Smartest route for an iPhone 7 on Verizon?

November 15, 2016 2:37 PM

I have an iphone 6 with Verizon. My contract is about to expire. Googling has left me with a wide variety of seemingly conflicting answers. What is the cheapest, smartest route for me to get a new iPhone 7? I'm not sure I trust the local Verizon people to give it to me straight, so what has your experience been?

Criteria:

-I'd rather not buy it on a payment plan if I can help it. I can pay for the phone outright. Seems like the only way the math works out in my favor.
-I do not much want to trade in my current device but I do have a 5 I'd happily trade in or sell.
-Does buying the phone subsidized with a 2 year contract renewal even exist anymore? I keep seeing conflicting info.
-Completely open to not renewing the contract, I've read in a few places that can save or cost me money.
-Would buying the phone straight from Apple be cheaper?

posted by nevercalm to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

Buy the phone, switch to a prepaid plan unless none of them are suitable for your particular use. Last I checked (when I was getting my new phone a couple of months ago), the prepaid plans were cheaper than the equivalent postpaids by $5-10/mo. Verizon is basically soaking you for the "privilege" of paying for your phone purchase over time without admitting that it's a (substantial) interest charge.
posted by praemunire at 2:50 PM on November 15, 2016

Buy the phone and look into Ting wireless. I've heard nothing but good things about their prices and service.
posted by hydra77 at 3:06 PM on November 15, 2016

I upgraded from iPhone 5 to 7 in September and here's what ended up being best for me (at the time, not sure if there are different offers now)
- I purchased the phone from Apple using their payment plan, which is essentially a 0% interest loan - I pay 27/mo for 2 years which adds up to the $650 phone price . I had to pay sales tax at the time of purchase. The cost for buying thru Verizon was higher but not by a lot.
- Since I was able to choose a lower tier data plan from Verizon (a choice they didn't have 2 years ago), I'm paying less now overall for my phone and service. Before it was 105/mo for phone and plan, now it's 87/mo for phone and plan, and that will go down to 60/mo for plan after 2 years unless the plan price goes up. I'm still under a 2-year contract with Verizon but it's not tied to the phone at all, it just freezes my plan price.
- The trade-in value for iPhone 5 was pretty low (maybe 50-60?) so I decided to keep mine to use as a dedicated home music player/remote control.
posted by cilla at 6:53 PM on November 15, 2016

I asked here about getting an iPhone and plan in April. For me, the best route was buying the phone I wanted outright and going onto the cheapest Cricket plan (which is even cheaper now). I've been very happy with it. Even the one time I bumped into the data limit, the throttled speed for the rest of that month was fine for me, and if it hadn't been, I could have paid $5 more for more data that month. (Hit me up if you'd like a Cricket referral, which gives each of us a credit.)
posted by daisyace at 5:36 AM on November 16, 2016