Does At&T sell phones without contracts?

[darklide]

Does At&T sell phones without contracts?

Or do you have to sign up for a contract then cancel it?

 

[nyydynasty]

all providers sell the phone without a contract for more money, as far as I know.

 

[synjun]

AT&T like most carriers will give you a 30day return and cancel, after that if you cancel you will pay a penalty of around $200.

 

[Baldilocks]

Or you can just buy an AT&T phone on eBay........

 

[darklide]

AT&T like most carriers will give you a 30day return and cancel, after that if you cancel you will pay a penalty of around $200.

So if I were to cancel before the 30 days would I have to give back the phone?

Or you can just buy an AT&T phone on eBay........

Yeah just waiting for the Atrix and don't want to pay $1000.

 

[Baldilocks]

Yes, you would have to give back the phone or be charged a bloated price for it.

If you cancel the contract you'd have to pay $350 early termination fee. (That would put you close to the $1000 dollar mark.)

 

[nb_mitch]

As people have said, all carriers sell phones with a contract or "off contract" price. Most Smart phones that At&t sells right now can be FREE from resellers like Wal-Mart, Wirefly, Amazon with contract and then around $500 without a contract. The Dell Streak is sold from Dell Direct for $399 w/o contract now and you may get some of the older phones cheaper.

The At&t Smart Phone ETF is currently $325 if you cancel prior to 2 years with a deduction in fee of $10 for every month you keep it.

They have a 30 day return policy. I kept my Sony X10 for 29 days before I returned it to Amazon and got my Dell Streak for $99 from Best Buy 3 days later. I have had the Streak now for 21 days and plan to keep it. When you return it, it has to be in original packaging, no damage, etc. Some resellers also have additional limits on how many minutes you used it etc.

At&t also has an early Upgrade fee, which they don't advertise at all, it was $75 after 6 months, not sure what it is now.

 

[MarcMaiden]

Hey guys, I work for AT&T (and tried to buy phones outright from other AT&T stores) and this is my experience with buying phones out of contract:

AT&T will NOT sell a phone out of contract when it is first released (especially for big released) This is the case at my store, and this was the case of the store i tried to buy one of the new windows phone 7 phones from a week after launch.

that being said, the following stores do sell the phones out of contract:

Walmart
Best buy mobile *note* best buy usually charges $50 more for off contract phones than others
Radioshack

Return policy for out of contract purchases:
Walmart - 14 days
BBM - 30 days
RS - 30 days


one more note: BBM now has a plan you can buy with the phone. This plan allows you to trade in your phone for a certain % of the purchase price which is good for us people who trade/buy phones quite a bit. Link: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Misc/Buy-Back-Program/pcmcat230000050010.c?id=pcmcat230000050010

hope that helps!

 

[Segfault]

You can buy AT&T compatible phones without a contract. Nokia sells some of their phones as "North-American versions" which use AT&T 3G bands. Look for them on amazon.

You can also buy a pre-paid AT&T GoPhone and stick an AT&T sim in it. You can get that at Best Buy.

 

[fireonhigh]

usa cell phone industry,is pure sheeeet

 

[charlyee]

As mentioned at&t does sell phones without contract, that's the route I usually take. I bought my X10 the day it came out for $ 350, no contract, with a two year contract it was $150.

 

[PGB1213]

Late to the thread, but incase someone looks later:
AT&T gave me a 4G phone when I inquired. I have no contract with them. (Using 10 cents a minute plan.) They did the same for my wife.
Mine isn't the greatest phone- ZTE Maven, but something. My wife got a "MAven 2" So it does not hurt to ask.

UPDATE- Below my post is a reply from Tube517. That is good advice! By going to an outside vendor, you might be able get a "rooted' phone & skip all the useless or poorly functional pre-loaded apps. (Most of which can't be removed from the device.) There are lots of these space hogging apps on my phone and most of the ZTE ones don't even work!.

 

[tube517]

I would check ebay or amazon or even other sites (overstock.com, woot, etc) first before buying an AT&T (or any other branded device). Sometimes they end up online as overstock, still sealed, at a cheaper price