Thu Nov 20, 2008 8:45 pm
iphone
Thought I'd take a moment to share my frustrations with the brew community...
So, I'm in Japan and I was considering getting the iphone this weekend. From everything posted online it lists the price at roughly $230 for 8gb, $340 for 16. I knew this wouldn't be the price if you were to buy the phone outright, but moving on...
Here in Japan, until recently, you've been able to get phones for next to nothing. I bought my phone last year, the model was only a month old, so pretty much brand spanking new, and it cost me 1 cent with a 2 year contract. And believe me, it's no POS phone... check the specs here. If I cancel my contract, I only have to pay the cancellation fee of about $97.
With the iPhone, which is on a different carrier than what I'm on now, you can walk into a store and pay nothing for the iPhone. What they do here is allow you to pay in installments. You sign up for the 2 year contract and pay about $28.80 per month for 2 years. On top of this they have a discount service that will discount the phone $19.20 every month. So seeing your contract out till the end you will end up paying $230. Well, if you get this discount and break contract, then you have to continue paying the remainder of the 24 months at the full price of $28.80. So lets say I leave Japan in one year, I still have to pay $28.80 x 12. To even get the bonus I have to pay by credit card (which i don't want to do). They don't allow for advance payments either, forcing you to keep paying for the phone for the remainder of the 2 years, in effect lump-summing the final payment to cover the rest of the phone.
If I really do want to get an iphone now, I'm going to have to pay out the a** to get one.
So, I'm in Japan and I was considering getting the iphone this weekend. From everything posted online it lists the price at roughly $230 for 8gb, $340 for 16. I knew this wouldn't be the price if you were to buy the phone outright, but moving on...
Here in Japan, until recently, you've been able to get phones for next to nothing. I bought my phone last year, the model was only a month old, so pretty much brand spanking new, and it cost me 1 cent with a 2 year contract. And believe me, it's no POS phone... check the specs here. If I cancel my contract, I only have to pay the cancellation fee of about $97.
With the iPhone, which is on a different carrier than what I'm on now, you can walk into a store and pay nothing for the iPhone. What they do here is allow you to pay in installments. You sign up for the 2 year contract and pay about $28.80 per month for 2 years. On top of this they have a discount service that will discount the phone $19.20 every month. So seeing your contract out till the end you will end up paying $230. Well, if you get this discount and break contract, then you have to continue paying the remainder of the 24 months at the full price of $28.80. So lets say I leave Japan in one year, I still have to pay $28.80 x 12. To even get the bonus I have to pay by credit card (which i don't want to do). They don't allow for advance payments either, forcing you to keep paying for the phone for the remainder of the 2 years, in effect lump-summing the final payment to cover the rest of the phone.
If I really do want to get an iphone now, I'm going to have to pay out the a** to get one.
Founding father of the Wiibrew Packgen.
About 2 noob posts away from going ape sh*t
About 2 noob posts away from going ape sh*t
Why can't I just keep my cheap plan I have now?