Is it feasible to buy a cell phone, cancel the service, pay the ETF, & keep it?

[Tommy2000GT]

Because there are some nice phones that are pretty cheap when you buy them with a 2 year contract. However it seems like paying the ETF + the subsidized price together is cheaper than buying a phone without a contract.

Or do you they make you return the phone too after canceling and paying the ETF?

 

[gorcorps]

The carriers have increased the ETF recently (last year IIRC?) to where this is no longer profitable. Smartphone ETFs are larger than regular phone ETFs specifically to combat people signing up for ass loads of plans, then cancelling them to ebay the phones.

So no... it's not cheaper this way. Unless it's a phone you can't easily get off-contract in your country which will drive the price up.

 

[AstroManLuca]

I think you can do it, but there are a few considerations:

- You also have to pay for the first month of service (maybe not refundable?)
- You also have to pay an activation fee (not refundable)
- If you bought from Amazon and do this within 6 months, you also have to pay a separate Amazon ETF, I think
- Companies have jacked up their ETFs for the nicer smartphones, I guess both to balance out the new requirement that your ETF gets smaller over time, and to stop people from doing what you're doing.

In the end the price difference is probably negligible, or it might even be a worse deal. Certainly it's a much bigger hassle.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

What kind of phone are you thinking of getting? Most phones have an unlocked non-subsidized version.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Most phones have an unlocked non-subsidized version.

This, and the prices are often lower than MSRP.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

On another note, why in the hell do people ever sign contracts? I will only ever do pay-as-you-go/prepaid anymore as it's much cheaper in the long-run. For example: T-mobile has an unlimited talk/text/data (5GB soft cap) contract plan for $95/month, but the same play without a contract is $70/month. That is over $30/month cheaper (no taxes on prepaid) for the prepaid plan! Over 2 years, that is $720 more to lock yourself into a contract with ETF! And it's not just T-mobile that does this, all carriers do this.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Just buy the phone unlocked and call it a day.

 

[amddude]

I wouldn't. Carriers now blacklist the IMEI or ESN so you can never use it on their network again.

 

[Tommy2000GT]

What kind of phone are you thinking of getting? Most phones have an unlocked non-subsidized version.

HTC Amaze. T-mobile has it for free with the 2 year agreement. I thought if I paid the ETF, it would be a lot cheaper than buying one outright

 

[shortylickens]

www.Amazon.com

Dont pay for the activation and first month service. Thats silly.

 

[Tommy2000GT]

On another note, why in the hell do people ever sign contracts? I will only ever do pay-as-you-go/prepaid anymore as it's much cheaper in the long-run. For example: T-mobile has an unlimited talk/text/data (5GB soft cap) contract plan for $95/month, but the same play without a contract is $70/month. That is over $30/month cheaper (no taxes on prepaid) for the prepaid plan! Over 2 years, that is $720 more to lock yourself into a contract with ETF! And it's not just T-mobile that does this, all carriers do this.

This is exactly why I want to buy a good smart phone without a contract. I going to get the $30 month unlimited text & 4g data (up to 5gb), 100 min talk

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

This is exactly why I want to buy a good smart phone without a contract. I going to get the $30 month unlimited text & 4g data (up to 5gb), 100 min talk

What carrier?

 

[AstroManLuca]

On another note, why in the hell do people ever sign contracts? I will only ever do pay-as-you-go/prepaid anymore as it's much cheaper in the long-run. For example: T-mobile has an unlimited talk/text/data (5GB soft cap) contract plan for $95/month, but the same play without a contract is $70/month. That is over $30/month cheaper (no taxes on prepaid) for the prepaid plan! Over 2 years, that is $720 more to lock yourself into a contract with ETF! And it's not just T-mobile that does this, all carriers do this.

Because most carriers offer no discount at all for being off contract. T-Mobile is unique in that regard; on AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint, once your contract is up, the only benefit is no ETF. If you plan to stay with them you may as well sign off on another 2 years in exchange for a shiny new phone.

 

[SunnyD]

HTC Amaze. T-mobile has it for free with the 2 year agreement. I thought if I paid the ETF, it would be a lot cheaper than buying one outright

Per T-Mo's T's & C's on their website:

 General Terms: Credit approval, $35 per line activation fee and two-year agreement with up to $200/line early cancellation fee required; deposit may apply. If you switch plans you may be bound by existing or extended contract term (including early cancellation provisions) and/or charged an up to $200 fee.

Looks like T-Mo is still at an "almost reasonable" $200 ETF (AT&T and VZW both are charging $375 ETF for smartphones now).

What carrier?

That plan is a T-Mo/Walmart prepaid exclusive.

 

[abaez]

On another note, why in the hell do people ever sign contracts? I will only ever do pay-as-you-go/prepaid anymore as it's much cheaper in the long-run. For example: T-mobile has an unlimited talk/text/data (5GB soft cap) contract plan for $95/month, but the same play without a contract is $70/month. That is over $30/month cheaper (no taxes on prepaid) for the prepaid plan! Over 2 years, that is $720 more to lock yourself into a contract with ETF! And it's not just T-mobile that does this, all carriers do this.

