Deleted

[bender]

.

[Cyaphas]

I recently took a step off the Iphone path and picked up the new LG K10 as my Realtor phone. So far, I've been very happy with it. Buying it with a 128gb mini memory card was right at $200.

I also have an Iphone SE for my personal use. Both phones were recent purchases. I was going from an Iphone 5s. The SE is very nice and not gargantuan. The chassis is identical to the 5s and the OS runs really smooth. It's noticeably faster the the 5s. In hindsight though, I wish I'd have just bought two K10's. Apple's ridiculous mark ups for extra storage has become too ludicrous. I'm not looking forward to fighting with my Iphone about storage again. My K10 already has a ridiculous amount of Mp3's on it and still 10x more storage than my brand new SE at half the cost.

[EnjoyIt]

I've had the 5s for 3 years and it's still going OK, but starting to have a few minor issues.  I see verizon is offering $400 trade in for the 5 and 5s if you buy a new IPhone7 or 7+.  Other carriers have similar deals.

Seeing that my phone is only worth about 150, this seems like an interesting offer.  Considering the 7+ and it's ridiculous $769 list price, the trade in drops it to $369, which is only slightly outrageous.  The gotcha is that they give the $400 credit in equal installments over 24 months, so if you change carriers in that timeframe, you won't get the full credit.

Likely going to stay with this carrier anyways due to coverage in my area.  Are others going with this deal, or waiting for a better deal?  In another year, the 5s may not be trade worthy.

Make sure its not their next program or whatever it is.  Basically after 2 years you have to return the phone and purchase a new one.  I would not be too thrilled with that option.

[Tiger Stache]

Credits spread over two years are definite gotchas. Im sticking with my 6, and then will get a used 7 in a year or two if I get one

[SimpleSpartan]

Credits spread over two years are definite gotchas. Im sticking with my 6, and then will get a used 7 in a year or two if I get one

Other than the lack of storage, I have been very happy with my 6 as well. The 7 just doesn't seem worth the upgrade to me at the moment. Not to mention that the iPhone 8, which will be their 10 year anniversary is "supposedly" going to have a big update.

[dragoncar]

I've been getting the older generation phones when my contract renews, so it's usually $0-$100 with contract.  I don't know how they make money off me since I only add $40/mo to my family plan, so $960 every two years which barely covers the open market phone price

Got the 6 when the 6s came out and still happy with it.  Not sure about the 7 as I use the headphone jack and charger simultaneously on road trips

[EnjoyIt]

Make sure its not their next program or whatever it is.  Basically after 2 years you have to return the phone and purchase a new one.  I would not be too thrilled with that option.

I purchased mine out right. No contract.

I meant for the OP.  The deal is too good to be true because it is.  Usually they will take this phone of your hands and give you a nice chunk of cash and then set you up with a 2 year program where at the end of two years you give up the new phone as well having to continue with the contract indefinitely.  Basically you are leasing the phone and your money down is your old phone.

[Cyaphas]

Make sure its not their next program or whatever it is.  Basically after 2 years you have to return the phone and purchase a new one.  I would not be too thrilled with that option.

I purchased mine out right. No contract.

I meant for the OP.  The deal is too good to be true because it is.  Usually they will take this phone of your hands and give you a nice chunk of cash and then set you up with a 2 year program where at the end of two years you give up the new phone as well having to continue with the contract indefinitely.  Basically you are leasing the phone and your money down is your old phone.

Ah, Sorry. I don't know why I thought you were quoting me.

[aaron3719]

I'm looking to jump off this iPhone wagon man but it's hard, you become so dependent on it

[Gronnie]

Make sure its not their next program or whatever it is.  Basically after 2 years you have to return the phone and purchase a new one.  I would not be too thrilled with that option.

I purchased mine out right. No contract.

I meant for the OP.  The deal is too good to be true because it is.  Usually they will take this phone of your hands and give you a nice chunk of cash and then set you up with a 2 year program where at the end of two years you give up the new phone as well having to continue with the contract indefinitely.  Basically you are leasing the phone and your money down is your old phone.

They don't take your phone after 2 years, it is installment payments, not a lease.

[Chris22]

I was gifted an iPhone 6 when I left my last job. Catch is it's on AT&T and my wife steady had a VZW plan. I ordered a new iPhone 7 plus. They are giving me ~$650 for my 6 and charging me $11/mo for the new phone for 24 months (have to do payments can't buy it outright). This phone will be basically my only Internet device, so $250 is a pretty good deal IMO.

[dragoncar]

It's not the next program, this is a trade in and purchase program.  The Verizon's deal is you buy the new phone for full retail, making equal payments over 24 months.  When you receive your new phone, you sell them your old one for an inflated price ($400), but they don't give you $400 all at once - they spread it over 24 months as well as a bill credit.  If you cancel service anytime before the 24 months is up, you have to buy out the remainder of the phone you bought (obviously) and you will not get any more bill credit that is due to you.

