“Conventional wisdom often produces conventional results.” -Bill Walsh
I’m always amused at the effort some people put into saving money, when, if they would just direct a fraction of that effort in a more constructive direction, they’d solve the problem that motivated their thrifty approach in no time.
In the context of app phones… I still see people trying to figure out how get one as cheaply as possible by looking for rock-bottom deals on cheap devices, and then figuring out which carrier will let them pay the absolute minimum for service.
I would offer the following alternative for economically switching to an app phone:
- Go through the drawers in your house.
- Collect a basket of junk that you’ll never use again.
- Sell it on eBay to raise $200.1
- Buy a top-of-the-line app phone.
- Cancel your landline.
You may find that the app phone pays you every month going forward.
Add to this the value your app phone will bring when
- Freeing up time on vacations that you’d otherwise spend fumbling with a map, or worse, lost
- Price comparing products in stores by simply scanning bar codes
- Having more options for staying in touch with family
- Running your business more efficiently by triaging email on your phone before sitting down at a full keyboard to do better things
. . . to name only a few.
They’re not just toys anymore, and honestly, it’s getting harder to cost-justify not owning one anymore.
- You might be surprised how much cash is collecting dust in your home. Several years ago when I decided to try eBay, I came up with over $1000 of stuff. Everything from clothing I no longer wanted to graphing calculators to CDs. I don’t miss any of it. ↩
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Selling clutter to have money makes a lot of sense. Gazelle.com has been buying lots of ads on Leo Laporte’s shows (and other podcasts). Might want to give Gazelle a try if you’re wanting to unload electronics. Get a price on the Gazelle website, send the gadget, get the money. I had given a nephew a Nokia N900 he wanted to “trade” for a new T-Mobile G2, and Gazelle was the no hassle fair price way to get money easily.
Now on the topic of “buy that smartphone,” I’ve had one since Palm Treo days. Yes, they’re useful. No, they’re not $100 a month useful, unless you’re in “outside sales.”
That $100 a month is the biggest reason I’ve not been tempted by the iPhone. My current, ancient, T-Mobile plan coughs up 450 minutes talk and truly unlimited everything else at $45 a month.
Presuming AT&T buys T-Mobile, AT&T’s plan is to kill every T-Mobile phone by transferring the frequencies they use to run LTE. That means each and every T-Mobile customer will be forced to give up their phone and get a new one. Which I presumes means a new, avaricious AT&T contract.
T-Mobile is the only “major” offering lower prices, better service and features. When T-Mobile folds, your choice will be among two of the greediest corporations in the world, Verizon & AT&T, with little Sprint tagging along and charging the same prices for service that isn’t nearly as “nationwide.”
So here I have to conclude by disagreeing with Eddie. I think it is time to plan how to do without that Smartphone. When T-Mobile’s weak competition disappears, Verizon and AT&T increase bandwidth throttling, enforce ever lower data caps, AND raise prices again and again.
George from Tulsa is right about T-Mobile offering the best deals. I use its prepay plan with an unlocked iPhone 3G for incoming calls and Skype for most outgoing calls. I pay a small fraction of what an iPhone plan would cost from AT&T or Verizon. For data, I use WiFi.
The only reason I’m not vocally against the merger with AT&T is that I suspect, to keep the feds happy, AT&T will need to grandfather existing T-Mobile plans. And even then, the merge will probably mean slow fade away from T-Mobile’s excellent service.
Cellular is like cable. It’s been regulated enough, it hasn’t become genuinely competitive. Competition typically requires low barriers to entry into the field and it’s now neigh unto impossible for someone to enter the cellular market with few customers and an entire nation or even a city to cover–even if the could somehow come up with a spectrum allocation.
Hey, Mike, I’m an AT&T shareholder. And a Verizon shareholder. And, I guess a T-Mobile shareholder through Vodafone. Much as I’d like to get rich, it is like being a shareholder of ExxonMobile. The gain is no compensation for pain at the gas pump
Would AT&T “grandfather” T-Mobile contracts. You betcha’
So what? These telcos can change the terms and conditions of your deal anytime.
And AT&T did announce right up front they’re going to reassign T-Mobile spectrum to AT&T LTE. Meaning every T-Mobile phone that isn’t quad band will be as useless as a landphone without landline. So say bye to my lovely Nexus One.
Now when Ma Bell pulls the plug on my Nexus, what are my choices? I’ll need a new phone, and I wager AT&T won’t give me an equivalent without a new, more expensive, contract. After all, Ma Bell is laying out $39 billion, and will want its money back. Fast.
totally agree. it will change your life for the better, and you will wonder how you ever managed before you got it.
Are you ever in an elevator or sharing a sidewalk with someone that is staring down into their PDA? I ask myself, when do you have time to think?
But isn’t the “PDA” supposed to think for us?
That’s why Steve Jobs put them in your hands.
Just wait until the Steve Ballmer Windows Phone 7 Phone takes over your brain.
+ Ha! Funny post!