Best place to get a new iPhone and contract?

AT&T is really pissing me off.

Long story short, I no longer need a personal phone, and my wife wants to upgrade to a newer iPhone (she has a 3GS). AT&T won’t let her upgrade to a new device at a decent price until next February. They also refuse to bundle voice and data services. So here’s the best they can offer me:

$85/month for voice, messaging, and data ($40 for 450 anytime minutes, unlimited m2m, nights and weekends, $20 for unlimited messaging, $25 for 2 GB of data).

$450 for a new 16GB iPhone 4S. (I'd actually llike to get her a 32GB, but they want $550 for that)

Or, I can pay $225 to cancel the whole thing now and go somewhere else. So, where should I go? Who has the best plan prices? My wife doesn’t use voice calling much (300-400 minutes per month), but messages a lot (~1000) and uses ~1 GB of data per month.

Please don’t bother telling me how cool your new Droid/Windows/Whatever phone is. I don’t care. My wife wants an iPhone. That’s what she’s going to get.

I just want to know where I can get one with an average voice/message/data plan for the best price. Thanks!

That sounds roughly what I'm paying Verizon. I pay $240/mo after taxes for three lines, all iPhone 4, unlimited texts/pics/vids, 2Gb data each, insurance on two of them. None of us really use the voice part, so we share minutes. But it's free m2m, free nights and weekends, free other crap. So we haven't used more than about an hour combined in the last few years (two are the same phone numbers since 1996). I'm not Verizon's biggest fan, but they are the lessor of evils from my brief experience switching years ago.

Keep in mind that there's free wifi just about everywhere, so you have to try to use 2Gb a month.

The most I paid for any iPhone was $99, 4s would have been $199 when I upgraded the last phone two weeks ago. Pretty sure one was free. And Verizon will let you transfer upgrade eligibility between phone lines if needed (seems you don't though).

I pay $90.92 a month (Taxes and all the other BS is in that price) form Sprint, the Bill just happens to be on my desk....

I got the phone from http://wireless.amazon.com/ thanks to a tip from Tailchaser.*

450 Anytime Minutes and $10.00 adder for Premium Data Add-on.

It includes Unlimited

• Any Mobile Anytime
• Text
• Nights & Weekend
• Picture Mail (?)
• Sprint 3G Data
• Sprint 3G Data Roaming
• Sprint 4G

* I don't have an I phone I have a Samsung Gallaxy SII.

Honestly 85 a month isn't bad. I think I pay a bit less than that with my discount. Why won't they let her upgrade handsets though? The 3GS is pretty old so her 2 yr upgrade should be available by now I'd think. I got my iphone 4 on day one and I'm already up for upgrade.

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Originally Posted by CosmosMpower

Honestly 85 a month isn't bad. I think I pay a bit less than that with my discount. Why won't they let her upgrade handsets though? The 3GS is pretty old so her 2 yr upgrade should be available by now I'd think. I got my iphone 4 on day one and I'm already up for upgrade.

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They still sell 3GS... probably bought it late not thinking 4 was worth it and now want to upgrade.

Or renewed their contract along the way and are locked in. Verizon tried that on me a few times over the years.

I pay $25 a month for my Virgin Mobile (Sprint) Android. 300 mins, unlimited text-data.

For those of you with iPhones.... ;)
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_ETXXuUGvh...-are--4428.jpg

Wait until June 29, pay full boat for an iPhone 4s, but go for the $30/ month service plan with Virgin Mobile... Save $$$

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Originally Posted by tailchaser

Wait until June 29, pay full boat for an iPhone 4s, but go for the $30/ month service plan with Virgin Mobile... Save $$$

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Details on $30/month plan? Can you use a AT&T Iphone or does it need to be unlocked? Is that for voice and data/text?

^ http://touchreviews.net/virgin-mobil...ne-4s-june-29/

You can find iPhone 4S way cheaper then that on Craigslist. I got my wife iPhone 4S for our anniversary, it's a 32GB and I got it for $450 with $80 mophie pack and a few extras. I haven't bought a phone from AT&T in ages and I've had every single smartphone from AT&T in the last 10 months. I even dropped my insurance plan because paying the $6.99 a month + $199 deductible is way more expensive than picking a LNIB phone from CL. AT&T prices are okay when it comes to plan but their phones and upgrade policies are outrageous! If you need 4S without a box in mint condition, I know a guy who has a few :)

My son dropped Mel's iPhone in a pool last year (4 was out, 5 was rumored on the way), so we elected to get a free refurb 3GS replacement. That's why she can't upgrade now until next February.

More details on the Virgin deal? I'd be willing to pay full retail for the phone if I could save $55/month in service charges.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/25721...son_chart.html

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CosmosMpower

Details on $30/month plan? Can you use a AT&T Iphone or does it need to be unlocked? Is that for voice and data/text?

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$30 is for 300 minutes + 2.5gigs of data/text. (technically, unlimited, but severely throttled after 2.5 gigs). You can't use an AT&T phone since Virgin is on Sprint's network.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tailchaser

$30 is for 300 minutes + 2.5gigs of data/text. (technically, unlimited, but severely throttled after 2.5 gigs). You can't use an AT&T phone since Virgin is on Sprint's network.

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+1 if you want CDMA

Otherwise Craigslist's GSM iPhone + Straighttalk $45 all you can eat everything.

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Originally Posted by apex2apex

+1 if you want CDMA

Otherwise Craigslist's GSM iPhone + Straighttalk $45 all you can eat everything.

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Any personal experience with coverage/data speed with this carrier? Which network they use, AT&T or T Mobile? I have GSM Androids and looking to switch too.

iPhone 5 is due out in the fall if she can wait a few more months.

You might have seen this already, but might be worht lookin into.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/verizo...120639203.html

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Originally Posted by gofastlookslow

You might have seen this already, but might be worht lookin into.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/verizo...120639203.html

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Yep... Verizon is trying to jack up mobile prices under the guise of providing "what consumers want"

lol @ a $450 for a phone that's six months old and was just barely competetive the day it came out.

I pay $87/month for Sprint and I'm one of those people who use the phone way too much. I'd get on that Virgin deal if they have unlimitted data. I don't know which network they use, but I'll warn you that if it's Sprint, and you plan to leave the metroplex, you won't be happy.

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Originally Posted by mr brg

lol @ a $450 for a phone that's six months old and was just barely competetive the day it came out.

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Wow... it took you two whole days to come on here and tell us how bad the iPhone is. You're slacking.

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Originally Posted by altiain

Wow... it took you two whole days to come on here and tell us how bad the iPhone is. You're slacking.

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That said, you can get a nice HTC android phone for $300 and the same $30/month no contract pricing...

Pick up a CL iphone 4s (I talked to a guy about a NIB 16gb yesterday, $350 was his bottom dollar) and get on the T-mobile Sim-only deal after your contract expires. In the meantime, use the new phone on your existing contract.

The Virgin deal will be great if you don't mind paying full price for the phone. Remember that ATT is GSM and Virgin/Boost are CDMA (Sprint network).

There are tons of iPhone 4 and 4S's on CL right now, many NIB, all under $450 for 4S, $250 for 4. You can then sell your 3GS for $150 to recoup some of the cost. Best bet is to ride-out your current plan rather than paying early-termination fee. Also, double check that fee, ATT currently charges $175 early term, with $5/mont reduction for every month of the contract you've completed.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by altiain

Wow... it took you two whole days to come on here and tell us how bad the iPhone is. You're slacking.

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I can only troll so many people at any given time. lol