4 ms·

For the car analogy, it is like the car cost you $1000 up front, but you have to buy a specific brand of gas for the life of the car. Which could be a good dea

by derekp7 12y ago

For the car analogy, it is like the car cost you $1000 up front, but you have to buy a specific brand of gas for the life of the car. Which could be a good deal, since you have to buy gas anyway, as long as that gas isn't much more expensive then other brands of gas. And if that brand is available in all the cities that you drive.

vog 12y ago
> Which could be a good deal, since you have to buy gas anyway Is there any market where this has ever been a good deal? For printers, mobile phones, etc. I'm not aware of a single example. Maybe renting a flat is a model where this works, compared to repeatedly buying and selling your house whenever you move. However, maybe this just works in countries like Germany which have very good laws to protect customers/lodgers.
- Agustus 12y ago
  The question is how you see it as a good deal. If you need to defer up front costs and facilitate it through increments then yes. If you see it as the total cost, then it is not a good deal.
mikeash 12y ago
That used to be the case. That iPhone really did cost you $200, because you paid $70/month (or whatever) regardless of whether you bought the thing subsidized or unsubsidized. Now, the carriers are getting away from that model. AT&T, for example, charges you less if you bring your own phone, or buy it from them at full price. The monthly difference is almost exactly 1/24th of the subsidy.
- derekp7 12y ago
  That's good information to know for comparison -- I'm with T-mobile, and when they switched to the BYOD model, they got rid of the subsidized plans. The replacement plans look like a good deal, but it is hard to compare because plans were getting better every year anyway. And providers went from making money on voice to making money off of data.
spacehome 12y ago
Yea, but it is more expensive. For instance, I'm paying $30/month on Page Plus, whereas the cheapest plan I can get from Verizon is $80/month. (Though admittedly, the Verizon plan gives more data. None of the Page Plus plans give exactly 2GB of data, but the Page Plus plans at $40 and $55 straddle that amount)
- steanne 12y ago
  if you need more data but don't care about minutes, t-mobile has a prepaid plan that is $30 for 5gb data (and throttled after), unlimited text, and 100 minutes.

by derekp7 12y ago

vog 12y ago

> Which could be a good deal, since you have to buy gas anyway Is there any market where this has ever been a good deal? For printers, mobile phones, etc. I'm not aware of a single example. Maybe renting a flat is a model where this works, compared to repeatedly buying and selling your house whenever you move. However, maybe this just works in countries like Germany which have very good laws to protect customers/lodgers.

Agustus 12y ago
The question is how you see it as a good deal. If you need to defer up front costs and facilitate it through increments then yes. If you see it as the total cost, then it is not a good deal.

mikeash 12y ago

That used to be the case. That iPhone really did cost you $200, because you paid $70/month (or whatever) regardless of whether you bought the thing subsidized or unsubsidized. Now, the carriers are getting away from that model. AT&T, for example, charges you less if you bring your own phone, or buy it from them at full price. The monthly difference is almost exactly 1/24th of the subsidy.

derekp7 12y ago
That's good information to know for comparison -- I'm with T-mobile, and when they switched to the BYOD model, they got rid of the subsidized plans. The replacement plans look like a good deal, but it is hard to compare because plans were getting better every year anyway. And providers went from making money on voice to making money off of data.

spacehome 12y ago

Yea, but it is more expensive. For instance, I'm paying $30/month on Page Plus, whereas the cheapest plan I can get from Verizon is $80/month. (Though admittedly, the Verizon plan gives more data. None of the Page Plus plans give exactly 2GB of data, but the Page Plus plans at $40 and $55 straddle that amount)

steanne 12y ago
if you need more data but don't care about minutes, t-mobile has a prepaid plan that is $30 for 5gb data (and throttled after), unlimited text, and 100 minutes.