I have the motivation to change...
 
You're always paying for the phone one way or another. They're not just giving it to you out of the kindness of their hearts.
 
These days with everyone doing away with subsidized phones through contracts you're going to pay the same price for the phone you want regardless of where you get it (unless you buy used which I personally would not do). So really it comes down to which carrier you want and whether you want to pay for the phone up front or in installments (interest free of course).
 
Bring one phone to Cricket and show her the light. AT&T owns Cricket, previously it was AIO (Google it). It is hands down the cheapest, best AT&T service you can get for a smartphone.

$720/year savings, I dunno, that is a ton of money to be throwing out the door just because someone isn't comfortable with the idea of having a prepaid plan. Does she think it makes her look poor or something?

Buy a Verizon branded 5S and you can use it on any carrier, it has all the radios in it (CMDA and GSM).

Or do what I did, Verizon Galaxy S4 mini for $75, service for $43, unlimited talk/text and 5 gb data. Samsung is the only one with a replaceable battery which is pretty much the only thing that goes on them these days. I just bought a new one for $8, popped it in the back good to go another 2 years...

Don't let consumerism suck your hard earned money.

If you are going to Mexico/Canada/etc. much check out AT&T GoPhone, $55 includes roaming in those areas. Coverage is way better than T-Mobile. Domestically.

https://www.att.com/shop/wireless/gophone-plans.html

You're trying to save money going to Sprint, do you realize how bad they really are?!?
 
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I don't know why all the hate about Sprint. Is usually the only one on the airplane that was getting a signal most places we would go.

If you're not stuck on having an iPhone I would go with Google's project fi.
 
Thanks guys. Just bought the phones on Gazelle and stuck with the plan I had. Appreciate it!
 
ZapBrannigan said:
Thanks guys. Just bought the phones on Gazelle and stuck with the plan I had. Appreciate it!
Click to expand...

I really like Gazelle. Last two upgrades I've sold my phone to them. One I reported as "broken" because one of the buttons didn't work. They sent me an email saying that I undervalued the condition of my phone and that it was actually worth $100 more than expected.

They could have very well said absolutely nothing and come out $100 ahead.

Selling your phone to them is easy too. Tell them what you have and what condition it's in, they give you a quote. Then they mail you a box, complete with a label, security seal, tape, etc and you just drop it back in the mail.
 
Screaming_Emu said:
I really like Gazelle. Last two upgrades I've sold my phone to them. One I reported as "broken" because one of the buttons didn't work. They sent me an email saying that I undervalued the condition of my phone and that it was actually worth $100 more than expected.

They could have very well said absolutely nothing and come out $100 ahead.

Selling your phone to them is easy too. Tell them what you have and what condition it's in, they give you a quote. Then they mail you a box, complete with a label, security seal, tape, etc and you just drop it back in the mail.
Click to expand...


Gazelle offered me $5 for my old iPhone 4S. I'll just keep it and use that to listen to my old music.
 
Where are people getting the idea that you've always paid for the phone? No, I didn't. Except the $100 upfront for an iPhone 5c back a couple years ago.

My plan with ATT:

10GB shared with 2 lines: $100. 22% corporate discount makes this $78.

Each line is an additional $40/month but with the promotional 2 year contract I signed, this was $15/month, saving me 25 bucks monthly.

So each line total 15+15 = $30.

78 + 30 = $108. Plus taxes, fees, etc, my grand total is $117 a month for ATT 2 phones, unlimited calls/text, and 10GB shared!!!


Now, my 2-yr contract is up at the end of this month. Someone tell me where in the $117/month I subsidized my phones?!? Because TODAY's plans with buy-your-own phone, I can't find anything for $108/ month total with 10GB shared even before adding phone charges. All of them require a phone monthly charge or an outright purchase, and they are much higher than $117/month.
 
Cherokee_Cruiser said:
Where are people getting the idea that you've always paid for the phone? No, I didn't. Except the $100 upfront for an iPhone 5c back a couple years ago.

My plan with ATT:

10GB shared with 2 lines: $100. 22% corporate discount makes this $78.

Each line is an additional $40/month but with the promotional 2 year contract I signed, this was $15/month, saving me 25 bucks monthly.

So each line total 15+15 = $30.

78 + 30 = $108. Plus taxes, fees, etc, my grand total is $117 a month for ATT 2 phones, unlimited calls/text, and 10GB shared!!!


Now, my 2-yr contract is up at the end of this month. Someone tell me where in the $117/month I subsidized my phones?!? Because TODAY's plans with buy-your-own phone, I can't find anything for $108/ month total with 10GB shared even before adding phone charges. All of them require a phone monthly charge or an outright purchase, and they are much higher than $117/month.
Click to expand...
Prices can go up for service.

You had to pay the price of the phone somewhere. You aren't getting anything for free.
 
I've tried to do the math backwards.

I paid $100 for an iphone 5c brand new as part of a 2 year contract agreement with ATT. I think retail at the time was about $575. So call it getting $475 "free."

475 / 24 months = $20. So each phone is subsidized to me at $20/month for 24 month contract duration. And with two phones, that's $40/month. So the $108 total, subtract $40 for the phones, becomes $68 per month for 2 lines and 10GB shared.

For me to get the same equivalency of what I have now, I'd need a plan that costs $68/month before taxes and before the cost of the phones.



Seriously... if I'm wrong, I'd love someone to correct me. But what I'm seeing is with this collusion to do away with 2 year contracts and offer plans only with full-fare phones, the price of the stand-alone phone plan (before the phone cost) have skyrocketed compared to what they were before, EVEN accounting for the phone cost subsidized in a 2-year contract.
 
You are trying to do math on something that is not set in stone. They can change their prices and ways to make the money depart your wallet.
 
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