T-Mobile tries to make the Galaxy Note 9 more affordable with 36 Month Contracts

[linkboy]

I got $300 off my Note 8 last year by stacking a couple of Samsung promotions that involved pre-paid Visa cards, and paid the whole thing off in March. I'm not planning on replacing it anytime soon. It does everything I need it to do and has been rock solid in the year I've had it.

 

Truth be told, a lot of people don't need the latest and greatest, they just think they do. Phones like the S8/8+/iPhone 8 are still great devices for the vast majority of people and are considerably cheaper then their newer replacements.

[AlTech]

1 minute ago, Sauron said:

That's not something I would encourage though let alone in places like the US, where higher education itself can cost as much as multiple luxury cars...

I get it, I just don't think it's a good idea. Being a student myself I wouldn't even consider a phone like that, and not because I couldn't afford it - I'd rather spend my money on far more cost effective things, or keep it. My entire home network and the dozen of computers I own (which include a storage server and a beefy 1U), put together, where most likely cheaper than what some people pay for a phone and a laptop.

 

I understand that it happens, I just don't understand why you'd think that, given limited resources, people would go for the best value whenever possible... then again companies like Samsung are clearly no amateurs when it comes to riding the trend wave...

A lot of is social status or at least perceived social status. A Student doesn't want to be that guy who buys a budget £100-150 phone from CeX or a £200 ish midrange.

[AlTech]

1 minute ago, linkboy said:

I got $300 off my Note 8 last year by stacking a couple of Samsung promotions that involved pre-paid Visa cards, and paid the whole thing off in March. I'm not planning on replacing it anytime soon. It does everything I need it to do and has been rock solid in the year I've had it.

 

Truth be told, a lot of people don't need the latest and greatest, they just think they do. Phones like the S8/8+/iPhone 8 are still great devices for the vast majority of people and are considerably cheaper then their newer replacements.

Yeah and I'd always recommend going for one of those last gen phones if they're discounted heavily.

 

For example, the S9 and S9+ are going for like £40 ish per month and the S8 is going for £23 per month from my carrier so if anybody asked me what phone to get I'd say previous gen phone if it's a lot cheaper than current gen phone.

[Sauron]

Just now, AluminiumTech said:

A lot of is social status or at least perceived social status. A Student doesn't want to be that guy who buys a budget £100-150 phone from CeX or a £200 ish midrange.

Yeah... I really hate that mindset. In my experience nobody actually gives a s**t what phone/laptop/whatever you carry around in university, as long as it fits your basic needs it's just as good as anything else.

[Donut417]

15 hours ago, DrMacintosh said:

Just be unemployed and live with a parent and collect thousands in FAFSA money  

Yeah. But most of that FASFA money has to be paid back with interest. So yeah.......... Good plan. 

[AlTech]

1 minute ago, Sauron said:

Yeah... I really hate that mindset. In my experience nobody actually gives a s**t what phone/laptop/whatever you carry around in university, as long as it fits your basic needs it's just as good as anything else.

The funniest part is that those people more often than not have a several year old laptop or a new super budget cheap laptop.

[Fasterthannothing]

4 hours ago, Sauron said:

You're still dropping 250$ per year - that's 750$ every 36 months which isn't that much lower than this...

Yeah but in that time frame I will have gotten 3 generations of phones while the person doing the 36 month financing is still on the first one.

[Sauron]

5 minutes ago, Shorty88jr said:

Yeah but in that time frame I will have gotten 3 generations of phones while the person doing the 36 month financing is still on the first one.

Sure... it's still an awful lot of money going into phones if you ask me.

[Commodus]

I'm one of those who spends a lot on his phone, but then I have good reasons for it... the nature of my work, that I'm a tech enthusiast who genuinely appreciates newer hardware, I'm a photography junkie, and I can expense some of the cost.  I have an iPhone XS, but I'd probably be getting 'just' an iPhone XR if I had to pay everything out of pocket and just wanted an up to date smartphone.

