finally got new phones

 

The last time was Nov. 2018, got the iPhone (my first) Xs for $249. That's my budget really.

Friday, ordered the iPhone 13 Pro and it turned out to be $298. I guess they want to get rid of them. At work some 14 Pro's shipped.

There are two catches.

1. Has to be a new line so new number, it's not an upgrade

2. It's discounted over 36 months--essentially on the hook for a $30 5G plan for 3 years.

Exact details:

iPhone 13 Pro 256, $23.61/mo., discount $15.34/mo. The net is $8.27/mo for 36 mos or $298 for the phone. My drop dead upper bounds is $500, but I'd rather be closer to $300. I think it was $999.99 list at some point.

Interestingly it went from $27.77/mo to $23.61 out of nowhere--as I was loading the cart, a $150 discount popped up and was automatically applied.

Here's the funny thing. I've had a 215 area code since 1999, across many corporate devices and then my own.

None were available so I said f*** it I'll get a chicago 312 area code. Fine.

When we picked up the phones at the store, it had a 445 area code! My heart sank. The world was out of orbit. The person at the store said it would be $15 if they change it, but free if I do it online or with the app. OK I knew that.

At home I accepted I'd likely need to take a 610 area code. The first try to change it generated an error. Huh? Try again and mysteriously a 215 is available, I rush to put it through and it worked. Whew.

It made me think of this episode...

445, what area, New Jersey? lol

https://youtu.be/B1H3U7AeQic

p.s. you do have to dial a 1 first in IL/Chicago, even for your next door neighbor. Here in Phila dialing a 1 first is allowed aka permissive

p.p.s. not kidding the 215 meant that much to me lol

p.p.p.s wife got the 13 Pro Max. The discount was not as good. List is only $100 more, but her price is $180 more, around $480.

Same

I also have the iPhone Xs and have been eyeing that offer. The Xs works fine for my meager needs but the improved camera on the 13 looks interesting.

How do the cameras compare?

Porting old number

Why did you have to change numbers? I was under the impression it was Federal law that the consumer had the right to have the number ported, old to new. See https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/porting-keeping-your-ph...

--
John from PA

^^Many promos usually have

^^Many promos usually have such terms - ie bring number in from another provider, get xxx off new device.

This is a good use case for google voice. I've been using it for at least the last decade. Don't even know what the actual mobile number is. I use the gv number as my primary. The forwarding number (carrier/mobile number) can change at any time with no ill effects.

have not used

bdhsfz6 wrote:

I also have the iPhone Xs and have been eyeing that offer. The Xs works fine for my meager needs but the improved camera on the 13 looks interesting.

How do the cameras compare?

I really have not used the new phone, nor has my wife. Just got done switching the account manager to the new one. My sis in-law has the 13 Pro Max, and the movies she shot in Chicago made me do a double take. It's the cameras. Because we played the movie back on our old Xs, and they still looked really good.

I actually learned something. We had 3 phones, now we have 5. We wanted to take some time to transition to the new numbers. I thought I was paying $30/mo so I thought we're wasting $60/mo, $15/week, lets try to get it done in a week if we can, cut off the old 2 phones.

While on the phone with VZW, the rep pointed out your bill went up $15/mo when you added two lines, it will go down $15/mo when you cancel 2 lines. HUH? Because 3 phones is $45/mo, 4 phones is $35/mo., 5 phones as the account is now, is $30/mo.

So we were $115 with taxes and fees out the door prior to that economic adjustment fee. I thought this meant $30/mo. No, it was $45/mo but with all the discounts ($50/mo) it came out to $115 with taxes.

This is a powerful concept--say parents have 2 kids that are of the age to get a phone. Thank goodness it could only be $15/mo plus tax for both, not $60 as I had thought.

I totally get it if it were a share plan to do the above. But these are individual unlimited 5G with hotspot, free calling to and from Canada/Mexico included.

There is clearly more value today than 22 years ago. In 2010 I was getting a $140/mo stipend from work for my personal phone. They reduced it by $100 a few years ago!

