Cell Phone Insiders

[The Big Train]

This nexus 6p is amazing, I'll never soil my hands with a Samsung product ever again.

Looking at the specs of the new Galaxy S7 edge you would think it would be much faster than it is.  I do like the design of the 6p

[IPA4Me]

Team Nexus. I'm still rolling with N5. Love the plain android and tweaking as I like without an OEM ui.

[The Big Train]

has anyone else noticed how much paul's head moves side to side when he talks?  its like his head is experiencing an earthquake or something

[Dugout DickStone]

So whose iPhone won't charge right?

[Trim]

So whose iPhone won't charge right?

My HTC One (M8) isn't charging right.  Something in the plug-in hole is jacked up to where any charger I try isn't fully connecting.

I haven't read this thread since page 82.  I haven't bought a new phone from the provider (verizon) since way, way before that.  I'd been procuring phones somehow else and having verizon activate them to avoid getting a new contract and having my grandfather'd alltel contract nixed.  It got nixed anyway last year when they said eff you contract and were gonna charge $50 for what I had, so I switched to whatever their regular setup is now.  Not even sure if those are contracts or what.

Anyway, when I log in, it says I'm eligible for upgrade.  But when I look at the phones for sale, I don't see the "$600 or $0/100/200 w/contract" stuff I remember from 4-5 years ago.  WTF is an "upgrade" now?

What brand new verizon android phones should I be looking at?  I also have a procured never-used sony xperia z3v that I could have turned on but I don't like where the plug-in hole and buttons are on it.  And I'd also have as an option going back to the gE loaner phone that I'd just gotten back on page 82 that MIR and Winters had/have been using w/no problems.

[star seed 7]

Verizon doesn't subsidize phones anymore, you pay them off monthly. So an s7 is like $28 per month for 2 years, but you also get a $25 per month credit for upgrading or something. I just got a new phone last week and was going to pay in full instead of financing but they said I'd lose the credit as soon as the phone was paid off so it made no sense to pay the whole thing. Very weird

[Trim]

Verizon doesn't subsidize phones anymore, you pay them off monthly. So an s7 is like $28 per month for 2 years, but you also get a $25 per month credit for upgrading or something. I just got a new phone last week and was going to pay in full instead of financing but they said I'd lose the credit as soon as the phone was paid off so it made no sense to pay the whole thing. Very weird

So instead of getting a "$600 phone" for $100 or $200 or whatever, you get it for like $150 spread out over 2 years?  And I presume you have to do a 2-year contract and the way to avoid such a contract would be to get a phone elsewhere and have them turn it on?  If that's all correct, I guess the question would be is there a new phone now that I should spend my hoarded "upgrade" on or use one of my other phones for a while and wait for _____?

[star seed 7]

No, I don't think you have a contract, but the balance of the phone would be due if you switched service. Also you "own" the phone outright instead of leasing it or whatever the subsidy language was

[Trim]

No, I don't think you have a contract, but the balance of the phone would be due if you switched service. Also you "own" the phone outright instead of leasing it or whatever the subsidy language was

Got it.  So what's out there now to potentially use this upgrade on?  I'm not into cell phones.  I'd want one that works as close to my old ones as possible and with a really long-lasting battery.

[star seed 7]

I dunno, I didn't look at anything but the s7

[WillieWatanabe]

Verizon doesn't subsidize phones anymore, you pay them off monthly. So an s7 is like $28 per month for 2 years, but you also get a $25 per month credit for upgrading or something. I just got a new phone last week and was going to pay in full instead of financing but they said I'd lose the credit as soon as the phone was paid off so it made no sense to pay the whole thing. Very weird

does everyone get the $25 a month credit? Most people i talked to that got a new phone didn't get that.

[star seed 7]

I dunno 

[Trim]

What a horrible experience.  Here's what they wrote up for me.  I gathered that "upgrade" means "we won't straight preclude you from buying a new phone at this time" and that upgrading comes with paying a fee for the privilege of locking in at 2 years at a total cost that's more than if I just procured a phone at almost any price and had them turn it on.

lib, show me your bill or whatever your figures are.  I'm not seeing $25/month credit here.

[star seed 7]

I dunno, maybe we had some other special plan or something. It's all a family plan my mom deals with and I pay her some undetermined amount of money every once in a while. There's like 4 phones and 3 ipads on the plan so maybe we are getting some sort of volume or loyalty discount.

[Trim]

[star seed 7]

Though the guy I dealt with said the credit was for my line because I was financing a phone.

Also I guess I had that credit from my last phone and they never dropped it even though the phone was "paid off" for 6 months and the dude said I shouldn't have gotten it during that time.

All very weird and random. I hate dealing with sales people so I don't ask any questions

[Trim]

I think you and I are in very different cell phone #life situations.

[star seed 7]

I think you're right. Sorry for misleading you 

[Trim]

To be fair, after the same amount of questions, you're better at #explaining than the verizon lady was.

But I figured it out.  In the left column of buying a phone, you're paying $200 + tax for the phone, $40 to "upgrade" and an extra $240 in phone service over the 2 years.  In the right column of "DP" (gross), you're paying $648 plus tax for the phone and $20 to upgrade.  So if I was gonna get a new phone from verizon, I'd do the left column. 

But I wouldn't, I'd get it from Best Buy that has the same setup as the left column but sometimes has them on sale and I know a sonics bro that works there that could maybe hook something up. 

But even that seems shitty compared to just reactivating the gE loaner phone for as long as that lasts and then activating the sony phone for as long as that lasts and then dealing with this again when we're on page 150-ish.

[Skipper44]

yes, buying at Best Buy on Black Friday/Cyber Monday will be the cheapest if you can last that long with your android potpourri

[Trim]

yes, buying at Best Buy on Black Friday/Cyber Monday will be the cheapest if you can last that long with your android potpourri

Easily.

In the meantime, the current phone is charging pretty well laid flat with it laid flat on my desk and about half the cord flat across the desk too and 3 CD cases sitting on top of the cord close to where it plugs in. 

[steve dave]

you know what sucks crap? being the phone family plan gatekeeper and paying the huge initial line charge and fees and then having your UP TO TEN family members say, "Yeah, just add a line for me for $X a month and I'll pay you for it" and then they reap super cheap unlimited data bennys while I'm still paying like $150 a month or some crap.

[Skipper44]

sounds like something Dave Family Cow Farmers LLC should be paying

[star seed 7]

you know what sucks crap? being the phone family plan gatekeeper and paying the huge initial line charge and fees and then having your UP TO TEN family members say, "Yeah, just add a line for me for $X a month and I'll pay you for it" and then they reap super cheap unlimited data bennys while I'm still paying like $150 a month or some crap.

There are some benefits of being irresponsible and not a real adult

[Skipper44]

also wait til SD Jr gets his first ios device and your phone is subject to a never ending stream of app requests