So if you go with the Iphone7, you pay $650/24 for 24 months.  Turning in the Iphone 5s gets you a credit of $400/24 for 24 months, effectively reducing the cost of a new phone to $250.  Same math for 7+ except the purchase cost is $770/24 for 24 months, with a net cost of $370.

$250 or $370 isn't a fantastic deal on a new phone, but if you plan to stay with Verizon and are going to need one soon anyways, it's better than paying retail.  Seems more attractive than buying a 6s as it will likely last another year.

I must be getting old, cause this makes my head hurt.  It may be beneficial in the long run but it just seems too complicated!

[OutdoorsLife]

I've been using Consumer Cellular (which operates on the AT&T wireless network) for the past 2 years and been quite happy.  It's the perfect plan for low data users (like my family) and our monthly service bill for 3 iPhones averages about $55/month total.  However, since there is no contract, you must pay for your phone or bring your own device.  They do give you the option of spreading out the cost of the phone evenly into monthly payments.  The iPhone 7 costs $50 upfront and then $25/mo for 24 months.

If you are in an area with strong T-mobile or Sprint signal, then Ting wireless is even a little less expensive with a similar type of plan structure.  I'm signing up for a starter plan for my younger daughter to see how coverage is in my area. 

[ooeei]

If you're sticking with Verizon and like the 7, it seems like a pretty good choice.  I'd definitely recommend going to a store and really comparing them in your hand though, the 7+ is a big change from a 5.  Once you put a case on it, good luck putting it in a pocket.

I'm about to upgrade from a 1st gen moto x to an SE once my sapphire reserve card comes in. I need the camera for a side gig, and I'm tired of android's fragmentation and little annoying bugs.  My moto x is still on android 5.1, and has a few pretty annoying glitches.  For example if I make the mistake of restarting it when it's plugged in, it's useless for about an hour while it "optimizes apps".  It randomly powered off and restarted once after sending my boss a text message to "call me" and I had to call him back an hour later. 

I'm ready to return to apple, I haven't had one since the iphone 4.  The SE is finally at a price point and size I can deal with, and my hope is it'll be supported for quite awhile.  Androids can be (very) good, but you're rolling the dice on future support and updates.  Say what you will about Apple folks buying the latest stuff every year, but ios10 that was just released can run on the iphone 5, which was released 4 years ago.  My moto x was released a year later, but is already two OS releases behind the current.  It received updates for approximately 1 year before being abandoned.  Even the nexus devices only get updates for 2-3 years per google.

[Cwadda]

I also have an iPhone 5. Works just fine but there are a few minor issues (battery dies fast, etc). When everyone starts buying the iPhone 7 the 6 and 6s will be on sale. That's when I'll pull the trigger and get a newer model. Probably in another 6 months.

I'm not going under contract for $60/month in phone bills. That's absurd.

[Papa Mustache]

I prefer the Bushes Baked Beans cans vs the Campbell soup cans for the clarity they offer when I extend my string to its furthest reach... j/k

[gimp]

My favorite feature of iphones, nexus phones, and amazon fire devices (yes really) are the security updates.

News reports a security bug in an iphone. You get an iphone update in, what, two days? News reports a security bug in android. Nexus and fire products have your back.

When android has a bug and you have a Moto phone, Moto is like "So, we will put this in our next patch scheduled in three months, which will then take three months to be approved by your carrier maybe. Unless your phone is older than a year. In which case, uh, you should totally buy our new phone! Its android is only a year old instead of two years old." Ditto for pretty much literally every android manufacturer except Google (Nexus) and Amazon (Fire).

You can debate the pluses and minuses of having raise-to-wake and split screen and whatever else. Need it, want it, don't want it, hate it... up to you. But security updates are paramount. Security updates make your phone not leak your private data to anyone who wants it. Apple, Google, and Amazon are on it like flies on shit. Nobody else is.

[Spork]

When android has a bug and you have a Moto phone, Moto is like "So, we will put this in our next patch scheduled in three months, which will then take three months to be approved by your carrier maybe. Unless your phone is older than a year. In which case, uh, you should totally buy our new phone! Its android is only a year old instead of two years old." Ditto for pretty much literally every android manufacturer except Google (Nexus) and Amazon (Fire).

This is very true.  I have a low end Moto phone and updates take forever to come out.  I worked with Moto quite a lot in the cable industry... and they were even worse there -- awful knowledge of how their design fits together, awful default admin passwords, updates years behind schedule, etc.

[panny145]

It's not the next program, this is a trade in and purchase program.  The Verizon's deal is you buy the new phone for full retail, making equal payments over 24 months.  When you receive your new phone, you sell them your old one for an inflated price ($400), but they don't give you $400 all at once - they spread it over 24 months as well as a bill credit.  If you cancel service anytime before the 24 months is up, you have to buy out the remainder of the phone you bought (obviously) and you will not get any more bill credit that is due to you.

