Howto - Always have a kickass phone
 

This works with just about anything that depreciates in value over time, but I am going to use a phone as an example... If you are a baller the time spent using this technique won't be worth it to you. But if you are a 99%'er you will enjoy a richer lifestyle.

Let's say you want a ballers phone. We can use the HTC G2 as an example even though it is actually outdated. When this phone came out it was $500 without a contract and $200 with one. Since your cell phone service provider probably offers you a discount every 2 years you could get a great phone every 2 years. But lets pretend you don't like waiting 2 fucking years...

Instead... You should be holding on to depreciating assets like a phone for only 6 months!

If you held onto your $140 (with 2 year contact) Cliq XT for 6 months you could easily sell it on Ebay for $120 cash. After expenses it is $100 in your pocket to use towards the G2. So go onto Craigslist and look for the G2 and you will have (a year ago) found it for $250. With your $100 that brings it down to $150 which is less than the new one with a contract costs anyway!

This brings us to something else... Why do you have a fucking contract in the first place? If they suck you aren't going to leave because you won't want to pay the early cancellation fee and when your phone takes a shit you are going to renew that contract so you can get a new phone pronto!

Fuck contracts! Stop using them to buy a new phone you moron!

OK... So for $150 + $100 you just got your new G2. You hold it for 6 months and sell it on Craigslist for $200. Now they come out with HTC Amaze. If you spend some time on the weekend on Craigslist you can find it for $300 where some guy got it free somehow and he just wants to dump it for quick cash. Again... $100 out of your pocket...

Now you are probably wondering... That is $100 every 6 months? Before I was paying $200 every 2 years?

Well... Nobody ever said balling was cheap... That Amaze will cost $230 and that is after the $50 main in rebate. Plus, in 6 months you are going to dump this thing for $300 and with that you can begin to buy the best deal available for the selling price of an older phone.

Again... Now that you have the top of the line phone you can sell it for $300. The new top of the line phone will sell for the same $300. But you have to reload the page a bit on CL looking for the guy dumping a good phone for the lower price. It happens... All of the time!

Do this with boats, Seadoos, all kinds of shit... The key is to only hold something for a small amount of time. So stop falling in love with the item itself and start falling in love with the idea of always having the latest and the greatest.

Peace out!

Oh... And a lot of times you can root the T-Mobile phone and remove the carrier lock... It is pretty fucking easy and Google is loaded with tutorials. Once you do that you can leave them and go to a much smaller carrier with smaller prices and the same shitty coverage.

The larger networks often will offer a pay as you go plan that is cheaper to compete with the no name companies...

OK.. this time... peace out!

Is this some SEO material? ALl I see are just keywords :S

since when did having a new phone become "balling"?

There is nothing wrong with trying to save $$$, but jumping through hoops, while actually spending more $$$, so you can have a "baller phone" seems ridiculous...

Buying used phones isn't exactly balling.

Phones don't even change enough over the course of a year to make upgrading worth the effort.

I just got an ATT iphone 4S for $199. ... $39.95 per month internet and unlimited cell to cell and texting. Sweet deal for joining a friends network of phones.

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Can we have a TL;DR version?

That sounds like way too much work just to save a hundred bucks here and there, and besides there's no guarantee of selling. And besides besides, I like to keep my old phones. (I have a Toshiba "portable" phone kicking around somewhere...!)

However I see where you are going with this, and I usually do something like this with cars. I will usually lease a car for 4 years, but get bored and want a new one after 2 years. I call up the dealer to get the buyback value (which is always shit but I try anyway) and then the residual value. I'll make up the price about 20 points or so and put the car up for sale or shop it to other dealers who easily give me more than residual because the car is only 2 years old and therefore sellable. I'll usually pocket 5 grand on each switch which when added up cuts the overall cost of ownership nicely.

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

or you can just do what I do and go to the shop and buy the fucking phone you want

crazy i know

Sweet anal hobbit post.

That sounds like some convoluted shit, just to go through the trouble of learning to use a new phone and transferring all your stuff to it. Doesn't sound like ballin at all -- whatever the hell that is.

Happily paid $800 for an unlocked iPhone 4s after selling my iPhone 4 for $500 a few weeks ago. No contract and will do the same when the next iPhone comes out

That's just downright fucking stupid.:1orglaugh

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh :thumbsup

Worth the upgrade?

I actually think that buying a subsidized phone and being stuck in a contract is the stupid thing.

I buy my phones outright and keep month to month service without the contract.

I agree my contract's coming up this year and I'll bail

I just sold my laptop for $150 on Ebay and used the remaining $135 towards buying a refurbished one from DELL outlet for $350 with quadruple the specs...

Message is mainly targeted at people that use something until it breaks and is worthless instead of trading it in while it is still worth a lot towards their next good thing.

You just made me spit out my water...


.:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh


.

I personally LOVE my phone carrier, and cannot foresee myself ever wanting to change providers ...

I spend a fair bit on phones, USB modem, and iPad ... and I always pay my bill promptly. My phone company will literally bend over backwards to keep me happy.

I have no problem letting them subsidize up to 80% of the cost of my phone(s) ...

But isn't it 600 bucks for an unlocked one from apple direct?

I paid 600 for mine in the uk. Unlocked.

It's simple. The lowest TCO is to buy the phone outright and then sell it a year later when new one comes out. Get a rolling monthly contract for 12 months. I pay 12 quid a month.

Apple products hold their value well, dunno about android.

Works for me