owning your phone vs handset fees

[kuba]

Wondering: whats the point of owning a phone these days?

Say you walk into Rogers and pay $100 for an iphone5. Your device balance is $500 to start. You get a $80/m contract incl data blah blah. Just using as an example. BUT, if you go into Rogers and already own the phone, can they adjust the monthly payment to not reflect them subsidizing your phone? Or is this pay-as-you-go only?

 

[Blysspluss]

Having the ability to walk away from a provider.

With contracts they can treat you as shitty as possible...and yet they are guaranteed a customer. They can thus save money on supporting you(in some ways).

And I imagine the plan you get should be a bit cheaper. Your ROI is likely shorter than what the company charges you for the handset for 2 years (or 3 in my case).

Talking out my arse, though...I really would like to know the answer as well.

 

[Wiseman]

Pretty sure most carriers give you a 10% discount if you don't get a subsidized phone.

 

[AgentSanchez]

I follow a strict 'no contract' philosophy, because your ONLY negotiating leverage with carriers is your business. If you're unhappy with the service or your bills while on contract, you have zero recourse.

Buying your phone outright is just good negotiating tactics. I'm on virgin, and for the first 5 months was getting $200 bills. Because I was not on contract and owned my phone, I was able to go through customer retention and negotiate a $100 all-you-can-eat plan, applied retroactively to day 1. Also I'm a decent negotiator, but mostly it was the no-contract thing (and stubbornness).

 

[Bernnie Federko]

Buying a phone is Bullshit right now. Contracts are about agreeing use the carriers service, not generally a price per month. Every contract I've signed I call a few months in and get changed for lower cost and better services.

 

[AgentSanchez]

Buying a phone is Bullshit right now. Contracts are about agreeing use the carriers service, not generally a price per month. Every contract I've signed I call a few months in and get changed for lower cost and better services.

Sure, if giving up your freedom to walk away is no big deal to you, but I stand by my position.

You're advocating signing a contract in the hopes that you have room to negotiate after the deal is inked. Maybe it works, maybe it doesnt.... But I absolutely guaran-fucking-tee you that, more often than not, I can negotiate a better deal if I'm not locked in to a contract with the provider, than you can after signing a 3 yr contract.

 

[Bernnie Federko]

Bullshit.

 

[kuba]

I haven't left Telus in ten years. They have been excellent with me, I recall just one problem ever with them. That said I"m a phone addict and I don't know of any plans I could go with Telus WITHOUT a contract (or Bell, or Rogers). Maybe I should look at Virgin or fart-in-theWIND but 10% off for owning my phone isn't too bad.

Then again they do have the $7 handset protection plan and knowing how hard I am on my phone maybe it IS worth it to buy.

Come Dec 2nd it'll be a different story with 2 year plans but I still don't know which providers do NOT make me sign a contract.

Oh and your virgin bill vs mine I'm still paying less than you and I'm 50% done my contract with Telus.

 

[AgentSanchez]

Bullshit.

Meh.... what's the largest contract you've ever negotiated?

 

[AgentSanchez]

...Oh and your virgin bill vs mine I'm still paying less than you and I'm 50% done my contract with Telus.

Yep - not arguing that point. My asks went a bit beyond the price of the contract.

 

[kyfe]

But I absolutely guaran-fucking-tee you that, more often than not, I can negotiate a better deal if I'm not locked in to a contract with the provider, than you can after signing a 3 yr contract.

I respectfully disagree with your statement, I have owned my phone for the past 2 years and have not received one benefit from doing so w/telus. I negotiated a pretty decent plan 1000 minutes, U/L eve/we 5-7, 5gb data and all the bells and whistles (VM,CID etc) airtime overages are .45/min it's costing me $60 monthly which IMO still isn't a good deal.

I can get a better plan through rogers that is the same but only 350 minutes but includes 250 LD minutes and has an overage rate of .10/min for only $50 + tax and in june it comes with a $150 bill credit.

I walked into the telus store last night and the guy flatly told me to call retentions, my next stop was to rogers but the rep wanted to bind me on a regular plan and asked me to call in to get it changed. I balked at this suggestion

 

[Blysspluss]

Yeah...that's not excellent. My partner just got her new phone and signed for a 3 year contract, and her plan is unlimited talk, text across Canada(so of course LD nationwide as well) plus 1GB of data, for 55 bones.

Can you not get something close to the promo plans for owning?? I find that very odd and shitty.

 

[AgentSanchez]

I respectfully disagree with your statement, I have owned my phone for the past 2 years and have not received one benefit from doing so w/telus. I negotiated a pretty decent plan 1000 minutes, U/L eve/we 5-7, 5gb data and all the bells and whistles (VM,CID etc) airtime overages are .45/min it's costing me $60 monthly which IMO still isn't a good deal.

I can get a better plan through rogers that is the same but only 350 minutes but includes 250 LD minutes and has an overage rate of .10/min for only $50 + tax and in june it comes with a $150 bill credit.

I walked into the telus store last night and the guy flatly told me to call retentions, my next stop was to rogers but the rep wanted to bind me on a regular plan and asked me to call in to get it changed. I balked at this suggestion

Not a bad plan but you're comparing all-you-can-eat, to 1000 minutes, then to 350 minutes, which is completely apples-to-oranges.

You really should talk to retention though - without that step you have no opportunity to negotiate WHATSOEVER. I am not aware of a single wireless carrier that will EVER negotiate unless you go through retentions, or know someone who works there. Corporate plans are a different story altogether but I don't think that applies here.

 

[AgentSanchez]

Yeah...that's not excellent. My partner just got her new phone and signed for a 3 year contract, and her plan is unlimited talk, text across Canada(so of course LD nationwide as well) plus 1GB of data, for 55 bones.

Can you not get something close to the promo plans for owning?? I find that very odd and shitty.

With Virgin Mobile I'm on a $56 retention plan that is all that, plus another gig of data, VM, and caller ID. There are cheaper retention plans out there, I'm sure, but I wanted something using Bell's network that was not Bell, and this knocked $150-$200 phone bills down $65, and it was all done retroactively to day 1. I might try Rogers out again - the last time I used them was pre LTE and reception in downtown office towers could be atrocious.

Virgin would have told me 'GFY' if I was on a contract, I'm sure.