Want a Verizon device? Pay in full or lock in for three years: Talking Tech podcast

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Hey there listeners. It's Brett Molina. Welcome back to Talking Tech. Big changes if you plan on getting a smartphone or other device that runs on Verizon's wireless network. You might have to lock in for a longer term contract. I write about this in a story that you can read on tech.USAtoday.com. I check this out in the app and it's on the Verizon website. When you're shopping for a device, including a smartphone, consumers are given two options when it comes to paying for it. You can pay for the device fully, so whatever the full cost of the phone or tablet or whatever it is you're buying, you pay for it. Or you pay over 36 months. So you're basically locked in to a three-year contract. Previously, and I was able to verify, I remember this about a month ago because I was looking at upgrading my iPhone.

Verizon offered payment options that stretched for either 24 months or 30 months. So if you wanted to get it paid pretty quickly, you could go for the two year option. Or if you wanted to stretch it out a little bit, if you bought a pricier phone and you wanted to expand those payments, you could go for 30. Users, of course, with this change still have the choice to pay off the remaining balance of their device at any time. So say you're six months into a deal and you decide I want to pay off my phone. You can just pay off the rest of the balance whenever you want. According to Verizon's website, the 36 month plans applied to devices like smartphones, tablets, smart watches, and mobile hotspot devices, to name a few. There's a full list that you can read on Verizon's site. Verizon says if you had a 24 month or 30 month agreement before February 3rd, your contract terms will stay the same.

So you don't have to worry if you already have a device and you're already into an agreement. It's not going to reset and force you to pay for a longer period of time. There's two thoughts about this. First off, we're obvious holding onto our phones a lot longer. So a three year contract doesn't seem that long because I had an iPhone seven. I had it for about four years. So I went a long time before I needed to trade it in. The other thought though is it feels like a really long time to lock in three years on a device. Two years kind of out like that sweet spot where okay, two years in. And the two year plan has been around for as long as I can remember buying cell phones. You locked in for two years, and then after two years you were probably thinking, "Oh, I need to upgrade my phone."

And three years, again, we're holding onto our phones for a while, but it still feels like a really long time to be locked in to a wireless contract and have your phone. But again, that is probably part of the appeal for Verizon is people are locked into their service for a longer period of time this way. What are your thoughts on this? Do you feel like three years is too long? Do you feel like it really doesn't matter because we're holding onto our phones anyway? Let me know on Twitter. You can find me @BrettMolina23. Don't forget. You can also send any other comments, questions, show ideas, whatever you got on your mind. Please don't forget to subscribe and rate us or leave a review on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, anywhere you get your podcasts. You've been listening to Talking Tech. We'll be back tomorrow with another quick hit from the world of tech.