The one downside with Best Buy/Best Buy Mobile is that their pricing is pretty much in lock step with Verizon corporate for the first six months or so after a phone is released. You're not going to beat Verizon's price by $50 or $100 like Amazon, Wirefly, etc. does. And many times their full retail price for a handset is actually higher than Verizon's (although they will price match Verizon's retail price). Case in point.....at Best Buy's website the retail price for 32GB Moto Droid Razr is $800 while it is only $650 on Verizon's site.
Once a phone has been out for a while, then Best Buy may have the price slightly lower than Verizon, or they will throw in some accessory. For example, back in August 2010 when I started 3 new lines and purchased 3 Samsung Intensity II's, Verizon had priced them at $50, but they had a BOGO promo. Best Buy didn't have the BOGO promo, but the phones were priced for $25 each and you got a free Bluetooth headset with each phone.
The one downside with Best Buy/Best Buy Mobile is that their pricing is pretty much in lock step with Verizon corporate for the first six months or so after a phone is released. You're not going to beat Verizon's price by $50 or $100 like Amazon, Wirefly, etc. does. And many times their full retail price for a handset is actually higher than Verizon's (although they will price match Verizon's retail price). Case in point.....at Best Buy's website the retail price for 32GB Moto Droid Razr is $800 while it is only $650 on Verizon's site.
Once a phone has been out for a while, then Best Buy may have the price slightly lower than Verizon, or they will throw in some accessory. For example, back in August 2010 when I started 3 new lines and purchased 3 Samsung Intensity II's, Verizon had priced them at $50, but they had a BOGO promo. Best Buy didn't have the BOGO promo, but the phones were priced for $25 each and you got a free Bluetooth headset with each phone.
Looking on best buy's site, the Droid RAZR is $50 cheaper though it's only like 3 months old I think. Also The Samsung Stratosphere turns 4 months old on the 13th this month, but it is $100 cheaper through best buy (at least online). Also the droid 3 is cheaper, but it is also an older phone. I'd say in general you are right about them having similar pricing on the highest end of phones, but some phones are cheaper through best buy, less than 6 months into their lifecycle.
Looking on best buy's site, the Droid RAZR is $50 cheaper though it's only like 3 months old I think. Also The Samsung Stratosphere turns 4 months old on the 13th this month, but it is $100 cheaper through best buy (at least online). Also the droid 3 is cheaper, but it is also an older phone. I'd say in general you are right about them having similar pricing on the highest end of phones, but some phones are cheaper through best buy, less than 6 months into their lifecycle.
They probably had to ramp up their price cutting to compete against Amazon and Wirefly.
Looking on best buy's site, the Droid RAZR is $50 cheaper though it's only like 3 months old I think. Also The Samsung Stratosphere turns 4 months old on the 13th this month, but it is $100 cheaper through best buy (at least online). Also the droid 3 is cheaper, but it is also an older phone. I'd say in general you are right about them having similar pricing on the highest end of phones, but some phones are cheaper through best buy, less than 6 months into their lifecycle.
You're looking at the subsidized price, look at the cash out the door(unsubsidized/no contract) prices on the phones and you'll see that the Best Buy price is more expensive than buying unsubsidized at a Verizon corporate store. If however Best Buy will price match the Verizon store price, then it's up to the shopper to beware.
