iPhone Plan?

I always buy the iPhone outright somewhere from $22-$30K (depending on version, memory, etc), and then keep my old plan with no changes. I think the 4G is on the street for less than $30K.

That does sound right. It’s the same deal I got with Changhwa when I got my 3G there. Basically, if you want unlimited internet access on your phone, that runs about $1700 a month before you add in calls/text. When you pay that $20,000 or so up front, it gets applied to your bills until it runs out. No matter how you get your hands on a phone (through the phone company or buying cheaper elsewhere), you’re not going to be able to get away with not paying for service if you actually want to use the internet.

All in all, it’s an great deal when you consider that - going on the $50k figure - you’re only paying the equivalent of about $70 USD/month for a plan that includes the iPhone, phone service, and internet service. In the States, with AT&T, the phone itself will run $399 for the 64GB (which it sounds like you’re trying to get, given the $19,000 deposit figure), and the plans start at $55 - and that’s the lowest number of minutes, no text messages, and only 200MB of internet. It’s even worse with prepaid. PLUS, an iPhone you buy in Taiwan comes unlocked, so you won’t have to deal with trying to get it unlocked if you want to use the phone in another country.

I’m not sure what kind of deal you’re hoping for, but the one they have is pretty fair for what you get.

I think there’s a misunderstanding here…

I dunno what the 3.5k is, most likely the illegal foreigner fee…

As for the rest, well, that’s the cost of the phone, but they do deduct your monthly bill from that lump sum, BUT you have to sign up for a deal that costs NT$1,380 a month or more to get the phone for whatever price they’re offering it at. That means close to 14 months of paying nothing for your phone bill unless you make a lot of calls abroad etc.
They’re running a special at the moment though where you get 20% off the data fee for something like a year and a half as well.
It might be different for the iPhone plan tough…

I don’t think that the $19,000 is applied against future calls/internet, etc. That’s only for the phone, the actual hardware.

You what? You got had if that’s what you’re paying…
Unlimited Internet is NT$850 or NT$950 with Emome which comes with a bunch of mostly useless services, but also includes free Wi-Fi on CHT’s hotspots.
I pay 1,349 a month with calls, thanks to the 20% discount deal on the data part I got when I got my phone and that includes calls and texts. Again, it’s not an iPhone, so maybe they stitch you on those…

1 Like

Uhm, it’s not, I just got a Galaxy S II a couple of months ago, it was 22k, but I only paid 7k towards the cost of the handset, as I didn’t get the most expensive plan, since I don’t make that many calls. The remaining 15k is all going towards calls.

I can’t speak to the actual numbers, but in my case the up front fee was held against my credit card, and then paid off over two years - my wife was involved in all of this, so I’m not sure how much was standard, and how much was negotiated. Anyway, there was no initial financial shock when I got the iPhone (3GS a couple of years ago), just a much higher monthly phone bill.

Uhm, it’s not, I just got a Galaxy S II a couple of months ago, it was 22k, but I only paid 7k towards the cost of the handset, as I didn’t get the most expensive plan, since I don’t make that many calls. The remaining 15k is all going towards calls.[/quote]

That’s an even better deal, then.

If that deal includes unlimited internet, thats a reasonably good deal. China telecom charges about $900 per month just for unlimited internet alone, it adds up to about $1300 per month when you include calls and SMS, and thats when you DONT include the phone cost.

(Need an ARC for that plan though, they refused to sign me up until mine came through.)

There are a number of plans available, and if you actually want the phone free, it means you have to pay a higher deposit, which DOES get applied to your bill. I know this because it’s exactly the plan I had, and that’s how it worked. They’re not just trying to make you pay up to twice the regular cost of the phone and expect you to take it, and there is no difference in cost for foreigners or locals. If you want the deal, all you need is an account. Here’s the chart:

http://iphone.emome.net/rateplan/best

This is only for the current iPhone 4 plans, but you can still see how it works. I misstated my internet cost earlier as $1700, which is actually the cost including phone service. (I have my cell, internet, and MOD all on one bill, so I had forgotten how much each portion costs individually.)

As an example, according to the plans, if you want the iPhone 4 (32GB) and you’re asked to pay an additional $3,900, that fee is for the phone and $23,000 is for the deposit. You won’t get that $3,900 back, but the $23k gets applied to your bill. The higher the rate plan you choose, the cheaper your phone cost is.

