• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Contract loophole?

gmr2048

Lurker
Sep 26, 2010
8
0
DC
Greetings all. I'm Gary. I'm new around here. Been lurkin' for a bit. My SF is due to arrive from Amazon Wireless tomorrow. I've got a theoretical question I'd like some thoughts on...if you can follow my though process :)

I bought my new phone for $0.01 (w/ 2-year contract) from Amazon Wireless. They require you to keep your phone activated for 6 months, else you incur an early termination fee (ETF) from Amazon (in addition to VZW's fees).

Wirefly.com has the SF for $10 (w/ 2-year contract) with (apparently) no add-on ETFs (only the standard VZW ETFs).

Seeing as how VZW announced they were going to tiered data prices in the next few months, that probably means a way out of a contract without paying VZW ETFs (due to the provider changing the contract).

However, if I stick with the Amazon phone, I won't be able to get out of my contract when the opportunity arises (due to being locked into the Amazon-specific contract). If I send the Amazon phone back, and buy one from Wirefly, I should theoretically be able to cancel my contract and get away with a SF for $10 free-and-clear. I can then (hopefully? Anybody know for sure?) sign up for a VZW month-to-month plan and keep it only as long as I want to.

So, my question is: Does that seem like too much hassle for the payoff? Or would being contract-free with a new $500 phone be worth it?

-gary
 
No because current users will be grandfathered into the existing unlimited data plans and won't be automatically switched to tiered data.

Yeah, this pretty much makes it so you can't use the tiered data plan changes as a way out. Verizon actually thought something through, haha, for better or worse...

Frankly, though, as much as I love Amazon and order from them on a weekly basis, I feel weird buying cell phones from them when there are added clauses like that.
 
Upvote 0
Greetings all. I'm Gary. I'm new around here. Been lurkin' for a bit. My SF is due to arrive from Amazon Wireless tomorrow. I've got a theoretical question I'd like some thoughts on...if you can follow my though process :)

I bought my new phone for $0.01 (w/ 2-year contract) from Amazon Wireless. They require you to keep your phone activated for 6 months, else you incur an early termination fee (ETF) from Amazon (in addition to VZW's fees).

Wirefly.com has the SF for $10 (w/ 2-year contract) with (apparently) no add-on ETFs (only the standard VZW ETFs).

Seeing as how VZW announced they were going to tiered data prices in the next few months, that probably means a way out of a contract without paying VZW ETFs (due to the provider changing the contract).

However, if I stick with the Amazon phone, I won't be able to get out of my contract when the opportunity arises (due to being locked into the Amazon-specific contract). If I send the Amazon phone back, and buy one from Wirefly, I should theoretically be able to cancel my contract and get away with a SF for $10 free-and-clear. I can then (hopefully? Anybody know for sure?) sign up for a VZW month-to-month plan and keep it only as long as I want to.

So, my question is: Does that seem like too much hassle for the payoff? Or would being contract-free with a new $500 phone be worth it?

-gary

because the Wirefly SF requires a 2 year contract. Therefore, you couldn't sign up that SF for a month-to-month because it will be under an existing contract. The other posters answered the other part of your post.
 
Upvote 0

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones