Verizon Edge

[olds]

Talk to me like I am a dumb ass. What is Verizon Edge?
It seems to me, it's a plan for people who want to upgrade their phone early.
I've always done the 2 year contract then upgraded. By I am not adverse to saving a dime.
What's the deal?

 

[ControlD]

With Edge, you now longer pay the cheap subsidized price for a phone. Instead, you pay the full price of the phone divided over 24 monthly payments. You can move on to another phone once you have paid off your current one. So, for example:

LG G4:

Price = $550
Monthly Phone Payment = $22.91
Upgrade Fee = $0 (this would normally be $199 if you went with the old two year method)

Right now, Verizon will also lower your total bill by around $25 if you move to the Edge plan, so essentially it is a wash when it comes to your actual monthly bill. But, if you decide you want to upgrade after 18 months, you simply pay off the balance of what you still owe and get a new phone with a new set of monthly payments.

 

[paperwastage]

By I am not adverse to saving a dime.

if you think your phone is fine right now, with no reason to upgrade:

stay off contract... you'll get the same discount as EDGE (i.e. $15-$25/month/line instead of $40/month/line)

then upgrade only when you want/need to, don't upgrade because it happened to be the end of a 2-year cycle

 

[vi edit]

The important question is, how much data do you use, and follow up question...how much data do you need?

I'm on a $50 a month 1 gig, unlimited text and data + full subsidy plan through retention/loyalty with verizon. It's not a terrible deal. Every two years I get a new phone and it's $50 a month for that. If you are not data heavy and you need verizon it's not a terrible option.

 

[olds]

My phone right now is an S4. The battery life sucks. I have tried different batteries but I am pretty sure the phone is designed to kill batteries so you will upgrade.
My work phone is a 5 month old S5. It lasts forever. But I assume when i hits 18 months, it will suck.

I need between 1 -2 GB a month. My wife and daughter, who are on my plan, need about the same.

I'd prefer an SD card and a replaceable battery. Sadly, that seems to be going away.

 

[Ackmed]

I am not on a contract and still have unlimited data. It is funny to see them always try to get me to get on contact and upgrade but I will never do it until they force me. My gf has 1gb... always goes over. Even with wifi at home and work. Data is so expensive.

I want the damn S6 Active, but only AT&T has it now, so annoying. I'd pay full price for it.

 

[turtile]

Basically, another rip off from Verizon.

2 yr contract phone pay $240 for $600 phone. Own phone at end of contract.

If the phone cost $600, you pay $15 ($10 discount) a month for 18 months ($270) in order to upgrade. But there's a catch, you have to return the phone.

So basically, you pay $30 more and end up with no phone at the end. Nice deal!

 

[JohnAn2112]

Basically, another rip off from Verizon.

2 yr contract phone pay $240 for $600 phone. Own phone at end of contract.

If the phone cost $600, you pay $15 ($10 discount) a month for 18 months ($270) in order to upgrade. But there's a catch, you have to return the phone.

So basically, you pay $30 more and end up with no phone at the end. Nice deal!

This is incorrect. If you pay off the balance of the phone, it's yours to keep.

 

[Lyfer]

This is incorrect. If you pay off the balance of the phone, it's yours to keep.

Exactly. Plus you get butt blasted on rate plans if you are on contract. Edge makes it more bearable. Off contract Vzw and AT&T pricing is almost the same. This is for mobile share FYI.


We need more quality phones like the Zen phone 200-300$. But you can only dream. Esp for iPhone users like me and my wife.

 

[ControlD]

There is one other thing to keep in mind in regards to Edge vs. Standard contracts. If you are on the standard two year contract where you get phones at the subsidized price, you really NEED to upgrade as soon as possible when your two year cycle is complete. Even after your two years is up, you still pay the same monthly rate that you always paid. So you are getting ripped off unless you go get a new subsidized phone.

With Edge, after two years you no longer have to pay the monthly phone purchase fee. So, if you were paying $30 a month for an iPhone 6+, after two years your bill will drop by $30 a month.

If you crunch the numbers with a normal plan, you will pay a little more for the Edge plan over a two year period. They are close to the same, but unless you are on something like a 4-phone More Everything plan Edge will cost you a little more. (The more data you have the better the Edge discount is right now.) After two years, if you keep the same phone you will start to see the Edge plan saving you some money every month.

 

[Wingznut]

2 yr contract phone pay $240 for $600 phone.

