Went to the Verizon store to upgrade some lines from basic to smartphones and the sales person tells me about the EDGE plan they offer. After running the numbers it seems like the EDGE program will save you a few bucks in the end…but whats the catch? They said no catch. No company offers a “better” plan to help you out.
Heres what I was told (Not adding in taxes/fees)
2yr contract = Pay for the phone($200) and activation fee($30) on DAY 1. From there youre paying about $60 a month. At the end of 2yrs youre at $1670 TOTAL (phone/activation/monthly payments)
EDGE = Pay for Activation fee($30) on DAY 1. From there you pay the $60 a month minus $25(offer they have) but then you pay monthly payments of full price of the phone over 2yrs. So add $27/m. 60-25+27=$62/m. At 2yrs youre at $1518 TOTAL (phone/activation/monthly payments)
So its a savings of $152 (not including taxes/fees)
Wondering why they would offer this?
Whats the catch?
If anyone has/is in the EDGE program?
Some goods findings here. Looks like since you will be paying full retail on the phone, you will be paying tax on full retail too. So 2yr contract iPhone6 is 200, youll pay about 16 in tax. Edge iPhone6 full retail is 650, youll see an extra $57(per phone) in your first bill.
I just upgraded mine and my wife’s phones earlier this month. I researched the Edge plan and basically we would end up spending about $12 more per month. I’m not sure if it makes any difference that we were already Verizon smartphone users, so I’m sure there may be better perks to get people to switch from basic phones to smart phones. I also think the offer we had at the time was $15 off our bill each month as opposed to the $25 you are quoting, but I could be wrong there.
One thing that is important to note, is if you cancel your Edge plan, you do have to pay off the difference of what you owe on the phone in addition to the early termination fee. That’s not something you have to worry about with a contract since you own the phone right from day 1. From what I gathered, the main advantage to the Edge for me was that we could upgrade every 18 months instead of 2 years, which I didn’t see being worth paying the extra $12 per month for.
EDIT- Another thing to consider in your math is you are comparing costs over 2 years. Yes, the Edge plan would be cheaper by then but the main thing that lures people into the Edge program is that you can upgrade after 18 months, which most people will likely do. So compare the costs of each plan after 18 months and the plans are nearly identical ($1310 w/contract, $1308 w/Edge). I am fairly certain they will calculate your payments based on 18 months too, since they wouldn’t allow you to upgrade your phone without having had it fully paid off. That means in your calculation above, you should be doing 60-25+36 so a total of 71 per month for 18 months. Honestly the thought of making payments on a phone has always seemed silly to me, hence another reason I chose not to do the Edge program.
you should look into the loyalty plan as well, it’s $50 a month for 1 gb data and unlimited talk n text, but it’s not an option when you sign up, you just have to be on a normal plan for a month before they allow you to join the loyal plan. at $50 it was the cheapest contracted plan with reasonable amount of data at the time for my 6 plus.
Ok this is consistent with what I saw earlier this month. I know Verizon employees are obviously supposed to push this program, but they really try too hard sometimes. While waiting in the store I saw so many people get the Edge benefits thrown at them and the employees really tried to make it sound like they were saving the customer money.
Edge=0% finance of full retail cost over 24 months
500mb-4gb (basically any plan up to $70) will receive a $15 discount if out of service contract (edge included)
$80 10gb plan and higher get a $25 discount per line out of service contract
most customers fall into the 10gb plan or very close so most actually switch to 10gb to get the discount
example: Galaxy s5 upgrade on 10gb plan means no upfront costs besides accessories and $36 in sales tax which you can have put on the bill. This means you save over $200 with the edge program
The sales people are also making commission on what they sell right? So imo they will push whatever makes them the most money. So when I hear “oh edge is where it’s at” it makes me think the 2yr is probably better in the long run
when it comes upgrading I could careless about having the latest and greatest. I just want sonething that works like a charm without hickups
also who has an iPhone and who has a droid?
i r had my i5 for 2+ yrs and I enjoy it but I’m sick of being “locked down” and also having to pay for storage.
Example i6@16gig is 200 or 64gig is 300
LG G3 is free at 32gig and can take a memory card
i have both an s5 and an iphone 6, the galaxy has far less issues than the iphone IMO
the edge program isnt right for everyone, it saves money no matter what device you pick if your on a 10gb or higher plan. id love for someone to prove me wrong
Can you explain the issues youre talking about?
Also what size iphone 6 do you have?
Wondering if 16gig is too small.
My i5 is 16gig and its ok, but with a bigger better phone I wonder if I would be trying to clear it more often. I take a lot of pics and vids
^^the phone debate is really preference. You’ll get complete opposite opinions anywhere you go. Most people that like iphone and had droid don’t take the time to learn the droid platform or they’re so used to apple that they prefer it.
I like droid. Any time I use an apple product I’m like WTF. Which is why I don’t own them…ever since I was in middle school at the library with those damn mac computers. Tried an ipod once back in the day…got pissed off with the whole iTunes bulshit and sold it after a couple months.
My gf’s dad is an IT techy person and for about a year now his company phone is an iphone, personal phone is a droid. He hates the iphone. calls it his iturd.
I was die-hard android from day one of the Motorola Droid. Had HTC Incredible as well as a Galaxy Nexus … Last year I switched to an iPhone. You’d have to wrestle my 5s out of my cold dead hands before I’d give it up.
i have the 64gb iphone 6, i bought the 64 gb because 16gb is a joke especially when many of their software updates are 2+gb.
the keyboard rarely pops up when its supposed to, it doesnt like to rotate the screen like its supposed to, apps continue to crash etc etc
my galaxy s5 rarely if ever has an app that crashes, the battery life is twice that of the iphone, camera is just as good (if not better) and dont have to pay for any apps…
your wrong, its 0% financing… where does lease come into play? if you want you can “edge up” which you trade in the old device for a new device and right now you can do that at 75% of the value being paid off or 18 months
Also with the edge, you can pay off the phone at any time and start a new edge plan with a new phone. So really as long as you pay off the phone you can upgrade whenever you want. At least thats how the ATT plan works.