Jump to content

Contract-Free iPhone 5


rza_arts

Recommended Posts

I was thinking of switching to sprint, it would save me a lot of money right now. Could i go into the Apple Store and purchase a sprint iPhone 5 for $650? Would they activate for me there or could i take it home and activate it myself later?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was thinking of switching to sprint, it would save me a lot of money right now. Could i go into the Apple Store and purchase a sprint iPhone 5 for $650? Would they activate for me there or could i take it home and activate it myself later?

 

Best option would be go to a Sprint store and buy it there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I may be mistaken, but I believe sprint makes you sign a two year agreement when you sign up with their service, even of you buy your phone contract free. But supposedly you still are eligible for a phone subsidy

 

This.

 

You'll still have to sign an agreement and have an ETF (Don't ask me why). BUT, you can still get a subsidized phone at pretty much anytime during the commitment. I often have customers sign up for service with an old phone purchased from Ebay or given to them from a friend. They sit on the "upgrade" until something comes out they really want.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

This.

 

You'll still have to sign an agreement and have an ETF (Don't ask me why). BUT' date=' you can still get a subsidized phone at pretty much anytime during the commitment. I often have customers sign up for service with an old phone purchased from Ebay or given to them from a friend. They sit on the "upgrade" until something comes out they really want.[/quote']

 

Is the same true if you add a line to an existing account? Mandatory two years on that line, even if you have your own device? But still able to upgrade when you want?

 

Robert via Nexus 7 using Forum Runner

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also, the last time I checked, you do not get roaming on Virgin or Boost. Only on Sprint post paid.

 

Robert via Samsung Note II using Forum Runner

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I want to say you can go to the Apple Store and get the device uncontracted for $600, as for signing up for the service, I believe the posts above are correct. You have to sign up for a 2 Year Agreement even if you already have the phone. Other carriers like T-Mobile will allow you to add their Monthly-4G without signing a contract, or at least that's what I have been told. You can always call Sprint and ask, maybe, just maybe, (highly unlikely) you will get lucky.

Edited by nocturnal
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is the same true if you add a line to an existing account? Mandatory two years on that line, even if you have your own device? But still able to upgrade when you want?

 

Robert via Nexus 7 using Forum Runner

It will be a 2 year contract on the new line even on existing accounts, but because you open your line with your own device, the upgrade would still be avail,,, I work for Sprint Account services team,,,

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It will be a 2 year contract on the new line even on existing accounts, but because you open your line with your own device, the upgrade would still be avail,,, I work for Sprint Account services team,,,

 

Thanks for the clarification. I've always wondered.

 

Robert

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tmobile does now. You have to be on prepaid to not have a contract. Value plan comes with 2 year agreement with 200 dollar etf. Also I believe they reset your contract when you change your plan. That is what happened to me when I had a contract family plan in 2008.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wait, really? I'm pretty sure you can activate a phone no-contract, even start up a new line of service, as long as you bring your own device. Because, uh, we've done that before, in-store. It prints up on the contract as "NC", a 0-month term.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wait, really? I'm pretty sure you can activate a phone no-contract, even start up a new line of service, as long as you bring your own device. Because, uh, we've done that before, in-store. It prints up on the contract as "NC", a 0-month term.

I asked a rep, and he informed be that this was possible, but only with a non smartphone.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I asked a rep' date=' and he informed be that this was possible, but only with a non smartphone.[/quote']

 

So, I wonder if you could start the contract with a non smartphone, then swap the phone to a smartphone. The sticking point might be adding data and the premium data fee...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, I wonder if you could start the contract with a non smartphone, then swap the phone to a smartphone. The sticking point might be adding data and the premium data fee...

 

That's a good question. I'd like to know the answer to that too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, I wonder if you could start the contract with a non smartphone, then swap the phone to a smartphone. The sticking point might be adding data and the premium data fee...

He said there was a special plan for it- $39.99 I believe. You get 300 minutes. I guess you could start with this then switch over to a smartphone plan...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Really? That Sucks! I can't believe they won't let you be contract free even if you buy your own device (well smartphones). I know Verizon and ATT Will let me without a 2 year contract. Hmm might have to rethink my options, i'm not really looking for a 2-year contract.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Honestly,

 

200 for iPhone 5 + 350 ETF = 550 so you save money anyway.

 

Just get a post-paid account.

 

Edit: if you don't already know, ETF = Early termination fee, it's what you pay to cancel the contract.

 

Edit 2: also you should add the line through the employee referral program, you get more minutes and the total bill is only 69.99 a month instead of 79.99.

 

Instructions for that and more discounts (others may be better for you)

http://www.howardfor...08#post14080108

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I always point it out to people that its cheaper to pay the etf then try and do no contract. The most it would be is 550 so a 100 savings and if you keep it til 6 months it goes down 20 a month.

