Choosing the right smartphone can be a difficult process and committing to a cellphone provider even more so. The key question being: Am I better off receiving a free or discounted phone by locking myself into a two-year contract – or should I buy an unlocked phone and pay month to month.
If you decide to sign a two-year contract (which used to be three-years not that long ago) gives you the advantage to choose from a wide selection of smartphones at a low, upfront price. This could be a good choice if you are not willing to pay a lot of money upfront, but, everyone needs to know that it could cost more over the long run as your monthly cell phone payments will be higher. One must keep in mind that your “free” phone is not free — it is likely a $600-$900 phone, the cost of which is gradually paid off over the length of your two-year contract.
To start with, it’s a good idea to never go over your contract end date and keep paying the same amount. What happens when your contract expires is that it automatically becomes a month-to-month arrangement at the same price. That is normally not a good thing as the contract amount included the cost of your phone and the service but since your phone is now paid off your monthly payment should be less. With that in mind, you have a couple of choices: get a new phone and sign up for another two-year contract. Or, if your existing phone still meets your needs, ask for a discount or unlock your phone and then shop around for the best package available from all providers.
If you damage your phone, depending on the model you have, you can find people here in the metro area who fix them (especially if it is your common cracked screen) for under a $100. Searching Kijiji.ca (St. John’s) will put you in touch with many skilled screen repair professionals; especially if it is iPhone.
You can also just buy a another new or used phone — or even borrow a phone — from someone. Phone technology changes so fast and new models come out every six months to a year. That means there is a huge “used” phone market out there as many people ditch their year-old phones for a latest version and so you can find and buy a used one for a good price. Keep in mind that the value of a phone drops significantly as soon as a new model comes out so there are plenty of very good phones to be had at discounted prices.
The bottom line is if your phone is unrepairable or lost rather than breaking your contract and paying a hefty penalty to buy a new phone with a new contract with your provider, try and get your hands on a used phone somewhere , unlock it if it is tied to a different carrier, add a new SIM card to restart your service, and continue on with your contract.
If you sign a contract with one of the major carriers and receive a free or reduced-price phone it will be locked to that service provider. For example, if buy into a plan with Rogers and you decide to take that phone to another carrier it will not work until it gets unlocked. Now, over the years many people have complained about this as they wanted the option to use any phone on any network, so now providers will — for a fee unfortunately — unlock your phone making it is a free agent to be used on any wireless network.
To unlock a phone the prices range from $35 to $50 depending on the provider. There were some stipulations that you had to be with your carrier for 90 days before unlocking, but that usually wasn’t an issue as most of the locked phones come with the two-year contract. If you were to buy a phone outright, say from the Apple Store or from Amazon, those would already be unlocked giving you the flexibility to choose the provider with the best plan.
If you have an older model phone, it is sometimes cheaper to go to an unlocking services on the internet such as www.unlockthatphone.com. One thing I will say about these services is to read the reviews first, to see if they are legit and to stay away from the “free” unlocking websites, as some of them might be scams.
Having an unlocked phone just gives you flexibility. If you travel a lot it can be very useful. For example, in Asia or Europe, where cell plans are very cheap, if you had an unlocked phone you could sign-up and use a cell plan while you were overseas and avoid paying high roaming charges.
Another benefit of having an unlocked phone is that you can take advantage of promotions. With an unlocked phone you are basically on a month-to-month contract. If another provider has a promotion, you can easily jump ship and sign up without penalty. With a contract you would not have that option unless you broke your contract which can be very expensive.
