By that logic, I get new iPhones for free. Even if you include the value of the iPhone I trade in, it's still only $250-300. Yes, they're right that you don't

By that logic, I get new iPhones for free. Even if you include the value of the iPhone I trade in, it's still only $250-300. Yes, they're right that you don't need to spend more than $250 to get a really capable smartphone - because the cost of the phone is put into your service plan. You can trade in any Samsung Galaxy S and get a brand new Galaxy S23 for free. AT&T will even give you a Pixel 7a for $2/mo, $72 in total - no trade in required. Tomorrow's headline: I won't spend more than $72 on a new smartphone! And if you want to blast holes in my argument, you certainly can. Plan prices matter. Of course, Visible from Verizon $25/mo unlimited compared to Google Fi's $50/mo unlimited. Visible has a $35/mo plan that has 50GB of premium data and then unlimited deprioritized data after that - which is a lot better than 50GB of premium data from Google Fi and then getting throttled to 256kbps (yea, kilo-bits) - and Google Fi wants to charge $65/mo for that, 86% more than Visible. Why not buy a $500 Pixel 7a and get $25-35/mo Visible service instead of spending $50-65/mo on Google Fi? The savings are a lot more than the $10.42/mo rebate the author is getting. Plus, Visible has taxes and fees included while Google Fi will mean paying taxes and fees - which could be another $10/mo, eliminating your rebate. If the author likes Google Fi, I'm more than happy for them. However, the premise that they're getting the Pixel 7a for $250 is just ridiculous.