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But you're missing an important point: If you own your phone you can get much cheaper 'SIM only' deals with the mobile carriers, meaning that over your 1-2 year

But you're missing an important point: If you own your phone you can get much cheaper 'SIM only' deals with the mobile carriers, meaning that over your 1-2 year contract, you'll pay far less. Getting a new phone as part of a 'subsidised' contract is effectively borrowing money to buy a phone. Your loan repayments are the monthly fee. If you have the cash, buying the phone up-front is almost always cheaper.

twoodfin 13y ago
Not the biggest U.S. mobile carriers. AT&T and Verizon have awful BYOD plans, as I understand it. I'd be thrilled to find out I could do better than my grandfathered AT&T unlimited plan (two phones, 5GB/each before throttled, $120/mo.), but keep their network.
- jiggy2011 13y ago
  Isn't this what ting does? Not in the US so never used it, website says it is on the "Sprint" network so I guess that means coverage is patchy?
- jsonau 13y ago
  Assuming you dont voice much. T-Mobile offers prepaid(bring your own phone) $30/mo unlimited 4G and SMS with 100 minutes. Assuming you always want the latest iPhone, you save about $200 per 2 year. This deal was way back before LTE availability, So it WAS a hot deal.
- joosters 13y ago
  That sucks! I've only got experience of the UK carriers, you can get something like 600 minutes, 'unlimited' data for around £10/month here SIM-only. And on a one month contract!
- potatolicious 13y ago
  My phone's getting a bit old (4S), and I'm taking this opportunity to move to T-Mobile, where the BYOD offerings are much better. BYOD means $20 off your monthly bill (or subsidizing is +$20, whichever way you look at it), and the BYOD rate is legitimately substantially cheaper than similar plans from AT&T or Verizon. Plus even if you subsidize the device the terms are far better. The $20/month goes towards paying off a debt, which is simply unsubsidized price - subsidized price. If you leave early you pay the remaining balance and the phone's yours. This is in stark contrast to AT&T's rather punitive early-termination fees that exceed the actual subsidization provided initially.
- anonymoushn 13y ago
  If you actually use most of the 5GB each month, $60/mo is competitive with what you would get from any MVNO. The MVNO plan would include tethering, but I'm told that people just use tethering on AT&T plans without paying for it.
- Toucan 13y ago
  That seems bizarre in the UK. I pay $24/mo and get truly unlimited data, with tethering included, as well as 2000 minutes and 5000 texts (and receiving doesn't come out of your allowance in the UK, the caller pays that fee). It's absolutely cheaper to buy devices outright here. Example of Three's One Plan for a 32GB 5s (£): 24 mo contract Device 99 Plan 46 24 mo total = 1203 12 month contract + BYOD Device 629 Plan 15 24 mo total = 989

twoodfin 13y ago

Not the biggest U.S. mobile carriers. AT&T and Verizon have awful BYOD plans, as I understand it. I'd be thrilled to find out I could do better than my grandfathered AT&T unlimited plan (two phones, 5GB/each before throttled, $120/mo.), but keep their network.

jiggy2011 13y ago
Isn't this what ting does? Not in the US so never used it, website says it is on the "Sprint" network so I guess that means coverage is patchy?
jsonau 13y ago
Assuming you dont voice much. T-Mobile offers prepaid(bring your own phone) $30/mo unlimited 4G and SMS with 100 minutes. Assuming you always want the latest iPhone, you save about $200 per 2 year. This deal was way back before LTE availability, So it WAS a hot deal.
joosters 13y ago
That sucks! I've only got experience of the UK carriers, you can get something like 600 minutes, 'unlimited' data for around £10/month here SIM-only. And on a one month contract!
potatolicious 13y ago
My phone's getting a bit old (4S), and I'm taking this opportunity to move to T-Mobile, where the BYOD offerings are much better. BYOD means $20 off your monthly bill (or subsidizing is +$20, whichever way you look at it), and the BYOD rate is legitimately substantially cheaper than similar plans from AT&T or Verizon. Plus even if you subsidize the device the terms are far better. The $20/month goes towards paying off a debt, which is simply unsubsidized price - subsidized price. If you leave early you pay the remaining balance and the phone's yours. This is in stark contrast to AT&T's rather punitive early-termination fees that exceed the actual subsidization provided initially.
anonymoushn 13y ago
If you actually use most of the 5GB each month, $60/mo is competitive with what you would get from any MVNO. The MVNO plan would include tethering, but I'm told that people just use tethering on AT&T plans without paying for it.
Toucan 13y ago
That seems bizarre in the UK. I pay $24/mo and get truly unlimited data, with tethering included, as well as 2000 minutes and 5000 texts (and receiving doesn't come out of your allowance in the UK, the caller pays that fee). It's absolutely cheaper to buy devices outright here. Example of Three's One Plan for a 32GB 5s (£): 24 mo contract Device 99 Plan 46 24 mo total = 1203 12 month contract + BYOD Device 629 Plan 15 24 mo total = 989