Joanna Stern:
Without much thought, I did what most Americans do every two years: I agreed to be locked in by a multibillion-dollar wireless company. With pricey contracts and confusing add-ons, they make it incredibly hard to leave, let alone take our phones with us. I deserve to walk around with “Property of Verizon” stamped on my forehead.
I know a lot of people that are going for the unlocked phone so they don’t have to be locked in any more. It’s more expensive upfront, but sometimes the flexibility is worth it.
Done and done. MNVOs FTW.
In some countries in Latin America, such as Colombia, carriers cannot sell locked phones or force you to sign long term contracts for any communications service.
They are also obliged to transfer your number to any other carrier upon request, without questions or service disruption, and it has to happen in less than 3 days.
Downside: The iPhone 6 costs 6x the minimum wage.
I did this since the day iPhone 4 was launched in UK. My “rolling 30 day contract” was (is) GBP5.00 for 2GB of data incl tethering. Calls and texts at cost. Average bill has been around GBP7 to 8 per month. Oh and this for a pure 3G/4G connection, never less than 3G connection because the carrier doesn’t have any 2G capability.
Compare this to my new (work) iPhone on a UK mainstream carrier with conventional high-cost contract – it occasionally connects using 4G but often 2G. So much for paying full price!
It doesn’t even have to be all up front. Last September, I bought my unlocked iPhone from Apple for T-Mobile (U.S.) with 24-month no-interest financing offered through the Apple online store. Looks like the Barclaycard offer is now limited to 12 months, but that’s still pretty good.
Most people I know wouldn’t update at even near a two year cycle if it wasn’t set up this way.
In our household we believe:
You drink your whiskey straight up with no ice
You drive stick
You open your presents on Christmas Day
Men take off their hats when asking for something
Women always look good in hats
You own your own phone with no contract
It doesn’t make sense to buy unlocked. ” While that sounds good, people who pay upfront for their phones don’t really pay any less over two years than they would under contract with a subsidized phone.”
And I don’t mind the contract either. I’m going to keep my phone for two years. I don’t want to pay upfront. What’s the downside? I’m not going to change carriers either.
Your carrier knows that, which is why their customer service doesn’t have to work as hard to try to keep you happy.
I get a new unlocked iPhone every year. I can typically sell the previous one for about $200-$250 less. So it costs me well under a buck a day to always have the latest phone.
Yup, been using them all along, right from the get go.
Do you mind me asking which one you use? I am, always looking for a good deal/reception/extras/etc.
Airvoice Wireless. We found them through an article on a personal-finance blog we like (http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/10/11/our-new-10-00-per-month-iphone-plans/). Several low-impact plans, including the $10/month one each of us is using (no data). I wish we’d switched from Virgin Mobile sooner.
Most people don’t mind cell phone companies lending them money (at a price) in return for lockin and binding contracts. It’s been effective and all Telcos despise Apple even though they won’t admit it publicly.
If you travel, or you want more leverage over your data plans, etc, then you need an untethered phone. I have UK SIM with 30 days unlimited data at a very reasonable price. I used 10 days of data last fall. What that means is when I return to the UK this spring I will still have 20 days of unlimited data that I paid for.
You don’t get plans like that in North America because most people would prefer to overpay in the long run in return for cheap initial outlay in the short run. The costs aren’t in the “subsidized” phone alone, but in the poor data plans. Basically over paying $20-30 more per month over 2 years hurts less than paying $500-900 initially.
Thank you.
I am currently trying out Ting. It’s beta right now for GSM, but so far seems pretty good. I need the data so it’s a viable option. Pay as you go, a la carte, using T-Mobile as the carrier. Its’ great coverage everywhere but my house where it’s spotty 2G. Supposedly they will be finished upgrading all 2G to LTE in my area by the middle of the year.
Interesting pricing plan. I like the way they break it down, but the first column suggests that if you’re going overseas for a month or more, it’ll still cost you $6/device to maintain the account/phone number, even though you’re not using it.
That said, I’d be very interested to hear about how well their service continues to work for you.
Just saw this: Ting’s a division of Tucows. That name sure takes me back. 🙂
On the upside, last time I was there they were selling minutes for 2 pesos at an emerald market near Coscuez.
Seems to me that if I can get that plan that runs on AT&T’s network, but costs way less, it’s most certainly worth paying up front. I didn’t pay $199 for my 64 gig 5s. So I pay $600 more. So what? In the end, I come out way ahead. The only question is, does Cricket wireless give me the same speeds at the same locations as an indentured AT&T iPhone? Or does AT&T throttle them?
Yes, that is the one thing I don’t like about it. But if I save a significant amount over StraightTalk it won’t be such a big deal. I’ll definitely let you know.
I thought the same thing when I read a review and saw it was started by Tucows.
I’m with you on everything except driving stick. What a pain in the ass.
I’ll say this for them: their site’s way more modern than Airvoice’s, by an order of magnitude. I like that they describe themselves as trying to run an MNVO like an ISP.
Most won’t do that though – and unless there’s a really good reason to upgrade they wouldn’t.It’d have to be a must have feature.
The cash cow customers always win in a fight, but if you’re not a super nerd, the “second tier” subsidiaries and MVNOs will be more than adequate for voice calls and data speeds.
The only real gotcha for most customers is whether or not they can roam. In many cases, the answer’s no, which may be a deal-killer if you travel (or live somewhere like the west with lots of coverage holes).