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From Moment to Evo for under $100

CriticalCritic

Android Expert
Nov 9, 2009
1,863
554
Cary, NC
Notice: I'm just making this thread to let others that are having SERIOUS issues with the Samsung Moment know the method I used to switch to the Evo without purchasing it outright. This is what I have done and if you attempt to do the same it will be at your own peril. If your Moment is working correctly, then by all means keep it if it is right for you. FWIW, I wouldn't have changed if one of my 6 Moments worked correctly.

FYI: As you may have heard, no matter how bad the Moment has treated you, you cannot swap for an Evo. However, after 3 corporate swaps you will be eligible to change over to almost any other device (aside from the Evo) at the discretion of the corporate store. Again, the following is just my method of going from the Moment to the Evo for under $100 (not including the $10 per month 4G premium), and may not apply to the contract situations of everyone.
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Ok. For starters, I am on an Unlimited family plan sharing minutes. I have 3 phones on my plan, and I had contracts on all three lines (including the Moment).

Step 1. Rather than continue to swap for more Samsung Moment handsets, or move over to another device that is inferior and/or non-compatible, I spoke with Sprint's 'customer retention department' to have the contract on my Samsung Moment phone line cancelled. They did it free of charge and without early termination fees due to the stress of constantly swapping faulty handsets.

Step 2. I swapped the Moment 1 more time through the corporate store. I now have a fresh and cosmetically flawless, still in the plastic, refurb Moment. Without contract.

Step 3. I found an Evo and purchased it as a 4th line to my family plan. Personally I chose to go through RS because they (and BB) have instant rebates so the phone only cost a total of $215 up front rather than $300+.

Step 4. I canceled the Samsung Moment phone line. This was the biggest problem for me because I exhausted every available path for retaining my old phone # without cost... to no avail (I tried swapping phones between the lines, and I tried porting the numbers between contracts). So please take note that although I do have a new Evo, it came at the price of losing my old phone #. However, this isn't a big deal IMO because I have been starting to implement my Google Voice #.

Step 5. I am going to sell my fresh and flawless refurb in order to recoup a large portion of the $215 I spent on the Evo. I expect this Moment, without contract, still in the plastic, with charger, that I have never activated, to easily sell for over $115.

Thus the final result is that I will again have 3 lines on my family plan and I will have the new Evo. The final costs will be that I have spent under $100, I have a new phone #, and it took time to complete the process (swapping the faulty handsets, cancelling the contract, finding an Evo, and selling the fresh refurb Moment).

I will not lie that the above process has been a big headache. But in my opinion it has been worth it to escape from the Moment's issues that have been giving me a headache for the last 8.5 months. Again, I never would have bothered with any of this if I could have gotten my hands on a working handset.:eek:

I really don't care for filling this thread with the "getting something for nothing" comments. If I had the original something, as it was promised to me in the first place... or if the issues had been resolved and not abandoned, I wouldn't have bothered to take this route. So please, only feedback or questions from those that have an interest in this.
 
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Hmmm... I seem to be in a similar situation as you. I want to rid myself of the Moment for another phone.

However, I am no longer under contract with sprint, so no worries of a early termination fee, yet Sprint will not give me a discounted price on a phone to renew yet they want to give me $90 credit on my bill.

I am now thinking about doing what you have done. Swap out for a pristine phone, cancel old contract, start a new one and get discounted new customer price, sell pristine phone to recoupe some of the cost. I think I will try to hold out for the Epic though...
 
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I think I will try to hold out for the Epic though...
;) I considered that but, in my opinion, Samsung has burned me too bad with the Moment. And although the Epic will likely not have nearly the issues that the Moment had, I just couldn't go for another Samsung phone based on principle... that and I just couldn't handle not having data usage for that long.
 
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Hmmm... I seem to be in a similar situation as you. I want to rid myself of the Moment for another phone.

However, I am no longer under contract with sprint, so no worries of a early termination fee, yet Sprint will not give me a discounted price on a phone to renew yet they want to give me $90 credit on my bill.

I am now thinking about doing what you have done. Swap out for a pristine phone, cancel old contract, start a new one and get discounted new customer price, sell pristine phone to recoupe some of the cost. I think I will try to hold out for the Epic though...

In your case you could save your number as well. Instead of dropping the line first, add a second line under contract which will include the discount. Once activated switch you primary number to the new phone THEN drop the primary line. I did this the when i upgraded from a katana 2 to my old rant. New phone for the discounted new customer price and the same number....win win.
 
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In your case you could save your number as well. Instead of dropping the line first, add a second line under contract which will include the discount. Once activated switch you primary number to the new phone THEN drop the primary line. I did this the when i upgraded from a katana 2 to my old rant. New phone for the discounted new customer price and the same number....win win.
I wouldn't hold my breath, as I had covered in step 4 that porting primary numbers between lines no longer works. I did add the second line and try to port before I ever dropped the old line.

It may still be worth giving a shot though... but keep in mind that the new phone is tied to the new phone number, not the new contract. So if you try to separate one from the other, then cancel the new line, they will require the new phone to be returned OR to pay a $200 penalty.
 
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you can walk into any sprint store and get your number back if it hasn't been reassigned. we pay like $4 a month to be able to bring our phone numbers with us wherever we go.
!?!? On the phone sprint said that it had to be transferring from a line that is currently in service. I will check out your suggestion tomorrow. I hope you are right!
 
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!?!? On the phone sprint said that it had to be transferring from a line that is currently in service. I will check out your suggestion tomorrow. I hope you are right!

There's been constant confusion about that policy, or maybe misinformation, but the whole reason everyone pays that ridiculous fee is so that your phone number can stay yours. I know for sure it works between carriers, there's no reason it shouldn't work within sprint.
 
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I went to the Sprint store yesterday and was just given the same reasoning as I had received on the phone with them. They said that if I wanted my old number back, my only option would be to reactivate my 4th line and switch the phones... meaning that I would have to keep and pay for 4 lines.

They made it very clear that they have no problem porting a number if it comes from a different carrier, but they cannot do it within Sprint... they cannot do it within their own company... go figure.:(
 
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On a side note, I saw my first evo today and it made the moment look like a bad toy. I couldn't believe how much more advanced it was and I'm embarrassed to admit I was shocked to see a phone that everything worked on...

It made me happy, sad, and pissed off all at the same time. I'll probably stick it out until the end of the year, but after seeing his evo I think I'm done with the moment, and probably samsung too.
 
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