So if you go with the Iphone7, you pay $650/24 for 24 months.  Turning in the Iphone 5s gets you a credit of $400/24 for 24 months, effectively reducing the cost of a new phone to $250.  Same math for 7+ except the purchase cost is $770/24 for 24 months, with a net cost of $370.

$250 or $370 isn't a fantastic deal on a new phone, but if you plan to stay with Verizon and are going to need one soon anyways, it's better than paying retail.  Seems more attractive than buying a 6s as it will likely last another year.

this is exactly right and is a very good deal considering the 5s won't be worth much anything in a year or so. I did this deal, taking the $400 credit over 2 years and am very happy with my iPhone7 so far. I was going to be staying with Verizon anyway so it made sense.

[Digital Dogma]

I'd eventually like to transition to a Nexus phone and take my service from Ting to Google Fi due to poor T-mobile coverage in some places where I work and live. They're selling for a much more reasonable price than the Note/Galaxy or Iphone series, only thing I dislike is that they didn't include an SD card port on the Nexus 6p.

I'm going to hold out till my Galaxy S4 dies, its been restarting on me occasionally but thats no big deal. I replaced the USB charging port on it after my old one was so bent it wouldn't charge, got a new battery (all together cost me ~$26), and I'm hoping to squeeze at least 1-2 more years out of it before upgrading.

I've been trying to keep my cell phones for as long as possible, my last one was a dumb-phone candy bar style that made it to 7 years old when it died. It went through the washing machine twice by mistake (double oops), worked for another 6 months with water behind the screen clearly sloshing around when I was using it before dying.

Little do my poor phones know they do not have a happy retirement ahead of them, I will work them to death.

[Guses]

General discussion hmmm?

Shouldn't this be in the Antimustachian section?

Anyway, I am happy with the Verizon moto E2 that I purchased for 30$ new. I promptly unlocked it (for free) and am using it in Canada.

I am on prepaid and my so my bill per month is 1$ (911 fee) + 10 cents per MB + 25 cents per minute. September is on track to cost me 1$ in usage.

I just love how my battery lasts for 6 days (with moderate use, NOT in airplane mode)!

[RobFIRE]

Fundamentally the latest iPhone is a high-priced device. Apple is in the position that they don't have to discount their new products. So any "deal" still has to cover the full price of the phone plus the costs and profits of the carrier, and taxes over the lifetime of the contract. Secondly a three year old phone will only be worth a fraction of its original full retail price, maybe a quarter of it, so trading it in doesn't recover much cost.

So an upgrade to a current iPhone is going to cost significantly more than a lower model/used Android phone. But at least it's not a car, so the difference might be the order of $30 to $50 a month rather than 10x as much. If that additional cost is worth it to you, or is only a small proportion of income/savings rate, then get it. Otherwise, consider getting off the iPhone cost level.

[ooeei]

Fundamentally the latest iPhone is a high-priced device. Apple is in the position that they don't have to discount their new products. So any "deal" still has to cover the full price of the phone plus the costs and profits of the carrier, and taxes over the lifetime of the contract. Secondly a three year old phone will only be worth a fraction of its original full retail price, maybe a quarter of it, so trading it in doesn't recover much cost.

So an upgrade to a current iPhone is going to cost significantly more than a lower model/used Android phone. But at least it's not a car, so the difference might be the order of $30 to $50 a month rather than 10x as much. If that additional cost is worth it to you, or is only a small proportion of income/savings rate, then get it. Otherwise, consider getting off the iPhone cost level.

For the most part you're right, but if he wants to stay with iOS and Verizon this is a pretty good deal.

Currently on swappa, a Verizon iphone 5s in good condition sells for around $150 depending on the specific storage and everything.  OP is basically getting a $250 off coupon for an iphone 7 by taking the deal.  The latest iphone for $400. 

Of course OP could get a Moto G or something for $200, which would save him $200.  He'd also have a lot lower end phone, and might end up upgrading again sooner than with the iphone.  Assuming he keeps them both for 2 years (worst case scenario) he's spending $8.33/month for the upgrade.  If the iphone lasts him a year longer than the Moto G would have, he only paid an extra $2.77/month.  Normally I wouldn't bother laying out monthly costs for things, but your $30-50 figure is just crazy.

That's not including resale someday, which will be SOMETHING for the iphone, and almost nothing for the Moto G. In 2-3 years if he can sell the 7 for at least $200 they cost essentially the same amount. A 2 year old iphone 6 sells for $300 on swappa, a moto G from the same year sells for $50-75.

If we go by current resale price of 2 year old moto vs iphone, he actually comes out BETTER with the iphone in the long run, assuming he takes care of his device.  Yes, he could get a used android for less than $200, but I find it hard to believe it'd be much better than his current iphone 5s.