Electronics

[kitcat51]

The basic phone plan 365 for $49.99 is for days only, no minutes are included...it's a great deal if you already have lots of minutes on your phone.

[gardenman]

I also have the LG Premier Pro and I love it. I had one from last year and was considering just adding a one-year service plan for $49.99, but then HSN sent me a $10 off coupon so for $53+ (after sales tax) I got the new phone, a year's service, more minutes, more texts, and more data. The case on my old LG Premier Pro had cracked at the corners and lost the top two corners with the bottom two just hanging on but obviously cracked, so getting the new phone and case was a good deal. The new case that came with the new phone has also cracked at two of the corners so I replaced that case with a better one from Amazon for $5.99.

About the only reason to upgrade a phone these days is if you need more storage than your old phone provides, or if you want a better camera. A cheap smartphone does pretty much everything a much more expensive one does. Mine costs me about $4.50 a month and does everything I need it to do. For me, it just made sense to get the new phone as for just a bit more than I'd pay for the year's service ($49.99) I got the new phone, new charger, a year's service plus extra minutes, texts and data. The costs may even have been the same if they charge sales tax on the year's service as the $59.99 phone was $49.99 when I applied the $10 off coupon.

[glb613]

Does anyone care about the impact on the environment when you buy a new phone every year?  The materials to make it, the energy used to build it, and the amount of toxic material which needs to be recycled when you dispose it.  To justify buying new every year by saying it's cheaper to buy new than add minutes tells me you don't. 

[gardenman]

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@glb613 wrote:

Does anyone care about the impact on the environment when you buy a new phone every year?  The materials to make it, the energy used to build it, and the amount of toxic material which needs to be recycled when you dispose it.  To justify buying new every year by saying it's cheaper to buy new than add minutes tells me you don't. 

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It's not like they're making phones on demand. They have production runs where X amount of phones get made and they hope there's a market for them. The phones are made whether you buy them or not. 

[Moonlady]

@glb613 No one is 100% "green." If you opened up your home and habits to the world to see, there would be those who were more--or less--environmentally conscientious than you.

That holds true for all of us.

[Nuttmeg]

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@Havarti wrote:

I have a Tracfone Galaxy Grand Prime that I really like, but I rarely use a cell phone - just have it for outbound emergency use.  I turned it on today and it was not working, yet it is prepaid to 2021.  I went to the Tracfone site and it says the phone is no longer compatible with their system, due to updating of their system.  They will give me $40 off a new phone.  The phone is not that old! I feel like this is a rip off!  Anyone else having this experience?

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@Havarti  Tracfone/Verizon has shut down some of its older 4G networks to make way for 5G. Your phone will no longer work with the remaining service.

Enjoy your cash! 

[Havarti]

@glb613 

Do a factory reset to clear your personal info - then donate your old phone (Best Buy often takes them).  They get them out to people who don't have phones - you can always dial 911 on an inactive phone, so it provides a real safety service to get old phones in the hands of new people.

[Mindy D]

They should refund your remaining prepayment.