Cell phone plan prices unreasonable for students
Getting a phone plan is a rite of passage in the modern world. Many people entering college, myself included, will leave the family plan their parents have been footing the bill for. Whether it’s a bid for independence, a demand from parents or any other reason, there is a 3 in 5 chance that anyone reading this either has their own plan, or will soon have one. The problem is that some will pay way too much with a two-year contract.
The initial view of a two-year contract can be enticing. A brand new, top-of-the-line iPhone or Android can be had for little to no money down. Compared to the normal price of a phone, since flagship phones can easily approach $1,000 unlocked. It isn’t quite so easy to pull one over on a major multinational company.
On AT&T and Verizon, the only major carriers viable in Vermillion, hidden alongside those enticing zero percent APRs and $50 monthly plans are fees just to have a phone with the company typically, around $20 per month. That’s not mentioning whatever activation or hidden fees they might feel like throwing in.
According to the Huffington Post, a plan with a top-end phone that might seem appealing floating around $100 per month would cost an extra $480 over the course of a two-year contract, halfway to a new top-tier phone. On top of that, a $45 monthly plan from a prepaid carrier operating on the same towers might be a better value beyond avoiding extra fees.
As millennials, college students using Spotify, Netflix and Pokémon GO tend to use a great deal of data. Where Verizon and AT&T don’t offer plans with unlimited data, going off contract in Vermillion offers unlimited talk, text and data starting at $45, and other carriers can go down from there with sacrifices. No activation fees, no going over data, no costs for using a service people pay for, just a flat rate below major carriers for more date on the same networks with any phone. So here’s a bit on phones off-contract.
If students are okay with paying a large price, they can purchase any device outright while still saving money. For anyone married to Apple’s ecosystem, sorry, you’re stuck paying high prices for iPhones. Refurbished and older models are options, but even better is the booming class of carrier-free midrange Android phones, some of which aren’t even compatible with Verizon.
If I take something like the OnePlus 3, my personal choice, or the ZTE Axon 7 or pretty much any other phone coming out of China, most this year have a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, which has the same CPU as the Galaxy S7 series, and can offer competitive or superior specifications to the mainstream phones you’d see at Best Buy, in full aluminum bodies, and what’s best? These devices often go for around $400, brand new, no contract, no strings attached. If that still sounds too high, you can go pretty much as low as you’d, easily lower than an activation fee.
I’m not writing this to try and sell anyone on anything, I’m just a thrifty person who likes technology and helping others save money. If you’re not able to put down even a minimal amount of money, maybe signing with a major carrier makes more sense. That said, if students can buy a phone up front, I’d recommend it. There’s a high price for cheap phones.
