Switched to Verizon for yearly upgrade, time to find something new

[freeman_midtown]

A couple of years ago I switched to Verizon Wireless because you made me believe you are the best, you care for my natural desire to upgrade to new iPhone comes out and it was so... Until now when I randomly find out that you don't offer upgrades every 12 month anymore, your data plans are super expensive for the modern world and your customer support has no idea about the services, devices and is unable to assist. What happened to you guys? You only care now for customers who use same device for 5 years and use internet once a month to update their facebook status? Am I an inconvenient user? Well, I have choice and I am able to pay the price for yearly upgrades. And today I feel like I have to stop being loyal because you stopped too. I hope you improve and address the needs of all your customers, not only the ones that fall under your 80% majority. It's not always about the money, it's about your image too.

[Snn5]

Where's all this coming from?  Expense is a relative opinion.  I pay a $45 flat fee a month for unl talk text and 2 GB data.  New every 1 and new every 2 went away years ago.  Do the math between a contract phone and the cost of a no contract Device Payment Plan phone.  DPP is cheaper.  In fact, using the same phone out of contract is even more cheap.  You aren't looking at the numbers.  Why do you think a contract phone is cheaper just because you only put $0-200 down upfront and then paid a higher line access fee every month for 2 years effectively paying off the phone in full, PLUS an upgrade fee.  What makes more sense:  Pay $20 a month line access and the monthly phone cost or pay $40 upgrade fee AND $40 a month for access?

[freeman_midtown]

Not sure what you are talking about. I haven't had a contract phone for years. I'm talking about Verizon edge that got cancelled but all the other carriers have it. Even Apple itself has it now. The idea is that the phone is leased for a monthly fee no money down for 12 months, after which you can upgrade to the latest iPhone (provided you return the previous iPhone). I'm very good at math, thank you.

[Snn5]

To be fair, you didn't mention contract or Edge/DPP.

Device Payment FAQs | Verizon Wireless

Device Payment Plan is what Edge was.  Edge allowed you to pay up to 50-60-75% and trade in a phone after a year.  Edge was slowly altered over the course of its life and changed percentage goals (50-60-75) but now you can pay the phone off in full at anytime and trade in or sell your phone and start new.

[vzw_customer_support]

freeman_midtown,
We would never like to lose a valued loyal customer such as yourself, thank you for the opportunity to help. I can certainly understand the desire to upgrade to the latest greatest devices on a yearly basis. With the Device Payment Plan this is certainly a possibility. In addition to the payment plan instead of an up-front cost, on some plans such as the Verizon Plan there is monthly discount which can help to curb total costs. Please click here to learn more about the Device Payment Plan: http://vz.to/1J1ZB7x Depending on the amount of data you happen to use on a monthly basis, we do offer a variety of plans which can be viewed here: http://vz.to/1L87smx We are always here to help and if you have any further concerns please feel free to reach out:  http://vz.to/1g1mHjf

ChrisM_VZW
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport
If my response answered your question please click the �Correct Answer� button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!!

[Damian6669]

I agree fully. I'm on the what used to be edge plan and I or we all got screwed over it seems. I understand that the service price is lower somewhat but still my iPhone is 849.99 at start and their really isn't any way that I myself can pay that off or would want to when I could've just traded my perfect condition phone in and start again no problem. With att and apple no matter what in 12 months you get to upgrade and trade that phone in no matter if 75% is paid its just a guaranteed upgrade. Verizon is the only company that's making us pay the phones off to upgrade

[Ann154]

The other carriers have similar terms and conditions for their device payment options.

[Snn5]

You should really look into the info on this page.  AT&T NEXT is a little more complicated than you describe.  True, you can opt for 24/18/12 months or a 30% down payment, but in the end, to get to the trade-in percentage goal at 12 months on a $825.99 phone you're paying $41.30 a month, plus line fees, plus tax, plus data service.  $495.60 + original full-price tax $82.60 = $578.20.  That's a lot of money for a phone you aren't going to keep.  That's a lot of money for a phone for 1 year's use.  And you complain about being a low income customer???

AT&T Next - Get A New Smartphone Every Year from AT&T Wireless

Example: A smartphone with a regular price of $825.99 will be (1) $27.54 per month for 30 months on AT&T Next 24; (2) $34.42 per month for 24 months on AT&T Next 18; (3) $41.30 per month for 20 months on AT&T Next 12; and (4) $247.80 down and $20.65 a month for 28 months on AT&T Next with down payment.

[rcschnoor]

Snn5 wrote:

You should really look into the info on this page.  AT&T NEXT is a little more complicated than you describe.  True, you can opt for 24/18/12 months or a 30% down payment, but in the end, to get to the trade-in percentage goal at 12 months on a $825.99 phone you're paying $41.30 a month, plus line fees, plus tax, plus data service.  $495.60 + original full-price tax $82.60 = $578.20.  That's a lot of money for a phone you aren't going to keep.  That's a lot of money for a phone for 1 year's use.  And you complain about being a low income customer???

AT&T Next - Get A New Smartphone Every Year from AT&T Wireless

Example: A smartphone with a regular price of $825.99 will be (1) $27.54 per month for 30 months on AT&T Next 24; (2) $34.42 per month for 24 months on AT&T Next 18; (3) $41.30 per month for 20 months on AT&T Next 12; and (4) $247.80 down and $20.65 a month for 28 months on AT&T Next with down payment.

Agree COMPLETELY. That seems to be a pretty high price paid ANNUALLY for someone who claims "I'm not rich nor try to be" and wants to BORROW a phone for a year. It seems someone like that shouldn't be upgrading to a NEW HIGH END device every year or they should change their statement to "I'm not rich but am pretending to be" Don't forget about all the incendentals you ALSO have to factor into your yearly cost, i.e. screen protectors and cases just to keep your phone in a condition which MAY be accepted as a return. Otherwise, your annual cost will increase by the $100 deductible to have it fixed with AppleCare+ if on the Apple plan.

I also think they should change one of their OTHER statements, "I do all the math and I'm not gullible enough to know that Verizon did this to make it harder for lower income to upgrade." to "Apple prices these iPhones so high because they know SOME people are gullible enough to upgrade every year to a new device even though they cannot afford it"

[Damian6669]

Wow I never said I pretend to be rich. For one stop looking up all your info on the web. I have Verizon and my friend has att. He has same plan as I and also paying for his phone just like me. He upgrades every 12 months and his bill is lower than mine still with device payment along with rollover data. And like I put in another post I replied to, just because I'm in the 20,000 and under beaker and have kids and a family doesn't in no way mean that I'm not good enough for a high end phone or should have to settle. People like u and some of the other keyboard warriors that only look up things on the net to try and prove your point make me sick. I saw with my own eyes and I see behind the screen that Verizon has in place. This is why I'm not a fanboy like apparently most of u are.