Where to buy new smartphone?

[sciphi]

My family is out of our contract with Verizon and wants to get new smartphones. We're sticking with Verizon since they have the best coverage in our area. Probably we'd end up getting LG G4's since they seem okay and are on special right now.

Places other than Verizon seem to have much better promotions than at a Verizon store. The folks at the local Best Buy Mobile were very helpful. We have Costco and BJ's nearby as well. They seem to have good deals, but we haven't spoken with their representatives yet.

Any recommendations for where to purchase the phones?

 

[zach1900]

Who are the G4s on special with, that would be my answer.

 

[Stewie]

Asus Zenfone 2 and Alcatel Idol 3 are pretty solid choices from amazon and free shipping.

 

[sciphi]

Originally Posted By: zach1900
Who are the G4s on special with, that would be my answer.


Best Buy and Costco. Costco has the larger rebate by $50/phone, while BB is an instant gift card for getting that particular phone. The BB gift card can be applied toward the upgrade fee so we would pay nothing out of pocket.

 

[Mr Nice]

Walmart

 

[sciphi]

Originally Posted By: Stewie
Asus Zenfone 2 and Alcatel Idol 3 are pretty solid choices from amazon and free shipping.


Not Verizon compatible. AT&T and T-Mobile are horrid here. Verizon has great coverage all across NY, even in remote areas that I find myself in.

Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
Walmart


Not happening. Our local Wal-Marts are pretty rough places to shop.

 

[zach1900]

I don't know, but I am still rocking a LG G2 from Verizon, still a great phone that keeps up with my gf's iPhone 6.

 

[HTSS_TR]

When we upgraded our dumb phones to smart phones 4-5 months ago I priced 3 Apple iPhone 6 and 1 Samsung Galaxy Core Prime with 3 places: Best Price, Costco and Verizon. Verizon had the lowest monthly cost of $190 for family plan of 4 with unlimited talk/text and 10GB data. This $190/mo includes $18.xx for Apple and $8.xx for Samsung for 2 years, after 2 years our monthly cost will be around $130.

We had been using 2-3 GB data for the first 2 months then a little more at around 3-4GB last month.

PS I had to pay sale tax for 4 phones on the day I had the phones and signed the contract. State of California want to get paid in lump sump and sale tax is based MSRP not purchase price.

 

[Brybo86]

My opinion would be to get the latest and greatest phone

Because

Your plan cost/monthly cost is going to be the same whether you have an iPhone 5 or a 6, an HTC m7 or m9, galaxy s4 or s6

What do you pay total plan cost divided by X number of phones?

Something like $50 to 80 per line with talk/text/data

So over 2 years you are paying 1200 to 1920 per line, might as well pay an extra 50-100 now and not have to use a 2 yr old phone which will soon be a 4 yr old phone.

Basically the phones upfront cost is small compared to your 2 year contract

 

[Wolf359]

Have you looked at the Moto X Pure Edition? I just got one. $399 directly from Motorola if you want to customize it, otherwise go to the post office and get a mover packet which should have a 10% off coupon for Best Buy and get one there. Works on Verizon.

 

[Andrew1972]

I purchased directly from Verizon when iPhone 6 came out because they gave me $200 trade in on my old iPhone 4s that had a weak battery but otherwise in great condition. I have no contract with Verizon and one of those grandfathered unlimited data plans.

They seem to have decent trade in deals at Verizon and potentially other carriers.

Incredible phone for $450 spent.

 

[sciphi]

Our current phones are worth about $20 on trade-in per Verizon's Web site. There's more utility in keeping them around for backup devices.

Costco seemed to have the best rebates and no upgrade fee like Best Buy had. We'll likely go with them. $150 rebate per phone times three phones is a lot of gas and groceries.

 

[Wolf359]

How much is the G4? The Moto X just came out and spec wise I think it compares pretty well against the G4, spec wise they're both pretty similar, but Moto X is a 5.7 screen vs 5.5 on the G4. It's also supposed to have a decent camera at 21 megapixels vs 16 on the G4. But the real kicker and what I liked about the Moto X is that it doesn't have all that bloatware that Verizon packages on the phone, hence the name Pure Edition, just your basic android without added junk that you never use and can't remove.

 

[user52165]

Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR


PS I had to pay sale tax for 4 phones on the day I had the phones and signed the contract. State of California want to get paid in lump sump and sale tax is based MSRP not purchase price.


Wow - nothing surprises me any more when it comes our state tax system. Can you expand on this? MSRP, not purchase price? How do they do that?

 

[sciphi]

I ended up going with Costco. BB wanted to charge $40/phone upgrade fee and tax on full purchase price of the phone. Costco was only the tax on the phone. Rebates talk, and $450 in rebates will keep us and the gasoline engines we have fueled up for a while.