# Better to buy iPhone 6 outright or with a contract?



## keebler27 (Jan 5, 2007)

Hi folks,

I've always had my iPhones via a contract.
My wife bought her last one outright and is paying monthly.

I don't know which is better - if I have the cash, is buying it outright better? I guess because she can then switch to better plans quickly?

I'm going to upgrade my 4S. I've always been great at taking care of my Apple stuff, but I dropped this 5 times in 1 week (yes, bad case of the dropsies) so the camera doesn't work right, calls have a lag and the volume button has to be off or the volume zooms to full without me doing anything. So it's time. I can't use it the way it's intended. I could fix it, but I find it slower with the new iOS.

Ok..yes, I like new tech as well!

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Cheers,
Keebler


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## iMatt (Dec 3, 2004)

Generally buying it outright is equal or better. A contract *should* simply amortize the remainder of the full purchase price (after whatever they take up-front) over the contract term. To figure out whether it really does, you need to compare the carrier's contract plans with its no-contract BYO-device plans. 

Let's say a plan w/ locked phone and two-year contract is $25/month more than an otherwise identical BYOD plan. That's $600 over two years. If the phone costs $800 outright, the up-front price from the carrier should be $200. If it's more, you're getting hosed; if it's less, you're getting a deal. The problem is that it isn't always possible to find identical contract and BYO plans.

You might also want to factor in the cost of unlocking a phone purchased from a carrier (usually $50).

Technically you should also assign some value to the carrier giving you a ~$600 loan. Depends on whether you have the cash anyway, or are going to be paying interest on a credit card if you buy it outright. This could tip things in favour of the contract, usually by a little but for some people by a lot.


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## Joker Eh (Jan 22, 2008)

There are just too many factors. You have to do the math yourself and see if it works for you. The big 3 no longer give you much of a discount in bringing your own device now days. I checked with Rogers and it looks that bringing your own device saves you $10.

But it does give you the ability to move from carrier to carrier as you see fit with your phone and not have to pay the $50 unlock fee.

You can take a look here with some examples
What’s Cheaper? Buying an Unlocked iPhone vs Subsidized 2-Year Term Compared | iPhone in Canada Blog - Canada's #1 iPhone Resource

Here is Rogers page
http://www.rogers.com/web/content/share-everything


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## John Clay (Jun 25, 2006)

I'm quite content with WIND, so at $30/month, plus maybe $5 in roaming costs thanks to the new rates, it's much cheaper to buy outright vs switching and paying $80+.


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

My monthly fee with my wireless carrier doesn't change if I buy a phone or don't.

So it's ~$500 to buy the phone from them, and get locked into a 3 year (it's corporate, so not 2, for now) 'contract' or tab or whatever.

vs. paying Apple ~$1100 outright.

Seems like a ~$600 savings, no?

The only other factor for me is waiting for months for Rogers to actually deliver an iPhone, vs. lining up at an Apple store and buying it however I want, soon after September 19th.


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## iMatt (Dec 3, 2004)

HowEver said:


> My monthly fee with my wireless carrier doesn't change if I buy a phone or don't.
> 
> So it's ~$500 to buy the phone from them, and get locked into a 3 year (it's corporate, so not 2, for now) 'contract' or tab or whatever.
> 
> ...


Well yeah, if the contract price is identical either way, you're saving a bunch by taking the contract.

Just one example for non-corporate plans:

Fido: 

Max Plan (iPhone) - 2 years - 2GB data + unlimited everything else = $75/month

Standard Plan - same except no contract = $60 minus 10% for BYO = $54/month

Difference: $21/month x 24 months = $504

If you get an iPhone 5s from Fido ($100 for 16 GB, $200 for 32), the "loan" works out to $539. 

So it's slight edge to the contract but pretty close to a wash, depending on variables like interest charges, eventual unlocking, etc.


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## MacUnited (Nov 1, 2009)

Looking at the way the new rates at the Pig 3 ( not a typo ) You won't save anything by buying the phone out right. The only advantage would be the ability to switch carriers without worrying about termination fees.
The ideal Scenario, and one that I myself will be doing once my contract expires with Bell, is buying the phone out right and moving to a carrier such as wind. with their average cost around 40 unlimited everything, you'd be saving at least 30 dollars a month, 360 a year, 720 over two years...
so here's hoping wind will get LTE before my contract expires! lol


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## keebler27 (Jan 5, 2007)

MacUnited said:


> Looking at the way the new rates at the Pig 3 ( not a typo ) You won't save anything by buying the phone out right. The only advantage would be the ability to switch carriers without worrying about termination fees.
> The ideal Scenario, and one that I myself will be doing once my contract expires with Bell, is buying the phone out right and moving to a carrier such as wind. with their average cost around 40 unlimited everything, you'd be saving at least 30 dollars a month, 360 a year, 720 over two years...
> so here's hoping wind will get LTE before my contract expires! lol


Thanks for all the feedback folks. Plenty to chew on.

