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> I bought my first iPhone in 2008, the iPhone 3G, whose 16GB variant cost me $299 on a two-year contract. While the author acknowledges the two year contract,

> I bought my first iPhone in 2008, the iPhone 3G, whose 16GB variant cost me $299 on a two-year contract. While the author acknowledges the two year contract, he seems not to actually do a TCO analysis of the phone + monthly service. Given how much cheaper cell service is these days (perhaps 1/3 of what it cost during the early days of the subsidized iPhone), you could spend an extra $500 on a phone and still end up spending less. And if you kept it for 3 years instead of 2 (which is much easier now that the rate of innovation has slowed), you could spend even more upfront.

ClumsyPilot 4y ago
As you mentioned - he is not buying cheap phones. The contract basically acts as a loan, where credit repayments are rolled into his monthly cost of telephpne service O dod the math in UK for cost of buy the phone outright, and buying ewuivalent service over two yeats - usually buying outroggt end up cheaper. Sometimesnit doesnt so you can atke the deal. If you dont want to shell out cash, it's an okay option.
- meragrin_ 4y ago
  > O dod the math in UK for cost of buy the phone outright, and buying ewuivalent service over two yeats - usually buying outroggt end up cheaper. He's on Google Fi. I'm on Google Fi with $20 month plan. You can go a few dollars cheaper if you use very little data and pay by the gig. I'm eligible for the same deal on the Pixel 7a. There is not a company which offers the same service for any where close to $10 a month.
- j16sdiz 4y ago
  It's an okay option, but telling us this is "$250 phone" is wrong.
wink 4y ago
Yeah, that calculation is a bit bonkers, but the 6a is available for ~330 € and I'm pondering to buy one. My problem is usually the lack of security updates with phones in this price band (last year's model or whatever) but according to a quick research it should get security updates through October '26. And yeah, I know that 330€ is one category higher than 250$ - but I still refuse to pay 500+ for a phone that I hardly use. My only problem is that if 2FA and banking require one, I want to have security updates.

ClumsyPilot 4y ago

As you mentioned - he is not buying cheap phones. The contract basically acts as a loan, where credit repayments are rolled into his monthly cost of telephpne service O dod the math in UK for cost of buy the phone outright, and buying ewuivalent service over two yeats - usually buying outroggt end up cheaper. Sometimesnit doesnt so you can atke the deal. If you dont want to shell out cash, it's an okay option.

meragrin_ 4y ago
> O dod the math in UK for cost of buy the phone outright, and buying ewuivalent service over two yeats - usually buying outroggt end up cheaper. He's on Google Fi. I'm on Google Fi with $20 month plan. You can go a few dollars cheaper if you use very little data and pay by the gig. I'm eligible for the same deal on the Pixel 7a. There is not a company which offers the same service for any where close to $10 a month.
j16sdiz 4y ago
It's an okay option, but telling us this is "$250 phone" is wrong.

wink 4y ago

Yeah, that calculation is a bit bonkers, but the 6a is available for ~330 € and I'm pondering to buy one. My problem is usually the lack of security updates with phones in this price band (last year's model or whatever) but according to a quick research it should get security updates through October '26. And yeah, I know that 330€ is one category higher than 250$ - but I still refuse to pay 500+ for a phone that I hardly use. My only problem is that if 2FA and banking require one, I want to have security updates.