So often we want to purchase a big-ticket item, but we just never seem to save up the cash, so we look for a way to finance our purchase so we can have that instant gratification we all love to experience. With the sophistication of smartphones and tablets and the high-end materials that we are constantly demanding, it keeps driving the prices up – no longer are we content with a $150 tablet… we need the $800 one with all the bells and whistles and the best specs we can find. Carriers are beginning to realize this and are finding creative ways to put those devices in our hands… after all, we cannot use something that we cannot buy.
The carriers are willing to subsidize smartphones because they can make up the money (and then some) from the customer paying for one of their plans. However, while the tablets list for more than most smartphones, they will not subsidize them because of they do not command the expensive plans each month – especially if they are Wi-Fi only! Rogers simply adds $10 a month to any share plan. TELUS has financed tablets since 2012 and today, they will finance up to $480 of the tablet’s upfront cost, which is paid back at $20 a month over a two-year period. Bell also has the same $480 limit and calls their plan Easy Purchase.
Our source has very few specifics concerning Rogers’ payment plans, other than it will probably called Easy Pay and should be rolling out soon for both consumers and small businesses. Their Easy Pay will most likely be designed like TELUS’ and Bell’s. Right now, all three carriers offer flexible data tiers – $5 a month for 10MB of data is the cheapest they go, but that would be only for someone that expected to use Wi-Fi most of the time. From there, they rise between $40 and $45 for 5GB of data, which is that type of data you would need if Wi-Fi was in short supply where you live.
Please hit us up on our Google+ Page and let us know if you have taken advantage of financing from a carrier in order to purchase a device… as always, we would love to hear from you.