My wife and I are moderate cell phone users- me moreso than her as I use it for text/What's App, to get my news since she doesn't like to have ANY news on our TVs, and things like scores/this forum etc.
Our latest models were only about 2 years old when mine took a swim in January and went on the Disabled List. She made me re-boot my spare- a 2019 Samsung to use until she was ready to upgrade so that we stayed in lock step. One positive of having a crappy old phone is that I used it less- in theory giving up screentime. A big negative is that so many features have been so upgraded that it was almost unusable.Small things like emojis wouldn't translate onto my chats because I didn't have them in my old school closet and I'd just get little Xs (I guess). Substandard communication was the result.
Well on Sunday she dropped her phone and broke it. We were bummed- and expected to have to invest $1,000-$2,000 in new phones. Went to COSTCO- and they had just converted to T-Mobile. Apparently each store is contracted out separately. The other COSTCO in our area is AT&T and remains so. The deal they offered us to switch from Verizon was 2 "Free" lowest end model Samsung phones (in theory $800 each), $150 Visa Gift card per line and $150 COSTCO gift card per line (total of $600 in gift cards). This is for a 2 year commitment with Unlimited Data for $110 total per month (including all taxes/fees etc). They also offered a 3rd line for +$10/month but we have no use for that.
We had been with Verizon for 25 years and put up with their moderate coverage in our area- but we were only paying ~$90 per month and did not have unlimited data. So overall- this feels like a BIG WIN for basic users like us. My bride handled almost all of the process- but just like a car dealership you could see that there was a "Salesperson", a "Manager", and a "Finance" person. After my wife had agreed to "buy" the phones and switch to T Mobile, THEN they hit us with all sorts of Upgrade opportunities, "special financing", "Free" Samsung tablets (for a small monthly service fee) etc etc etc. Same sort of grind from the pre-Carvana car buying days....took almost 2 hours. We declined EVERYTHING and the Manager seemed pretty unhappy- even giving my bride a snarky look at one point. My wife's dad was a car salesman and she HATES Huckster Sales Tactics....plus she is from Jersey so she didn't take any of her crap. It was almost like a Time Share presentation....but we bought ABSOLUTELY NOTHING EXTRA.
What seemed like an expense has turned into a product and service upgrade with 2 new phones and $600 in our pockets towards paying our phone bill. I teach high school and kids DEFINITELY classify each other based on the type of phone you have- they make fun of my phone all of the time. Kinda like Levi's and Nike's from those of us who went to school in the 80s. Anything less and you are shamed by the "Leaders." The bottom of the line is so much better than what I've had- so I don't care what it is.
Our son was pissed we didn't go i Phone- but he doesn't pay our bills (and we just finally got done paying his). For us- this feels incredible....I'm not sure how T Mobile will be making money off of us....but for a 2 year contract that seems more than fair. But that Acquisition cost seems awfully high....to our benefit.
