Carrier "Deals" Are A Scam. Here's Why!

I've been buying my phones off ebay and straight to att pre paid. For the last 10 years

Carriers don't fix them

I'm the 300th comment! In your face 299!

"8 gigs is a lot"
Me: uses 100 gigs in less than a month

Don’t buy phones from eBay that’s terrible advice

I like you guys ❤😊

only good with trade in sometimes

I always do this type of math when considering promotions. Many times it is a ripoff, but sometimes it isn’t if you do your math and compare “deals”. I’m currently Paying $57 a month, tax included for my xfinity phone plan and iPhone 14 Pro. After two years that will cost me $1368. Now minus the $1000 phone, I would say $368/24 months is $15 a month for my phone plan. Sure, the phone wasn’t free, but I got to finance it and $15 a month for a basic phone plan that serves all my usage needs isn’t a bad deal.

Thanks guys, very helpful!

I been dealing with Verizon and is been a nightmare. It doesn't help that im already struggling with my job and my car breaking. The biggest problem is the people selling the phones at the store. They will tell you something and once you get the deal they will lie and leave you with a large bill even though you ask all the information from them.

Excellent video! I should have watched it yesterday (would have saved myself an hour) before "running my own numbers" for an upcoming phone upgrade. Subscribed to the channel now and look forward to watching more of your videos. Hopefully your subscription rate has surpassed 9% by now :)

Below are the aspects of my situation (replies are welcome) to help me pick the best carrier/plan:

I have a paid off iPhone 11 (willing to trade-in or sell) which still works but is starting to get slow. Prepaid AT&T 8gb monthly plan for $40 (with autopay on) plus tax per month. Looking to upgrade to with iPhone 14 pro or iPhone 15 Pro and will likely wait for Black Friday or Cyber Monday deals. Thanks for any feedback

Only good advice for those who can afford to pay cash for the phone. Families, especially, have a hard time dropping $3K or more to but phones, regardless of saving. Young, single people with fat income probably aren’t in a position to recommend purchase practices for the average person in America.

Buying a device from a carrier (especially at a brick and mortar store) means they'll really put the squeeze on you around "device protection plans" - you'll hear things like - you're spending $1500 on a new device what if it breaks or you loose it or if it's stolen. For some it may be a good idea - just remember you always have options for this sort of thing and in many places you can opt-in later on so you can compare the option against other companies.

I've had about a 50/50 good/bad result with Amazon Renewed phones - where the ones that weren't good it took some time to understand why they were "renewed" in the first place - poor network connections LOTS of missing texts - cell data not working or calls not connecting. Sure when the phone is powered up with a SIM installed and network carrier settings are adjusted / configured per the carrier's instructions the phone SEEMS to work okay and a couple test calls or website browses SEEM to work but after a while (can be as short as a day or so) they start acting up - a reboot may help for a while but they are at best unreliable. My advice is to look at the options with a solid brand (like Apple or Samsung) as Amazon renewed but do not HESITATE to send a device back if it's not 100% reliable - usually the warranty / return policy is much BETTER than even a new phone and I've always had great luck cosmetically (and I'm very picky).

@payette Forward Pleases do a video on phone trade in programs! Are they a scam too?

You guys use tricky language that anyone with a brain can see through.

I learned the hard way. From 45 to 140.00 some plan 😢😂

I am stuck with the Z fold 3, AT&T has limited maitenance and service for it. I had to co.e out of pocket to pay for a new screen. On top of that, I traded in a phone that was worth $800 to them credited towards the phone... instead of giving it to you all at once, they ration out that $800 credit across the whole contract. So out of that $800, they ration out $20 per month on my bills... which they told me after the fact when i called about my $800 credit.

These deals are entrapment! Whatever you do, try not to walk into AT&T stores, treat them as if you were a Vampire trying to step onto holy ground. STAY OUT OF THE STORES! They will do and say whatever to get you to agree to over priced agreements.

>>Advise from a former wireless employee<<
If you are a family bundle of 4+ lines, buy the phones from your carrier. You save so much more on the monthly with bundled pricing.

If you are solo or there's just one other member on your plan, GO PREPAID. Being on a major carrier with only 1-2 lines is a major waste of $$$. Prepaid service is VERY good in recent years.

Deals that are good from Carriers:
---"ANY UNLIMITED." If the deal says you can be on ANY plan, take that deal immediately if it gives a good amount off. Theses are rarely offered and usually targeted at existing customers.
--- If there is a member on the plan that's a NURSE , TEACHER, 1ST RESPONDER or MILITARY. These discounts give you a substantial amount off your bill that Prepaid can't match.

Avoid:
-- Deals that require you to increase your monthly plan. Even if they promise to take a substantial amount off the phone, DO THE MATH of how much MORE that means you have to spend in the 3 year contract v.s. what you're actually saving on the phone. Sometimes these can be worth it though.
-- INSURANCE ON CHEAP PHONES. Regardless if the phone is $200 or $1200, insurance is still $17/month. A total waste unless it's an expensive phone.

One thing with the more premium monthly service plans: they do open up the reduced monthly costs of the respective company’s Wi-Fi service. Plus a “free” phone, it may equal out a little more, maybe.

Definitely going to try to buy next phone from Apple directly

Yup!!! That’s why I buy my phone from apple. Then go to cricket! Best decision I ever made. I used to do Verizon phone plans. What a waste!

Did you just say 8GB a month is enough??? WTF I max out my 50GB plan

No, unlock the prepaid lower off for an iPhone. This's well, and you get a better Dale.