You can immediately cancel?

johnnatash4 wrote:

... lets try to get it done in a week if we can, cut off the old 2 phones...

I'm surprised that VZW is allowing you to cancel the two additional lines immediately after getting a deal based upon having two additional lines. Most of the offers that I have seen spread the discount over 2-3 years and require full payment if the service is cancelled before the length of the agreement.
Mark

you're right

baumback wrote:
johnnatash4 wrote:

... lets try to get it done in a week if we can, cut off the old 2 phones...

I'm surprised that VZW is allowing you to cancel the two additional lines immediately after getting a deal based upon having two additional lines. Most of the offers that I have seen spread the discount over 2-3 years and require full payment if the service is cancelled before the length of the agreement.
Mark

You're absolutely correct in your assessment.

If the brand new phones are canceled, the retail price of $999.99 minus $150 (there was a $150 discount in addition to the monthly, that is not lost) must be paid immediately. They secured $0 for this purpose, with a CC, to charge it if cxld (imagine canceling it to avoid haha).

In other words, mine is $23.61/mo minus $15.34/mo times 36. Every month there will be a $23.61 charge, and a $15.34 credit.

In the portal under my new phone it says, "36 monthly bills left with a remaining balance of $849.99." It takes 36 months to get it to net out at $298 for the phone.

What we are wanting to cancel is 2 existing out of contract phones, i.e. our daily phones, not the new ones.

But odd discovery today. Cancel the 5th? Save $10/mo. Cancel the 4th? Save another $5/mo. It's like it's worth $5/mo. to have an active 4th phone, but how would I actually use it, carry 2? My son is too young, 3rd grade. If he were HS, it's worth $5/mo to give him the old phone (but he'd want new I know) lol

Again the reasoning is 0-3 phones is $45/mo. 4 phones is $35/mo. 5 phones is $30/mo. Not sure about 6+ phones.

We get add'l discounts which is why I truly didn't know the monthly, I only looked at the out the door total, which was $115 for 3 phones. This went up to $124 with the economic adjustment charge recently.

No need to carry second phone

The recent iPhones have dual SIM capability. My iPhone 11 has a physical SIM slot and an eSIM. The iPhone 13 maybe identical or could have dual eSIM capability. You can put both your old and new numbers into the new phone to allow both numbers to be active on the same phone. Would be a convenient way to transition to the new number.
Mark

camera

bdhsfz6 wrote:

I also have the iPhone Xs and have been eyeing that offer. The Xs works fine for my meager needs but the improved camera on the 13 looks interesting.

How do the cameras compare?

Not a fan of Apple stuff. I've always had the Samsung Galaxy line, currently an S21 Ultra and the camera is pretty impressive, for a phone.

I love taking photos and carrying around a real camera isn't in the cards. The camera was the only reason I took the plunge and upgraded. It has 3 optical zoom settings and multiple digital zoom up to an unbelievable 100x zoom. I took a shot of the moon with the 100x zoom and it really wasn't too bad, although all digital zooms end up a little distorted.

Here's an example of the zoom, first link regular setting with arrow pointing to what the 100x zoom sees. Not going to win any prizes but for a phone ...

https://i.postimg.cc/2j2bR3j6/billypenn-1.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/8P4qbQbx/billypenn-2.jpg

--
. 2 Garmin DriveSmart 61 LMT-S, Nuvi 2689, 2 Nuvi 2460, Zumo 550, Zumo 450, Uniden R3 radar detector with GPS built in, includes RLC info. Uconnect 430N Garmin based, built into my Jeep. .

Thanks

soberbyker wrote:
bdhsfz6 wrote:

I also have the iPhone Xs and have been eyeing that offer. The Xs works fine for my meager needs but the improved camera on the 13 looks interesting.

How do the cameras compare?

Not a fan of Apple stuff. I've always had the Samsung Galaxy line, currently an S21 Ultra and the camera is pretty impressive, for a phone.

