Do you buy phones from independent dealers?

[mammador]

Or do you buy phones from network franchisers themselves (,i.e. actual Sprint, Verizon, etc. shops)?

 

[cronos]

I didn't buy my phones from carriers. I bought my phones from stores/dealers (newegg, buy.com), straight from manufacturers (dell, nokia), or other people (ebay, FS/FT).

I'm pretty sure that very few people do this though.

 

[Karl Agathon]

Bought mine from Amazon.

 

[Rifter]

I always buy from independant sources so my phone is not loaded down with all that network logo'/spyware/bloatware crap.

My old nokia would start up about 4 times faster than my girlfriends whch was the same phone bought from the carrier, and hers was sluggish even when switching menus and mine was fast and smooth.

I will never buy a phone from a carrier ever.

 

[Adramalech]

I have been using iPhones so they have usually been purchased at the Apple Store or through the Online Apple Store. When I switched to Verizon, I went into a Verizon retail store to purchase my iPhone...first time I have done something like that.

 

[lothar]

I always buy from independant sources so my phone is not loaded down with all that network logo'/spyware/bloatware crap.

My old nokia would start up about 4 times faster than my girlfriends whch was the same phone bought from the carrier, and hers was sluggish even when switching menus and mine was fast and smooth.

I will never buy a phone from a carrier ever.

I have always assumed it doesn't make a difference where you buy it from, the phone will always be loaded with bloated network crap...

 

[WelshBloke]

I have always assumed it doesn't make a difference where you buy it from, the phone will always be loaded with bloated network crap...

? Why would, say HTC, load a phone bought direct from them with carrier bloat?

And which carriers bloat would they choose?

 

[lothar]

? Why would, say HTC, load a phone bought direct from them with carrier bloat?

And which carriers bloat would they choose?

Since when can one buy a phone directly from HTC, Samsung, LG, and Motorola's factories?

There is only one carrier bloat for them to choose from.
Samsung Within will have Sprint bloat, Samsung Function will have Verizon bloat, Samsung Attain will have AT&T bloat.

Or are you suggesting that one can buy a Samsung Within with Verizon bloat on it directly from Samsung?

 

[WelshBloke]

Since when can one buy a phone directly from HTC, Samsung, LG, and Motorola's factories?

...

Um, since forever.

Well not directly from the factory.

 

[lothar]

Europe vs US:

In Europe, devices are the same and you can move around to almost any network.
In US, devices are different among different carriers which means more bloatware crap from the carriers.

 

[lothar]

Um, since forever.

Well not directly from the factory.

So if I buy a Droid X directly from Motorola, it won't have any Verizon bloatware crap on it?
I call shens on that.

 

[WelshBloke]

So if I buy a Droid X directly from Motorola, it won't have any Verizon bloatware crap on it?
I call shens on that.

Well I'm typing this on an HTC desire supplied direct from HTC.

You can believe what you want however.

 

[Oyeve]

I bought my first cell in Germany. It was an Ericson worldphone 8888 on Omnipoint, which turned into voicestream which turned into tmobile. I got it at a mon-n-pop shop in Munich. My next phone was a samsung/sprint phone I got at radioshack. The phone after that I got in some online web store for dirt cheap, it was for tmobile. After that my next 10 phone or so I just got from tmobile stores.

 

[s44]

So if I buy a Droid X directly from Motorola, it won't have any Verizon bloatware crap on it?
I call shens on that.

Well no, but you can buy an unbranded Milestone X I think.

Compare stock Samsung Galaxy S (i9000) firmware with what you get stock with any of the carrier-branded versions... We're getting screwed.

 

[roguerower]

What do you gain by buying an unbranded phone? You don't get a reduced plan rate last time I checked and if you bought a phone on contract, the price of the phone + the ETF would equal the price of a new unbranded phone. Seems like one way or another you're getting screwed.

 

[WelshBloke]

What do you gain by buying an unbranded phone? You don't get a reduced plan rate last time I checked and if you bought a phone on contract, the price of the phone + the ETF would equal the price of a new unbranded phone. Seems like one way or another you're getting screwed.

I can't speak for others here but if you're asking me I live in the UK.

