Smarter to Buy Full Price, 1yr, or 2yr?

[bbyman]

Any advice on this?

I can buy it full price for $495 and preserve my upgrade pricing for whenever I want to use it.

I could get a 1yr plan, or I could get a 2yr plan (cheapest option).

Thanks!

 

[tdn327]

here is my math.... i order my phone with 2yr contract, but change my mind to 1yr instead before i activated the phone..original it was cheap price to pay up front for the 2yr, then if you think about it you are stuck with it for 2yr and if it breaks you are screw, unless you buy insurance, which cost 7 dollar a month (84 per yr => 2yr insurance cost 168), so if you buy one yr and upgrade every yr than you would save more and on the plus side you would also have the latest and greatest droid phone that comes out by that time ;-)

 

[Travisimo]

Any advice on this?

I can buy it full price for $495 and preserve my upgrade pricing for whenever I want to use it.

I could get a 1yr plan, or I could get a 2yr plan (cheapest option).

Thanks!

I'm a new VZW customer and I signed a 1-year contract because I want to be able to upgrade in 10 months. If you fall under a plan where you can do the upgrade every 12 months, then you'd probably be safe to go with a 2-year contract. If not, then either full price or 1 year would be better.

 

[ckochinsky125]

well if you are on certain plans you are eligible for an upgrade every year anyway

 

[SiXiam]

The 2 year is a waste if you want to upgrade quickly and paying full price is foolish, because you still need to pay for the monthly plan and it's the same price regardless of what you choose.

Get the one-year from Verizon.

One year from now you upgrade to a nice 4g, dual core, behemoth of a phone.

Added bonus: higher resell value on ebay!

 

[dennygreen]

I opted for the 1 year deal as a new customer, which I got through my employer for 229, but I would have paid the regular 269 as well rather than do a 2 year deal.

Who knows what the industry will look like a year from now, and I like to keep my options open as much as I can.

 

[cdmoore74]

I would do a one year contract for $70 more or find one without paying full cost. 2 years is a very long time for these phones. And the battle just begun with Iphone 4 vs the droid army. I believe were just a few months away from seeing higher resolutions, faster processors and a verizon 4g network. I just upgraded my wife's 2 year old htc touch that had a 320x240 display, 400mhz cpu and no wifi.
Bestbuy was still kind enough to hold my droid x preorder for 3 days but yesterday I bought another droid original that was only 2 months old for $180 with house dock, car dock, hard case, screen protectors and I even added insurance because the seller still had it covered and the transaction was done at a Verizon store. My first droid was bought for $125 brand new off of craigslist about a month ago. Both droids are now rooted, overclocked and running any choice of froyo 2.2 custom roms. If my phone stays in good condition I can get my money back when the next big thing is released. The X is a nice phone but not worth a 2 year contract over a cheap rooted moto droid that's running faster than a stock 2.1 X. But man I love that 4.3 inch display.

 

[tranceFusion]

No contract is a bad option..

The ETF is $350 but goes down $10 every month.. so if you bought the phone with 2 yr using the SMART30 ($30 off 2 yr contract) and cancelled as soon as your return policy was over, you would pay about $510, or 50 bucks cheaper than the no contract option.

You won't fare so well breaking a 1 year contract due to the higher initial cost.

You have to weigh any employer discounts, 3rd party discounts (Wirefly/Letstalk), and whether you have to pay activation into the mix, but generally speaking, the best options financially are to get a 2 year contract and pay the ETF if you think you can't make it a year, or a 1 year if you can.

 

[cdmoore74]

No contract is a bad option..

The ETF is $350 but goes down $10 every month.. so if you bought the phone with 2 yr using the SMART30 ($30 off 2 yr contract) and cancelled as soon as your return policy was over, you would pay about $510, or 50 bucks cheaper than the no contract option.

You won't fare so well breaking a 1 year contract due to the higher initial cost.

You have to weigh any employer discounts, 3rd party discounts (Wirefly/Letstalk), and whether you have to pay activation into the mix, but generally speaking, the best options financially are to get a 2 year contract and pay the ETF if you think you can't make it a year, or a 1 year if you can.

This is true if you plan on keeping the phone for the 2 year contract. But I can promise you that even the X will start looking old when newer/faster phones are released. The original droid came out in Nov 2009, the htc incredible was released in Apr 2010 and the droid X was release Jul 2010. In 9 months we have 3 excellent phones from one carrier. There are people right now that still have the original droid wanting to upgrade to the droid x but can't due to the 2 year contract and high early termination fee. If they picked the one year option they could have upgraded without penalty and sold the droid for at least $150 to $200. Remember the older the phone gets the less money your getting back also. So yes, 2 year's is cheaper if you keep the phone but we could be at Android 5.0 code name twinkie in 2 years. No telling if the droid x is guaranteed an upgrade past 2.2 without root.

 

[tranceFusion]

This is true if you plan on keeping the phone for the 2 year contract. But I can promise you that even the X will start looking old when newer/faster phones are released. The original droid came out in Nov 2009, the htc incredible was released in Apr 2010 and the droid X was release Jul 2010. In 9 months we have 3 excellent phones from one carrier. There are people right now that still have the original droid wanting to upgrade to the droid x but can't due to the 2 year contract and high early termination fee. If they picked the one year option they could have upgraded without penalty and sold the droid for at least $150 to $200. Remember the older the phone gets the less money your getting back also. So yes, 2 year's is cheaper if you keep the phone but we could be at Android 5.0 code name twinkie in 2 years. No telling if the droid x is guaranteed an upgrade past 2.2 without root.

Did you even read what I wrote?

If you plan to keep the plan less than a year, the 2 year contract with the ETF is the cheapest. It is cheaper than buying the phone outright. If you plan to keep it for a year, 1 year is the cheapest.

I am a constant phone jumper and am in no way advocating an attempt to hold the same phone for 2 years