I've been planning for months to pre-order Apple's newest line of phones come September 2015. So when Apple CEO Tim Cook announced the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus line I jumped at the chance to get the phone as quick as I could.
But like many people, my cell phone plan is incredibly complicated. I'm a Verizon customer and have been beyond confused about the situation I'm in since Verizon did away with contracts and the "Edge" program I was on.
To remedy this confusion, I spent an hour on the phone with Verizon during preorder weekend. And while the full answer is still a bit beyond my understanding, and specific to my situation, the takeaway is important: Verizon was still my best choice for upgrading my phone, and NOT Apple's highly touted new iPhone Upgrade Plan.
I would recommend everyone call their current provider and get the lowdown once and for all about which option is actually best for them. The truth is you just can't get enough personalized information by simply reading up on the specifics of each plan.
For me specifically, I was dealing with being on an old Verizon plan that basically no longer exists.
It is (was) called the "Edge" plan. On that plan I could upgrade my phone for free every year as long as I'd paid off a certain percentage of the phone. In effect, I was leasing the thing each year.
When I called Verizon they told me that plan had now sort of transformed into something not-so-sexily called the "Device Payment Program."
I was told two key things when I was on the phone with customer service that made me decide for sure that taking part in Apple's new program was a bad idea.
- To upgrade my phone I had to pay my current device off in full through installments or lump sum. So to get a new phone every year, the whole thing would have to be paid off. Despite the fact that Verizon is saying this plan is the same as the Edge plan, this is what I was told over the phone and jives with the above blurb. Under the Edge plan, I only had to pay for a percentage of the phone as I understood it. To upgrade every year, clearly selling the phone back to Verizon through a promotion or on eBay/Gazelle/etc. then getting a new one made the most sense.
- I would lose a crucial $25 credit. The plan I was on before gave me a $25 credit towards my bill every month because of the amount of data I had (10GB). If I chose not to use the Device Payment Program, I would lose that credit. So if I was adding a monthly payment to Apple on top of my monthly expenses along with a heftier cell phone bill, I would be paying a lot more per month for essentially the same thing.
When you factor in those 2 things, it's pretty clear that I had no choice at all here. I preordered my gold iPhone 6S Plus through Verizon and I'll be sticking with the carrier for the future until plans change again.
As I said before, everyone's sitaution is different. We all have different plans that have been impacted in all sorts of weird ways as a result of the ever-changing cell plans of the big providers out there. So make that phone call and ask every question you can think of. You may come to a different conclusion than me.