If you truly believe any carrier is giving you a cutting edge phone for only $240, then you aren't paying attention.

 

[paperwastage]

Even after your two years is up, you still pay the same monthly rate that you always paid. So you are getting ripped off unless you go get a new subsidized phone.

After two years, if you keep the same phone you will start to see the Edge plan saving you some money every month.

well, for the normal "More Everything" plans, you can switch to the off-contract pricing (after the 2-yr contract is up). THe off-contract pricing offers the same discount as the Edge discount

 

[turtile]

This is incorrect. If you pay off the balance of the phone, it's yours to keep.

Did I say that? I said, if you want to upgrade early, you have to return the old phone and you pay more money. Go ahead and pay the full term and spend even more money for the same phone.

If you truly believe any carrier is giving you a cutting edge phone for only $240, then you aren't paying attention.

I said that the phone cost out of pocket was $240 with a 2 yr contract. Am I not paying attention or is that the case?

 

[JohnAn2112]

I said that the phone cost out of pocket was $240 with a 2 yr contract. Am I not paying attention or is that the case?

You'll pay $240 up front but you also have to factor in the higher rate cost of being in contract vs out of contract. You'll typically end up paying more after all the costs are added up.

 

[Kaido]

I'm on Edge. It's pricey, but it's worth it if you like to upgrade your phone annually. Outside of kitchen appliances, my cell phone is the one techie thing that I really splurge on, and this is a nice way to get a new one every year without having to pay full price up front ($199 every 2 years vs. say $700 full price, although you may be paying like $25 extra a month for the price division on Edge - depends on the phone, specials, and agreements at the time). But I'd rather pay extra every month than have to shell out half a grand or more just to get the latest phone (plus there's some cost savings, like $300 a year @ $25/mo vs. $700 up-front or whatever the costs are for your phone).

 

[paperwastage]

I'm on Edge. It's pricey, but it's worth it if you like to upgrade your phone annually.

except that Verizon stopped allowing early edge upgrade. you'll have to sell it on your own outside (ebay/craigslist), probably get a better deal though

http://www.droid-life.com/2015/05/27/early-upgrades-at-verizon-are-now-a-thing-of-the-past/

($199 every 2 years vs. say $700 full price, although you may be paying like $25 extra a month for the price division on Edge - depends on the phone, specials, and agreements at the time)

But I'd rather pay extra every month than have to shell out half a grand or more just to get the latest phone (plus there's some cost savings, like $300 a year @ $25/mo vs. $700 up-front or whatever the costs are for your phone).

okay... except for the fact that EDGE is simply an equipment finance... it (usually) doesn't cost more over the lifetime, than a paying full price

 

[Sho'Nuff]

Just putting my 2 cents in for anyone who happens to have an ancient plan from Verizon, like I did.

For the last 8 years or so my wife and I had an old plan where we had a pool of shared minutes to share among 2 smart phones, each of which had its own dataplan. Cost was $151 a month, but due to texting, etc., were were paying well north of that.

Today I switched the plan to a more everything plan with 6GB data, and upgraded the two existing smart phones to new phones (an iphone 6 and 6+), cost breakdown was as follows:

Line access fees:
$15 line 1 ($40-$25 discount)
$15 line 2 (40 - $25 discount)

Data fee: $60

Edge payments:
iphone 6 - ~$25
Iphone 6 plus ~35

Total/month = ~$150, with unlimited talk, texting, wi-fi hotspot, etc. In the end, our base bill is the same. Probably will even save us some money (as texts now cost nothing). Plus we got new phones (early - our previous contract would not expire until October) and more features.

Seems like a win win to me. At least if you are on an older plan.

 

[ControlD]

^^^

That is pretty much exactly what I did when I upgraded last week. We were on a similar plan as well. It seems like the 6GB data plan is the sweet spot for getting the most out of the Edge plan without having a bunch of phones. I am paying about $5 more a month now but we have a much better plan.

 

[Kaido]

except that Verizon stopped allowing early edge upgrade. you'll have to sell it on your own outside (ebay/craigslist), probably get a better deal though

Well that's dumb! What's the point of EDGE then? It's still showing as early upgrade access for me, but I got my EDGE contract before their update notice there, so it looks like I'm good for now, but won't be renewing on EDGE if this is the case, because then it's not a deal, it's just financing the phone. Oh well.

 

[notposting]

Ouch. We are on an old AC II plan from 05 I believe.