It’s disappointing that Apple will no longer finance an unlocked iPhone anymore, they only support unlocked cellphones through carriers for a monthly fee. If you want unlocked phone you have to pay the full price which many people won’t do.

Mint Mobile, Google fi is where it’s at. These carriers are highway robbery with all their hidden fees and “deals” they claim. People are paying on average around $200 a month with families for their lines and phones. Just crazy monthly cost, nearly a car payment

How do I check if my phone is 5 g? No repair store will open my phone and show me. The was a video on TikTok where a tech opened two phones and shows that them being 5 g was a fraud how do i confirm mine is?

Third grade math would tell anyone this but people with no math skills ,money to buy the phone or just plain common sense to figure out that nobody gives you anything for free are the people that get suckered into these service commitments at $100 a month for years. Buy the phone and go with an NVMO that has the best coverage where you live and that is as simple as it gets. USmobile has both T-Mobile and Verizon networks available and that’s what I use. $45 bucks a month for better than Verizon at $100 a month …😂😂😂😂 you can t beat that for the exact same network and data rates.

Thanks guys..

I'm wondering why customers are not protected by any government service ? I get a deal trade in my note 10 they told me I get 800$ credit and had paid for the phone 23 or 28$ a month 8 months after I got back to them to update for S23 or folding one they told I have to pay 900$ for the s22ultra to sold it before I was lost got mad and told them 28$ × 8 + my old phone doesn't cover the cost of the s22 ultra you need me to add 900$ more why are you stealing poor people like this. Ok now I know who you are. I'm going to use the 3 years then never again have a single deal with you. I'm buying my phone directly from Samsung without deal.paid for an unlocked phone.

It’s always the best option to buy directly from the manufacturer IF YOU CAN AFFORD THE UPFRONT COST! If you don’t have $800-$1200 to shell out but you can come up with $20-$30 a month for 3 years then you gotta decide if you can afford to have the phone service plan to go with that and if it’s worth it FOR YOU. Why do people think they shouldn’t make money for this? The wireless carrier will always make a profit if you keep the servive going for atleast 6 months and if you decide to sell the phone and stop paying them it’s a tax write off in their eyes. Either way they are still providing a service that can’t be free.

Buy the phone unlocked, and get mint’s $15 plan, if you have unlimited wifi at home and wifi at work, no one needs more than 5gb of data. Unlocked phones also work overseas, just get a cheap sim from wherever you are.

Also doesn't buying a phone from a carrier give you their locked phone instead of buying it from apple where you get an unlocked phone for all networks? It'll be easier to swap carriers with an unlocked phone esp when you travel a lot.

Do you have a video on the trade in scam with carriers?

Hey its Mother's Day..
Time to scam the moms.. !!! 😅😅😅

My carrier dont even have the phones I want lol

8GB is no where near enough lol. You get the carrier plans so u can get the best possible Phone, then take advantage of their awesome trade ins.

Do a video on how porting your phone number and bringing your phone to verizon from another carrier does not work as they say it will.

3680 + 112 does not equal 3784
am I missing something?

Most deals lock people into a company. They also keep you buying new phones.

Three year contracts are the worst ever tactics, you know. Early termination fees for AT&T are technically your remaining installment plan balance instead of the usual $325 minus ten times the number of months.
(Trade ins on AT&T require an installment plan.)

What if they don’t offer the protection, like lost my phone is there another option?

But what if we can't afford too pay for the phone out right like I cant

I'll just take the deal that Verizon's offer me which is a grandfathered plan where you pay over 24 months or over 36 months with s22 ultra.

I'm only paying $125 a month with 10 GB of data 5G service. roll over data I get to use my gigabytes for hotspot. not a bad deal. Once I pay off my device all I got to do is pay taxes and activation to get a brand new phone.

Great thoughts here, guys. I like the math breakdown. Lots of these "deals" sound great until you really think through the long term cost, and I'm glad you did.

On postpaid you have customer service wile on prepay you don’t have, plus you don’t have tech support and no support for international . On prepay you can’t bill things to your account. In USA postpaid accounts are nice as at least 5 members on the account with upgrade deals with trade in.

What if I can get a 30% discount of phone price with plan rather than phone outright and 30% off plan?

The outright non carrier option is much more common in europe and asia, and puts a larger onus on carrier to have better service, also in part because they cant lock a decice to that carrier.

Should have seen your video before getting caught up by Verizon. Wanted the Apple watch with fall detection, had to buy an Apple smartphone for setup. Like an idiot, I signed up, got the discount for autopay (they do monthly draws off your checking account), plus credit card draws. With the paperless option (being a good steward of ourn planet), I never saw the numbers crunch. Decided to return the watch and phone two days later, I got walloped with a $50 restock fee for each item ($100)! Unless you've got money to throw away, pay attention to Payette Forward! These carriers are as bad as the proverbial used car sales lots. Vampires!

I would love to have the Samsung s23 Ultra. Eventually I will have that phone in 2025 or 2026. :-) I haven't been on a contract in over 10 years I will never go that route ever again. I'll stay with my Verizon prepaid paying $38 a month!

The problem isn't that people can't do the math. It's the problem with upfront costs. That is the way a lot of things are bought in America. People think they can afford it if you break up the cost with installments. That is why most Americans are in debt. That is how most of the economy of America is run; trying to sell and consume as much as possible. It's up to you to realize either I can't afford this phone or I will have to either buy a cheaper model or a refurbished unit.