Verizon joins the rest of the world, will give you up to $650 if you switch from another carrier

[dkpope]

As of Monday, Verizon has become the next U.S. wireless carrier to incentivize people to switch. Verizon announced that it will pay up to $650 per line if you switch away from AT&T, T-Mobile, or Sprint. In a company blog post, Verizon said that they "will buy out your contract and cover early termination fees and device or lease buyouts from your old wireless provider.”

The deal is similar to promotions offered by other carriers for the past few months. If you trade in your current smartphone and buy a new one on Verizon’s device payment plan, you’ll get “up to $650 on a prepaid card” (minus your device’s trade-in value) to pay for the remaining installment payments owed on the other carrier. Plus, if you’re on a contract, you can get “up to $350” on a prepaid card (minus the trade-in value) to cover any early termination fees you might face for switching to Verizon.

As other carriers have made it the norm to offer perks for people switching networks, maybe Verizon has realized that it isn’t enough to go on and on about their performance and reliability.

Image Credit: Northfoto / Shutterstock.com

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https://www.techspot.com/news/63280-verizon-joins-rest-world-give-you-up-650.html

 

[Kevin82485]

Here's an idea, why not just end ETFs? There is now no real deterrent from cancelling early. Every carrier will basically pay for you to cancel and switch.

 

[Camikazi]

Here's an idea, why not just end ETFs? There is now no real deterrent from cancelling early. Every carrier will basically pay for you to cancel and switch.

Haven't you heard? They aren't ETFs anymore, you are now just paying the balance of the phone if you cancel

 

[Kevin82485]

Haven't you heard? They aren't ETFs anymore, you are now just paying the balance of the phone if you cancel

Yeah that is true, although after paying off a certain amount on the phone you could likely resell the phone and recoup most of your losses. For good phones, there is usually a sweet spot where the amount you owe and the amount you could get from reselling are as close as they'll ever be, and that is the time to sell if you want to switch carriers.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

"Verizon Wireless Premium Retailer" Just another long winded way of saying "Overpriced Retailer"

 

[stewi0001]

What I think is funny is that I've seen the Verizon ads all over Techspot before this article got posted. XD

 

[p51d007]

If USA consumers would stop buying the majority of their phones from the carriers, and went online, or elsewhere, THEN the prices would start to come down. They've got the uneducated public believing that you have to buy a phone from a carrier. Until that stops, all the USA market will get is the Samsung/Apple/LG/Motorola/HTC phones. Heck, look at GSMarena, samsung makes a ton of different models, but in the USA market, you are lucky to get 1-3 different models, same with the others. There are a TON of different phones out there, with very attractive prices. You just have to be sure the one you buy has the modem/frequency that your provider has.

 

[Panda218]

What I think is funny is that I've seen the Verizon ads all over Techspot before this article got posted. XD

You should really install ABP so you don't have to see all that BS xD

 

[stewi0001]

You should really install ABP so you don't have to see all that BS xD

Tis true, but I like to think that I am supporting Techspot by seeing the ADs

 

[mctommy]

If USA consumers would stop buying the majority of their phones from the carriers, and went online, or elsewhere, THEN the prices would start to come down. They've got the uneducated public believing that you have to buy a phone from a carrier. Until that stops, all the USA market will get is the Samsung/Apple/LG/Motorola/HTC phones. Heck, look at GSMarena, samsung makes a ton of different models, but in the USA market, you are lucky to get 1-3 different models, same with the others. There are a TON of different phones out there, with very attractive prices. You just have to be sure the one you buy has the modem/frequency that your provider has.

Buying from carriers has NOTHING to do with prices as for the most part the cost is past onto the customers who are buying the phones at MSRP. Carriers get volume discount and some price cuts but nothing worth raving about. The only benefit to buy from the carriers is carrier support for certain carrier-specific features such as wifi calling on t-mobile and AT&T, etc... At the end of the day, carriers are making money off their services and not much from the phones.

As for pricing of phones to come down, it's a basic supply and demand. If people are willing to pay $650-$800 for high end phones, the manufacturers will keep making them.

Also, it is my opinion that Samsung's current demise is due to them having way too many models at all price points. Simplification in the phone lines with 1-2 models at each price point would help Samsung's bottom line, R&D cost, parts supply, etc... Just do 2 models for sub $100, $200, $400 and $600+.