T-Mobile is the only one who is cheaper when you are off contract.

 

[Tommy2000GT]

What carrier?

Tmobile

 

[SunnyD]

http://ting.com

http://republicwireless.com

Just in case anyone is interested...

 

[Chapbass]

T-Mobile is the only one who is cheaper when you are off contract.

Right, this is why people pay for the contracts. Because you don't get any sort of price break from anyone besides tmo if you buy a phone outright. You just basically a huge chunk of change upright and still have inflated costs on the plan. Its silly, but thats how it is :\

 

[AnonymouseUser]

T-Mobile is the only one who is cheaper when you are off contract.

The Sprint Prepaid Group is a division of Sprint Nextel that was formed in May 2010. Sprint Nextel offers prepaid wireless services under its Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile, payLo by Virgin Mobile and Assurance Wireless brands.

Text.

Sprint contract unlimited plan $99/month. Boost Mobile unlimited plan $60/month or less. That's a greater difference than T-mobile.

AT&T is a joke when adding a data plan, and Verizon plans are confusing, so you may be correct there.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Text.

Sprint contract unlimited plan $99/month. Boost Mobile unlimited plan $60/month or less. That's a greater difference than T-mobile.

AT&T is a joke when adding a data plan, and Verizon plans are confusing, so you may be correct there.

Except you can't take a Sprint phone and activate it on Boost, so it's the same as switching wireless providers.

T-Mobile is still the only one that lets you take one of their existing phones (even one bought on contract with a subsidy) and then switch to a no-contract plan and save money in the process.

I think phone-carrier lock-in is worse than contracts. It basically mitigates the benefit of being out of contract. T-Mobile is the only provider that becomes cheaper when your contract runs out. But if you pay the huge amount extra to get a non-contract smartphone on Verizon, Sprint, or AT&T, all it gets you is no ETF. But who cares about no ETF when canceling your plan just leaves you with an expensive brick? Would you really spend $500 on a non-contract smartphone only to cancel and be forced to buy another phone if you want to change carriers?

If you were able to buy just one phone and move it from one carrier to another, then maybe paying extra for no contract would be worth it. But you can't, so there's basically no benefit except in a few situations.

 

[alent1234]

i think most carriers in the US won't let you sign up for service within 90 days if you cancel on them within the ETF period

 

[alent1234]

On another note, why in the hell do people ever sign contracts? I will only ever do pay-as-you-go/prepaid anymore as it's much cheaper in the long-run. For example: T-mobile has an unlimited talk/text/data (5GB soft cap) contract plan for $95/month, but the same play without a contract is $70/month. That is over $30/month cheaper (no taxes on prepaid) for the prepaid plan! Over 2 years, that is $720 more to lock yourself into a contract with ETF! And it's not just T-mobile that does this, all carriers do this.

family plans are cheaper and the resale values of iphones are so high that i'm essentially getting a free phone every 18 months or so

 

[Ararat]

Messed up system you have there. In Australia, all networks are GSM, and compatible with each other (assuming your handset supports the frequency of the network you want, which USUALLY isn't a problem). Because of this, it's simply a matter of changing SIMs if you want to change networks. That's the way it SHOULD be. Sometimes a handset will be locked to a network, but the carrier well unlock it, generally charging a fee on the order of $20 to do so.

In addition, our plans seem to be cheaper (probably BECAUSE people can switch networks so easily). Phones do not carry an upfront charge, or activation fee when you sign up for a two year contract. That being said, more expensive phones tend to require a higher plan (eg, a galaxy ace can be had on a $15 plan, whereas a galaxy s2 would be more like a $35 plan). The main difference being that those plans include both calls/text AND data for the one fee.

The flipside is however, that our ETF's are equal to the remainder of the contract, making what you suggest impractical.

I see that those four networks have figured out that the key to royally screwing you guys is making it very difficult for customers to move between providers.

 

[gorcorps]

I see that those four networks have figured out that the key to royally screwing you guys is making it very difficult for customers to move between providers.

Yup.

Even our two main GSM based companies don't play well together (AT&T and T-mobile). You can unlock an AT&T smartphone and use it on T-mobile, but it won't be able to connect to 3G or faster data because of the differences between the two and the hardware required. So even between the two companies that actually DO use SIM cards they aren't fully compatible.

It's a mess. It's become such an integrated part of our lives that they can pull this crap and we damn near have to just bend over and take it.

 

[Headcase_Fargone]

Yup.

Even our two main GSM based companies don't play well together (AT&T and T-mobile). You can unlock an AT&T smartphone and use it on T-mobile, but it won't be able to connect to 3G or faster data because of the differences between the two and the hardware required. So even between the two companies that actually DO use SIM cards they aren't fully compatible.

It's a mess. It's become such an integrated part of our lives that they can pull this crap and we damn near have to just bend over and take it.

You can blame government deregulation for that. I dare say the crap carriers pull these days wouldn't fly 30 years ago.