Assuming I want to buy an iPhone and renew my Verizon contract, where is it best to buy the phone itself, and why?
Thanks!
Since the Verizon iPhone is CDMA, and Verizon is the only network carrying it, it may not make much of a difference with respect to features, and you can go on price and customer service at the various outlets.
If it was the GSM iPhone as sold in most of the world, you could opt to pay full price and get an ‘unlocked’ one that you could use on any GSM carrier, or pay a lesser price and get a subsidized one that’s locked to AT&T. Apple offers the unlocked GSM iPhone 4 in the States now.
Are you planning to buy soon? If not, you may want to wait until the next iPhone is out in October, to see whether it will be a combined GSM/CDMA model that will work on both Verizon or AT&T, as well as other US carriers… and whether it will be available unlocked.
Hmm. I don’t know anything about unlocked phones. If I shell out for an unsubsidized phone, can I use it on whomever’s network gives me a good signal? I live in a rural area which Verizon covers better than most, though sadly my house in particular is much better served by ATT. Would you get multiple phone bills, or what? Or is the point that I could choose any network to be stuck with?
I get the GSM or CDMA thing - for the sake of argument, suppose this part is OK, like maybe the next model combines both.
My time frame is October because my current contract expires then and my present phone keeps malfunctioning. Verizon says the problem is that the phone they sold me is not a good phone, but since it malfunctioned before my contract expires they will give me $10 off on the price of an unsubsidized iPhone. Which reminds me, do any of my options cause harm to the Verizon company?
I think that if you get an unlocked phone, you still have to have a contract with a carrier, just not the 2-year-lockin that you have with a new phone bought at a discount. And you could switch to a different carrier whenever you wanted to.
And do you want to harm Verizon or not? ;).
I assume that if you got it through a third-party retailer, Verizon’s profit would be slightly less because of the retailer’s cut of the profits. Also conceivably you might get a slightly different plan, or different pricing. I haven’t looked into this.
Really, I’d choose based on convenience and what kind of service they offer for repairs. I get a discount ordering online (service discount for employees of my company) so we got ours directly from Verizon.