Switching cellphone carriers...getting termination fees paid

[Jalapeñomel]

etc. 

Who has done this?  Are you glad you did?  My stupid phone has to have the screen fixed again, so if I have to keep replacing it, it seems I'll end up spending more in the long run anyway.  And with this pay termination fee and low phone payments, it seems like the time to do it. 

But it also seems that there must be a catch.  So any stories out there, positive and/or negative?

[cupcake0214]

I did. I switched to T-Mobile from Verizon. It took awhile to get the giftcard but overall it wasn't bad.

[Jalapeñomel]

Mar 9, 2016 20:42:56 GMT -5 cupcake0214 said:

I did. I switched to T-Mobile from Verizon. It took awhile to get the giftcard but overall it wasn't bad.

Someone mentioned T-Mobile, but I'm worried about their service.  Is it shitty?

[sproctopus]

Mar 9, 2016 20:44:55 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

Mar 9, 2016 20:42:56 GMT -5 cupcake0214 said:

I did. I switched to T-Mobile from Verizon. It took awhile to get the giftcard but overall it wasn't bad.

Someone mentioned T-Mobile, but I'm worried about their service.  Is it shitty?

I've been with them since they were Voicestream. I have never had a bad experience with them. I'm a fan.

[Deleted]

I think it depends on the part of the country you are in, but we have shitty service with any carrier but Verizon whenever we visit H's parents. That may be something to keep in mind.

[sproctopus]

Sorry, I misread the service part. I live in CT. I used to have issues when we traveled to northern Vermont, but it has improved.

[compassrose]

I switched to T mobile from Verizon. They massively upped their coverage last year, so the only places I don't have coverage, my brother with Verizon doesn't either.
They just credited my account for the termination fee on my verizon bill, but we did a t-mobile with a deal through my employer, so it wasn't the usual gift card.

[Aquatica]

It was worth it but I would suggest reading your contract to see if the termination fees are higher for smart phones. It might be worth it to pay to switch the phones on your plan to basic nonsmart phones (cheap ones you could buy used) then deactivate. Like with AT&T, it's $325 for smart phones and $150 for basic phones.

I'd suggest checking out Ting. H and I plan to switch in September when our current contract is up.

[isabel]

We switched to sprint from Verizon when H dropped his phone and completely shattered the screen. It was a relatively painless process. Actually, they are supposed to require you to turn your old phone in when you do it. They didn't make us and things got confused. We got the gift cards to cover the termination fees and I still have my old phone. I need to sell it.

It definitely didn't cut our rate in half after "renting" the new phones, but we are saving about $25 a month.

[Jalapeñomel]

Mar 10, 2016 1:25:01 GMT -5 isabel said:

We switched to sprint from Verizon when H dropped his phone and completely shattered the screen. It was a relatively painless process. Actually, they are supposed to require you to turn your old phone in when you do it. They didn't make us and things got confused. We got the gift cards to cover the termination fees and I still have my old phone. I need to sell it.

It definitely didn't cut our rate in half after "renting" the new phones, but we are saving about $25 a month.

I crunched the numbers, and I think we'd only save like $3. Lol. However, we could get new iPhones instead of the shitty old ones the AT&T gives you for "free" when you upgrade.

[Jalapeñomel]

Mar 10, 2016 0:12:51 GMT -5 Aquatica said:

It was worth it but I would suggest reading your contract to see if the termination fees are higher for smart phones. It might be worth it to pay to switch the phones on your plan to basic nonsmart phones (cheap ones you could buy used) then deactivate. Like with AT&T, it's $325 for smart phones and $150 for basic phones.

I'd suggest checking out Ting. H and I plan to switch in September when our current contract is up.

We have some of these cheap old phones now, so I'll look into that.

I've never heard of Ting.

[Aquatica]

Mar 10, 2016 21:03:37 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

We have some of these cheap old phones now, so I'll look into that.

I've never heard of Ting.

