How Do I Buy New Phones?
Just a few years ago, there weren’t that many options for buying new phones. You could either buy them right away or sign a contract. There are more options now than ever, so we want to know how do you buy your new phones?
The number of ways to buy new phones has increased dramatically over the years. Previously, you had to sign a two-year contract to get the subsidy or pay the full price in advance. Now there are tons of options, including but not limited to:
- Carrier Funding: Some carriers allow you to fund your phones by adding a monthly surcharge to your mobile phone bill until paid.
- Early upgrade plans: While not all of these are great deals , many carriers offer some sort of early upgrade plans that allow you to change your old phone more often than every two years.
- Carrier Leasing: Even newer than upgrade plans, T-Mobile recently introduced a program that lets you rent a phone for 18 months, with the ability to swap up to three times a year.
- Manufacturer Funding: While not every manufacturer has provided this opportunity, companies like Motorola sometimes allow you to fund phones directly from source, without any operator involvement.
- Buying used phones : Sites like Swappa have been created specifically for the purpose of buying and selling used phones. Of course, you can also find them on older sites like eBay or Craigslist.
- Carrier subsidies: This has been the most common way to buy phones for years, most carriers still allow you to buy a heavily subsidized phone with a two-year contract.
- Pay full retail price: You can almost always just buy a phone at full retail price. Many manufacturers are making cheaper and cheaper phones, which makes this more feasible.
Not all of these options are suitable for everyone, but the number of options on how to pay for that expensive piece of glass and metal in your pocket has never been greater. What did you find that works for you? Let us know how you prefer to buy phones, as well as country and carrier, so we have some context.