The Worst Place to Buy a Smartphone? - Comments Page 1

My concern about a refurbed phone is battery life. In fact, battery has been the cause EVERY time I've replaced a smartphone. And of course it's not likely to show up until after the warranty. It's a dilemma.

Of course if the phone is half price, you might do as well buying the refurb, and if it dies, buying a second one!

I buy all my phones on ebay and have never been burned once. Just do a little research on the phones(s) you are looking at and go from there. Good luck and cheers!

This is better than a priest and rabbi going into a bar and definitely a better punch line. Your column is always a big help. Many thanks.

I had one bad experience on Amazon buying a used phone. After buying it on Amazon 1.5 years ago, the carrier I was using (Tracfone) informed me that the original owner had listed the phone as stolen/missing and that Tracfone and its upstream Verizon would stop allowing that phone on their networks in 30 days. I looked into it and found that there is no way to fix the situation, so since then, I've only purchased used phones directly from carriers themselves (Tracfone, Tello, Net10, etc)

Its hard to find a smartphone these days that lets you easily replace the battery!

Your masthead states "Ask Bob Rankin": So, I will!
How many mobile phones have you owned since your very first Motorola, Bob Rankin? (My guess is 15)

EDITOR'S NOTE: Good question! I can't remember all the phones I've owned since 1998, but I think it's only 9 or 10. I've never had a phone that was the latest model. My best deal was the Moto X I got for $1 at Staples.

About 2 months ago I upgraded my iPhone 6 to a new iPhone 7, at a price of $249.99, at a local Metro by T-Mobile store. Oddly, they only had the 11 and the 7 available. I was actually GOING-to purchase the 11, but they were both out-of-stock, and couldn't order (at the mercy of shipments to the store); so I got the 7.

BTW, it's the iPhone 11 Pro MAX that's $999; the 11 Pro is $699.

I decided to buy the 2-year Verizon contract on a Motorola G7 Power for $5/month, at BestBuy. The store's Verizon specialist then told me the "plan" was $35/month plus another $20/month for something I didn't catch. So I would buy the phone for $120, and pay Verizon $55/mo to move the plugs around on the operator's plug board, or whatever they do nowadays. Fortunately, my freezes on my credit accounts blocked the transaction. I reviewed the scheme at Tracfone that I've been subject to for years. I ordered a Samsung A10E from them at 10 PM two days ago (Sunday), $159.99. What the hell does $660/year buy that's so wonderful?

nobody ever acknowledges the fact that stupid rich people are the ones who DRIVE THE ECONOMY. You should thank your friend for being "generous" enough to even think about buying a phone from a major dealer.

Purchased an unlocked Samsung A20 a few years back at a great price from Walmart.com. Broke the screen and was going to cost as much to replace the screen as the phone cost! So this time ordered a new unlocked Samsung A50 from Amazon. Great price for a good phone. I'm an older senior and this phone works great for my needs.

BobD: "What the hell does $660/year buy that's so wonderful?"

A nicer car for the salesman. That's VERY wonderful - for the salesman!

I've never owned a Smartphone (I call them Stupidphones). I pay $60 a month to Spectrum for my Internet, and I'm using an XP I bought used for $25. It does what I want it to. I don't have to type with my thumb, and I can watch videos and have a mailing list and word processing features so I can write to my list. Maybe if I was out and about I'd be wanting a stupidphone, but since I'm home and have no desire to travel around I am happy with my old XP computer. (ps it's a Dell)

One small differentiation to make,
I know for SPRINT, TMOBILE, VERIZON, the other main players,there ae two varieties of stores:
- CORPORATE owned and run
- Authorized retailers. The sign out front will say SPRINT (or VERIZON or whatever). But if you look carefully at the sign you will see "Authorized Retailer". In MOST cases this is a smaller mom/pop outfit, a part of your community, selling the devices and service.

That said, deals can be had at either of the groups.

I have been with the same provider for years. Some phones came from a "special" telesales connected to my employer. Some SPRINT tekesales. Recently, I have been a BESTBUY customer.
It pays to shop.

I buy my phones from Amazon or the manufacturer. I just bought my wife a Samsung A70 directly from Samsung. They had a boxing week price of $499 (CAD), about $200 off. Amazon had the same price. I bought my Moto G7 Power for $259 (CAD) from Amazon. It's an international edition, so the warranty isn't valid in Canada. Otherwise, it's a very good phone.

I've never bought a mobile phone. My only one is an old hand me down tracfone LG flipfone, a strong transmitter and reciever that's very rarely used. Previous owner bought many minutes and received extensions to service time valid to 2029. The 1300 minutes left on it will never expire and there is no monthly cost or fees to me. It stays turned off in a metal sucrets tin in my pocket and is only there in case of emergencies or for when travelling (I'm very happy to never get calls except at my home phone). I do have fast internet at home and do a lot online with my windows and linux PCs. My laptop and tablet can both use wifi hot spots. Am thinking of adding voip abilities, for when travelling. Am happy to not be among the hoards of "zombies" constantly staring at a phone in their hand, oblivious to their surroundings everywhere they go.

ATT stores have new iphone XRs for $5/month and an unlimited line for $35/per month if you switch from another carrier. We just switched from Verizon and bought 2 phones and lines. We switch between ATT and Verizon every 3 to 4 years to get great deals.

I found that my local Verizon Store is a company store. I find the prices/service/knowledge is better than the third party stores. Not sure what experience Bob has had, but the Verizon owned stores are much more capable in handling issue and pricing than the franchises.

FYI: Verizon has "Victra" stores that operate under different rules. For example, their prices are higher than their corporate stores, they charge setup fees, and they charge another fee for returns. I impulsively bought a phone at a Victra store, hated it, but would have had to pay almost $100 to return it.

I called corporate and told them the story. They overrode all the Victra fees, letting me get all my money back. I then went to Best Buy and got a better phone at a much better price.

If you see a Victra sign in the window, turn around and seek out a corporate store! Or just go to Best Buy to start with.

My sister introduced me to this. It's great if you don't need a lot of minutes. Check-out QVC and Hsn and search for Tracfones. You can buy a smart phone with 1500 minutes/text/data for anywhere from $69-$119. This lasts me 9-10 months. When I run out of minutes, it's cheaper to buy another brand-new updated phone then more minutes. So, for about $10 a month, I have a cheap Smart Phone that is replaced yearly. This works for me as I don't use the phone too often.

For those readers that have Comcast/Xfinity cable TV/internet service, Xfinity offer its customers cell service that is carried by Verizon, the nation's largest carrier, at an extremely economical price. Some years ago Comcast sold Verizon some valuable (to Verizon) radio spectrum, and, as part of the sale deal, Comcast was able, for the first time, to offer cell service to its customers at a rate well below that of Verizon. The Xfinity stores have a large variety of phones and accessories at competitive prices to those of Best Buy, and possibly Amazon. They are definitely worth checking out.