| reply to nukscull
Re: Wow I really hope they dont said by nukscull :
Subsidy doesn't imply that you're getting something for free.
It means the cost is subsidized by other means, which can include free, but it doesn't.
So when you buy a car, and the dealer provides you with a car loan from the automaker's financial division (i.e. vendor financing), the dealer is giving you a "subsidy?"
If you guys believe that, it explains our nation's financial illiteracy.
The difference you pay for the phone is subsidized by the 1 or 2 years you agree to be a contracted customer of the carrier.
Once again, that's a loan. A contract in which you're provided something up front, and then a series of payments are obligated, is a loan.
I'd like to emphasize, I'm not against the concept of financing at all. It provides capital, so people and businesses can make purchases that few could afford to make all up-front.
I'm against shady lending though, which is what wireless carriers are essentially doing. They're hiding the terms of the loan they're making, they're hiding the effective interest rate, hell they're even hiding the fact that a loan was even provided. They're playing a game of hiding the ball.
The cost of the financing and the cost of service should be broken out separately, and detailed. Only then can people make informed decisions.
If you want an unsubsidized phone, they are available. So no one is getting screwed that isn't choosing to get screwed because of their finances
So you pay lower fee for service when you bring your own phone purchased outright?
No.
There's no incentive to do that, because you'd be getting screwed. By paying a service fee that included financing for a loan you didn't receive.
What I'd like is simply disclosure and transparency of the loan made and the service provided, just like we'd expect from any other type of loan. |
