Off contract price?

[cdd543]

When people buy off contract phones, pardon for not knowing this, but who do you use as a carrier? Boost and those types?

It could be any carrier, but you are buying at full retail not getting or using a carrier subsidy locking you into a new contract.

 

[Paisley]

It could be any carrier, but you are buying at full retail not getting or using a carrier subsidy locking you into a new contract.

So the regular big 4 carriers have lower prices for non-contract persons? or by any carrier you mean boost and virgin and..i forget who the other ones are, "pre-paid" is what i often see those referred to as.

i know it has to be less, cuz otherwise people could just pay the $50-$200+ cancellation fee to break contract.

edit: i just read on a board somewhere just now after asking, someone wrote: "Nexus 4 + T-Mobile $30/month unlimited data = winning." what type of plan are they referring to? (obviously the $30 would be crazy-low, so i don't know what he's on about, but generally some lower priced plans must be available somewhere.

 

[roadkizzle]

So the regular big 4 carriers have lower prices for non-contract persons? or by any carrier you mean boost and virgin and..i forget who the other ones are, "pre-paid" is what i often see those referred to as.

i know it has to be less, cuz otherwise people could just pay the $50-$200 cancellation fee.

edit: i just read on a board somewhere just now after asking, someone wrote: "Nexus 4 + T-Mobile $30/month unlimited data = winning." what type of plan are they referring to?

Phones can be bought off contract and used with T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint. If you want to do this you must pay the full retail price and you will not be locked into a monthly contract.

The only benefit this gives you for anyone other than T-Mobile is the option to cancel service without paying the cancellation fee.

T-Mobile is the only American carrier that gives a monthly service cost at a discount when you bring your own phone. For AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint they will charge you the full monthly cost whether or not they have to subsidize your phone purchase.

 

[Paisley]

Phones can be bought off contract and used with T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint. If you want to do this you must pay the full retail price and you will not be locked into a monthly contract.

The only benefit this gives you for anyone other than T-Mobile is the option to cancel service without paying the cancellation fee.

T-Mobile is the only American carrier that gives a monthly service cost at a discount when you bring your own phone. For AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint they will charge you the full monthly cost whether or not they have to subsidize your phone purchase.

okay. so..let's say sprint is, i dunno, $80 i think their plan is. So if you are on contract the contract break fee can be $250 when you first sign up, then the fee is lowered after i think, 6 months, by whatever it is, let's say month 7 it's $175. If ppl are still paying the $80 and break that contract month 7, their phone subsidy was $375 on say an S4, $375>$175, so what am i missing. Even at month 1, $375>$250.

 

[roadkizzle]

Early Termination Fee
Early Termination Fee is 350.

But it really just needs to be a large enough of a disincentive for customers to switch services.

 

[Paisley]

Early Termination Fee
Early Termination Fee is 350.

But it really just needs to be a large enough of a disincentive for customers to switch services.

Ah, ok. (i musta been remembering back in the day before phones were as advanced, they have a non-advanced category, lol). So on month 11 the fee is $260, (the dropping of the early term fee starts month 7) are ppl often dropping every 10 months or ealier for some reason? i know i'm missing something.

 

[mattopotamus]

Early Termination Fee
Early Termination Fee is 350.

But it really just needs to be a large enough of a disincentive for customers to switch services.

it says "may be charged up to $350." They probably knock off a small amount for each month of fulfillment.

 

[Woosh]

So the regular big 4 carriers have lower prices for non-contract persons? or by any carrier you mean boost and virgin and..i forget who the other ones are, "pre-paid" is what i often see those referred to as.

i know it has to be less, cuz otherwise people could just pay the $50-$200+ cancellation fee to break contract.

edit: i just read on a board somewhere just now after asking, someone wrote: "Nexus 4 + T-Mobile $30/month unlimited data = winning." what type of plan are they referring to? (obviously the $30 would be crazy-low, so i don't know what he's on about, but generally some lower priced plans must be available somewhere.

The only carrier that has cheaper prices for post paid service is T-Mobile. But there are a bunch of AT&T and T-Mo prepaid which all you have to do is pop in SIM card and get pretty much the same service for cheaper. H20, Simple Mobile, Straight Talk, Page Plus(Verizon), Ting(Sprint), Net10, Solavai, etc.... There are even more that I didn't mention that vary depending on how much data you need mostly.

Then there is the carrier prepaid themselves.....$60 from AT&T gives you LTE and 2GB of data with unlimited voice/text. I'd personally rather pay that monthly and buy a phone at full retail rather than going on a contract. After 2 years they are close to even in price but I can pay off a phone whenever I want if I put it on a CC and then I'm only paying a smaller phone bill. Plus I have the freedom to go wherever without a $350 ETF hanging over my head.

Boost and Virgin mobile are Sprint prepaid and iirc they do not have BYOD yet. So unless you do some trickery its not allowed.

The $30 prepaid that person is referring to is from T-Mo or Walmart that runs on T-Mo towers....it gives 100 minutes of talk time, unl texting, and 5GB of high speed data.

 

[Paisley]

The only carrier that has cheaper prices for post paid service is T-Mobile. But there are a bunch of AT&T and T-Mo prepaid which all you have to do is pop in SIM card and get pretty much the same service for cheaper. H20, Simple Mobile, Straight Talk, Page Plus(Verizon), Ting(Sprint), Net10, Solavai, etc.... There are even more that I didn't mention that vary depending on how much data you need mostly.

