21–30 of 130 posts
Buy your own phone like everyone’s saying, but also use an MVNO instead of setting money on fire paying the major carriers. The better MVNOs even have multiple carriers and allow you to switch at any time.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
My monthly plan payment would not go down if I brought my own phone.
You sure about that? Look up Visible, Mint Mobile, Total Wireless, US Mobile, Tello... Same carrier networks, same quality of service. You can even pay a bit extra for prioritized data and other fancy features. You can get basic unlimited plans for $15-30 and premium plans in the $30-50 range vs $100+ at the big carriers. The only difference is that you aren't paying for your "free" phone.
Works great, no particular coverage issues, never used enough data to hit any notable throttling.
Can a carrier ever surreptitiously lock an unlocked phone, or is it only on phones financed or purchased through the carrier? For example, if I bought an unlocked phone and attached it to my Verizon plan, could Verizon lock it?
Having lived in a lot of countries over the past couple of decades, I can say this is absolutely something Americans do completely wrong. Just buy your phone at full price. The "free" phones cost significantly more than a full price phone.
The "free" is just advertising and for people habituated to credit, it's a no-brainer. Pun intended.
I would find it so deeply enjoyable to see the homes of Verizon management equipped with paddlocks on their bathroom doors, refrigerators, garages, etc. It would be my pleasure to announce to them that the terms of service dictate that the padlocks would never be removed, but the new subscription fees would be announced shortly. It would be delicious to see such a delightful revenge sink deep into their lives. Until…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Some of devices automatically lock once used on a carrier network
I don’t believe that’s true. Locking is entirely something done by carriers for promotionally-priced phones attached to active phone plans. Can you point me to anywhere documenting your claim? That would definitely be a new low if true, but I really don’t think that’s how it works.
The gist is that it allows a third-party seller to stock a bunch of identical, not-yet-locked phones and offer a choice of carrier plans. The phone binds to whichever carrier the user first activated on.
So if you’re buying a phone, verify it is not one of these units.