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Comment by kotaKat | Hacker News Reader

Once again disappointed that we’re getting screwed over by “bill credit” carrier offers for 36 months and wish that US carriers would stop that crap.

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Most of my circle seems to like that crap. You can opt out, all of the carriers have prepaid offerings with much lower rates and a lot less financing. Maybe you get less data priority, almost certainly you get a lower tier of customer service, but those are ok tradeoffs for me. If you want to save more money, you can go to former MVNOs now owned by the carrier they run on or actually independent MVNOs. https://prepaidcompare.net/ seems like a good place to compare plans. They also have deals listings if you want to have fun with subsidy locked phones.

The 2 year contracts from the 2000s and early 2010s are back with a vengeance.

What's the concern here? Can the phone not just be bought outright?

If I trade in my phone, I want my trade-in offer now. Instead, the full value of whatever trade-in deal provided is split over 36 months as bill credits.

While the new phone might actually be “free” in one of these promotions, it’s not, naturally, because you’ve been thrown into a 36 month installment agreement separate of the cellphone service they’ve sold you on (that they also claim is “price locked” while independently raising surcharges and other fees).

Sell your phone, never trade it in. That's the surest way to lose money.

Do a little more work and sell it on Facebook Marketplace.

Convenience comes at a cost.

Then I'd just buy the phone outright and sell it at the end or use another trade in route through Apple directly

With inflation such as it is, finance it and don't be concerned about a temporary lock. Most carriers will unlock it after X months and/or for travel. Let the phone carrier eat it and conserve capital.

It seems like you can also finance it interest free through Apple themselves without being locked to a carrier.

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