Page 23 - Aruba Today

TECHNOLOGY A23
Digital Life:
How an end to phone discounts will help customers
ANICK JESDANUN
AP Technology Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — AT&T will
no longer offer discounted
phones with two-year con-
tracts starting Jan. 8. Before es.
you rush out to beat the
deadline, consider that you
might be better off paying
full price for the phone.
That’s because phone
companies also reduce the
monthly bill for voice, text
and data services when
you buy your own phone or
bring a used one.
Some may pay a bit more,
some a bit less, but the
overall bill is roughly the
same. What you get in re-
turn is more flexibility in
which phone you buy and
how long you stay with the
carrier.
AT&T’s decision comes
as no surprise. In the third
quarter, only 1 in 5 custom-
ers chose a contract plan
when they signed up with
AT&T or upgraded their
phones. T-Mobile broke
away from contracts com-
pletely nearly three years
ago, and Verizon stopped
offering contracts to new
customers in August. Sprint
also has been weighing
dropping contracts com-
pletely.
Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure
told The Associated Press
in September that dis-
counted, contract phones
— including his company’s
— amount to “a gimmick,
a trick. You tell people I’m
going to give you a free
phone, but really the cus-
Netflix expands into 130 more countries in surprise move
MICHAEL LIEDTKE
AP Technology Writer
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) —
Netflix has already crossed
off the biggest item on its
New Year’s list of resolu-
tions. The Internet video
service debuted in 130
countries Wednesday in a
surprise move likely to reel
in millions of new subscrib-
ers.
CEO Reed Hastings re-
vealed the scope of Netf-
lix’s expansion at the end of
a presentation in Las Vegas
at CES, one of the tech-
tomer pays in a more ex-
pensive service plan.”
Indeed, phone discounts
mask the true costs of
phones and phone servic-
Here’s an explanation of
the changes:
An AT&T logo is displayed on a store in Dedham, Mass. AT&T will no longer offer discounted phones
with two-year contracts starting Jan. 8, 2016.
WHAT ARE MY OPTIONS
NOW?
Most people now buy and
pay for phones in monthly
installments, though you
can also pay the full price
upfront. You can also bring
a used device, such as
one from a friend or family
member who has upgrad-
ed to a newer model. Sprint
and T-Mobile also have
leasing options — you pay
less each month, but you
don’t get to keep or resell
the device in the end.
nology industry’s marquee
events.
“You are witnessing the
birth of a global TV net-
work,” Hastings crowed on
stage.
The news caught almost ev-
eryone off guard because
Netflix had previously set a Entering China may be a
goal of being available in
most of the world by the
end of this year. It looked
like the Los Gatos, Califor- ernment that blocks its citi- of the world, we are racing
nia, company had plenty
of work ahead it because
it ended December in 60
countries.
WILL I PAY MORE?
Not necessarily so, even
though you now have
to pay the full price for a
phone.
When you got a discount-
ed phone under contract,
you were already paying
the balance in the form of
fees. For instance, the full
cost of an iPhone 6s is $650. getting a $25 bill reduction
Although you pay just $200
at the contract rate, the
phone company passes
along the remaining $450
in higher monthly fees for
voice, text and data. Over
two years, the $450 comes
to $18.75 a month. Put an-
other way, your phone
company is subsidizing your
phone by $18.75 a month
and tacking that on to the
phone bill for voice, text
and data.
If you forgo the contract,
Now, Netflix is available
in 21 different languages
and streaming in just about
every market that it had
in its sights, with the no-
table exception of China,
the world’s most populous
country.
formidable challenge re-
quiring potentially prickly
negotiations with a gov-
zenry from seeing material
it considers objectionable
or incendiary.
In an interview, Hastings
Friday 8 January 2016
your monthly bill for voice, expensive model, even if
text and data is typically you didn’t need that. These
reduced by $15 or $25 a days, there are many mid-
month. The $25 discount range Android phones that
applies for higher data do what high-end phones
plans — usually ones you did just a few years ago. If
share with family members. you choose one of those
In such cases, you’re actu- models, you keep the sav-
ally better off buying the ings. That’s also the case
if you get a friend or rela-
tive’s old phone. You no
longer feel that you’re los-
ing out by not claiming the
(AP Photo/Steven Senne) most expensive phone in a
contract renewal.
phone yourself, as you’re And if your phone lasts lon-
ger than two years, there’s
but giving up only $18.75 in no longer the pressure to
subsidies. upgrade just to claim the
If your discount is only $15, phone subsidies. You simply
and you’re giving up $18.75 pocket the savings.
in subsidies, then technical- More important, you’re
ly your bill is going up slight- no longer tied to two-year
ly. What you get instead is contracts.
flexibility.
DOES THIS MEAN I CAN
WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY SWITCH WHENEVER I LIKE?
FLEXIBILITY? Yes and no.
Because phone com- If you buy a phone under
panies were subsidizing an installment plan, you’re
phones, there was an in- still stuck with the phone
centive to get the most company until you pay off
the phone. That said, ri-
val companies often have
promotions to pay off the
balance for you. And if
you pay the full cost of the
phone upfront, you own
the phone and can switch
whenever you like. Just be
aware that certain phones
work on limited number of
networks, so it’s still not total
freedom.
WHAT IF RATES INCREASE
ONCE I PAY FULL PRICE FOR
A PHONE? q
said the company will try to cause of restrictions on U.S.
a partner in China while it
tries to appease the coun- companies operating in
try’s Communist govern-
ment, a process that he those countries. The com-
hopes to complete by the
end of this year. pany’s service also may not
“The key in approaching
the Chinese business is re- be an immediate hit in sev-
ally working on relation-
ships,” Hastings told The As- eral other major countries,
sociated Press. “In the rest
including Russia, Turkey and
ahead.”
Netflix currently has no Poland, where it will only be
plans to push into North
Korea, Syria or Crimea be- available in English.
Nevertheless, investors
were delighted with Netf-
lix’s quantum leap across
the globe. Its stock climbed
$10.02, or 9 percent, to
close at $117.68 on a
grim day in the rest of the
market.q