Ting you pay for what you use. It has you put in your last bill usage and shows you how much you could save a month/year and you can see if your phone can come over to their network. It uses the Sprint network.

[OG Jo]

Mar 10, 2016 1:25:01 GMT -5 isabel said:

We switched to sprint from Verizon when H dropped his phone and completely shattered the screen. It was a relatively painless process. Actually, they are supposed to require you to turn your old phone in when you do it. They didn't make us and things got confused. We got the gift cards to cover the termination fees and I still have my old phone. I need to sell it.

It definitely didn't cut our rate in half after "renting" the new phones, but we are saving about $25 a month.

How did you work that out???  We are still struggling with this. 

[jigsy]

I did it, switched from Sprint to T-Mobile. I think the service is great, especially compared to Sprint. But I am in a major metro area, so I imagine most cell phone carriers are good.

I like T-Mobile's "Jump" plan. You are leasing the phone, so you make the monthly payments and you can switch up to 3 times a year (every switch resets the 18 month lease). I initially signed up for it because I was moving from Apple to Samsung, and this would have allowed me to go back to Apple if I didn't like the Samsung...But I love the Samsung, so instead, I just upgraded to the S7.

[Jalapeñomel]

Mar 11, 2016 10:33:25 GMT -5 jigsy said:

I did it, switched from Sprint to T-Mobile. I think the service is great, especially compared to Sprint. But I am in a major metro area, so I imagine most cell phone carriers are good.

I like T-Mobile's "Jump" plan. You are leasing the phone, so you make the monthly payments and you can switch up to 3 times a year (every switch resets the 18 month lease). I initially signed up for it because I was moving from Apple to Samsung, and this would have allowed me to go back to Apple if I didn't like the Samsung...But I love the Samsung, so instead, I just upgraded to the S7.

I wonder if I'd like the Samsung too...I'm intrigued by switching but we are such an apple household.

[OG Jo]

Mar 11, 2016 15:23:11 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

Mar 11, 2016 10:33:25 GMT -5 jigsy said:

I did it, switched from Sprint to T-Mobile. I think the service is great, especially compared to Sprint. But I am in a major metro area, so I imagine most cell phone carriers are good.

I like T-Mobile's "Jump" plan. You are leasing the phone, so you make the monthly payments and you can switch up to 3 times a year (every switch resets the 18 month lease). I initially signed up for it because I was moving from Apple to Samsung, and this would have allowed me to go back to Apple if I didn't like the Samsung...But I love the Samsung, so instead, I just upgraded to the S7.

I wonder if I'd like the Samsung too...I'm intrigued by switching but we are such an apple household.

If you do - please let me know how it goes.  I have wanted to switch but my husband and my dad have basically both washed their hands of helping me if I change!

[panicfoot]

I switched from AT&T to Spring and I really wish I had not.

The total cost to switch both H & I was around ~$900, which I certainly did not anticipate.

Sprint's service is also terrible. We didn't get a signal at all in our old house and our new house is sketchy at best.

[jigsy]

Mar 11, 2016 15:23:11 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

Mar 11, 2016 10:33:25 GMT -5 jigsy said:

I did it, switched from Sprint to T-Mobile. I think the service is great, especially compared to Sprint. But I am in a major metro area, so I imagine most cell phone carriers are good.

I like T-Mobile's "Jump" plan. You are leasing the phone, so you make the monthly payments and you can switch up to 3 times a year (every switch resets the 18 month lease). I initially signed up for it because I was moving from Apple to Samsung, and this would have allowed me to go back to Apple if I didn't like the Samsung...But I love the Samsung, so instead, I just upgraded to the S7.

I wonder if I'd like the Samsung too...I'm intrigued by switching but we are such an apple household.

There was a little learning curve, but it wasn't too bad. I think the trade off of having a superior camera is worth it. 

[Jalapeñomel]

Mar 11, 2016 16:10:42 GMT -5 panicfoot said:

I switched from AT&T to Spring and I really wish I had not.

The total cost to switch both H & I was around ~$900, which I certainly did not anticipate.

