How does one afford an iPhone these days?

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MelodyandBarbells
MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
in Chit-Chat
Okay, so my 5s is finally dying. But I hear carriers don't offer "free" phones with long term contracts anymore? What's a girl to do? Anyone interested in helping me hack the numbers to come up with a plan that doesn't end up with me in the poor house? Here are some of my details:

Current Carrier: AT&T
Average monthly payment: $85.
Avg monthly data usage: Just under 2 Gigs.
I pretty much barely talk on the phone, so any voice plan would be sufficient.
Would like to keep current phone #.
Latest iPhone would be ideal, however I do not need to switch frequently and actually consider it a hassle.

PLEASE HELP!! :)
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Replies

  • DeficitDuchess
    DeficitDuchess Posts: 3,099 Member
    edited February 2017
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    You know how we tell people that desire to rid themselves of an unreasonable amount of weight before an event they knew would be happening now months ago that, they should've began then; well this applies to financials also: saving money for, when it'd eventually've to; be replaced!
  • AllOutof_Bubblegum
    AllOutof_Bubblegum Posts: 3,646 Member
    edited February 2017
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    Is it necessary to your health to have an iphone to begin with? Plenty of other smartphones out there that won't charge you your firstborn just for that half-eaten apple logo. I would never pay that much for a phone, it's absurd.
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
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    AllOutof_Bubblegum wrote: »
    Is it necessary to your health to have an iphone to begin with? Plenty of other smartphones out there that won't charge you your firstborn just for that half-eaten apple logo. I would never pay that much for a phone, it's absurd.

    It's absolutely worth considering, though I love being able to search for and find random bits of data from a decade ago (among many other tidbits). Again, though, since this is a financial question, jumping ship must be on the table!
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
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    DeficitDuchess wrote: »
    You know how we tell people that desire to rid themselves of an unreasonable amount of weight before an event they knew would be happening now months ago that, they should've began then; well this applies to financials also: saving money for, when it'd eventually've to; be replaced!

    haha yup. Though I'm thinking of now as being the "several months before" point in time. If I make a wise decision now, hopefully I won't tinkle away unnecessary amounts of $$.
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
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    happilymegan wrote: »
    It's cheaper if you buy th phone outright because you save on your bill monthly. So I buy the phone unlocked. Then sell my older phone. Then with the savings on my bill I acquire I make up the majority of the phone price.

    Mind sharing about how much you saved on your monthly bill? I'd need to be in the $50/mo range for buying a phone outright to be around where I am right now.
  • chocolate_owl
    chocolate_owl Posts: 1,695 Member
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    My carrier is Verizon, but I think AT&T operates under a similar principle. It had been more than 2 years, so I "earned" an upgrade. Most of the cost of my iPhone SE got rolled into my monthly payments, which didn't change and are reasonable to me. I got some money for my old phone when I traded it in. After all of that, I paid $40 out of pocket. And FWIW, the iPhone SE was one of the more affordable options. The 6 or 7? Not so much.

    You could also think about switching carriers. So many of them have crazy intro offers. I think one of them was offering a free phone?
  • zdyb23456
    zdyb23456 Posts: 1,706 Member
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    We use straight talk (at&t sim). $46 and some change per month for "unlimited". Works great for us. The new iPhone is crazy expensive, but I got mine as a Christmas present from my husband. He made me buy Apple Care though :smile:
  • FitOneSoon
    FitOneSoon Posts: 467 Member
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    I use a burn phone, cost me $20 for 3 months. They even make smart phone ones now. ;)
  • WeepingAngel81
    WeepingAngel81 Posts: 2,232 Member
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    I also use straight talk! No hidden fees, great coverage, unlimited everything. It's nice. I have never had the newest iPhones. I always buy later versions. My 5s went out, so I bought a new 5s. It was cheaper and I was familiar with it.
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
    edited February 2017
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    So with straight talk, I could buy a new whatever and actually still save about $150 over the course of 2 years. If I buy protection plans though, I might be just about even, it looks like.

    AT&T had an awesome offer for me! Buy a new phone at $649 / $749 (I didn't even look at the "plus" versions), and they'd be happy to finance it monthly! Yeah "no contracts" is all nice and good, but if I'm still paying the same monthly fee, the appeal definitely isn't there compared to when I used to get a "free with two year contract" phone

    Thank you everyone for your awesome ideas, I'm still reading!
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
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    $120? I think we might be going in the opposite direction from where I was thinking :D Still worth checking out what the other major guys have, though. I'll ask!
  • mislmar
    mislmar Posts: 41 Member
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    Republic wireless. They don't have iPhones but they are really cheap and have nice phones. You do have to buy the phone but the plans are super cheap. Look it up they have a website.
  • nomorepuke
    nomorepuke Posts: 320 Member
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    I have an iPhone 7 plus with Verizon. Total of $99 a month including insurance. 2GB the smallest data plan, the data carry over makes it plenty to use throughout the moth.
  • nomorepuke
    nomorepuke Posts: 320 Member
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    Cutaway_Collar wrote: »
    Dump ATT and go to the T-mobile or VZ store and the techies will crunch the numbers for you. You can easily get the latest 7s or even the 7s plus with an edge plan. Your bill will be in the range of 120 if you pick the medium data option.

    7S came out already?
  • Motorsheen
    Motorsheen Posts: 20,492 Member
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    Land Line; Rotary Dial.

  • CooCooPuff
    CooCooPuff Posts: 4,374 Member
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    Buy a cheaper Android.

    I have a ZTE warp elite an use it for MFP, gps for running and directions, and browsing the internet. Works bretty gud
  • Timshel_
    Timshel_ Posts: 22,841 Member
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    JaneiR36 wrote: »
    Latest iPhone would be ideal, however I do not need to switch frequently and actually consider it a hassle.

    PLEASE HELP!! :)

    Latest will always be the most expensive. Going from a 5S to even a 6 or the 6S will be a huge improvement and you can find them online for like half of what a 7 is running. Well worth it.

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