Monday, October 31, 2011

5 Steps Instead of 12

A few weeks ago I decided to finally jump on the bandwagon and buy an iphone. Only problem was that I was still using my parents' plan on Sprint, and on top of that I was not due for an upgrade until sometime in February 2012. I had a preconceived notion that once Sprint got the rights to sell the iphone that it was the best combination because of the unlimited data plans for a really good price. I was torn really between the iphone, HTC Evo, and the ever struggling Blackberry by RIM (Research in Motion). I was in love with my Blackberry because it has survived countless falls since I got it the day that Butler almost beat Duke in the Final Four Championship Game almost three years ago. I really wanted to try something new, and at work we use touch-screens which I got used to and desired in a new phone.

I had made up my mind that I was going to purchase an iphone about a week or so before the unveiling of the iphone 4S. Now it was between three choices between three different carriers. Once I started looking at the different data plan rates for each of the major carriers (Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon), I found out that I had an employee discount with two out of the three carriers. I had checked out the websites and AT&T was by far the best with giving me the information that I was searching for and Verizon ran themselves out of the picture because their website was way too confusing and overly busy for my taste.

Now my choice was down to Sprint and AT&T. Since I was still on my parents' plan with Sprint, I had no idea how much data I was actually using. So naturally, I thought paying 80 dollars for an unlimited plan was much better than paying 25 for 2 Gigabytes, and then they would charge you 10 more dollars per Gigabyte that was over your particular plan. I sucked it up, did my research, and realized that a 2 Gigabyte data plan with the basic 450 minutes plus rollover voice plan, as well as the unlimited messaging plan with AT&T, was going to be cheaper for me than something similar with Sprint.

Type of phone: check. Carrier: check. iphone: not sure which one yet. After narrowing it down to an iphone from AT&T, I still needed to decide which one I was going to purchase. I waited to see what Apple what going to release on October 7, and boy was I dissapointed. No iphone 5. That was a major bummer considering all the hype that was being created by the globe and by me. I get that Siri is cool, but when would I ever use that technology enough to earn my ROI? The 200 dollars for the phone did not help at all.

Ok. The new iphone 4S is eliminated. Do I want the 4 or the 3GS? I made my final decision based on two features: price and the shape of the phone. The 3GS was free versus 100 dollars for the iphone 4. The 3GS had a very similar shape to the itouch (1st and 2nd Generation) compared to the "squareness" of the iphone 4. I liked the earlier itouch because of how it felt in the palm of my hand. 3GS= 1 - iphone 4= 0. I would prefer to save 100 dollars on the phone and I remembered the problems with it when the 4 first came out.

I chose the iphone 3GS with AT&T and am paying about 100 dollars a month and I am happy with my decision. Absolutely zero buyer's remorse. I saw a problem (I needed a new phone). I searched for information (online). I made judgements. I made decisions. I made a post-decision evaluation (pure bliss). I had just completed the 5-Step Decision-Making Process.

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