Sprint's service is also terrible. We didn't get a signal at all in our old house and our new house is sketchy at best.

We are basically leaning toward Verizon. I just talked to the guy, and without taxes and IPhone 6 (the older models), we are looking at $133 a month without taxes, government surcharges, et al. And that's without the employee discount, so overall we'd get cheaper service and much better phones, although I'd get insurance on both of them this time.

I think they'll only give us $20ish for our old phones but whatever.

[panicfoot]

Mar 11, 2016 16:19:53 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

Mar 11, 2016 16:10:42 GMT -5 panicfoot said:

I switched from AT&T to Spring and I really wish I had not.

The total cost to switch both H & I was around ~$900, which I certainly did not anticipate.

Sprint's service is also terrible. We didn't get a signal at all in our old house and our new house is sketchy at best.

We are basically leaning toward Verizon. I just talked to the guy, and without taxes and IPhone 6 (the older models), we are looking at $133 a month without taxes, government surcharges, et al. And that's without the employee discount, so overall we'd get cheaper service and much better phones, although I'd get insurance on both of them this time.

I think they'll only give us $20ish for our old phones but whatever.

Yeah our bill when we first signed up with Sprint all in was $195. Then, inexplicably a few months later, it was $215. When I called they said they raised the monthly rate of our plan to $60 (each) from $50. They said they sent an email. Thanks? Ugh, Sprint is bullshit. But, it's the devil I know.

[tara]

We switched from a Sprint 3rd party provider (Credo Mobile) to Republic Wireless (also a Sprint provider). I cracked my iPhone screen at almost the same time that our contracts were expiring, so we thankfully were able to make the switch without additional termination fees.

But I wanted to share that we were able to drop our phone bill by $100 a month (Credo was $144 with taxes for 2 phones and RW is now $42 with taxes). We are on almost the exact same plan (unlimited talk, text plus 1GB of data) & are not locked into a contract. Also - whatever data we don't use in a month is refunded to us the following month in the form of a lower bill. But you are required to buy a new phone with RW (none of which are iPhones). We chose a Moto E that was $129.

So far we've been happy with the service and feel the monthly savings were totally worth the switch.

[Jalapeñomel]

Mar 11, 2016 16:27:22 GMT -5 panicfoot said:

Mar 11, 2016 16:19:53 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

We are basically leaning toward Verizon. I just talked to the guy, and without taxes and IPhone 6 (the older models), we are looking at $133 a month without taxes, government surcharges, et al. And that's without the employee discount, so overall we'd get cheaper service and much better phones, although I'd get insurance on both of them this time.

I think they'll only give us $20ish for our old phones but whatever.

Yeah our bill when we first signed up with Sprint all in was $195. Then, inexplicably a few months later, it was $215. When I called they said they raised the monthly rate of our plan to $60 (each) from $50. They said they sent an email. Thanks? Ugh, Sprint is bullshit. But, it's the devil I know.

I keep thinking they'll be a catch, like we'd have to pay some crazy fee somewhere that we missed in reading the fine print (which I don't do well anyway, lol). Or at a AT&T will up,their termination fee, and we'll end up having to pay an additional $260 to terminate and Verizon won't cover it.

Apparently, I am getting old, because change is hard.

[mccallister84]

Mar 9, 2016 20:44:55 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

Mar 9, 2016 20:42:56 GMT -5 cupcake0214 said:

I did. I switched to T-Mobile from Verizon. It took awhile to get the giftcard but overall it wasn't bad.

Someone mentioned T-Mobile, but I'm worried about their service.  Is it shitty?

I have TMobile and think the service is pretty bad. That's going to depend upon area, as has been made clear from this post, so ask around. I'm about 20 minutes outside of a major city for what it's worth.

[lala]

I just ditched AT&T, but since they had changed something on my plan (raising the rates of my internet) I didn't have to pay the ETF. If I had, it was prorated to where I was in my contract.

I kept my phone & switch to cricket. Love it. $35/month for unlimited phone, text & data. They do throttle the data after 2g, but I usually use just under 2.

