Personally the service is more important than the phone......Verizon fills that requirement. Since I keep a phone for at least two years, $7.00ish a week for a smart phone won't break me or most people.

Good news,new iPhone 6s coming out in September.There will be lots of iPhone 6's on the used market.

I don't believe there were ever "free Phones", at least with AT&T. My last 2-year contract (now expired) had $15/month built into the monthly cellphone charge to pay for my iphone. This amounted to $360. The phone also had a $200 upfront charge so I actually paid $560 for the phone over 2 years. Once the 2 year contract was up, the monthly cellphone charge dropped by $15/month since the phone was now paid for. At this point I am treated as a BYOD. There is no free lunch. You are paying for the phone in one way or another.

Business
 

You can bet the farm that all of the Phone Companies will have this Term and Condition. I would guarantee that extended studies have been done by the Companies Business Case, Pricing, and Forecasting Departments to ensure this
will (a) improve their bottom lines and (b) open up additional business opportunities. In net incremental revenues and profits. We have over 350 complaints about Verizon service/performance reported to the POA and as I understand it they [Verizon] have not addressed these users to understand and fix their problems. This is really no difference than what is going on with the Drug Companies and most of the other companies. The need to carry more non contributing people (illegals, etc etc) has put a heavy burden on the Companies and that has led them to explore new and creative business practices which takes more spending discretion out of the JQ Public pockets. Now they are talking about a $15 minimum wage. That will drive more companies out of business and even larger taxes. When will the pyramid crumble. That is the critical question we should all be asking ourselves.:ho:

Consider buying a phone elsewhere. I recently purchased an Amazon Fire phone for $189 with a case and a year of Prime. It is unlocked and works on GSM networks (AT&T and T Mobile). It has 32 GB and is basically an android phone. So far I am very satisfied with it.

Can one buy a Verizon compatible/capable smart phone from Best Buy (or anywhere else) and then just have it activated (replace existing phone) by Verizon?

This is an interesting thread. About 6 weeks ago I went to Verizon to get my wife a newer "Non-Smart" flip type phone, as this is what she was used to and wanted. She did not like to text or have internet access, (as like a smart phone) so a simple phone was what she wanted.

I would not have believed it but the girl there was able to upgrade her phone to a NEW iphone 6 for no cost. The phone was free. (yes, it is now a 2 year commitment, so like everyone else you are paying for it, but it was no additional money up front and it is NOT their EDGE plan...it was just the same as if I took their cheapest flip phone). My bill went down. I changed to a better plan than I had and now have a very good amount of shared data, unlimited text and minutes, etc. So now I have the iphone 6 plus and Apple watch, and she has the new iphone 6. I have since got my bill and all is just as I was promised. Crazy. I doubt I would be able to get the same deal if I walked into there again....I think it was a fluke.

My wife likes her new phone. She is now enjoying texting, facetime, etc. It ended up being cheaper than a cheap non smart flip phone.

Anyway, I seem to have a different opinion here about the phones. I have never liked the "subsidized" phone plans. It is like leasing a phone. For all these past years they were just taking the REAL cost of the phone, (around $600 for a smart phone), dividing it into your 2 year plan and you were paying for it anyway. THEN, if you kept your phone for over 2 years, you STILL kept paying for it.

I would much rather pay for a phone completely up front competitively and then just pay less for a no contract plan that suits my needs. It is more straight forward, easier and honest. No smoke and mirrors.

What people do not seem to understand is that these phones were never free...even the one I just got my wife. Usually you pay like $200 up front for an iphone, and the rest is in your bill, (about $400 divided into 24 payments). If you kept the phone longer, you kept paying that payment. With the phone I got my wife, I did not have to pay that $200. It was a good deal.

That being said, how much better would it be to just buy the phone up front and have NO phone payments....your cellphone plan would just be for the plan, with no contracts, hidden phone costs, etc.

If that is what they are heading towards I am all for it.

Respectfully, Frank

Yep Frank You are on the money. By the way I see that Sprit has ads running that will upgrade your iphone when ever you want for no additional cost. But I bet you need to buy the first one. Someting to consider if you are looking at iphones.

Your experience with Verizon was not true with ATT. Once our 2-year contract expired, the monthly charges dropped by $15/month since I had finished paying off the iphone. Now, I did have to call them to make this happen. With ATT, you used to be able to get a minimal iphone for no money upfront. The larger capacity iphone carried an upfront cost to make up for the higher cost (the $15/month charge was fixed regardless of the flavour of iphone). I agree that I think buying the phone upfront makes more sense.

A lot of the cellular companies have changed in the past year or so to a no contract model. Verizon is one of the latest to do so. Essentially, there is no longer a 2 year commitment from you to maintain their service and, in turn, they no longer subsidize the cost of the phone either fully or partially. Most of them will allow you to "finance" the purchase price f the phone by adding the cost of the phone divided by 24 months to your bill until it is paid off. They have lowered the price of their monthly service with these plans to take into consideration that they are no longer paying anything towards the purchase of your new phone.

Can one buy a Verizon compatible/capable smart phone from Best Buy (or anywhere else) and then just have it activated (replace existing phone) by Verizon?


YES
I've gotten phones for my wife & me on Ebay for several years. You just dial *228 and activate the phone yourself

I agree. We have a Moto X from Republic Wireless. It switches to WiFi for phone calls and data whenever possible. They are now offering a rebate if you use less data.

I moved from ATT to Consumer Cellular about a year ago. You can buy whatever phone suits your needs from an iPhone to a $25 phone and pay for the phone up front or over several months. Actual air time and data charges are very cheap, the service is outstanding and you can change your plan any time without penalty. Might be work a look.