Buying a cell phone is not fun. Kind of venting at myself.

I bought a new iphone last year. I went to the Apple store so they would set up correctly for me. I told him which carrier I wanted, Verizon, so they linked my plan in and I think I paid $300 for the phone which includes the $100 insurance. I have a 2 year plan.

I asked around and everyone told me to buy my phone from apple. I do feel paying $85 a month for it is obscene. I use very little data because I only use my apps when connected to wifi. I hold off emailing pics or downloading documents until I'm connected to wifi. I never open Instagram unless I'm connected to wifi. I don't surf the web when I'm bored outside waiting because there's no wifi. So I only use about 1GB a month.

Yes, it's the pits, these days. I ordered a phone from Amazon. Didn't like it and sent it back. Ordered 2nd phone, same result. Finally I paid $400.00 for another Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3. It was set for another country! Had a 24 hour clock and celsius, neither of which I speak. But I wasn't going to send back a 3rd phone and the AT&T store changed the settings for me.

Oh, it's the worst. I just bought one after many months of procrastinating. And my bill has gone up-of course. But I do love my phone.

Look and see if Project Fi is in your area. It's Google's cell phone service and it's phenomenal and reasonably priced.

I didn't even consider buying my phone outright, I immediately went with the cost rolled into the monthly bill. To be honest, I'm not sure why I would want to do that, it doesn't seem to make a difference for me and the minimal savings don't trump the convenience of paying monthly. We in Canada have some of the most expensive plans in the world, so I just went in with what I needed or wanted, knew how much I wanted to spend a month and chose the appropriate plan. I don't know, maybe I should have paid more attention and did more research but I guess I didn't see the value of spending that time when I knew it would come down to one of four plans.

To be honest, to save yourself the grief you're experiencing, just walk in and get a phone and call it a day.

Ah...it's quite a bit of money. I guess if you are rich, it's minimal. But I think it's like 200-300$ difference. That's worth it to me. But maybe in Canada it's different?

When I purchased 10 months ago with Verizon, the options were something like (these numbers are wrong but as an example): 
- Pay $680 for the phone, no contract, $60 a month for service
- Pay $200 for the phone, 2 year contract, $80 a month for service (nothing owed for phone if you break contract but there is a fee to break the contract)
- Pay nothing up front for the phone, no contract, $60 a month for service, and $28 added on per month as a separate charge for the phone for the next 2 years (you owe the balance on the phone if you change carriers)

Because of my reimbursement from work, the more expensive service with the subsidized phone made more personal sense for me. I wouldn't be able to expense any of the "monthly portion" for the phone, or if I paid for the phone outright with no contract and lower cost per month. I knew I wanted to stay with Verizon for 2 years because I've switched around and they have by far the best service in the areas I go. 

Also - for me, my phone is a work tool (even though I pay for the hardware myself). I easily talk 4000+ minutes a month, use it with a headset and in the car, text almost constantly, and write a lot of emails on it, use it for certain work apps, etc. Since I will keep it at least 2 years, having the latest model when I do upgrade is totally worth it to me. Also, the re-sale on it after that time is much better if I have the 2-year-old version versus the 3-year-old version, so I actually didn't even end up out that much. 

All that to say -- the one size fits all answer doesn't work for everyone. Cost isn't the only factor for many people - Virgin Mobile service is horrible in an area we travel to regularly (so was T-Mobile). Cell service and a phone is something I buy on value, not only on cost. It depends on what you use your phone for, how you budget, how long you keep the phone, if you want to re-sell it or hand it down to someone, if there are any promotions going that offer a discount on service if you buy a certain way, if you have a grandfathered plan (unlimited data) you want to keep, etc. Buying refurbished phones can be a great option if you are not necessarily a heavy user. 

It really is amazing how much the structure of cellular service has changed, and it is still changing! I think a couple months after I got my current contract, Verizon announced they were doing away completely with the contracts and subsidized phones. It would have made the choice more simple, but still more than one thing to take into account. 

There also was no interest on the pay-per-month options I looked at with both Verizon and T-Mobile. 

It must just depend on the company. I did the math (aforementioned spreadsheet), and the ones on Verizon I looked at were exactly the same price (within $2 just because of rounding), just spread out over 24 months. No interest or up charge. I'm assuming it's a retention strategy because you'd have to pay a big chunk at once to switch. 

Now, that very well may have changed in the last 10 months and the cost over 24 months is higher than the up front cost. But at the time I looked, it was the same. 

I also don't lease or do loans, so I totally agree with you in the principles. Just saying, as someone who actually has done the math recently, I'm not sure that what you're saying is always true and also acknowledging that there is "value" for some people in a higher cost option. And I'm a tightwad. LOL 

I just got my S6 the beginning of January.  It was the same deal.  Just the purchase price divided by 24, no higher.  I also got into a better plan, and the net expense actually lowered my bill about $15.  That was with Verizon.  

We bought our phones outright and took them to the carrier. It is often cheaper to get a phone through a third party than to buy one at the phone store. I adore my Nokia 930 and I paid $120 for it. The $120 phone at the phone store is barely a smart phone and not even a brand name I recognized. (Yes, it's a Windows phone. I like it.) The other members of my family found used phones for really good prices at a store we trusted.

If you do decide to buy from someone other than your phone store, make sure that you are buying a phone that accesses the right network for your carrier. You'll need to know whether your carrier is GSM or CDMA before you buy.

No, the service price was the same at Verizon whether you went with paying up front or paying over 24 months. I think there was even some incentive to get you to do the 24 months, because again, they want the retention. The only way the service price was increased when I was shopping was if you got a subsidized phone on a contract.