MacU, Ironic you mentioned Wind because I was chatting with someone at the gym and they mentioned the same thing - Wind has low monthly fees.

My only concern is how their coverage works because I hunt often and having service would be a good thing. My buddies who are on Bell, always seem to have service when I don't. It's not to surf while I'm out in the bush, but to have as a backup safety communication.

I'll look at their coverage maps I don't know if not having LTE is a big deal - I don't have it on my 4s, but I do notice my wife's 4 is zippier at downloading files/emails etc...

Cheers,
Keebler


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

I have a $55 a month plan I can't keep if I buy a new iPhone on contract.

So my options are:

Keep my iPhone 4S, $55 x 24 mo = $1320
But new iPhone 6 64GB outright, $859 + $55 x 24 mo = $2179
Buy new iPhone 6 64GB on contract, $299 + $105 x 24 mo = $2520 (this is to maintain what I have)

Work out your own math and see what makes the most sense.


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## Dr_AL (Apr 29, 2007)

Expect carriers to try and force you to higher monthly fees to get new iPhones on a renewed contract.

I'm for buying iPhones outright. Have never signed a contract. Contemplating moving to crappy ass public mobile for better coverage or sticking with wind. Sticking with wind is currently winning due to the *unlimited data and us roaming. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## csonni (Feb 8, 2001)

Dr_AL said:


> Expect carriers to try and force you to higher monthly fees to get new iPhones on a renewed contract.


That's exactly what Bell Mobility does with us here in Labrador, which happens to be our only service provider. You might be in a $60 a month plan but upgrading will force you in to whatever they say is minimum.


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## greensuperman32 (Mar 28, 2005)

Dr_AL said:


> Expect carriers to try and force you to higher monthly fees to get new iPhones on a renewed contract.


I believe I read somewhere that Rogers is forcing a minimum of an $80/month plan on any iPhone subsidized by a 2 year contract.


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## Andrew Pratt (Feb 16, 2007)

Depends on the province. In Mb we don't have the $80 but a more reasonable $60.


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## Dr_AL (Apr 29, 2007)

greensuperman32 said:


> I believe I read somewhere that Rogers is forcing a minimum of an $80/month plan on any iPhone subsidized by a 2 year contract.



Yeah I heard it was a Rogers share everything plan. $80 gets you something stupid like 400MB of data, but unlimited nationwide calling, great just what people don't want... Terrible deal. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## monokitty (Jan 26, 2002)

iMatt said:


> Max Plan (iPhone) - 2 years - 2GB data + unlimited everything else = $75/month


I don't see this plan advertised.


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

Dr_AL said:


> Expect carriers to try and force you to higher monthly fees to get new iPhones on a renewed contract.
> 
> I'm for buying iPhones outright. Have never signed a contract. Contemplating moving to crappy ass public mobile for better coverage or sticking with wind. Sticking with wind is currently winning due to the *unlimited data and us roaming.
> 
> ...


At least they reduced the AWAY data rate in Canada to 5 cents an MB. 

I like Bell because of their Mobile TV service.

I believe most carriers require a minimum $70/mo rate to get an iPhone fully subsidized.


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## heavyall (Nov 2, 2012)

Andrew Pratt said:


> Depends on the province. In Mb we don't have the $80 but a more reasonable $60.


With MTS it's $50 min. All of the rate plans are much better too -- lower prices with more features. I'll save at least $20/mo over what I'm paying now to upgrade to a better plan AND get a new phone.


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## Fox (Oct 4, 2002)

Depending on how much you actually use the phone for telephone and data, you might be better off buying the phone outright and going to a prepaid plan. I use the phone a lot, but not for things that suck up a lot of data, and I'm usually near a wifi source anyway. I rarely make calls on my iPhone (I have a land line at home and in the office). I used to have a $30/month plan from Koodo, but found it much cheaper to pay the tab, buy an iPhone outright, pay the $15/month prepaid cost that gives unlimited texting, and buy blocks of phone minutes and data which don't expire at the end of the month. Admittedly I'm not your typical mobile phone user, but with my "plan" I actually use the phone more than I did the other way, because I'm no longer concerned with going over the minimal amount of data that came with that plan.