[suicidalfranco]

how is this better than just go with samsung's leasing program?

monthly fee, new phone every year, and includes issurance for theft and damages

[Linus_torvalds]

1 hour ago, Commodus said:

I'm one of those who spends a lot on his phone, but then I have good reasons for it... the nature of my work, that I'm a tech enthusiast who genuinely appreciates newer hardware,

Thing is i am tech enthusiast too. I appreciate newer hardware but for me it's useless and i'll explain why. I am programmer and i like to play with different OSs do various things with my gadgets. For example on my nexus 4 i once had quad boot. Now i have only sailfish os. Periodicaly i reinstall ubuntu touch on it then go back to sailfish. Try different things. Chrooting into arch linux in landscape mode, trying to get video signal from displayport (from sailfish does not work) from ubuntu and using my phone like PC. I even wrote keyboard for my native language for sailfish os because it was not supported. Also with laptop too. I always think about modding it hardware wise and software. Newer phones simply are not that open like LEGENDARY nexus 4 and nexus 5 were. That's why i still have those phones. Nexus 5 is moded with G2 battery (5-6h SOT ) Right now i damaged it's display flex cable trying to mod speaker but i'll fix it and continue using it.

[Commodus]

6 minutes ago, mate_mate91 said:

Thing is i am tech enthusiast too. I appreciate newer hardware but for me it's useless and i'll explain why. I am programmer and i like to play with different OSs do various things with my gadgets. For example on my nexus 4 i once had quad boot. Now i have only sailfish os. Periodicaly i reinstall ubuntu touch on it then go back to sailfish. Try different things. Chrooting into arch linux in landscape mode, trying to get video signal from displayport (from sailfish does not work) from ubuntu and using my phone like PC. I even wrote keyboard for my native language for sailfish os because it was not supported. Also with laptop too. I always think about modding it hardware wise and software. Newer phones simply are not that open like LEGENDARY nexus 4 and nexus 5 were. That's why i still have those phones. Nexus 5 is moded with G2 battery (5-6h SOT ) Right now i damaged it's display flex cable trying to mod speaker but i'll fix it and continue using it.

That's fair, i'm just saying that an enthusiast of my variety leans toward the latest and greatest.

[Linus_torvalds]

2 hours ago, AluminiumTech said:

In my experience amongst Students, if nobody can tell what phone you have as a Student then your social status is probably affected as a result.

That's students fault. That's why i do not like apple fanboys. All started from them. That's why people call them iSheep because that's what you are when you think that everyone has an iphone and you should also have one. You should have (whatever you want in advanced civilizaion maybe) whatever you can pay for without making secrifices on food or clothes or other things.

2 hours ago, AluminiumTech said:

A lot of people don't have enough money to buy a car and yet they do it anyway through financing. A lot of people don't have enough money to buy a house so they get a mortgage. A lot of people don't have enough money to buy a flagship so they get a financing plan for it.

I do not agree with this argument. House is difeerent thing. It's crucial for living. If you can't affor bying it you live on rent. But you do not go and buy some luxury houses for 124 million $. You buy what you can pay for like i said above without many sacrifices. But in reality at least in my country where i see that students are working for 150-200$ a MONTH (which is sad itself) and go buy and iphone because of that social status thing which starts from rich people who can buy an iphone EVERYDAY i get angry!!! One government person in here even said that not everyone should have an iphone. Only rich people should have it. While i agree at the core she said it differently. Like owning an iphone is status thing and she is above of all because she can afford an iphone at least EVERY WEEK!!!

 

[79wjd]

2 hours ago, Shorty88jr said:

Yeah but in that time frame I will have gotten 3 generations of phones while the person doing the 36 month financing is still on the first one.

You still had to pay for the original phone (and tax on the full price of all three and potentially an upgrade fee). So it's still considerably more than keeping the same phone for three years. 

[79wjd]

2 hours ago, AluminiumTech said:

The funniest part is that those people more often than not have a several year old laptop or a new super budget cheap laptop.

I fall into the category myself -- I upgrade my laptop far less frequently than my phone, but that's because computers have been relatively stagnant over the years. Whereas phones have seen mostly incremental updates but every few generations see something 'big' -- 4G, better battery (when it still mattered), higher resolution (when it still mattered), bigger screens (when it still matterered), NFC, smaller bezels, etc...

