Google LG Nexus 4 at T-Mobile $50 AR with 2yr contract

Quote from aerotive : lol at $550 suggested retail...

As compared to which phone's MSRP?

Quote from WingsOfF : As compared to which phone's MSRP?

this phone

Quote from fyu : this phone

Read the Wiki.

Quote from rbv_shard : Because for $300, you could have bought the phone from Google and gotten T-Mobile's value plan instead, saving about $20/month. An extra $100 up front but you get that back in 5 months, the next 19 months are pure savings.

I highly doubt that's true. I have a family plan (5 lines):

A value plan 1000 minutes, unlimited text, and 200mb data is $100.

My family plan is 1000 minutes, unlimited text (2 lines with 200mb data, 1 line with 2gb data) for the same $100.

All 5 lines get phone upgrades, saving anywhere between $50 to $300, depending what phone you get. That's a potential savings of $250 to $1500 every 2 years by sticking with contract

I fail to see where the savings would come in if I switch to value plan, or how I got ripped off. You may want to crunch numbers next time

Also, I got my phone the day it came out since I went to the store and didn't have to deal with the hassle of ordering and getting a shipping confirmation like most other people.

Quote from WingsOfF : Read the Wiki.

and what?

MSRP at Google play store is $299/$349

Quote from HamZer11 : This is good if you were planning on staying on contract any way - it will just be a bonus to get the phone so cheap. The ETF + activation + 2 months bill makes it a bad deal if you are trying to outsmart the google direct price.

$200 + $35 + $30 over value plan for the 2 months + tax on $100 + $50

vs

$350 + tax on $350 + Shipping

Bad deal, how?

Hmm. I am eligible for a full upgrade now (22 months into my contract.) And I was thinking I was going to jump ship for Verizon. Maybe I can use that as leverage to get 2 of these for me and the wife. (Our 2 lines were bought at the same time, so both have same eligibility.)

Maybe time to talk to retention for me. How good a deal you think I should shoot for? I do NOT want to deal with any frigging rebates, and am willing to extend for 2 years for the right offer.

Quote from fyu : and what? MSRP at Google play store is $299/$349

No, "street" discounted price at Google is $349 because like Amazon selling Kindles, they sell it with no profit at wholesale costs.

MSRP is set by LG not Google. Sellers can sell it at any price.

Amazon sells Galaxy Tab 2s at $199, but that is not the MSRP.

Of course, no self-respecting SDer would buy anything at MSRP.

Quote from splendorlex : Hmm. I am eligible for a full upgrade now (22 months into my contract.) And I was thinking I was going to jump ship for Verizon. Maybe I can use that as leverage to get 2 of these for me and the wife. (Our 2 lines were bought at the same time, so both have same eligibility.) Maybe time to talk to retention for me. How good a deal you think I should shoot for? I do NOT want to deal with any frigging rebates, and am willing to extend for 2 years for the right offer.

At the minimum, you should be able to get two phones free with no rebate and keep the previous plan if that is cheaper than any available. You can also look at your usage to see if there are cheaper limited minutes plan that work for you. Unlike the Galaxy S3 rebate deal last year, this one does not seem to have any minimum plan requirements as long as it is classic.

When you deal with them, do not try to threaten for Verizon because they know Verizon is expensive for the same service especially with data. Use the buying the phone at Google and going off the contract approach.

There is no need to do the above while this deal is in progress. You can do it at any time and personally, I think you will do better if you call when just before or past that contract date.

Quote from WingsOfF : No, "street" discounted price at Google is $349 because like Amazon selling Kindles, they sell it with no profit at wholesale costs. MSRP is set by LG not Google. Sellers can sell it at any price. Amazon sells Galaxy Tab 2s at $199, but that is not the MSRP. Of course, no self-respecting SDer would buy anything at MSRP.

right... and you're basing this all on a single t-mobile rep....

Quote from fyu : right... and you're basing this all on a single t-mobile rep....

No, I am also basing it on the reality that a smartphone of this complexity (comparable to an iPhone 5) is difficult to manufacture to set $350 MSRP which means the wholesale prices have to be around $150-$175 which leaves no margins for LG. This phone's wholesale price from LG is likely to be around $300-$320 (for the 16 Gb model).

The only reason that this makes a difference is that one cannot expect further discounts than what Google is selling at - virtually at cost - from any retailer with no strings tied because there would be no margins for them.

Prices relative to the MSRP on the other hand tend to come down significantly over time as SDers well know.

Quote from PostmanPat : Although I don't necessarily agree with your ideas about contract phones and I don't want to start a TC session, but I do agree with checking coverage. I discovered that I actually get better coverage with the Prepaid plan than I would do on contract. (Sobey, WA, if anyone's interested)

Hmmm that seems very odd because the pre-paid plans use a subset of the cell towers that post paid do for the same carrier. There are no pre-paid only cell towers unless you mean the plans are from different carriers. What you are suggesting would never happen for pre-paid and post-paid for the same carrier (and MVNOs based on the same carrier).

Quote from WingsOfF : Hmmm that seems very odd because the pre-paid plans use a subset of the cell towers that post paid do for the same carrier. There are no pre-paid only cell towers unless you mean the plans are from different carriers. What you are suggesting would never happen for pre-paid and post-paid for the same carrier (and MVNOs based on the same carrier).

I didn't really believe it myself either, but you can check the two different maps you had linked in the other thread you made on the topic with that location. I was surprised to find that the prepaid map is pretty accurate, where I live the 4G is in a very strong area and just a short distance away it drops off and my actual experience reflects the map. The post paid map for where I live indicates just a 2G signal, I never got a contract phone so I can't vouch for the postpaid map accuracy, but I'm glad I looked at the maps before making a decision.

EDIT: I went back to the maps again just now and they're showing the same coverage, I guess it was probably a mapping issue when I looked a while ago, but either way I support your call to use the maps to verify coverage.

Quote from PostmanPat : I didn't really believe it myself either, but you can check the two different maps you had linked in the other thread you made on the topic with that location. I was surprised to find that the prepaid map is pretty accurate, where I live the 4G is in a very strong area and just a short distance away it drops off and my actual experience reflects the map. The post paid map for where I live indicates just a 2G signal, I never got a contract phone so I can't vouch for the postpaid map accuracy, but I'm glad I looked at the maps before making a decision.

Then it is a map update problem. Because that isn't possible from a roll out perspective for a carrier. Either the pre-paid people are over-representing or the post-paid group is snoozing and not updating their coverage data. With post-paid you will get at least the same coverage as the pre-paid in practice. So you only need to make sure for geting pre-paid.