This isn’t prepaid, per se, but can technically go some months without paying a bill if you sign up this way. During the first part of my contract, for instance, I was only paying for home internet, and the phone portion was covered by the iPhone deposit.

Oh, and you can also put the deposit on a credit card and have it paid in installments of $2000/month (I believe that was the minimum), so you don’t even need to have the deposit up front if you’ve got a valid credit card.

The amounts will change for the new 4S, but the deals should stay the same, since it’s the same structure they’ve been using for at least the past 3 years.

All, please stop for a second. There is some misinformation being spread in this thread. Particularly about what a “free” phone actually costs and the rate charts.

I’ll dig up a few posts on actually calculating the total-cost-of-ownership (TCO). Many people get confused by the pricing charts, which is perfectly understandable because the charts are designed to be confusing. I’ve been meaning to write another sticky on this topic because this comes up too often and the arithmetic to figure out everything actually isn’t that bad once the mechanics are laid out.

I’ll do this later tonight when I have some time, but in short, the sum of the monthly charges and the (subsidized) price of the phone need to be considered together and for the duration of the contract when doing this. They cannot be considered independently or in any temporal manner or the comparison is apples to oranges. Also note that the demand for iPhone 4S is also likely through the roof, so the sales agents are going to be pulling every trick they can to net them the biggest take.

Much appreciated, mabalis. :bravo:

Here’s a link to the english version of CHT’s rate plan for iphone4. May have to wait for the english version of the 4S rate plan.

iphone.emome.net/files/rateplans … lan_en.pdf

[quote=“WaltzingMatilda”]Here’s a link to the english version of CHT’s rate plan for iphone4. May have to wait for the english version of the 4S rate plan.

iphone.emome.net/files/rateplans … lan_en.pdf[/quote]

Ok… what does “deposit” and refund mean? That means I get the 20,900 whatever BACK? When? How?
mabagal, help please. I want to figure out the TCO but because I have no Chinese ability and Im quite wary of their Chinglish, I have no idea what these charts or sales reps are trying to tell me.

Edit: I found this breakdown of TCO for Chungwha.
terminally-ill-mannered.blogspot … rship.html
So total cost for the best plan is around 31k? Thats pretty good. Nothing near the 50k I was figuring up in my head from what Chungwha told me.
Is the blogger correct?

Well, you get it back in as much that they deduct your monthly bill from that amount, but you never get the cash back. In other words, for the next year or so, you don’t have any bills to pay…
The only money you’ll ever get back would be the “foreigner deposit” which you shouldn’t really be paying in the first place…

For the mobile phone service providers, they feel this is some sort of insurance to cover the risk of a foreigner just leaving Taiwan without finishing their contract or paying a bill. That’s probably why they also ask for a copy of your passport. Because they want to be able to track you down.

I signed up for a new contract with Taiwan Mobile and had to pay a “foreigner fee” of NTD 2900. They told me I can get the money back at the end of the contract.

BTW, I don’t know about other service providers, but Taiwan Mobile has a NTD 699 unlimited data/Internet plan. And I think there’s also a NTD 699 unlimited calls plan. So if you sign up for that plan package, then you can get a 32Gb White (and probably Black) iPhone 4 (not 4S since it’s not yet available) for NTD 12,000. The price of the phone may have dropped since the announcement of the iPhone 4S. It might be worth checking out.

FYI, Taiwan Mobile’s NT$699 “unlimited” plan, isn’t unlimited. As you’ll see here english.taiwanmobile.com/english … tRate.html it only includes 800MB of data, any overage is charged, although the maximum charge is NT$800 per month.

As for Taiwan Mobile’s iPhone 4 pricing have a look here myfone.com.tw/emyfone/action … /plan.html

And once again, the foreigner fee is ILLEGAL as in it’s against the law in Taiwan and they can legally not charge it. Dozens of people here have refused to pay it and have gotten away with not paying it. Besides, what if you stay here until the day you die? That means that you’re out of pocket that fee for the rest of your life with no interest and no means of ever getting it back.

@TheLostSwede it would be great if you provided a link so that I could have proof before I try to get my money back. :slight_smile:

I think i had mentioned that before (in a different thread) - whichever way you look at it, it IS an unlimited usage plan - just not at 699NT a month but at 800NT a month (15% more expensive). :slight_smile:
(I’ve been using that since May and clock a few GB every month, because i listen a lot to programs from 1.fm/ when i’m at home.)

Here’s the “how to” post on calculating TCOs and other tips & tricks when signing up for a subsidized phone on contract: