Saving money after Verizon phone is off-contract

[Boyiee]

Ha, that's pretty amazing. Just switched the plan to Verizon Next, 6 GB a month + 2 GB free for the next 12 months (not on contract, cancel or upgrade anytime), $70+$15 per line+tax, so $100+tax for two phones, should work. Maybe we will do the iphone shuffle when the next one comes out.

so switching to Next doesnt force new phones+monthly sub rates on you guys? very interesting.

Apparently not. They hype Next as a "pay as you go" for your phone plan, but if you already had Verizon More Everything for 2 years you can switch to it and simply save money each month.

There are pros and cons to verizon edge (at&t next). You don't pay the 199 or 299 upfront cost with the 2 year contract, but instead pay the full price of the phone off over a 2 year period (except you pay the tax up front, up to about $60). This comes to usually $20-30 per month depending on the smartphone, which is a lot easier to pay for most people. In the end, you end up paying slightly more for the phone over the 2 years but its not that bad. You also get the bonus to "upgrade any time" which is true but you have to pay off the entirety of what you owe on the phone. Right now the S6 Edge 64gb is about $800-$850 retail costing you about $35 a month on verizon edge. Want to change phones after 1 year? You have to pay the $400 remaining cost to upgrade the phone.

Edge used to be pay off 50% of the phone to upgrade so you could upgrade for free after 12 months if you gave them your old phone. Which was pretty awesome. Yearly upgrades you just hand in your old phone instead of selling it. Then they changed it to 60%, 75%, and as of May 2015, you have to pay off 100% of the phone in order to upgrade for free. After the full term, you keep the phone of course.

[archibaldcrane]

But for someone like my wife and I who have phones paid off already, it's simply a much cheaper plan with no commitment.

[Melena]

The other problem with AT&T Next if what i've read is true, is that they build phone subsidize costs into your bill, so you are still helping pay for subsidized phones even if you bring your own phone.

[kuronosan]

Verizon still does it.

[Purrrfect]

There are pros and cons to verizon edge (at&t next). You don't pay the 199 or 299 upfront cost with the 2 year contract, but instead pay the full price of the phone off over a 2 year period (except you pay the tax up front, up to about $60). This comes to usually $20-30 per month depending on the smartphone, which is a lot easier to pay for most people. In the end, you end up paying slightly more for the phone over the 2 years but its not that bad. You also get the bonus to "upgrade any time" which is true but you have to pay off the entirety of what you owe on the phone. Right now the S6 Edge 64gb is about $800-$850 retail costing you about $35 a month on verizon edge. Want to change phones after 1 year? You have to pay the $400 remaining cost to upgrade the phone.

Edge used to be pay off 50% of the phone to upgrade so you could upgrade for free after 12 months if you gave them your old phone. Which was pretty awesome. Yearly upgrades you just hand in your old phone instead of selling it. Then they changed it to 60%, 75%, and as of May 2015, you have to pay off 100% of the phone in order to upgrade for free. After the full term, you keep the phone of course.

Wait, so to upgrade after 1 year you have to pay the entire phone off AND turn it in?

[Jamison]

Wait, so to upgrade after 1 year you have to pay the entire phone off AND turn it in?

Yup. They "run" numbers by you in the store that makes it look a bit cheaper over X period of time -- and it is by a moderate amount. But they do not make it clear that you don't keep the phone when upgrading, which is what turns the table in their favor by a large margin. I'll admit many average folks may not care to keep old phones around, but it really has the vibe of trying to take advantage of the customer. I got to watch them try to sell this system to my wife, but I knew going in there was no way we were taking it. We got a lot of "why don't you want to save money" and "the proof is right here". Sales lady acted fairly incredulous that we weren't interested.

Believe it or not, Edge was significantly worse when it first launched. The articles being written on tech sites were outright calling it a scam and unfair. Verizon has since changed the pricing structure to make it something a bit more "reasonable."

[Boyiee]

If you pay off the entirety of the phone you keep it. You used to be able to pay 50% of the phone off in 12months, hand it in, and walk out with a different phone. Now it's 100%, but you keep the phone.

[Senji]

The other problem with AT&T Next if what i've read is true, is that they build phone subsidize costs into your bill, so you are still helping pay for subsidized phones even if you bring your own phone.

At&t did have a thing where if you owned your phone; you would have a reduced bill with the "subsidized cost" removed. No idea if they still do, it was there when they first introduced Next. Verizon didnt offer it last I checked.

[kuronosan]

Verizon will charge you for everyone who subsidized their phone, even if you don't.

[archibaldcrane]

At&t did have a thing where if you owned your phone; you would have a reduced bill with the "subsidized cost" removed. No idea if they still do, it was there when they first introduced Next. Verizon didnt offer it last I checked.

That's exactly what Verizon Edge is doing for me.