I personally buy my phones at Costco.. they have a 90 day return policy on any phone no questions asked .. NO restock fees like Verizon has.. think it's now $35 .. right now they don't carry the Razr Maxx only the Razr... most likely will get them after a while...the manager and reps at our local Costco are really pretty darn good.. very knowledgeable and treat us right..not saying all Costco's are like this .. I'll stick with Costco
I don't really like buying in Best Buy.. too pushy and hard sell..like vultures... they are always bothering you and never let up.. pretty sure they only give a 14 day return on phones like Verizon does
speaking of ill-informed or fibbing... have been having trouble with my Droid 3-- a whited out screen that's not fixable.. called Verizon.. they sent a replacement -refurbished phone overnite Fedex...sounded good... the 'certified like new' replacement couldn't pick up 3G.. was on the phone with Verizon tech better part of half hour or more ... he tries to sell me a Razr Maxx instead of getting a replacement for the D3 but after I asked him if it was Global.. he looks it up and says that it was..that all 4G LTE phones are Global..his words not mine... I was pretty sure it wasn't ---I need a Global phone.. he sends another 'Certified like new replacement' for the replacement that is now finally working properly
I call Verizon again yesterday.. asked and double-checked about the Razr Maxx if it's global.. sales rep says it was.. something is not right here... I again check on its Specs on the Verizon site.. Not Global ready... ill-informed or fibbing... I would say the former..
BTW rumor has it that all LTE phones will be global ready in the very near future
The confusion may lie in the fact that Verizon considers phones that will roam in other countries that use CDMA as global The spec sheet under the phone in the store says roams in 35 countries.
There are several true global phones from Verizon. The spec sheet will state that they roam in over 220 countries world wide. These phones have GSM capabilities. When unlocked you may use a foreign or local SIM card if you wish. My unlocked Droid Incredible 2 is an example of this. I only consider Verizon phones like this as Global
The confusion may lie in the fact that Verizon considers phones that will roam in other countries that use CDMA as global The spec sheet under the phone in the store says roams in 35 countries.
There are several true global phones from Verizon. The spec sheet will state that they roam in over 220 countries world wide. These phones have GSM capabilities. When unlocked you may use a foreign or local SIM card if you wish. My unlocked Droid Incredible 2 is an example of this. I only consider Verizon phones like this as Global
Has Verizon actually redefined "Global" to refer to international CDMA roaming? I thought it specifically referred to GSM-capable phones, such as several Droid and Blackberry models, and the iPhone 4s. For example, one calls "Verizon Global Support" to do the SIM unlock for these phones.
The confusion may lie in the fact that Verizon considers phones that will roam in other countries that use CDMA as global...
No, not really. Verizon's phone spec definition requires both a GSM and CDMA radio to achieve their "global phone" spec. However their global support people may handle customer support of folks in other CDMA countries.
-Frank
Sent from my HTC ThunderBolt 4G/LTE using Tapatalk
No, not really. Verizon's phone spec definition requires both a GSM and CDMA radio to achieve their "global phone" spec. However their global support people may handle customer support of folks in other CDMA countries.
-Frank
Sent from my HTC ThunderBolt 4G/LTE using Tapatalk
Actually I didn't state it correctly. I should have said that Verizon considers all of its phones as capable of roaming overseas. Then they differentiate between phones that will roam in the 35 or so CDMA countries and global which is a true world phone. I wonder how many customers actually realize that. At the end of the Verizon video they state you can call global support for information.
No, not really. Verizon's phone spec definition requires both a GSM and CDMA radio to achieve their "global phone" spec. However their global support people may handle customer support of folks in other CDMA countries.
-Frank
Sent from my HTC ThunderBolt 4G/LTE using Tapatalk
The "global phone" spec may be only for gsm/CDMA phones but on Verizon call out cards CDMA only phones are listed as
So GSM phones aren't global since they don't work in CDMA-only countries?
I suppose if you want to split hairs, an Iridium satellite phone isn't worldwide if you are in an area with no coverage. There is no single, perfect coverage provide in the entire world.
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So GSM phones aren't global since they don't work in CDMA-only countries?
They dont advertise GSM phones as "world" phones and i dont get the inference that they are. When Verizon slaps the tag "world phone" on a device, its meant to mean signal pickup from the world's two largest standards, CDMA and GSM.
To my best recollection, satellite phone technology is entirely different from cell phone tech, so its also excepted.
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Originally Posted by jseah
I thought it specifically referred to GSM-capable phones, such as several Droid and Blackberry models, and the iPhone 4s. For example, one calls "Verizon Global Support" to do the SIM unlock for these phones.
It's the one after that!
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