I don't like that I am still locked into an agreement where I am basically leasing the phone unless I go go all the way through the 18 months of financing which totally defeats the upgrade every year option. Might as well just buy off contract at full price with flexibility to sell whenever I want and not wait until the 18 month mark.
I am stuck with this Note 3 until I officially own it which is about 6 months away unless I sign another "lease" for a new phone in September and turn in the phone for nothing.
The additional money off, I am not sure I follow. I am on a group plan with my wife and I and get a employer discount off as well so not sure I get that savings. Maybe I am missing out?
Yeah but it's zero percent financing, you can just pay it off whenever you want and then sell it. I might be mistaken, but I couldn't see why you would be stuck for 18 months if you paid it off in full.
Plus I was under the impression that you could jump to a new phone after a certain amount of time before that 18 months expired and just keep paying the Next fee, once again I might be mistaken it's been a while since I researched this option.
Edit: OK I looked up the stats. So you are on a 24 month program, but in 18 months you can trade it in for a new phone. The Note 3 is $31.88/month on a 24 month Next plan that you can upgrade from in 18 months. $31.88x18 months = 573.84 paid. If you buy it full price it's currently 764.99 plus the activation fee, although I think that's less than what it was when released. They are averaging about $360-$415 on swappa currently, and probably less when your 18 months is up. So you might be ahead of the game $100 or so, although I bet it's less once the Note 4 gets released in a couple of months.
I don't blame you though, money is money. I've personally just grown lazy with craigslist, ebay and the risk of selling, the time and effort of haggling, setting up a deal and having to meet someone. It's appealing to me to just pay every month and have a new phone every year, or 18 months, my current Note 3 is probably the last phone I'll buy outright, before this I've bought every single phone outright.