My Mom wants her first iPod but I told her she'd be better off buying a used iPhone and replacing her dumb phone. She doesn't want or need a data plan though. She has Verizon and from what I've read they wont allow people to use a smart phone without a data plan. I believe Sprint does. Any suggestions?
None of the major carriers will let you do this directly. Assuming very low overall usage... I would recommend Ting (Sprint MVNO) as the cheapest option. Any Sprint phone with clean ESN will work. They will also be adding GSM via T-Mobile soon. GSM phones are plentiful making device acquisition/upgrades cheaper. I use a spare phone with Ting (Sprint) attached to a automation/alarm system. At $9/mo, no can defend. https://ting.com/
Republic Wireless is also $10 a month. UNLIMITED TALK / TEXT over WiFi + Cell. UNLIMITED DATA over WiFi.
The $9 on Ting is just activation + taxes. The costs are: $6 activation $3 100 minutes $3 100 texts $3 100 MB + taxes and fees https://ting.com/rates It seems more expensive but I'm betting Republic Wireless makes you buy their phones. Unless you hack up a phone for their network, BYOD on Ting could be cheaper. Number crunch.
I am really confused by this, you can't have a smart phone if you don't have data in the US? If you don't have a data plan then the phone won't work on mobile data anyway or you could just switch it off? Why does it matter what phone you have if you are not going to use any data? And what the hell is unlimited data over wifi got to do with anything? You don't use data allowance on wifi as you are not using the carrier?
Ha. It’s always nice to have a little outside perspective to remind us how messed up out phone and Internet service is. Carriers make 90% of their profits now on data plans so they really don’t want to sell plans without data. Several years ago I had a dumb phone with Verizon. It didn’t have data but I could send text messages. Despite being grandfathered into the plan they figured out a way to force me into a data plan even though I only wanted text. That was the day I switched to T-Mobile.
If you ballpark some usage numbers for your mom, it might be easier to locate the best plan. @grim We are in the midst of a paradigm shift in mobile provider offerings. Carriers are slowly reducing services while slyly increasing pricing. There is so much dumb money at the table they can get away with it. Americans can't do simple arthmetic. I suspect we are a few years away from losing the phone subsidies. People are perfectly content to sign contracts and pay full retail for a phone. As long as its packaged into a nice affordable monthly payment. Fucking idiots dont multiply by 24 to figure out they are getting raped.
I'm not gonna lie, people still do that over here, especially with iPhones. They end up on £40+/month contracts to get the free phone but over the life of the contract end up paying £960 on a £520 phone (yes I know calls/messages/data are included but they still overpay for what they get). My mum is paying £25/month for her S4 contract and gets 300 minutes, unlim texts and 250MB 4G data (this isn't an issue as she only uses Whatsapp and is mostly on WiFi anyway so rarely gets used). I pay £10/month for 900 minutes, unlim messages and 1GB 4G data (same I only use Whatsapp) so it shows that when you take the subsidised phone you lose out on minutes and data too. She has agreed that what she is doing is stupid and when the contract is up will probably get a Moto G or whatever is out at the time (around £130) and just go SIM only. Over two years paying £10.month that works out at £340 compared to the £600 she is paying now! Also bare in mind her contract is reduced from the normal £29/month as she is a long term customer, they also wanted £100 upfront for the phone but again we got this waived.
I'm with three on a sim only contract, £15 a month for unlimited calls, text and data. I think they altered the deal for new contracts afterwards so 4g is limited to 2gb for tethered usage.
I've always been dubious of 3, they were so bad when they came out and the cheap offerings make me wonder IG they have improved. Saying that they are looking to buy O2 who in my opinion have the best network so that will help them. Might push prices up though, who knows. Three are cheap but historically have a bad rep.
Seem to be fine for me. Their feel at home service was pretty useful when I was on holiday too. Free data and calls to and from UK were as normally included in my contract. Calls to local numbers were also cheap.
Same here. This push started with the iPhone6 and Note4 release. I was amazed at how gullible people were while I waited in line at BestBuy. They were offering the Note 4 at $25/mo leased, $30/mo financed, $299 contract price, or $720 off-contract. I actually didn't even know leasing phones was a thing until that day. So many mensa candidates were falling over each other to rent a phone for $600... When it got to my turn, I got them to pricematch Amazons $150 contract pricing + $100 BB instant rebate. For $50 I had a Note 4 paid-in-full that I fucking owned outright. Slickdealing like a boss!
The phone payment plans put you on a lower rate plan (since you won't be on a "contract" rather a payment plan for the phone). After you pay off the phone, you'll be paying the lower rate plan only. With your deal, you pay for your subsidized phone, but you'll also end up paying higher in the long run since you will be paying the higher rate plan in the end. We're looking at long term.
Hmm. So this is a relevant conversation now. My Mom wants to buy an iPhone 6 on Verizon. She's dead set on keeping Verizon and she only likes the iPhone 6. Verizon has it for $200 + 2 year contract. I guess I don't have any other option for her.
Yeah, probably SOL for any slickdeals in March. You could wait a few weeks and see if any iPhone6 promos pop up with the Galaxy S6 launch. Most retailers promo Samsung and Apple together, since that is all people buy.
Does she plan on keeping the phone for a while? If she's anything like my mom (just content on having an iphone), I just got her an iphone 5 the november after it launched and she's perfectly fine with it still. I probably won't need to replace it for her until she breaks it. I have both of my parents on my account (I'm on ATT). I originally had us on the family talk 550 minute plan. I had the 3GB data plan on my line and gave her the 300MB data plan (since she only does a few things on the web). My dad used a dumbphone so it was just the extra $10 a month with no features added to our rate plan. We never added a text plan since I use google voice for anyone who still texts me and I use instant messaging with a majority of my friends. I now have us on the mobile value share plan. This ended up being like $10 more expensive a month for me, but honestly I benefit greatly from it. I get 15GB data shared across the entire account now along with unlimited minutes and messaging. This is basically their non-contract rate plan. You either bring your own device or do a payment plan on an unsubsidized phone through att. Does verizon have a similar type of plan?
A $200 iPhone6 is a slick deal at launch. If your upgrade cycle and Apples release schedule match up, you can trade up to iPhone7 for free. But between a fall release and a spring upgrade the price will drop like a rock. SOL.
I doubt my Mom cares about the iPhone 7. She's never had a smart phone and the features don't matter her. Her one criteria was that it felt good to hold and talk on. She said the 5 was too small and the 6 Plus was too big. The 6 was just right.