Well, the kids have finally convinced me I need to ditch my 10 year old cell. Still working but there are several of those “apps” that would probably make my life easier.
The Ipod 4s looks nice and seems like it would work for me. I’m currently off contract with AT&T so i can pick one up for $199.00. Seems expensive.
Are there any better prices or bargains to be had out there?
Thanks for your wisdom.
The iPod is an MP3 player. Do you mean the iPhone 4S, i.e, the one that just came out? $199 (I believe) is the locked carrier version, and you have to agree to a two year cell plan with either Verizon or AT&T.
In general, Apple prices are pretty constant from store to store, but you might do better if you’d be willing to go for a previous generation like the iPhone 4 (not S).
You can get a free iPhone 3 right by signing up with AT&T, either at an AT&T outlet or an Apple Store. I went to do that yesterday and they were back-ordered a couple of days, so I took the Android instead. <shrugs>
Yup, I meant to type IPhone.
The kids told me there were glitches with the 3 and I should look for a 4s. I know it will put me into a locked contract for 2 years but that’s not a problem. Just hoping for a better price.
Prices on brand-new phones are controlled pretty tightly by Apple, and it’s hard to even get a 4s right now due to demand, so you’re not going to get a better deal on a 4s.
As others said, you’re not likely to find a discounted iPhone 4S anywhere. However, you may be able to get a discount on your monthly bill. I get a discount of twenty percent or so through my employer.
This phone is now available through Sprint, too. Their service is generally cheaper.
I was using an iPhone 3GS from the time it was released until I replaced it with an iPhone 4S and I didn’t experience any glitches. It is older technology; for example it only has one camera compared to the two in the iPhone 4S and the processor is slower. So if you’re frugal, you might consider the iPhone 3GS that’s free with a two-year contract. (At the same time, though, the cost of the actual phone is dwarfed by the total cost of the contract, so I don’t see the point of quibbling over two hundred bucks.)
Well it depends. I had a choice to either stay on AT&T or move three lines to Sprint. I stayed on AT&T because the family plan I have (two iPhones and a feature phone) was cheaper than the same combo on Sprint. I lucked out because my wife and mother in law don’t use a lot of minutes, so the shared minutes pool on AT&T is cheaper than on Sprint. We can also be a bit more granular on the add-ins like text messaging ($30/month for all phones on the family plan).
just so you know, you’ll have to pay about $100/month for iphone service…
I pay quite a bit less than a hundred bucks per month for my iPhone service, but the cost does depend on what you get. For instance, I don’t pay for texting but I do pay thirty bucks per month for an unlimited data plan. Limited data plans are cheaper. And the cost is not because it’s an iPhone but because it’s a smartphone. So you might pay a comparable amount for an Android or an Blackberry smartphone.
Cite? I’m with AT&T and pay about $67 a month. That’s $39.99 for 450 minutes, $5 for 200 text messages, and $15 for 200 mb of data, plus fees and taxes. Still quite a bit south of $100.
Well, a lot of AT&T customers don’t get the 450 minute plan. That keeps your costs low.
OTOH, Sprint’s plan has 450 minutes with unlimited texting and data for $79.99; 900 minutes with unlimited text/data for $99.99 or unlimited everything for $109.99.
It all depends on the OP’s phone needs. And if they want to be on a family plan, all bets are off.
As I said, none of that is specific to an iPhone. Even with a dumb phone you might spend the $39.99 for 450 minutes and the $5 for 200 text messages. The only other thing that is necessary is the data plan, but you would need some sort of data plan with any smartphone you get, be it from Apple, Motorola, RIM, HTC or whatever.
I realize that. And we seem to be in agreement, that it’s not specific to an iPhone. However, I was specifically disagreeing with clarkstar. Even when I had unlimited data with AT&T (I don’t now, I dumbed it down to save money) it was still just $30, or $15 more than I’m now paying. Even with a 2gb data plan for $25, you’re still under $100. You can pay more and exceed $100 a month, but that’s not the same as saying you will have to absolutely pay that much for an iPhone plan. That’s not automatically a given.
If you’re ACTUALLY frugal, you’ll go out and get a highly subsidized iPhone 4S, sell it on craigslist or ebay for $550, then turn around and buy a 3GS for $150 and walk away with $200 in your pocket. I honestly don’t understand why people would get a 3GS on contract when this option is available.