Samsung’s new Access plan lets you pay a set price each month, get a replacement phone every nine months plus a Microsoft 365 ‘subscription’ plan as well. Is the Microsoft 365 element optional or even make sense (especially if you already have ‘Office 365’ as was)?
It’s an interesting way to sell phones now that people are more accustomed to paying monthly or annual ‘subscriptions’ for services.
Samsung Access costs between US$37 and over $50 a month, depending on your choice of phone.
What’s in Samsung Access
It’s a three-year rolling contract. For that you get:
- A Samsung Galaxy Phone
- The right to replace that phone after 9 months with a new phone. Replacing the phone restarts the three year commitment.
- Return the phone and cancel the Access plan after 9 months for no charge.
- Premium Care.
- “Get up to three repairs or replacements for accidental damage, 24/7 technical support and extended coverage past one-year warranty.”.
- Does NOT include loss of the phone.
- Microsoft 365 Personal plan for one person using up to 5 devices which Samsung mostly promotes as
- 1 Terabyte of OneDrive storage
- “the full suite of Premium Office apps, ….Work easily with Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook” for all your devices not just the Samsng Galaxy phone.
The Premium Care and Microsoft 365 components are given separate prices but they aren’t options.
We’ll focus on the Microsoft 365 component of Samsung Access because there’s traps in that part of the bundle which might make it a non-starter for many people.
The Microsoft 365 part of Samsung Access
Samsung gives a separate price for Microsoft 365 Personal of $3.33 a month, a supposed saving from the quoted $6.99 monthly price. However the Microsoft plan is compulsory so the $3.33 price doesn’t mean much (i.e the cost of the phone, premium care and MS 365 plan could be split in many different ways).
US$6.99 is the monthly price for Microsoft 365 Personal but few people pay that. More likely they pay $69.99 for an annual plan, that’s $5.84 a month, even less if they buy/renew cheaply.
If you want a Samsung phone and don’t have Microsoft 365 then Samsung Access might be worth considering. It’s certainly a cheap quoted price for the Personal plan though it’s bundled into an overall price so the $3.33 amount is somewhat irrelevant.
Already have Microsoft 365?
Samsung Access means you might be paying twice for the same thing. Let’s consider a few situations.
Already have Microsoft 365 Family (was Office 365 Home)
If you’re already using Microsoft 365 Family, then the Samsung Access ‘extra’ is a waste.
Already have Microsoft 365 Personal (was Office 365 Personal)
You’re already paying for the same plan! You could cancel your direct Personal plan when it comes up for renewal and use the Samsung Access one instead.
Office 365 Home/Personal activation changes make sign-in better
Find your Office 365 plan, expiry date and when Microsoft charges for renewal
Which Office 365 plan have you purchased or using?
