Help Question about $10 smartphones being locked without registration

[jimdays]

There are many $10 (some even $5) smartphones that are being sold. Just walk in, pay the money and walk out with the smartphone (with 2 week instant cash back return policy). I'm surprised these vendors (like Tracfone, Net 10, Verizon, etc) don't lock the smartphones for people that never buy minutes. I bought a LG for $10 and use the device for all that a small computer has to offer. My question is: Are there cases of these cheap computers being disabled if you never buy the minutes?

 

[scary alien]

Not sure they'd be allowed to do that unless there's something in the purchase terms that indicate the phone will "auto-expire".

How would the seller / manufacturer know when you're going to decide to actually activate it? they wouldn't / couldn't of course, so they're just banking on you eventually activating your device and making up their margins then.

Here's a related story I saw on G+ last night:

http://www.dailydot.com/technology/lg-sunrise-terrible-smartphone-great-chromecast-remote/​

Cheers!

 

[jimdays]

OK, if you hear of any of these $10 smartphones offering direct USB OTG support, please let me know. The Walmart LGL 15G does not seem to support direct USB. (means you can connect USB memory stick directly to phone and transfer files.)

 

[mikedt]

OK, if you hear of any of these $10 smartphones offering direct USB OTG support, please let me know. The Walmart LGL 15G does not seem to support direct USB. (means you can connect USB memory stick directly to phone and transfer files.)

It probably doesn't, must budget phones don't have USB OTG. It's a bit of a mid-range to premium feature.

 

[kate]

Are there cases of these cheap computers being disabled if you never buy the minutes?

Adding to what scary said, most are locked to that carrier so a Net10 phone would only activate on Net10. They subsidize the price and most end up being activated.

Most of the $10 ones I've seen are older and low end, it's possible they used to cost more and the price was reduced to clear them out.