Nexus Purchase Timing for the Cost Conscious

[dapercy]

OK, now I'm confused. What annual upgrade are you referring to? And also the New Every Two reference. I thought Verizon cancelled both of these this year.

You are correct. Verizon did cancel the annual upgrade (primary line can get upgrade at $12 months with $20 fee), but if you upgraded prior to the cancellation of the program you get 1 more chance to use an annual upgrade. They cancelled it in January of 2011, but said that for anyone that upgraded their primary line prior to January 16 (I think is the exact date), they would allow 1 more annual upgrade. I upgraded Nov 2010 so I get one more subsidized annual upgrade for my primary line on my family plan.

I have confirmed this with Verizon customer service. That said I've heard you have to call and ask for the annual upgrade sometimes as the annual upgrade doesn't always show up correctly in the Verizon system.

 

[philly]

Just to clarify, those $0.01 sales at Amazon (and even the $99 sale on the Bionic recently) were for NEW LINES or new customers. Those prices did not apply to you and me, who just want an upgrade on an existing line. So I would not be waiting for those fire sales to get your phone...

The best deal on the Bionic for upgrades was from Radio Shack, I believe, when they offered $100 off on any phone with Verizon. That included the newly released Bionic. I think they did this because they had just established Verizon kiosks in their stores and started selling Verizon phones in Oct. I am thinking this is not going to be an ongoing plan for them since I read some article about how much money they lost on this promotion just to get the word out.

I agree with others, take your upgrade as soon as you can and just pay the price. I think Costco just got quoted as selling the GN for $289? That's $10 off right there! And they only charge tax on the $289, not on the $650++ retail price, so that's a big savings too.

Careful with Amazon Wireless. While I LOVE Amazon in general, they make you agree to a 6 or 12 month early-termination contract where you pay HUGE fines if you pull out before the time is up. The fines are usually much more than the typical Verizon ETF fines...

Katherine

Amazon doesnt offer as good of deals for upgrades as opposed to new accounts but they still offer much better deals. And they honor annual upgrades.. Its the same thing to them as any other upgrade (basically thats between you and Verizon.. if Verizon has you marked as upgrade eligible then your upgrade eligible). For example on these sites a new subscriber can get a phone that vzw charges 150-200 for free.. And upgrade users can get it for about 70. the site can check your eligibilty before you even buy anything and its an instant process. If you are looking to save some cash these are the no brainer choices and yes they do have an additional 181 day etf clause but that doesnt affect me. They dont do preorders tho so if the nexus does a preorder im buying direct via preorder.

few examples here: on verizonwireless.com with upgrade price the LG Revolution is 199.99, on wirefly.com with upgrade price the phone is 0.99, with new contract its free.

on verizonwireless.com the Incredible2 is 150, the Rhyme is 200 and the Droid X2 is 100.. on amazonwireless with upgrade pricing the incredible is 80, the rhyme is 100, and the droid x2 is a penny.

as far as the 3 big phones coming out.. with upgrade pricing they will be probably around 249-279 at launch.. with a slim chance of one of them going as low as 229ish.. but you also have to realize if the phone is selling like hotcakes.. they have less stock at these retailers and you risk the chance of it getting backordered.

 

[philly]

just an update:

amazonwireless.com for a new customer: Razr is only $111.11
and for an upgrade its 249.99, also 249.99 on wirefly.com

 

[dapercy]

I contacted wirefly and they told me they can not honor annual upgrades. I imagine amazon is in the same boat so Looks like it will be a verizon store for me. Hopefully on nov. 17.

 

[philly]

I contacted wirefly and they told me they can not honor annual upgrades. I imagine amazon is in the same boat so Looks like it will be a verizon store for me. Hopefully on nov. 17.

why would you call them? the site has a way to check it for you..

I already know amazon wireless honors annual upgrades.

 

[jwood55812]

why would you call them? the site has a way to check it for you..

I already know amazon wireless honors annual upgrades.

I think you guys are missing the point where he said it's a yearly upgrade, NOT the 2 year contract upgrade. He's said he's already contacted them and they wont do it, and especially fi VZW cancelled the promo, the only place that's going to honor that "1 last time" deal is a corporate VZW store.

 

[philly]

I think you guys are missing the point where he said it's a yearly upgrade, NOT the 2 year contract upgrade. He's said he's already contacted them and they wont do it, and especially fi VZW cancelled the promo, the only place that's going to honor that "1 last time" deal is a corporate VZW store.

Sigh.. so hard to explain easy things to people on here.

Okay so ill just explain it in pictures.. 1 picture is of my invoice from amazonwireless.com where I paid a penny for my 2 fascinate phones on Sept. 14 2010. (1 year ago.)
fasc | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Here is a picture where I went through the checkout process just now on amazonwireless.com and put in my phone number, zip code and SS # to check my eligibility status and it showing I'm clearly eligible.
jeez | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

not to mention I already upgraded the other line to the Rhyme last month.

 

[heggood]

FYI, the upgrade price for the razr was $199. 99 on amazon wireless when the sale first became live.