Had my first company supplied cell issued in 1997 and have never had to purchase my own phone or plan. My current employer is phasing out supplying phones in favor of a $75/month tax free allowance. I've had my current iPhone7 for a few years and its battery and performance have started to degrade, so time to say adios. Good news is that since it's of no use to the company, they'll allow me to use it as a trade in (worth $90 with Apple).

Thinking I'll just purchase an unlocked phone from Apple..or should I choose a carrier and go through them? What else should I consider?

The costs of the phones are the same if you get it from a carrier or apple directly so there isn't a huge difference. The phone payment plans are usually just the retail cost of the phone divided out over 2 years and you can always pay it off early. If your phone is paid off every carrier allows you to unlock it (some make it easier than others but they have to unlock it for you) so you aren't trapped with a phone tied to a specific carrier.

I'd check with the carrier first and see if they have any deals that could knock down some of the cost of the new phone. They will run promotions that will net you cash towards a new iphone for a trade of a working phone. These credits are usually divided up over 2 years to keep you with them but you can also just pay off the phone early if you want to switch services.

They tend to keep the price of the phone separate from the plans now so the prices you see for service are don't include the cost of the phone. ATT and Verizon have the best service but are the most expensive and Sprint / Tmobile has really good rates for international use.

Look at visible.

https://www.visible.com/

Is your company going to release your #? Worth asking so you don't have to change phone numbers.

Locked
Carriers do 30 month 0% financing. If you're with a carrier, I think you're already pre-approved without needing a credit check. It used to be 2 years but phones got more expensive. And with that financing you go the full 30 and keep the phone or return it after 2 years and get a new one or pay off the rest of the balance and keep the phone.

Unlocked (Best way to go if you travel)
If you buy through Apple, its 24 months 0% (credit check first time I believe)
If you have an Apple Card (already have credit check when getting the card), its 24 months 0% and you get 3% cash back up front. Downside, if you use the card, you can only make extra payments on the phone if the card is 0 balance for regular transactions.

Carriers offer around $10/mo insurance but it's through third party
Apple offers about the same with Apple Care (Theft & Loss Option too) per month but could be fixed to two - three years. But you do get Apple Quality Support.
You'll have to read the fine print on insurance. They have different charges for screen repair and replacement. Replacement time may be different. I know Apple overnights.

Pman17 said:

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Locked
Carriers do 30 month 0% financing. If you're with a carrier, I think you're already pre-approved without needing a credit check. It used to be 2 years but phones got more expensive. And with that financing you go the full 30 and keep the phone or return it after 2 years and get a new one or pay off the rest of the balance and keep the phone.

Unlocked (Best way to go if you travel)
If you buy through Apple, its 24 months 0% (credit check first time I believe)
If you have an Apple Card (already have credit check when getting the card), its 24 months 0% and you get 3% cash back up front. Downside, if you use the card, you can only make extra payments on the phone if the card is 0 balance for regular transactions.

Carriers offer around $10/mo insurance but it's through third party
Apple offers about the same with Apple Care (Theft & Loss Option too) per month but could be fixed to two - three years. But you do get Apple Quality Support.
You'll have to read the fine print on insurance. They have different charges for screen repair and replacement. Replacement time may be different. I know Apple overnights.

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Not sure if it's still the case but Apple use to have different modems in the locked phones sold through the carriers. The locked phones covered frequency bands that were optimized for that carrier. There was enough overlap so you could still roam when traveling. In rural Canada my wife's old Verizon phone and my ATT phones had very different coverage. Much of that is on the carrier's sharing agreements but some was the result of certain towers only supporting a limited number of bands.

Chrundle the Great said:

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Is your company going to release your #? Worth asking so you don't have to change phone numbers.

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Yep!

They don't split like this anymore. Not since 4G launched.

lb3 said:

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Pman17 said:

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Not sure if it's still the case but Apple use to have different modems in the locked phones sold through the carriers. The locked phones covered frequency bands that were optimized for that carrier. There was enough overlap so you could still roam when traveling. In rural Canada my wife's old Verizon phone and my ATT phones had very different coverage. Much of that is on the carrier's sharing agreements but some was the result of certain towers only supporting a limited number of bands.

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Oh yea! I forgot about that. Yea, I'm not sure if they still do it. I know my iPhone X had only a GSM modem so that was recent. But yea the GSM carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile usually have GSM only chips in the iPhones. I think that would give the carrier and Apple more profit though the world is on the GSM standard anyways. The CDMA customers luck out because they get dual band chips for the same price. So later down the road, if you have an AT&T iPhone, your phone is actually worth less than a Verizon iPhone in America because the Verizon phones are dual band GSM/CDMA. Also you can't sell used to a Verizon or Sprint customer. If you buy from Apple, the phones are dual band.

Quote:

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They don't split like this anymore. Not since 4G launched.

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Correct, 4G and 5G are different bands and the standard, but I think GSM and CDMA still applies if you're making normal phone calls or on 3G.

For what it's worth, I did a recent cost compare of the big 3 (AT&T, Verizon, and T Mobile) and T Mobile is the least expensive from a phone plan perspective. HW cost seems to be same across all of them. Variety of factors to consider because they offer bundles with other services like Hulu, Disney, or Apple Music so depending on what you need/want there. I had to do a spreadsheet because it can get slightly complicated comparing apples to apples across plans.

Also, your company may get a corporate discount with certain carriers even if you are on your own for phone now. I would ask about that and see which carrier's may have a deal with your company. Could be worth up to $20 off per month and may sway you one way or the other.

Before choosing a carrier, find out what works best in your neighborhood.
Verizon is the only network with halfway decent service in my area.

I feel like most of it has been covered here. One thing I'll add is look into credit card perks/coverage.

We have an Amex platinum and I was just made aware that they have a pretty darn good insurance plan for all phones as long as the card was used for purchase. So we've been paying the $10/month or whatever unnecessarily.

htxag09 said:

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I feel like most of it has been covered here. One thing I'll add is look into credit card perks/coverage.

We have an Amex platinum and I was just made aware that they have a pretty darn good insurance plan for all phones as long as the card was used for purchase. So we've been paying the $10/month or whatever unnecessarily.

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Good point. Wells Fargo platinum card has $600 phone protection too, but just for using the card on your monthly bill not for the phone purchase.
https://www.wellsfargo.com/credit-cards/features/cell-phone-protection/

So is visible the Cricket of the Verizon network?

Yas