Nearly three years after T-Mobile became the first of the four major wireless carriers to ditch the two-year contract business model, Sprint is now the only of these companies to still offer these traditional plans to customers. But a company insider claims that Sprint will join the rest of the pack and ditch contracts later this week. [More]
phone subsidies
Verizon Gets Rid Of Contracts, Cheap Phones (For New Customers Only, Of Course)
By 8.7.15
T-Mobile may have a fraction of the customer base of industry-leader Verizon Wireless, but the little magenta company’s decision to do away with contracts continues to influence its bigger competition. Today, Verizon announced that new customers will no longer have to sign up for contracts, which also means they will have to start paying full price for their phones. [More]
AT&T Exec Says Wireless Companies Soon Won’t Be Footing Bill For Customers’ Devices
By 6.3.15
During the first decade-plus of the 21st century cellphone boom, most of us paid only a fraction of the full retail price for our phones because the wireless companies were willing to pick up the rest in exchange for locking us into 2-year contracts. But with more service providers pushing subscribers into plans that have them paying full price for their devices, the days of getting a new $650 phone for only $200 are quickly fading into memory. [More]
AT&T Ditching 2-Year Contracts At Walmart & Other Retailers
By 5.21.15
In the latest move to nudge new customers into paying full price for their phones, AT&T is going to stop offering 2-year contracts through third party retail stores like Walmart and others. [More]
Phone Carriers In Korea Accused Of Illegally Subsidizing iPhones
By 11.5.14
Here in the United States, our mobile phone carriers are trying to wean consumers off phone subsidies, so we will begin to understand how much our phones really cost. Meanwhile, over in Samsung country, stores have been charging artificially low prices for the new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, something that is kind of illegal in South Korea. [More]
AT&T’s New 30-Month Plan Tries To Make It Worth Paying Full Price For Phones
By 11.4.14
One of the knocks against unsubsidized wireless plans — those plans where you pay full price for your phone but get a discount on monthly service — is that the discount isn’t enough to justify paying upwards of $600-$750 for a top-of-the-line new phone, and that the monthly installment options are really just de facto contracts. But AT&T’s newest plan stretches out payments long enough so that you pay just about the same price — if not lower — than you would under contract. [More]
Does $100 Moto G Shake Notion That Unsubsidized Smartphones Must Be Expensive?
By 1.2.14
The general line of thought in the wireless market is that prepaid customers are offered older and cheaper smartphones because most prepaid customers don’t also want to splash out the $500-800 for an unlocked, top-of-the-line device. Meanwhile, contract phone customers are pitched those pricier phones but at discounted rates (or monthly installment plans) that make the phones more affordable (and lock the customer into months or years of service). But does a good smartphone need to cost so much? Do phones for the prepaid market need to be so bad? Maybe not. [More]
The Pros And Cons For Consumers Of Ending Wireless Phone Subsidies
By 12.26.13
While many overseas wireless providers choose to not subsidize customers’ new phone purchases in exchange for locking the consumer into a contract, it’s still the prevailing model among three of the four major wireless companies here in the U.S., with T-Mobile the sole provider offering only non-contract plans (sort of). But with AT&T recently dipping its toes into the water to encourage customers to buy their own phones, the market may be in for a major change. [More]
AT&T To Offer $15/Month Discounts To Customers With Out-Of-Contract Phones
By 12.5.13
Want some more evidence that the failure of the AT&T/T-Mobile has resulted in something resembling actual competition among wireless companies? Months after T-Mo’s shift to an “un-carrier” model, in which the price of a monthly subscription is listed separately from the cost of the phone (and where subscribers who own their phones only pay for service), AT&T is following suit by reshaping its plans to offer discounts to customers with out-of-contract phones and AT&T Next members. [More]
Will Eliminating Phone Subsidies Save T-Mobile?
By 12.12.12
Remember the heady days before Google’s Nexus One launched, when we wondered whether a search engine company might be the one to save us from handset subsidies tied to onerous contracts. Two years later, we haven’t quite been saved yet, but one mobile carrier announced bold plans to get rid of handset subsidies. Simply put, the idea of a T-Mobile iPhone is tempting for many, but would you pay as much as $800 up front for one? [More]