 

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • large.unreadcontent.png.6ef00db54e758d06

  • gallery_1_23_9202.png

  • Posts

    • Just installed the update, and it's good!  As you recommended, I turned off both TA adjustments, and turned on displaying it when it's zero.  The value is basically spot-on.  It's bouncing between 18 and 19 for the Cameron Valley site, and it is in fact between 0.87 and 0.92 miles, as displayed in the app.  This is probably a better estimate of the TA values than any other device I own provides. As far as the -44 goes, I'll have to take it out and verify that it no longer records those cases. If this device didn't have that annoying reset problem, and got the Android 14 update (and in so doing supported TA on NR and continued to allow band locking), it would easily be the best device I own.  Easily.  And would be the device I standardize on for the 5G era.  I'll probably have to wait for a future device to come out with Android 14 and then see what happens. And I know I didn't have to, but I love SCP.  It is my primary tool for tracking the goings-on of the various networks and is very easy to use and work with across my 10 phones.  I am very happy to send a token of my appreciation your way now and then.  Thanks again! - Trip
    • Sorry, I misread your message -- yes, the app would show 0 if an invalid value was being reported. I don't think I had any MediaTek devices myself, but the beta testers have had a decent variety of devices over the years.   Sorry, I didn't word that very well in my last post -- I added an option to control display of LTE TA when it is 0. By default it will now be hidden (sadly a lot of devices do not show it) but anyone who wants to display it can adjust accordingly. There will be 3 user-selectable options related to LTE TA now -- the existing correction option, correction on LTE-TDD (which is independent/in addition to the existing correction option), and TA:0 display. In your case, I'd disable the TDD option and enable the TA:0 option; the defaults will be the opposite of what I think you need.   You did not have to do that, but I sincerely appreciate it, thank you! Beta update is rolling out now, let me know how it goes.
    • In order: This is very helpful to know.  Thanks. That makes a lot of sense, though it's showing me zero rather than nothing; it looks like if it's calculating a negative number, I'm seeing zero instead.  It makes me wonder how many devices you've tested against which use the MediaTek chipset.  This is only the second one I've used, and the first one was very, very old (didn't have B41), so it's possible that the MediaTek chip doesn't need the correction while others do.  Separately, I doubt that a real world case will ever see 1282, so I imagine any value above 1281 could be ignored. I would ask you to please not hide TA values of 0, or if you hide them by default, add an option to not hide them.  I am aware that, for example, the S22 doesn't report a valid TA value and always reports zero, but zero is a legitimate value and is useful to know when trying to identify sites. I'll look forward to your impending update, and I'm going to send along another donation if I can find the link.  Thanks so much, as always!  - Trip
    • I received the reports, thanks! You didn't catch it happening (it captures the diagnostics as soon as you hit send or long-click the connection banner on the main screen), and I had sent you an e-mail to clarify which value was -3.. but your screenshots confirmed my hunch that you meant RSRQ!   I know exactly what is happening here. Somewhere along the way, I learned that TD-LTE bands (33-53) needed a TA correction of -19 applied, and I confirmed it on several devices. Perhaps that is no longer universally true.. but what you're seeing SCP display matches that correction. Below 19 you see nothing, at 19 you see 0, and above that you see TA-19. The upper limit is 1282, which is why you see 1263. Your phone must report 1282 when the TA is unknown, which is not technically safe but I can work around that. Funny enough, I had a change to TA coming in the next update that had nothing to do with your issues.. TA:0 will be hidden moving forward, since several devices report 0 when it cannot be identified. I'll have an app update out shortly that addresses all of this, let me know how it works for you and thanks for the detailed feedback!
    • Mike, We ended up going out this morning to do errands in spite of the tropical storm.  I locked the phone on LTE B41, turned off the TA correction checkbox, and watched it carefully while out and about.  I have four screenshots for you. https://imgur.com/a/kCPTCnB First, I happened to get a screenshot of it doing the -44 dBm thing.  I also tried to send you at least one set of diagnostics showing the -44 dBm but I don't know where precisely in the process it collects the diagnostics.  Hopefully there's something useful in them. The rest of the screenshots are far more interesting.  All three were taken within seconds of each other in the CVS parking lot.  The phone's diagnostic screen shows a TA of 17, and oddly, the SCP diagnostics screenshot also appears to show a TA of 17.  But SCP's normal display is showing 0.  Not entirely sure what to make of that.  It looks like SCP won't show me a value other than 0 until I hit about 19 according to the phone diagnostic screen. It also appears that when SCP is showing a TA of 1263, that's the equivalent of a null value for the TA--no TA is calculated.  The phone diagnostic screen appears to show just "12" when that's happening; the SCP diagnostic screen shows 1282 in the TA section when that happens, a difference of 19, which is highly convenient given what I noted above about the TA value.  (I can't test that the phone diagnostic screen is limited to two characters and is thus truncating 1282 to just "12" as I suspect given where I am right now.  Had I known to be looking for it, I'd have tested in the middle of nowhere yesterday.) Anything catch your eye?  Anything I can do to help more?  - Trip
  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...