On Tue, Feb 12, 2013 at 7:44 AM, Steve Ross
<[hidden email]> wrote:
I am surprised that Verizon does not offer a no-contract plan, but my argument is the same: You pay the price in either the phone or the monthly fee. There's no free lunch and no real difference in what Europeans pay versus what Americans pay (overall) for mobile service.
During the era that the iPhone was not available from TMo, many people "did the math" and found that buying a phone and using it with TMo's non-contract plans was a considerable win. They did this even tho TMo could not provide the same "broadband" and many settled for Edge. They wanted the sexy iPhone and they loved TMo .. a European (Deutsche Telecom) based outfit with an extraordinary broad set of tariffs.
The sticker shock of the new iPhone was generally payed for within 14 months with a better no-contract fee.
I do like the devil in the details approach here. I switched to Vzn due to iPhone lust (and far better coverage in rural NM) and was amazed at the control Apple had over the distribution of the iPhone. It seems to me to be a small island of consumer protection that Apple is very clear up front on the relationship between Apple handsets and iOS, and Vzn, the carrier. With android this is not the case.
I will return to TMo when possible but I do get a huge savings for a being over 65 -- they offer a very nice menu of choices which nearly halved the bill I would pay as a vanilla Vzn customer.
One last example of buying an unlocked phone being a win was a recent hi-tech friend who bought a Nexus with a data-only service from TMo (good tariffs again) and is using a VoIP/Google Voice stunt. Saved a bundle.
-- Owen
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