I love taking photos and carrying around a real camera isn't in the cards. The camera was the only reason I took the plunge and upgraded. It has 3 optical zoom settings and multiple digital zoom up to an unbelievable 100x zoom. I took a shot of the moon with the 100x zoom and it really wasn't too bad, although all digital zooms end up a little distorted.

Here's an example of the zoom, first link regular setting with arrow pointing to what the 100x zoom sees. Not going to win any prizes but for a phone ...

https://i.postimg.cc/2j2bR3j6/billypenn-1.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/8P4qbQbx/billypenn-2.jpg

Thanks for the info!

that

baumback wrote:

The recent iPhones have dual SIM capability. My iPhone 11 has a physical SIM slot and an eSIM. The iPhone 13 maybe identical or could have dual eSIM capability. You can put both your old and new numbers into the new phone to allow both numbers to be active on the same phone. Would be a convenient way to transition to the new number.
Mark

makes sense. The 13 Pro has a physical SIM (I had to change it already for some reason the phones activated with the numbers reversed. I was able to DIY. If eSIMs, I would have had to call Verizon.

I put a new SIM into mine and linked it to my tel#. The SIM I took out had my wife's new #, so I took the SIM out of her new phone, and put the one that already activated with her number in.

We routinely have employees who travel around the world and pop a SIM into their phones that they buy. So I'm curious how that will work with the 14+.

I too was never an Apple fan don't really like their co philosophy, but then again I once disliked amazon even though I owned their stock and profited. Don't like their business practices, but now pay for Prime.

I had a Galaxy S8 and had to get 2 warranty replacements which really was annoying. once I was on a business trip and ended up with no phone. I remember at the time that after only 6 mos, the screen burned in, on #1 and #2. Googled it and tons of complaints. #3 actually didn't do that. #2 just locked, heated up, and eventually ran out of battery. I thought good now I can charge it, boot it up, and reset it. Nope. Never worked again lol

I notice that from Nov 2018 to today, nothing has ever gone wrong with my Xs. So the build quality is there. My wife's oddly has a 95% battery capacity after 3+ years. Mine is 74%. She had optimized charging turned on, and rarely charges. Mine is always being charged in the car etc and it's used for on-call. So I grudgingly became an iPhone user.

At work, I use android enterprise and now we're on 11.

What I find hard to believe is that iPad Pro's and Macs are now in our corporate environment and handled by MDM

Left Verizon in 2015 and have never looked back

I was paying $75.00 bucks a month back then for a flip phone with 750 minutes (which I never used) of talk time, no data, and .10 cents for each text that I received or sent. (The $75.00 included a 13% discount that I received from my past employer.) I had been hearing about Consumer Cellular but was afraid to make the jump. Until I ran across a guy who had three lines through them. He, his wife and son all had went to Consumer a couple of years prior. I asked him about the difference and he said that he couldn’t tell the difference, with the exception of price. That did it and I went to CC. I now have unlimited texting, 10 GB of data, and 250 minutes of talk time every month. All for $49.00 and change a month. As far as coverage goes; I haven’t noticed any real difference between CC and Verizon. I know that everything is subjective so CC may not be a fit for everyone. My brother is a big Verizon fan while the other one uses Spectrum. As for me, CC is the best option.

--
With God, all things are possible. ——State motto of the Great State of Ohio

@maddog67You might want to

@maddog67

You might want to give cricket wireless a look. They offer same coverage as consumer wireless, except their pricing is all inclusive - no other fees/taxes added.

Their 10GB plan includes unlimited talk/text. You're connecting to the same towers as CC. If you add more lines (or get friends in on a group plan) the prices go down even further. For a single line on this plan, it's $40/month. This saves $108 over the course of a year compared to CC.

I'm part of a group plan, 4 of us. We're all on the unlimited plan - $100/month split 4 ways. I started with this group back in 2016 or 2017 on a 5GB plan. IIRC pricing was still $25 back then, only thing that's changed over the years is more data.

You need to have an att compatible phone. Here's their recent list

https://www.att.com/idpassets/images/support/pdf/Devices-Wor...

Basically the phone has to support volte for att.