Then there is the carrier prepaid themselves.....$60 from AT&T gives you LTE and 2GB of data with unlimited voice/text. I'd personally rather pay that monthly and buy a phone at full retail rather than going on a contract. After 2 years they are close to even in price but I can pay off a phone whenever I want if I put it on a CC and then I'm only paying a smaller phone bill. Plus I have the freedom to go wherever without a $350 ETF hanging over my head.

Boost and Virgin mobile are Sprint prepaid and iirc they do not have BYOD yet. So unless you do some trickery its not allowed.

The $30 prepaid that person is referring to is from T-Mo or Walmart that runs on T-Mo towers....it gives 100 minutes of talk time, unl texting, and 5GB of high speed data.

k. Ah, that $60 is a good plan. Yeah, cuz i'm assuming really that most people into phones tend to be grandfathered into some pretty hot plans, so it would only make sense to go off contract if there is a lesser expensive option than the normal $80+ normal plans out there. You'd have to wrangle my sero from my cold dead hands. lol.

Thanks woosh and metopotamus.

 

[Woosh]

k. Ah, that $60 is a good plan. Yeah, cuz i'm assuming really that most people into phones tend to be grandfathered into some pretty hot plans, so it would only make sense to go off contract if there is a lesser expensive option than the normal $80+ normal plans out there. You'd have to wrangle my sero from my cold dead hands. lol.

Thanks woosh and metopotamus.

Yea, unlimited data is another reason ppl will be forced to pay full price for the phone.

I've tossed away quite a few SERO plans. With all the prepaid out there it just isn't an amazing plan anymore imo. In 20 years when Sprint upgrades its network to usable then I might have a diff opinion of it. I just waited too long for Sprint to get their act together and the way I figure it, Boost/Virgin provides the same network for a cheaper price than SERO. So it just wasn't worth giving money to Sprint every month.

 

[Paisley]

Yea, unlimited data is another reason ppl will be forced to pay full price for the phone.

I've tossed away quite a few SERO plans. With all the prepaid out there it just isn't an amazing plan anymore imo. In 20 years when Sprint upgrades its network to usable then I might have a diff opinion of it. I just waited too long for Sprint to get their act together and the way I figure it, Boost/Virgin provides the same network for a cheaper price than SERO. So it just wasn't worth giving money to Sprint every month.

Cheaper than $50? I guess for some reason i've always loved Sprint. Maybe cuz they were the underdog. And they're always so nice to me. I have quite the affinity for them for some reason. But they're great in manhattan. well, except now struggling with LTE.

 

[Woosh]

Cheaper than $50? I guess for some reason i've always loved Sprint. Maybe cuz they were the underdog. And they're always so nice to me. I have quite the affinity for them for some reason. But they're great in manhattan. well, except now struggling with LTE.

Virgin Mobile starts at $35 a month, Boost starts at $60 but iirc can go down to $45 the longer you use it.

SERO is a great plan hindered by a terrible network. I paid for mult SERO lines for years while they held you hostage by not letting you get the latest and greatest phones, I wouldn't say they we're nice to you, you must have just not needed a nice smartphone at the time.

T-Mo is a bigger underdog and are actually doing great things for their customers.

As a phone enthusiast, I prefer the GSM technology over CDMA. One of the reasons I am considering a move to AT&T for the Moto X. Their bands give ultimate freedom.

 

[Ry]

$550 off-contract for Verizon sounds like a good price.

 

[Paisley]

Virgin Mobile starts at $35 a month, Boost starts at $60 but iirc can go down to $45 the longer you use it.

SERO is a great plan hindered by a terrible network. I paid for mult SERO lines for years while they held you hostage by not letting you get the latest and greatest phones, I wouldn't say they we're nice to you, you must have just not needed a nice smartphone at the time.

T-Mo is a bigger underdog and are actually doing great things for their customers.

As a phone enthusiast, I prefer the GSM technology over CDMA. One of the reasons I am considering a move to AT&T for the Moto X. Their bands give ultimate freedom.

. yeah, that was/is the biggest problem, they never had any phones! ever! i'd go into other stores and think oh, that would be perfect. Then my palm rolled around and i was so happy. Then, again, no other phones. They didn't even get the 2nd Pre. what the???

oh but they *were* nice. Before sero I'd call them up and they would give me anything i wanted, crazy credits, free services. But after sero i never needed anything. It was weird, everyone hated them, but CS would pick up the phone after like 2 mins for me. lol. i would call for my mom and bro and get them the retention deals and extras. . Maybe they had notes on me, "nice person, loves us", lol. AT&T in my area is a no go, but tmobile in pretty good in nyc (so i hear). The phone selection however, is a real nightmare. Sooo, which one of our 6 phones would you like. lol.

Man, once I went into a store, had lost my fairly new phone, they gave me ANOTHER subsidy for a new one. bizarre.

k, sry everyone for the o/t.

Yeah, i saw that trippy pricing on the boost plan, i thought i must have been reading it wrong.

 

[Paisley]

oops, i meant the phone selection at *sprint* is a nightmare, not att