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Verizon starts requiring 365 days of paid service before it will unlock phones

arstechnica.com

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Re: Verizon starts requiring 365 days of paid service before it will unlock phones

#91

Post by joecool1029 »

0xC0ncord wrote: post #83
bandrami wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The car salesman will also try to tell you he's not allowed to let you take the vehicle off the lot without rustproofing.

Okay, what I really meant to ask was whether Verizon in particular is still incredibly dishonest about the process of bringing your own device as I had personally experienced. Obviously, the real solution is just to take your business elsewhere.

No, then again I wouldn’t recommend it now since there’s tons of mvno’s to go to that you can order online without dealing with less scrupulous store employees. Best advice I can give if you still want to do verizon/tmo/att direct is AVOID authorized retailers, only use the corporate stores.

Re: Verizon starts requiring 365 days of paid service before it will unlock phones

#92

Post by SanjayMehta »

joombaga wrote: post #85
SanjayMehta wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another label I fell for in the US was "lite" cooking oil. The fine print said "light in colour." The "free" is just advertising and for people habituated to credit, it's a no-brainer. Pun intended.

What did you expect it to be lite in?

Calories. Yeah, I was naive back in the 90s.

Re: Verizon starts requiring 365 days of paid service before it will unlock phones

#93

Post by toast0 »

happymellon wrote: post #84
seam_carver wrote: post #30

On Slickdeals, the 60 day unlock after paying for one month of service was often used for locked phones like the $49 iPhone SE. This prevents that.

I haven't head of Slickdeals, but wouldn't you still be under the terms of the line contract? They aren't going to lose their money.

I got a similar deal; the phone was locked to tracfone (or one of the other verizon owned mvnos), no contract, just had to activate it and pay the first month's service. When the month was up, put it in a drawer. 60 days from activation, pull it from the drawer, connect to wifi, and it would unlock.

Re: Verizon starts requiring 365 days of paid service before it will unlock phones

#94

Post by rjh29 »

moi2388 wrote: post #86
rjh29 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes but you will generally pay more for your monthly plan in those cases vs. buying an unlocked phone at full price and a dirt-cheap SIM like Lebara.

In my country you do not. No idea how they do it, but the plan and buying the phone separate (iPhone 16 pro Max) phone costs about 300 more than the phone and plan combined.

That implies you are paying too much for phones then, since the mobile providers can apparently get them significantly cheaper. They may also be selling your data and pre-installing apps, but every country does that.

Re: Verizon starts requiring 365 days of paid service before it will unlock phones

#95

Post by SanjayMehta »

QuantumNomad_ wrote: post #46
bandrami wrote: post #10

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.

In Norway several of the mobile phone telecom operators sell phones on down payment plans that cost nothing extra compared to buying it cash up front. It has been like this for several years and it’s great! You can pay a pretty low monthly down payment over a period of 36 month. As far as I’ve been able to tell, I don’t even have to enter into any binding contract for any phone plan to buy the phone this way. And eve…

A new thing in India is a zero-cost EMI scheme where some intermediary company refunds the cost of the interest over a short period: typically 6 months.

I haven't tried it yet, but a dealer told only to use such a scheme if I didn't plan to use the credit card for anything else during that period.

I can't figure out how they're making money on this scheme.

Re: Verizon starts requiring 365 days of paid service before it will unlock phones

#96

Post by SanjayMehta »

fy20 wrote: post #68
plorkyeran wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they rip people off on cheaper phones, but for higher end phones the “free” phones are typically exactly the normal price of the phone split over 24 payments. Every time I buy a new phone I compare buying it directly versus via a carrier and it always comes down to which option currently has a promotion or sale I can take advantage of.

You do realise that they make the money from locking you into their service? In other countries people pay a lot less than the US.

I pay the equivalent of usd 20 for 5 mobile plans, a fibre connection and a landline per month with no throttling on any connection. AFAIK no operator here offers locked phones at all any more.

Re: Verizon starts requiring 365 days of paid service before it will unlock phones

#97

Post by bandrami »

zeroonetwothree wrote: post #87
MobiusHorizons wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is that measured? All the anecdotal evidence I’ve ever seen suggests the number of hours you have to work at realistic (especially entry level) wages to afford rent, basic food, and transit to said job is currently higher than it’s ever been as far as I can tell in my lifetime. Rent alone has risen substantially higher than inflation, which seems like it should especially skew the numbers on the low end.

Rent has risen about the same as wages over the last 40 years. So a bit higher than inflation but not so much that it’s less affordable.

Health care and education are the two that have really outpaced inflation, the trade-off being that basically all durable and consumable goods have run way below inflation.

Re: Verizon starts requiring 365 days of paid service before it will unlock phones

#98

Post by danaris »

zeroonetwothree wrote: post #87
MobiusHorizons wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is that measured? All the anecdotal evidence I’ve ever seen suggests the number of hours you have to work at realistic (especially entry level) wages to afford rent, basic food, and transit to said job is currently higher than it’s ever been as far as I can tell in my lifetime. Rent alone has risen substantially higher than inflation, which seems like it should especially skew the numbers on the low end.

Rent has risen about the same as wages over the last 40 years. So a bit higher than inflation but not so much that it’s less affordable.

Are those figures mean wages? Or median wages?

Because the difference between those is a vast gulf.

Re: Verizon starts requiring 365 days of paid service before it will unlock phones

#99

Post by drozycki »

dpark wrote: post #40
paxys wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

In this case you’ve switched providers, though. Might be a good idea but doesn’t say anything about whether, e.g., ATT will lower your price if you bring your own phone. I’ve read that these virtual networks also get lower prioritization so you can get low bandwidth when the higher tier users are active. Not sure how accurate that is.

Broadband Map tracks priority levels for the big three US carriers' plans and the MVNOs they support. I paid $225 promo pricing for one year of Visible+ Pro with unlimited priority Verizon data and all taxes and fees included ($18.75/mo), so I can pay full price for a flagship phone and end up ahead of any carrier phone deal.

https://broadbandmap.com/priority

Re: Verizon starts requiring 365 days of paid service before it will unlock phones

#100

Post by Terr_ »

notamario wrote: post #42
koolba wrote: post #36

> AT&T’s policy allows unlocking of phones on postpaid plans after 60 days if the device has been paid in full, or after six months for phones on prepaid plans. T-Mobile’s policy allows unlocking of phones on postpaid plans after 40 days if the device has been paid in full, or after 365 days for phones on prepaid plans. If the phone is paid in full, what is the justification for not unlocking it?

Playing devils advocate… In cases of fraud, it creates buffer time for the consumer who’s identity was stolen to notice and notify before the device disappears.

I can see that for credit-card fraud, etc, however I'd wager most such fraud will be detected in days 0-60, and comparatively none of it in days 61-365. (Are there stats?)

So some buffer is legitimate, but not the amount they are trying to impose.

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