Item — HN Reader

> people in poverty wont be able to get iPhones for $100 upfront anymore

And that's good - those who are financially constrained shouldn't be getting (enticed) into debt-traps by buying a brand-new high-priced device when really cheaper alternatives are available. Note that the article points out that Verizon already unlocks all their phones after 60 days due to a previous agreement with the FCC. So this has already been "tested" in the marketplace and Verizon hasn't wound up this business model of payment plans. The article also points out the consumer benefit of this FCC policy - once Verizon unlocks its phone, their customers have more freedom to try other services through trial eSims, while customers of AT&T and T-Mobile can't because of their (longer duration) locked phones.

1 comments

Not for nothing, but those devices are generally sold interest free.

There's no functional difference between "If you're poor, you should save $50/month for the next 2 years, and when you do that, maybe then you can get that $1200 phone", versus "You can pay $50/month for the next 2 years and get that $1200 phone now", other than bias against the "financially constrained".

It's not "bias", but being financially prudent - when you are financially constrained, you don't need a $1200 phone nor do you need to subscribe to a $50/month plan when cheaper options are available. Depending on your budget, you can get a feature phone for around $50 or a smart phone for around $100, and opt for a prepaid plan (the cheapest of which starts from $15/month with limited data).

You can not fill out job applications or participate in the modern economy with a feature phone

Feature phone? What year is this where the only options are a $1200 iPhone or a "feature phone"?

A person can walk into a Best Buy today and buy a carrier-agnostic, factory-unlocked Android phone -- new, in a retail box, with a warranty -- for less than $100. No strings, no contracts, no weird stuff. It's just an item that they have for sale in their store.

(Or, FFS: The last Android phone I bought new was $64.00, including tax and overnight delivery. It came with a 60-day carrier lock, but my carrier is cheap.)

I’m replying to this statement

> Depending on your budget, you can get a feature phone for around $50

I am computing comfortably on my GrapheneOS powered Pixel and Qubes OS powered Thinkpad.

Own AAPL, not Apple.

(on second thought...)

What happens when the $1200 phone breaks before it's paid off? Does the carrier replace it?

I prefer buying used phones so I don't have any experience with that...except the first phone I bought... I understood from Verizon that the phone was included in the plan. Turns out I owed $300 for a dumbphone at a time in my life where $300 was a lot more than I wanted to pay for a phone.

I replaced it with a used smartphone for $20 a year later.