Is the 1 year contract dead?

[Guru]

If any of you listen to consumer guru Clark Howard on talk radio, you know that his first piece of advice when buying new cell service is to not get a 2 yr contract. However, it seems that most, if not all carriers have gone to 2yr contracts. On that note, I have two questions:
Are there any carriers left that feature 1yr contracts (not counting prepaids)?
Can you negotiate the length of contract with the carrier? Who will negotiate & who won't?

[Frito]

Verizon Wireless has One year contracts, atleast here in FL they do. However with a ONE year contract you have to pay a $35 dollar activation fee and ur not eligible for the New Every Two whoich gives you up to $100 dollars off any new phone at the end of contract. As far as the negotiation goes I am not sure but I dont think you can.

[Guru]

Originally posted by: Frito
Verizon Wireless has One year contracts, atleast here in FL they do. However with a ONE year contract you have to pay a $35 dollar activation fee and ur not eligible for the New Every Two whoich gives you up to $100 dollars off any new phone at the end of contract. As far as the negotiation goes I am not sure but I dont think you can.

I understand you make have to pay slightly more & not have any upgrade benfits with the 1yr, but if I hate the service, then a 1yr plan makes more sense.

Verizon just came here after buying out Cellular One. So far, I have hear good things about them.

[TNDan21]

Verizon Wireless, Cingular Wireless, AT&T Wireless, Sprint PCS, Nextel, and T-Mobile all offer one year contracts. It's just what you most see advertised now is 2 year contracts and they give you the most bang for the buck. 1 year contracts are still out there and I recommend people not sign a 2 year contract unless they have to.

[Tadlock2699]

Yes, Verizon does offer 1 year contracts, but usually promotions require you to sign a 2 year contract, just to get whatever plan etc, for free or whatever the promotion is, however, if you choose a 1 year, you will most likely not have to pay too much extra for that "free" phone, and get 1 year less of contract so, it all depends really on you. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] Weigh your options before deciding [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img].


--J.T

[jas16]

Just about all carriers I think allow you to sign 1 or two year contracts. Alltel, Cingular, SunCom, I think Sprint, and Verizon. With Cingular I think you have the most choices. The only thing the contract does is lower the price of your phone with them. You can even not sign a contract and still get all the benefits that the people who are signing contracts get.( you can't do this with Alltel or Verizon ).

[Tadlock2699]

Yes, very true. Although I am out of contract now, I will not be signing a new one unless something really good comes out. THE 1 YEAR CONTRACT LIVES!



--J.T

[Matt]

Except for about two weeks in fall 2001 (and only in the former Powertel markets IIRC), T-Mobile has never had a plan that required a 2-yr commitment.

[Tadlock2699]

Good to know, good to know. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]


--J.T

[GoodmanR]

ive never known tmobile to do 2year.

everyone else loves them. they suck though.

remember when sprints big thing was that they didnt have a contract? and you could even get no contract with nextel too!

sprint now i think you can still have none, but you get like 4 mins and have to pay more

[AnthroMatt]

Originally posted by: GoodmanR
sprint now i think you can still have none, but you get like 4 mins and have to pay more

LOL, you can get any Sprint plan with no contract for an additional $10/mo.

[GoodmanR]

dont you lose night and weekend mins too or something like that?

[AnthroMatt]

Not that I am aware of.

[Tadlock2699]

No, you do not loose anything, you just have to pay $10.00 a month. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]


--J.T

[GoodmanR]

i just checked...

you CANNOT get Free and Clear America plans w/o a 1 year contract.

[AnthroMatt]

I didn't know you were referring to the F&C America plans...I thought you were referencing the "regular" plans.

[Tadlock2699]

Well, to add to that, in the wireless world, there are always exceptions to the "rules" and things always change, there really is no way to tell anything for sure.


--J.T

[ben67]

Verizon still offers 1years but I see the new VX6000 requires a 2year contract. Hope this isn't a trend for all their new phones.

Ben67

[Tadlock2699]

Yes, but, I believe that if you choose a 1 year, then youll just have to pay a little more for the phone, probably about $50 more.



--J.T

[cdellis]

Wal-Mart Connection Center locations offer 1 year agreements with Alltel and Cingular with the same phone prices normally offered with 2 year contracts.

[GoodmanR]

matt,

i was talking about the regular plans at first....i just thought it was interesting that free and clear america needs a contract.

[Matt]

Originally posted by: GoodmanR
ive never known tmobile to do 2year.

everyone else loves them. they suck though.

Goodman, I know you are in DC Metro. I will politely disagree with you [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] I have had T-Mobile for almost 3.5 years in NoVa/DC and have no intentions of EVER switching. I know Bobolito just can't believe what I typed [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

[rx787]

I can understand the customer point-of-view of signing the two year if the customer is promised the world. I like verizon's approach. Waived activation fee, 100 credit at the end of the two year and price reduction on the phone. My problem with this, and verizon reps don't mention it obviously, is that you can't upgrade your phone until the 22nd month into the contract. with the one year, you can upgrade into the 10th month of the contract which doesn't suit individuals like myself who like to change phones every 6-12 months.

But I am truly insulted with sprint pcs' approach. They seriously think that people are going to jump out of their sofas and run to a sprint store just to sign and get an extra 35 dollars off the price of the phone. Sprint's rebates, for those who don't know, work like this: 1 yr rebates can either be 25, 35, or 50 bucks, while 2 yrs are double. So the ONLY advantage of the 2yr is a maximum of 50 bucks extra...depending on the phone, you're only going to get maybe 35 at best(smaller rebates for nicer phones of course). I can't understand why, but sprint just doesn't ever feel that they have to compete with prices. They view themselves too highly and don't deliver enough extra incentives over other companies for anyone to believe their propaganda. I mean, vision is nice, but only when it works [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] so it goes without saying that the sprint complaints are there for a reason. Not so much that you get dropped calls left and right or lack of service(not for everyone, but it does certaintly happen) but the problem is that customers have a right to complain when they receive crappy service after being told that sprint is the best because it is an all-digital network blah blah blah covering over 300 metropolitan areas blah blah blah and provides nothing but crystal clear calls. Maybe sprint was right, because the calls are crystal clear when the phone drops and you can't hear anything. If a customer has to pay more for a monthly rate, not get any major incentives even while signing the 2yr, and promised emaculate service, then it's no wonder why sprint pcs is the company that is picked on all the time. If they gave more minutes like t-mobile, and just played themselves as different but not perfect, people would just tolerate it. i can't complain from a metro pcs user's standpoint, regardless of service it's still only 35 a month, but when you pay more, you expect more and from what i hear from friends and read on the internet you get the least with sprint pcs!

I even remember when sprint tried to give out FREE phone with 3 yr contracts like a year and a half ago. It was a sanyo 4700 free with 3 yr contract...hope nobody fell for that one! Only available online!

The 2 yr is ok as long as the customer receives enough incentive, free phone, no act. fee, maybe more minutes...they should try bumping n/w to 8pm with 2 yrs, do SOMETHING...otherwise i could never see myself signing the 2 yr, and hopefully others are just as careful with their decisions!

[AnthroMatt]

In reference to Sprint's rebates, I assume you are talking only about their policy for exisiting customers, correct? If so, then I agree with you. The nice thing about Sprint is that you can buy a phone for them at full price with no rebates for about what Verizon will charge for a phone with a contract extension. If you look at it that way, just pay full price for the phone and don't even worry about a contract extension.