Current Events > How did you pay for your phone?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Bought my S22 Ultra unlocked, with a credit card. <_<

Don't much care for financing through service provider.

Cash.

My current phone was not even $150. I'd never pay more than that.

a-c-a-b posted...

Cash.

My current phone was not even $150. I'd never pay more than that.

The base price for my phone is like 8 times that lmao

I think it cost me $600 overall with a trade in?

S22 Ultra 512 GB, forgot about the price to be honest. About CHF 1'200 maybe?

Paid in full with cash.

i'm going into Year #5 with my LG G6. Cost per year is somewhere around $100.

And you got clowns blowing 1500 every 2 years on a cellphone.

I got a used S9 off Amazon for like $200.

wackyteen posted...

The base price for my phone is like 8 times that lmao

I think it cost me $600 overall with a trade in?

Paying that much for a phone is fucking stupid.

My not even $150 phone serves me just well.

Payments monthly through my provider. I dont see why people pay off phones full in cash. There is literally no benefit to buying anything cash. When you finance you get promotional discounts and leave yourself with more money to do other things.

Cell phone carriers dont make money off people buying phones. They make money off plans and accessories.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


Its actually the opposite. Theres not interest on phones so you can pay off the contract at the same price that you paid in full at any time.

Not sure why people are so wary about financing a phone.

MrDrMan posted...

Payments monthly through my provider. I dont see why people pay off phones full in cash. There is literally no benefit to buying anything cash. When you finance you get promotional discounts and leave yourself with more money to do other things.

Some of us like to have unlocked phones so we can switch providers whenever. I have a cheap pay as you go plan because why pay more?

MrDrMan posted...

Its actually the opposite. Theres not interest on phones so you can pay off the contract at the same price that you paid in full at any time.

Not sure why people are so wary about financing a phone.

Because we dont want a hard credit inquiry on our credit report? For a few hundred bucks, I dont want my credit score touched.

Cuticrusader09 posted...

Some of us like to have unlocked phones so we can switch providers whenever. I have a cheap pay as you go plan because why pay more?

Youre not paying more though. Lets say your bill is $50 a month and you paid your phone full in cash for $1000. My bill is $92 broken down as $50+ $42 for the phone. Over the course of two years the only money you will have saved is the additional tax I pay because of a higher bill. Its still the same price.

A lot of carriers even have BOGO deals when financing or new line of service which means I could get two for the price of your one.

Cuticrusader09 posted...

Because we dont want a hard credit inquiry on our credit report? For a few hundred bucks, I dont want my credit score touched.

I guess. Id rather have $1000 in my pocket to do as I please. One inquiry isnt gonna kill you.

MrDrMan posted...

Youre not paying more though. Lets say your bill is $50 a month and you paid your phone full in cash for $1000. My bill is $92 broken down as $50+ $42 for the phone. Over the course of two years the only money you will have saved is the additional tax I pay because of a higher bill. Its still the same price.

Dude, Id never pay $1000 for a phone. I paid $300 for my last one and I am perfectly happy with it. Pay $15 a month for Mint Mobile and happy there too.

Debating how to pay for this Pixel 6a tbh

Cuticrusader09 posted...

Dude, Id never pay $1000 for a phone. I paid $300 for my last one and I am perfectly happy with it. Pay $15 a month for Mint Mobile and happy there too.

Glad that works for you but Im talking about average people most of which have a major carrier.

Got it from a dead man.

Money

Paid with a credit card.

I "upgraded" my phone at the cricket wireless website. I used PayPal via my debit card to process the transaction.

MrDrMan posted...

Its actually the opposite. Theres not interest on phones so you can pay off the contract at the same price that you paid in full at any time.

Not sure why people are so wary about financing a phone.

I'm not wary about financing, I just don't want the bright red Verizon splash screen when I boot my phone up

In full with my debit card.

i paid mine with one of those 3 installment credit cards.

This Motorola Z3 Play was normally $500, on clearance 3 years ago at Target for 70% off. So I paid $150 in cash for a sweet unlocked phone.

full cash

if you need to do monthly payments on a $900 item, you should not be buying that item

way too low of a price for monthly payments imo, living too close to the edge

With a debit card, in full

This. Last phone was a cheap burner, so I had a bit of leeway to just choose whichever phone/carrier I wanted to with this last purchase.

enjoy burners while you can, they're def gonna ban them eventually imo

Really surprised they aren't already banned tbh

VigorouslySwish posted...

enjoy burners while you can, they're def gonna ban them eventually imo

not burner so much as an actual "burner", but more of me being a cheap ass >_>

I was using a $30 Walmart phone from 2015 up until two months ago

FL81 posted...

not burner so much as an actual "burner", but more of me being a cheap ass >_>

I was using a $30 Walmart phone from 2015 up until two months ago

ahh, so it still had your name attached to it?

I think they'll eventually ban the phones with pre-paid minutes and no names attached

Oppo A94 5G. Paid it in full via a debit card.

VigorouslySwish posted...

ahh, so it still had your name attached to it?

I think they'll eventually ban the phones with pre-paid minutes and no names attached

It had my name attached, but the service was pre-paid

and on that note, StraightTalk makes it an absolute pain in the ass to switch a phone number over from their service to another one

using T-Mobile's prepaid service now and it's only $5 more a month, and the speed is considerably better

Google Pixel 2, was $100 usd.

Dunno why I would ever spend 1000 dollars on a phone, this one doesnt everything I need it to.

dioxxys posted...

Google Pixel 2, was $100 usd.

Dunno why I would ever spend 1000 dollars on a phone, this one doesnt everything I need it to.

the $1000 is worth it for the Apple security. It's not perfect, of course, but it's hands down the best. Important in this day and age.

Paid via my phone provider

It's so much easier to budget around it and I paid off 4 phones over the years doing this method

I pay monthly for my plan. I get a 30% discount so it works out better than me buying in cash. If I didn't I would be buying in cash

$300 down $300 the next week to pay it off. Pixel 6

VigorouslySwish posted...

the $1000 is worth it for the Apple security. It's not perfect, of course, but it's hands down the best. Important in this day and age.

If it has to be Apple, then just get one of their lower priced phones like the SE. No need to buy top of the line.

I say this as a person who can afford a $1000 phone, I just dont see the reason to blow my money that way.