I buy the phone myself then use PAYG which means no contract and no monthly charges. And no worries about tethering and things.

 

[SandEagle]

i'm up for a renewal and found that amazon, radio shack, costco offer steeper discounts on phones than the carriers.

 

[roguerower]

I can't speak for others here but if you're asking me I live in the UK.

I buy the phone myself then use PAYG which means no contract and no monthly charges. And no worries about tethering and things.

Thanks for the info but it doesn't help since I'm here in the US

 

[WelshBloke]

Thanks for the info but it doesn't help since I'm here in the US

It wasn't supposed to help, I was just answering your question.

 

[roguerower]

It wasn't supposed to help, I was just answering your question.

Yea, obviously I was asking for the guy who doesn't live in the same country with the same fucked up cellular system as me to chime in and answer a question he doesn't know the answer to.

 

[WelshBloke]

Yea, obviously I was asking for the guy who doesn't live in the same country with the same fucked up cellular system as me to chime in and answer a question he doesn't know the answer to.

You could try being more specific in your questions.

I just had another read of it and it doesn't look like you are asking for "help", it looks like you couldn't understand why anyone would buy an unbranded phone.

Well I gave you the reason why I did.

 

[mammador]

Since when can one buy a phone directly from HTC, Samsung, LG, and Motorola's factories?

There is only one carrier bloat for them to choose from.
Samsung Within will have Sprint bloat, Samsung Function will have Verizon bloat, Samsung Attain will have AT&T bloat.

Or are you suggesting that one can buy a Samsung Within with Verizon bloat on it directly from Samsung?

Most major makers have online stores from which one can buy phones. These phones cannot really have network bloat.

That said, an independent retailer like Bestbuy sells phones on behalf of Verizon or AT&T, so I don't think network bloat can be avoided in that sense.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Yea, obviously I was asking for the guy who doesn't live in the same country with the same fucked up cellular system as me to chime in and answer a question he doesn't know the answer to.

Not everyone lives in this fucked up country with a fucked up cellular system. It's like asking a question about the metric system and then getting mad because no one can speak feet and inches. Sorry, there's only so many of us that live in the US you know...

What do you gain by buying an unbranded phone? You don't get a reduced plan rate last time I checked and if you bought a phone on contract, the price of the phone + the ETF would equal the price of a new unbranded phone. Seems like one way or another you're getting screwed.

Yes well the only carrier this works on is AT&T. What you gain is improved device selection. I'd like to think of the product portfolio for the US as a fucked up demented one where the "special" US versions are some weird hiccup in the product line or a derivative of an international version.

When HTC launches its products, I can bet you 95% of its focus is on the global market. It then creates a US version of the product or perhaps some US carrier pays them off to launch something early (i.e. EVO vs Desire HD) for them. Either way, you realize that no carrier in the US gets the full lineup. So while in Europe you can use the HTC Desire S, Incredible S, and Sensation on the same carrier, you get the Incredible 2/S on Verizon but the Sensation on T-Mobile.

By using unlocked phones you can stay with the same carrier (in this case AT&T) and use whatever freaking phone you want to. The catch with HTC is that they only release dual band phones, so you need to count on them to bring the phone to Canada or Latin America, or some other country that uses 850/1900. Luckily, there are enough countries and carriers that there is usually a 850/1900 flavor for every phone they have. The same goes for the other manufacturers although they're slowly going tri and quad band for 3G frequencies.

So yeah, I had the option of using a Motorola Milestone or HTC Desire on AT&T. When I got my Milestone you could only get the pitiful Motorola Backflip. It wasn't until much later that the Captivate arrived. Oh, and I got away for a long time using the $15 unlimited data plan. I was paying $30 for unlimited data AND text. What a steal.

Using a GSM network with unlocked phones is how you benefit. Verizon will never let you activate a non Verizon phone even if the networks are compatible. T-Mobile's fucked up AWS band means you have to get an AWS phone, though you can sacrifice 3G like getting a non 850/1900 phone for AT&T and just using it on 2G. But I'm sure sacrificing 3G is a pretty big tradeoff for an unlocked phone, so no one would really want to do that.