500 shared minutes, unlimited calls to other VZW customers, unlimited N&W.
My line, $5/250 texts, $29.99 unlimited data.
Hers, flip phone, $10/1000 texts, if she went to a smartphone it would be $30/2GB.

Total with 20% off my portion of the calling and the data is under $100/month.

In hindsight, I should have left her on the $5 texting plan, used to swap it on and off. Then Verizon nixed it one dark day in November with no warning. Also, getting her onto one of the cheap $15 or $20 smartphone data plans might've been nice.

 

[AHamick]

I signed up for EDGE when it first came out. my reasons were I wanted to upgrade every year instead of every 2 years. Originally EDGE would allow you to upgrade after 50% of your device was paid off (making minimum payments this would be at 12 months). Of course the catch with EDGE is if you upgrade early at 50% paid off (75% now) you must return the phone to Verizon.

When EDGE was at 50% to upgrade it was perfect for me since I had no desire to sell off my old device so turning it in was a convenience.

 

[paperwastage]

Well that's dumb! What's the point of EDGE then? It's still showing as early upgrade access for me, but I got my EDGE contract before their update notice there, so it looks like I'm good for now, but won't be renewing on EDGE if this is the case, because then it's not a deal, it's just financing the phone. Oh well.

this only means "early upgrade on EDGE" doesn't mean anything..

EDGE has always been a device financing plan first, early upgrade second (usually not worth it, can sell on 2nd market for more $)

I signed up for EDGE when it first came out. my reasons were I wanted to upgrade every year instead of every 2 years. Originally EDGE would allow you to upgrade after 50% of your device was paid off (making minimum payments this would be at 12 months). Of course the catch with EDGE is if you upgrade early at 50% paid off (75% now) you must return the phone to Verizon.

When EDGE was at 50% to upgrade it was perfect for me since I had no desire to sell off my old device so turning it in was a convenience.

as I've said in an earlier post, no more early upgrades for (new?) EDGE... have to pay it off 100%

 

[olds]

this only means "early upgrade on EDGE" doesn't mean anything..

EDGE has always been a device financing plan first, early upgrade second (usually not worth it, can sell on 2nd market for more $)



as I've said in an earlier post, no more early upgrades for (new?) EDGE... have to pay it off 100%

Aren't you "financing" the phone on the regular plan too?

I am still not clear if I should use Edge or not if I am keeping my phone for two years. Sounds like I should stick with the regular 2 year contract.

That and when we got the daughter a phone 2 months ago they were trying to force Edge down our throats. If they want me to have it it's probably better for their bottom line.

 

[AHamick]

as I've said in an earlier post, no more early upgrades for (new?) EDGE... have to pay it off 100%

This is news to me, EDGE is even less appealing now, it might be time to jump ship to another carrier

Aren't you "financing" the phone on the regular plan too?

I am still not clear if I should use Edge or not if I am keeping my phone for two years. Sounds like I should stick with the regular 2 year contract.

That and when we got the daughter a phone 2 months ago they were trying to force Edge down our throats. If they want me to have it it's probably better for their bottom line.

If you sign a 2 year contract and pay the subsidized price on a phone your bill could be higher, could.

With EDGE they give you a discount on your line access fee ($40 normally on a 2 year contract with subsidized phone) of $15-$25 depending on how much data you have on your plan (6+ gigs gives a $25 discount per line).

So if your monthly payments for the phone on EDGE are less than your line access discount you are saving money over a 2 year contract.

also keep in mind that if you use the 2 year contract and subsidized phone route once you finish the 2 year contract you are eligible for the line access discount regardless if you are on EDGE or not.

 

[ControlD]

This is news to me, EDGE is even less appealing now, it might be time to jump ship to another carrier



If you sign a 2 year contract and pay the subsidized price on a phone your bill could be higher, could.

With EDGE they give you a discount on your line access fee ($40 normally on a 2 year contract with subsidized phone) of $15-$25 depending on how much data you have on your plan (6+ gigs gives a $25 discount per line).

So if your monthly payments for the phone on EDGE are less than your line access discount you are saving money over a 2 year contract.

also keep in mind that if you use the 2 year contract and subsidized phone route once you finish the 2 year contract you are eligible for the line access discount regardless if you are on EDGE or not.

How does that work? You have to ask for them to apply the discount? I have never had Verizon lower my price after my two year contract was expired. Hell, my last phone I bought second-hand and I STILL paid the same price as when I had an on contract phone. My fault for sure, but talk about throwing money away. It makes me a little sick thinking about it.