Everywhere you look you can find a cellphone shop! But, what makes a great place to buy a cellphone is the information you receive and the people you deal with. I just want to go over some places I've personally shopped and the experience I encountered. And hopefully it will help you find the best place to buy a cellphone.
First, I will say you should try to stay away from corporate stores in general. The reason I say this is because usually they are overpriced and the information you receive is very biased of course. They typically cannot let you know if you are on the absolute best plan around. They only know if you are on their best plan. And, mail in rebates are not fun for the majority of people! In my experience though a lot of the associates, as nice as some were, are not very educated on their own products, I have met a few that were and were very helpful.
Second, I would encourage you to shop at "third party retailers". These are the places such as Walmart, Sam's Club, Radioshack, and Target Mobile. All these places do almost everything a corporate store does, but do it for less money on the phones and no mail in rebates. The other huge advantage they offer is typically they sell more than one carrier at a time. Usually they sell a combination of all the major carriers, i.e. AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile. Here you can compare and make sure you are on the right plan for all the reasons you deem important. All the plans are the same and the warranties are the same. All the carriers back the phones the same as if you purchased it from the corporate store itself. And contrary to conversations I've had the phones third parties carry are not refurbished or use different towers. All the phones I've bought have been new and use the same towers my old phone did, my coverage stayed the same or got better. They also offer programs to protect your phone that are different but have a little more value in place. For instance most cover accidents and take the manufacture warranties into the second year. Some even cover free battery replacement, like Radioshack's and Target Mobile's do. So, where is the best place to buy a cellphone?
Let's first talk about Sam's Club and Walmart. These two places are nice if you're looking to get the phone you want cheap. We all know about their buying power and the ways they can save us money! This is a good thing, but what you will be trading is typically a very knowledgeable staff. They usually are just their typical hourly employees who receive enough training to activate the phones for you and give you the basic details. If you're the type of buyer who is just in it to save a penny, they might be the first places I would look. Most Walmarts offer a blend of AT&T and Verizon, mixed in with Sprint in most locations. They also do prepaids.
Best Buy is another place to go to buy cellphones. What I found there was good prices but few associates that know what they are doing. The one I went to they just called some person over who couldn't tell me anything without going to the brochure. When I came back though there was one person who did know their stuff and was very helpful. So like Walmart and Sam's they have department people helping and hopefully you will get the good one. They did offer a bigger phone selection than Radioshack and Target Mobile but the service was not quite as good.
As far as Radioshack goes it seems they mix a nice combination of savings and knowledge. They offer AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint. My experience with Radioshack has been quite good. Most of the staff seems to really know their products and offer some good insight into saving money on plans. They also sell prepaids and you can choose whats right for you.
Target Mobile has probably been my best experience to date. They are a business venture between Radioshack and Target. These people only do the agreement phones for AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. In some locations it is Sprint instead of T-mobile (you can call ahead to find out what carriers they offer). When it came to picking a plan we ranged from prepaid to agreement phones, finding the best solution. It was nice because they don't handle the prepaids but seem to want to do the best for you. Probably comes from the Target side of the marriage. The phones were very inexpensive, we saved around $70 per phone and no mail in rebates. To top it off they found me a discount for my plan, nobody else asked that question, not even the corporate stores. That was the deciding factor in us going to Target Mobile.
To wrap it up all these places offer inexpensive phones and all the plans, and depending on the type of shopper you are you can find what you're looking for. But, I think overall the best place to buy a cellphone was Target Mobile. They also have a trade in program that seems to be a little better than the others. There are other places to shop for the best cellphones, but these are the places I've personally went to and can give you a heads up. These places seem to be the bigger of all the shops out there and I think Target Mobile is the largest with over 1500 stores. So no matter where you live there is a Target close by.
Good luck in your hunt for the best place to buy cellphones, I hope this is helpful to you especially if you like doing your shopping in person.
First, I will say you should try to stay away from corporate stores in general. The reason I say this is because usually they are overpriced and the information you receive is very biased of course. They typically cannot let you know if you are on the absolute best plan around. They only know if you are on their best plan. And, mail in rebates are not fun for the majority of people! In my experience though a lot of the associates, as nice as some were, are not very educated on their own products, I have met a few that were and were very helpful.
Second, I would encourage you to shop at "third party retailers". These are the places such as Walmart, Sam's Club, Radioshack, and Target Mobile. All these places do almost everything a corporate store does, but do it for less money on the phones and no mail in rebates. The other huge advantage they offer is typically they sell more than one carrier at a time. Usually they sell a combination of all the major carriers, i.e. AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile. Here you can compare and make sure you are on the right plan for all the reasons you deem important. All the plans are the same and the warranties are the same. All the carriers back the phones the same as if you purchased it from the corporate store itself. And contrary to conversations I've had the phones third parties carry are not refurbished or use different towers. All the phones I've bought have been new and use the same towers my old phone did, my coverage stayed the same or got better. They also offer programs to protect your phone that are different but have a little more value in place. For instance most cover accidents and take the manufacture warranties into the second year. Some even cover free battery replacement, like Radioshack's and Target Mobile's do. So, where is the best place to buy a cellphone?
Let's first talk about Sam's Club and Walmart. These two places are nice if you're looking to get the phone you want cheap. We all know about their buying power and the ways they can save us money! This is a good thing, but what you will be trading is typically a very knowledgeable staff. They usually are just their typical hourly employees who receive enough training to activate the phones for you and give you the basic details. If you're the type of buyer who is just in it to save a penny, they might be the first places I would look. Most Walmarts offer a blend of AT&T and Verizon, mixed in with Sprint in most locations. They also do prepaids.
Best Buy is another place to go to buy cellphones. What I found there was good prices but few associates that know what they are doing. The one I went to they just called some person over who couldn't tell me anything without going to the brochure. When I came back though there was one person who did know their stuff and was very helpful. So like Walmart and Sam's they have department people helping and hopefully you will get the good one. They did offer a bigger phone selection than Radioshack and Target Mobile but the service was not quite as good.
As far as Radioshack goes it seems they mix a nice combination of savings and knowledge. They offer AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint. My experience with Radioshack has been quite good. Most of the staff seems to really know their products and offer some good insight into saving money on plans. They also sell prepaids and you can choose whats right for you.
Target Mobile has probably been my best experience to date. They are a business venture between Radioshack and Target. These people only do the agreement phones for AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. In some locations it is Sprint instead of T-mobile (you can call ahead to find out what carriers they offer). When it came to picking a plan we ranged from prepaid to agreement phones, finding the best solution. It was nice because they don't handle the prepaids but seem to want to do the best for you. Probably comes from the Target side of the marriage. The phones were very inexpensive, we saved around $70 per phone and no mail in rebates. To top it off they found me a discount for my plan, nobody else asked that question, not even the corporate stores. That was the deciding factor in us going to Target Mobile.
To wrap it up all these places offer inexpensive phones and all the plans, and depending on the type of shopper you are you can find what you're looking for. But, I think overall the best place to buy a cellphone was Target Mobile. They also have a trade in program that seems to be a little better than the others. There are other places to shop for the best cellphones, but these are the places I've personally went to and can give you a heads up. These places seem to be the bigger of all the shops out there and I think Target Mobile is the largest with over 1500 stores. So no matter where you live there is a Target close by.
Good luck in your hunt for the best place to buy cellphones, I hope this is helpful to you especially if you like doing your shopping in person.
