Deciding what new phone to get can be a difficult challenge, especially with all the new phones that are being released by the month, but finding a good deal on an exceptional cellular-phone isn’t as hard as it sounds.
“I got my phone for a pretty reasonable price at a local shop down the street from me. I practically got it for free when I started my phone service with one of their carriers,” Brent Takeda, undecided, said.
Local service provider stores like AT&T or Verizon can offer great deals on some of the newer phones.
“There are plenty of options on where to get a phone. If you want a name brand phone, high-quality phone, I’d recommend going straight to store near you. Like AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, or Best Buy. You can get really good deals on phones here,” Takeda said.
By either subscribing to their service, the latest model phones can be bought for only a fraction of the price. Most stores often bundle phones with its service.
“When you subscribe to a service provider, they practically give you a free phone just for signing up with them. The only down side to this is that these offers usually depend on where and when. These deals don’t usually last long. It’s because of all the newer models being released,” Takeda, who works for the mobile phone dept. of Best Buy, said.
Searching online can be a lot more convenient and cheaper because the information on a phone is readily available and sellers can put a cheaper price than local stores.
“It’s really easy to look at phones on the net, especially since i don’t have to go somewhere to look at it,” Luke Canlas, biochemical, said. “They’re also pretty cheap. Well, compared to the stores around here, anyway.”
Online customers, however, will not be able to test the product before purchase and returns are a huge hassle online.
Small shops around town can carry a wide variety of phones, including ones that have been used, at very low prices.
“The smaller stores you see around the corner carry really cheap phones,” Daniel Padilla, criminal justice and in the Best Buy mobile phone department, said. “Even though the phones they carry aren’t exactly “top-notch” its a pretty good place to go if you’re looking to get a phone.”
Features may be limited on smaller phones, but some people look for exactly that.
“I think phones are all the same. You either can make a call with a phone or you can’t. All the other things, like cameras and Mp3 players, are just bells and whistles,” Canlas said.
Wherever a phone is bought, it only matters if the customer is satisfied with the product and the price.
“It’s really up to the customer in what they want in a phone. You can have all the cool little gadgets, but is it really worth the money? That’s something you really have to ask yourself when you get a phone,” Canlas said.