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Buying Phones Off Contract

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Bucknut24

Bucknut24

Trolololol
how would you recommend getting a new phone off contract?

I wanna keep my verizon unlimited, and as long as I never buy a new phone under 2 year contract with a subsized price I get to keep it (basically as long as i never change anything to my plan), so whenever I want to ditch my S3 i'm gonna have to find a way to buy a new phone, where's the best place to buy one without spending $800 or whatever they cost

I love my S3 and all, but I kinda want a Note
 
Smartest thing you'll ever do. I need to be off contract (unlocked) in any event, so that I can drop a Euro sim card into my phone for business. I just had to buy a new phone, and for comparison's sake, I ran the numbers for signing up for an ATT contract vs. my current situation with T-Mobile.

That being said, just run the numbers comparing a smartphone contract plan with ATT against a non-contract (unlimited talk, msg and 4g data) with T-mobile. $120 vs. $70 (and if you don't want unlimited everything, you can literally go down as low as $30/month).

ATT gives you a $400 break on the phone and then pumpkins you in the ass like a stranger for the next 24 months. You save that initial $400 but then end up giving them an additional $1200 to $2160 over time.
 
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I don't fully understand the cell phone business quite yet...been trying to read up on it..

What does buying an unlocked phone do? Will I lose stuff on my vzn line? I am currently on my parents line still because of the unlimited data, etc I get rahter than going on my own plan

All I know is if I ever want to change phones and not lose my data plan, I have to either pay VZW the $700/$800 full price phone, or go a different route. Just don't know how all that works yet.

I can buy a phone (for example S4 or Note) and just take out my sim card from S3 and pop that in my new phone couldn't I?
 
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If a cellphone is locked, it will only accept sim cards from that carrier. So for instance, even though ATT and T-Mobile are both GSM networks, you can't use one company's phone on the other's network if it's locked. If a phone is unlocked--and for this you need to buy the phone outright--you can drop any sim card into the phone and use it so long as the type of network is compatible: i.e. ATT and T-mobile (and anything European) are all compatible, but a Verizon phone couldn't be used on their network even if it were unlocked.

I'm in Europe frequently, and I keep a London based number. I can plop that sim card into my unlocked T-mobile phone and use it while over there...or even do the same while home to check the voicemail. It means I don't have to carry two phones while overseas.
 
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To add to what ORD said, you can also "unlock" a phone, once your contract is up. For example if your contract expires at the end of OCT, you can ask them in Nov to unlock your phone. At least that's how it is with ATT
 
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One of my coworkers signed up for Straight Talk to use with his Nexus 5 a few months ago. He hasn't had a bad thing to say about it yet. If AT&T has good service where you're at, it'd be worth looking into. I'll probably be switching to straight talk when my contract is up in November or when the monthly savings of being on ST equals my AT&T early termination fee.
 
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CentralMOBuck said:
One of my coworkers signed up for Straight Talk to use with his Nexus 5 a few months ago. He hasn't had a bad thing to say about it yet. If AT&T has good service where you're at, it'd be worth looking into. I'll probably be switching to straight talk when my contract is up in November or when the monthly savings of being on ST equals my AT&T early termination fee.
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Went to Straight Talk 4 years ago and don't have a single complaint. They have a decent selection of phones you can purchase through them including iPhones and Samsung Galaxys, or you can purchase a SIM card from them and use phones from other carriers. Most phones operate on Verizon's network with some on Sprint.
Sure can't beat 45 bucks a month for truly unlimited Talk, text and data. I download a lot of music and movies to my phone using torrents, and have never had an issue with being throttled. I will never go back to a contract carrier again.
 
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