This does mean I have to buy phones out of pocket, but I think I will still come out ahead. I think the new leasing type plans that all carriers are pushing people towards suck. They're a rip off for some people.

[Jalapeñomel]

Mar 12, 2016 6:40:12 GMT -5 gravytrain225 said:

I've done this twice already. I've never had a problem with it. You have to pay the full tax amount on whatever phone you do purchase that day, even if you do something for $0 down.

So we switched last night, and we paid $90 in taxes for the phones, but we figured we'd have to pay that much to fix the screen on DH's phone anyway, so at least it was going toward new phones instead.

Overall, we don't seem to be really saving any money with the Verizon, and we opted for insurance this time (since I keep dropping my damn phone). But I like that I can change my plan at any time, and when we pay off the phone, it's ours to keep.

[asoctoberfalls]

Mar 12, 2016 7:22:01 GMT -5 lala said:

I just ditched AT&T, but since they had changed something on my plan (raising the rates of my internet) I didn't have to pay the ETF. If I had, it was prorated to where I was in my contract.

I kept my phone & switch to cricket. Love it. $35/month for unlimited phone, text & data. They do throttle the data after 2g, but I usually use just under 2.

This does mean I have to buy phones out of pocket, but I think I will still come out ahead. I think the new leasing type plans that all carriers are pushing people towards suck. They're a rip off for some people.

Whose towers does Cricket use? I'm intrigued. I own my iPhone 6 outright and I'm looking at switching carriers from AT&T. Could I keep my old number?

[lala]

Mar 12, 2016 10:41:10 GMT -5 asoctoberfalls said:

Mar 12, 2016 7:22:01 GMT -5 lala said:

I just ditched AT&T, but since they had changed something on my plan (raising the rates of my internet) I didn't have to pay the ETF. If I had, it was prorated to where I was in my contract.

I kept my phone & switch to cricket. Love it. $35/month for unlimited phone, text & data. They do throttle the data after 2g, but I usually use just under 2.

This does mean I have to buy phones out of pocket, but I think I will still come out ahead. I think the new leasing type plans that all carriers are pushing people towards suck. They're a rip off for some people.

Whose towers does Cricket use? I'm intrigued. I own my iPhone 6 outright and I'm looking at switching carriers from AT&T. Could I keep my old number?

They use AT&T. It was seamless. We had to order the cricket SIM card I think and port my phone #. When the card arrived we popped it into my phone & it was done. No lapse in coverage; we cancelled AT&T the next day.

[isabel]

Mar 11, 2016 10:17:55 GMT -5 OG Jo said:

Mar 10, 2016 1:25:01 GMT -5 isabel said:

We switched to sprint from Verizon when H dropped his phone and completely shattered the screen. It was a relatively painless process. Actually, they are supposed to require you to turn your old phone in when you do it. They didn't make us and things got confused. We got the gift cards to cover the termination fees and I still have my old phone. I need to sell it.

It definitely didn't cut our rate in half after "renting" the new phones, but we are saving about $25 a month.

How did you work that out???  We are still struggling with this. 

Which part?

[OG Jo]

Mar 12, 2016 21:25:34 GMT -5 isabel said:

Mar 11, 2016 10:17:55 GMT -5 OG Jo said:

How did you work that out???  We are still struggling with this. 

Which part?

Getting your termination fee paid without trading in your new phone.

[isabel]

Mar 14, 2016 8:39:23 GMT -5 OG Jo said:

Mar 12, 2016 21:25:34 GMT -5 isabel said:

Which part?

Getting your termination fee paid without trading in your new phone.

Oh, I think it was a total fluke! The guy at the store said he could take our phones right then or they would send us an envelope to mail them in. I wanted to keep my phone because I was concerned about data not transferring. They never sent an envelope, but did send the gift cards to cover the termination fee. I've been waiting to get some kind of charge on my account, but it hasn't happened yet. We signed on for these plans in April last year, so...