 

I've had my current laptop for five years and have no intention of replacing it any time soon (I would've be too surprised if it lasted a decade before being replaced). My previous laptop lasted 7 seven years before I needed more cores/ram and wanted better battery life/higher resolution screen/lighter. But the latter bit of that wasn't really possible until the end of the 7 years.

[79wjd]

20 minutes ago, PacketMan said:

Does it come with a pretty good customer service and real warranty? I wouldn't keep paying a phone that they denied service for Samsung's fault (a.k.a faulty phone, faulty battery, faulty screen, you know)

It almost definitely has the standard warranty -- which is likely 1 year. Financing something doesn't entitle you to a longer warranty -- they're doing you a favor (and themselves a favor by increasing the population that can afford the device) by allowing you to pay over a period of time rather than all at once up front.

 

And you can't just stop paying (not without running into legal issues) as you signed a contract agreeing to continue paying until the device is paid off.

[Mooshi]

On 10/16/2018 at 8:25 PM, D13H4RD2L1V3 said:

That awkward moment when monthly phone payments are now considered the norm. 

 

Wasn't too long ago where we had $199/$299 subsidies 

Subsidized phones weren't the deals they made themselves out to be. Carriers still were able to get their money, indirectly.  

 

Let's take Verizon for an example. Smartphone in a 2 year contract was $40, out was $20 for the line charge. You'd still pay retail for the phone even if that up front cost was a couple hundred.

[Ross Siggers]

I can see myself using a phone of that caliber for three years.

I'm a tech enthusiast yes, but I also try to make things last, just like I wouldn't upgrade my GPU with every...single...generation, I don't with my phone. I simply don't have the money to do that, And don't overstretch myself to try like some people might.

I'm not flashy enough to insist I have the best thing on the market at all times; I buy a flagship, enjoy the glory whilst it lasts, but then try to use it for as long as I can, until it either becomes obsolete or there's a feature on a new phone I'm really dying for. 

I'm using an Xperia XZ, bought on release. And two years later, I'm not feeling a huge urge to upgrade. Sony is good with updates, it's responsive, I've expanded the storage, and whilst not on current flagship levels, the camera is still decent. I'd upgrade for a better camera sure...but not seeing any other must have features on the market(imho), I'm not shelling out £££ yet. Does this make me a 'FiLThy caSuaL'? Probably  

If I saw this deal being offered in the UK on a Note 9, in maybe 6-8 months time? I'd consider it.

[PLME888]

On 10/17/2018 at 10:07 AM, mate_mate91 said:

I'm sorry but is it a must to have S9 or iphone Xs or macbook?

Yes, it got more to do with "status", oh you only have a Pocophone? pff, you are poor and not part of the "group". If you want to be popular at uni, you need expensive shit to show to people...

 

I know it's a stupid concept but it happens.

[FPSwithaWacomTablet]

On 10/17/2018 at 4:25 AM, D13H4RD2L1V3 said:

All very nice, but is that worth $1000 especially for a student? Personally, I don't think so. You can get a solid midrange phone and be just as happy with it. 

$1000 is a solid, mid-range laptop... That's Surface Pro money right there as well.

[poochyena]

Dang, contracts are still a thing? Here I am using a phone I got for free from a giveaway paying less than $10 a month on a pay as you go plan.

[Donut417]

7 hours ago, poochyena said:

Dang, contracts are still a thing?

Not a contract technically. Its a leasing agreement, you are paying the device down for a period of time. If you leave T Mobile you dont pay a EFT per say, but you are required to pay the device off. But once the device is paid off, you can leave the service. 

[AlTech]

4 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

Not a contract technically. Its a leasing agreement, you are paying the device down for a period of time. If you leave T Mobile you dont pay a EFT per say, but you are required to pay the device off. But once the device is paid off, you can leave the service. 

Lol. Pretty much a straight up contract.

[79wjd]

21 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

Lol. Pretty much a straight up contract.

Technically, but not in the way that cell contracts have typically been (in US).

 

You can leave at any time -- all you have to do is pay for the thing that you financed -- you're not being charged extra to leave. Comparatively, in the past (and those still on old-style contracts) if you wanted to leave before your contact was up, then you had to pay an EXTRA fee -- an ETF (which usually was the subsidized amount on the phone or a flat fee which was supposed to equate to that subsidized amount most of the time).