Holt Walker says:
I want to upgrade my phone, but it is not time to upgrade through my wireless provider. Can I purchase a phone through amazon to use in place of my current phone?
Maria D. Mena Santiago says:
I have the same question and Iwant to know the answer. Thanks
D. B. says:
Also would like to know if this is possible. Although in my case my contract is up and I'm free to cancel/upgrade. I'd like to stay with sprint but seems silly to pay 179 on their site, but 79 here!
klr4589 says:
If you buy the phones on amazon.com without a contract, it will not run any interference with your plan, at least with AT&T. Because of the SIM card, you can buy a phone anywhere. Not sure how that works for Sprint, but I'm assuming you can still buy the phone without a contract on this site.
Stefanie N. Ritter says:
Do you know if this is the case with Verizon? My phone contract is up in April. I am interested in getting an Iphone. Does anyone know if Verizon is going to get the Iphone?
A. Lohmeyer says:
I'm pretty sure the Iphone is an at&t exclusive. The other cell providers tend to find other manufacturers with a similar phone that they make exclusive to only their services, such as the droid.
T. Alston says:
For what I know, you can buy a new unlocked phone to use with any service provider. You can also buy a phone from Amazon or a store without a contract, however, you may be paying full price for the phone which is extremely expensive. Your Service provider should be able to swap your phone as long as the phone you swapping is cleared (not stolen or still have a bill balance). I know this is how it works with Sprint.
ELLe says:
I believe that the new DROID that Verizon just came out with is the competitor to the IPhone. I've read good reviews on that particular phone, but the DROID ERIS is running a close second. Overall, the ERIS appears to be the better choice after reading & comparing the 2; it just depends on what a person is needing out of the cell phone. My advice is to Google each phone & research them (which I hate to do but it does pay off) to see which one would be the best for you. BTW-I've heard that they're having problems again w/the IPhone so take that into consideration. Good luck :)
- says:
In order to upgrade, you must be at least 21 months into a 24 month contract to be able to get a phone at the greatly-reduced Amazon prices, otherwise, you would need to either buy a phone at the "non-commitment" price or buy an unlocked phone. Either way, expect to pay close to the full retail price of the phone.
It is also important to note that the term "upgrade" offered by Amazon is not used in the conventional sense, unless the rate plan you currently have is the same as one of those Amazon offers. For example, I've had the same rate plan for 7 years (same number of minutes and same price) but it is no longer offered, so for me, to do an "upgrade" through Amazon would in actuality be a big "downgrade".
Alice says:
We have a four-line family share plan with verizon (700 min. talk&text) and are at 22 months contract. Is it possible to get LG chocolate Touch at Amazon instead of at VZW, and still keep our numbers and plan? If we don't have to subscribe the data plan (who needs that when you have to sit in front of computers D&N) then we will go for this models absolutely. Thanks for any feedback!
Sheryl Guess says:
If you buy the phone without a contract, it costs full retail price. so you're not really saving. S.G.
Jan A the CPA says:
This is no longer necessarily true at T-Mobile. TMo now offers discounted monthly rates if you bring your own phone or pay their retail price. Not only that, these plans are month-to-month. You have to do the math on the phone you want, and on the combination of services you want. You could save the difference in the cost of the phone in about a year and not be locked in to a contract, so depending on the phone and services, you probably ARE saving if you can afford to pay for the phone up front. Their phone prices seem pretty good - the full retail price on the Behold II with TMo is significantly less than this Amazon price, I checked them both just now, although new customers ALWAYS get a better deal than current customers - if I wanted to upgrade to the Behold and pay full price I would pay almost 100 more, but I'm still mid-contract, so I have no idea what they would offer me 6 months from now. Anyway, there is a reason they discount the phones when they lock you in - they make more profit over two years.
Keith Gross says:
What do you mean by swap your phone? I currently have Sprint, and although I've been considering switching for a year or so, I wouldn't mind staying. I just don't want a new contract (six-plus years is long enough), and I don't want to have to pay the bogus full price to stay out of contract. Ideally, I could jusy get the same model I have now. I like it, but it's been beat to hell and is fallign apart after 2 years of abuse.
Finally A Happy Shopper says:
if you use a sim card like tmobile does, you just place it into any sim compatible phone and it will use the plan and number associated to that sim. if you do not want to renew for 2 yrs when you are only 6 mos from expiring you do not need to. if you have the older 100 dollar prepaid gets 10 cents everything plan for a year you keep it, if you have newer monthly fee plan, or even a contract and just need a new phone. the sim card is the brain you just replace the body...sort of speak. keep in mind not all plans support all features of the phone you may pick.
Jim Sleeth says:
What nobody has addressed is the different technology used by the different carriers. AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM, while Verizon uses CDMA.
GSM phones use a SIM card, while CDMA phones do not. The only exceptions to this are the so called "Global Phones", such as the Verizon Touch Pro2, which is a CDMA phone that also has a GSM radio with a SIM card.
Make sure any unlocked or contract-free phone you purchase is the right technology for your carrier.
Harkanwar Anand says:
And to add to that Verizon and Sprint both use CDMA where as the other two carriers use GSM. If you want to buy a phone without a contract, they're expensive as already stated. If you have older phones which you purchased in the last year or two you can get a small buyback credit with Sprint when you're doing a contract/upgrade/new line.
Raxorblade2002 says:
Yes, you can. T-Mobile and AT&T use a sym card. Not sure about Verizon or Spring
Harkanwar Anand says:
Spring? hahaha. I work for Sprint. Puuuuleeeze.
Dan Lancaster says:
Kimberly L. Rudisill, your comment was wrong. You can only change sim cards if the phone is compatible. Verizon, Sprint and AT&T are not compatible with each other.
Catherine Gall says:
Tracfone, anyone? I didn't see anyone asking about them. Can I also use unlocked phone with my tracfone prepaid service?K. abbasi says:
Even On Amazon If You Dont Want It Full Price You Need To Upgrade Your Service But Im Pretty Sure You Can Upgrage Anytime.
S. J. Manske says:
You can buy from anywhere, but it has to be a phone from your wireless provider. So if you have Verizon now, you need to purchase a Verizon phone from Amazon or wherever. You can call and ask Verizon about the unlocked phones, I cannot remember if you can or cannot use them. But I bought a phone from my friend and we had the same provider and they hooked it up no problem and my upgrade time stayed the same. I hope this helped you a little.
S. J. Manske says:
You can buy from anywhere, but it has to be a phone from your wireless provider. So if you have Verizon now, you need to purchase a Verizon phone from Amazon or wherever. You can call and ask Verizon about the unlocked phones, I cannot remember if you can or cannot use them. But I bought a phone from my friend and we had the same provider and they hooked it up no problem and my upgrade time stayed the same. I hope this helped you a little.
Wendy D. Hawkins says:
Can you buy a phone here and use it in Canada? I am in a contract with Bell Alliant and my phone broke???READ MORE Upgrade phone without new contract HERE.