Paying the Piper

Lately, I’ve been thinking hard about how I could magically afford an iPhone. Personally, I hate hate hate ongoing fees and I would rather put up with the upfront costs so I’m going to show the total cost over the mandatory 24-month contract.

ItemCost
16 GB iPhone 3G299
AT&T Plan (over 2 years)936
Data720
SMS120
T-Mobile Early Cancellation200
Total$2275

You see that $720 for 24 months of data? That’s scary. It’s a compulsory part of the bundle but the benefit is that it is hellishly fast compared to the excuse of a mobile internet connection I have now. I could probably add another $300 for the iPhone they will no doubt release in 2009 to make the existing model obsolete. Heck, I could add $100 in there just for accessories alone (car charger, dock, new earphones, matching earrings, etc.).

Here’s how I’m going to crunch the numbers: I’m going to compare it vs. my existing T-Mobile plan with awful non-EDGE internet and less minutes. I’m going to assume I’d spend $300 on a new phone anyway because I hate the free ones they give out. I’m going to be extra generous and assume I would have eventually caved in and purchased a $300 GPS navigation for my car and the iPhone would replace that.

ItemCost
iPhone cost$2275
T-Mobile Plan (over 2 years)-820
New Phone-300
GPS Nav-300
Difference$655
Difference per month$36

So it would cost an extra $655 over the next 24 months, give or take. That’s quite a bit of change there. It could fund a nice vacation, a few romantic evenings, two tanks of gas, a nice TV or a big ol’ box of sex toys. But let’s not kid myself. I don’t have much willpower. For now, let’s assume it is inevitable I buy one.

To that end, I will set myself some goals:

  1. Don’t buy any expensive electronics between now and iPhone
  2. Be debt-free before buying
  3. Find a way to weasel out of T-Mobile’s early cancellation fee

I think by the time I do pay off my car, I’ll probably somewhere in early 2009 which means my current contract will be about to expire anyhoo. Sigh. Between now and then, I have my trip to Korea later this month as well as whatever other travel will occur in that time.

Ok, so if I frame the iPhone in terms of my other financial commitments, it looks like I can’t afford it. If I just look at the monthly costs and my credit card limit, I can afford it. I could buy it on launch day and I wouldn’t have cornered myself into living paycheck-to-paycheck but at this point for me, I could swing either way. I think the thing for me to do now is sit on this for a month. Let’s re-examine this on July 17th.

  1. deutlich
    - Tue, 17 Jun 2008

    Just get the iTouch.

    Free wi-fi!

  2. poodlegoose
    - Tue, 17 Jun 2008

    haha, this makes me laugh. Mainly because I know I can’t afford one, so it’s not like I have to crunch numbers to see if it’s actually possible.

    And I can’t believe that it’s already time for your Korea trip. I’m sorry I’ve been MIA lately. . . we should catch up.

  3. mike
    - Wed, 18 Jun 2008

    the iPhone is just another gadget to make your life more complicated!! Save the money and spend it on something more meaningful, like a coffee mug that says “lifes a beach” or something (just think what a $2275 coffee mug would look like - AWESOME!) The one way I justify my position on not getting an iPhone - when your iPhone breaks and gets sent away for repair - you lose your phone, mp3 player, gps etc etc. Putting to many eggs in the one basket.

    Thats my twenty-two cents :-)

  4. all the wine
    - Wed, 18 Jun 2008

    I too have been crunching the numbers, but only in terms of how much my phone bill would increase. Right now with my lame-o phone that I can only call and text on, I pay $56 inclusive for 450 minutes, unlimited text and data.

    With the iphone, I’ll be paying $40 for 450 minutes, $30 for data and $20 for unlimited text. That’s an increase of $34 a month… just for a cool phone???

    I know my bill will go up if I get a blackberry too (although with TMobile you can get a plan with 1000 minutes and unlimited text on a blackberry for $55/mo) so I’m stuck wondering what I should do.

    I really want the new iPhone though. In white.

  5. Aaron
    - Wed, 18 Jun 2008

    Don’t make Steve Jobs richer! He’s the Anti-Christ! Which in all actually means nothing to me since I’m agnostic… soooo… yeeeah! Give him your money! Go for it!

  6. Aaron
    - Wed, 18 Jun 2008

    Plus it’s shiny!

  7. Lachlan
    - Wed, 18 Jun 2008

    How many times do you genuinely need to use internet where you don’t have access to a laptop / PC? In fact, forget about need, how many times would you simply not have internet access?

  8. Studds
    - Fri, 20 Jun 2008

    Debt? I don’t believe Jack’d be in debt, surely not. You’re talking about the kinda “debt” where you pay of the $120 you own on your credit card 3 days early every month… oh and you have 10k sitting in a low-interest account, right?

  9. Jack
    - Fri, 20 Jun 2008

    deutlich: Tempting but I want GPS!

    poodlegoose: Yes! Let’s catch up! I leave this Wednesday.

    mike: You’re right. But I hate carrying around unnecessary things in my pockets. The less, the better.

    all the wine: Take a look at Sprint too, if it’s in your area. Their iPhone wannabe ain’t so bad.

    Aaron: Yes. Steve Jobs is my Christ. There, I said it. He’s my savior. After him, I was born again.

    Lachlan: See the next post.

    Studds: “Debt” as in I still owe five figures on my car, my savings are more or less gone and I put like $600/month on my credit card. Yay America. Yay living alone.

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