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## iMatt (Dec 3, 2004)

monokitty said:


> I don't see this plan advertised.


It's the cheaper of the two Max plans available in Quebec right now. The $80 one is 4GB at the moment.


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## wonderings (Jun 10, 2003)

I buy outright now. Part of it is I hate the whole process of plans and all that. I have a good plan (6 gigs data, unlimited text, free evenings, free weekends, m10, etc) for under $70 a month. They have not charged me more since I started purchasing outright, in fact it went down. I was paying over $100 for less than what I have now and negotiated down to the things I wanted and the price that I was ok with. I am not sure if it is cheaper doing it my way or not, but I prefer it.


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## monokitty (Jan 26, 2002)

iMatt said:


> It's the cheaper of the two Max plans available in Quebec right now. The $80 one is 4GB at the moment.


Ah, QC gets better packages than ON does with Fido.


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## IllusionX (Mar 10, 2009)

monokitty said:


> Ah, QC gets better packages than ON does with Fido.


You still need to get the max plan 75$ or 80$ to get an iPhone.

edit: it's 80$ or 85$ in ONT, BUT you can get the 70$ plan with 2gb data as a standard plan.


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## go_habs (Apr 17, 2006)

Bought 4/5 phones outright from apple, always headaches on launch day with carriers telling you lies about stock etc. Not to mention if you plan on upgrading yearly on apples usual cycle carriers don't let you upgrade that often without charging ridiculous fees. Do you travel often? Is unlocked important feature to you? For me I travel often and the ease of using UK,US sim cards etc is awesome & a necessity. It all personal preference imho


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## iMatt (Dec 3, 2004)

monokitty said:


> Ah, QC gets better packages than ON does with Fido.


No idea why that's so, but it's true. And the plans overall are fairly competitive.

But I'm still irritated with Fido for various reasons, like no shared data plans, spotty coverage and mostly terrible roaming packages. All reasons I kind of regret having a contract + locked phone.


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## keebler27 (Jan 5, 2007)

I called Telus today and they said if I move over from any other major carriers, Telus will pay 50% of the cost. The fellow used the example of a $300 phone, then my cost would be $150. He said that applies to all the phones as I specifically asked about the iPhones - although they don't have pricing yet (wasn't surprised).

A BYOD (bring your own device) plan would be approx. $40, but a contract would be $60'ish (which is what I figured).

Cheers,
Keebler


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

So prices for Bell on a 2 year contract got leaked, and at these prices I would say buy it outright:

iPhone 6
16GB $259
64GB $369
128GB $479

iPhone 6 Plus
16GB $369
64GB $469
128GB $589

Basically works out to $490 off. They would have to have significantly better plans to charge what they're planning to charge.


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## keebler27 (Jan 5, 2007)

dona83 said:


> So prices for Bell on a 2 year contract got leaked, and at these prices I would say buy it outright:
> 
> iPhone 6
> 16GB $259
> ...


Thanks for the info! So, according to the Telus guy I spoke with tonight, they'll cut the cost in half so $294.50 for the 128 GB 6+. I'd like to know if that's really true lol

BUT, it's going to cost me $125 to cancel my Rogers account before Sept. 28th so I'll have to wait and hope that stock doesn't run low lol Oct and Nov are always super busy for me so I won't have as much time to get one..but it's not a hugely urgent need (just tired of my phone not working right lol

Cheers,
Keebler


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## gowyn (Apr 13, 2002)

just on Apple pre order site, 3-4 weeks delivery on the 6+


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## IllusionX (Mar 10, 2009)

dona83 said:


> So prices for Bell on a 2 year contract got leaked, and at these prices I would say buy it outright:
> 
> iPhone 6
> 16GB $259
> ...


Telus have a QC only plan which is 70$ a month for unlimited canadawide and 1gb data. iPhone 6 at 265$, comes to 94$ a month tax included.

now, if i look over to Fido.. 749$ buying the phone outright, and getting a 49$ plan gives 10% off monthly. so it's 44.10$ a month + buying the phone.. comes to 87$ a month

We don't have windmobile in QC, so i can't consider their unlimited data plan. Thought, if i go voice/text only plan, Chatr have a 35$ unlimited talk/text plan comes to around 77$ a month.

all this is calculated over a 24months usage.. life has become expensive..


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