getting a metro phone

[corvairbob]

i have a free line thru the wife's account and also the a21 tracfone that i unlocked for metro but i hate that phone. so i'm looking at some phone on metro but they say free with a new line. i see some nord n10 and n20 phones but when i click on the item it tells me to visit a store for the ord n10 and click to buy for the n20 but can anyone tell me if the wife can go to the metro website and order that phone and have my free sim setup to it or maybe get a free line installed and then turn off the free line i have now?

i want to get rid of the a21 as that is a terrible phone. and i hear better reviews on the nord n10 and n20. i prefer the n20 for the greater storage.

does anyone happen to know if she can do this?

 

[svim]

Go here and pick your preference:
https://www.metrobyt-mobile.com/cell-phones/brand/oneplus

Personally I prefer to always by carrier un-locked phones so I don't have to cope with all that carrier branding cruft but that's just me.

 

[corvairbob]

how do you get past the branding? how do you get your phone carrier unlocked? i thought network unlocked and carrier unlocked were the same thing?
i think i will take a road trip next week to the metro store and see if they can get me that nord n20 free or cheap and put my free sim into it. i can get one from ebay but then i have to deal with phone abuse or have to figure out how to do a frp on it so i can turned it on and use it. most of them area google locked. but i did not know you could carrier unlock them and get rid of branding and i'm guessing the carrier bloatware?

thanks

 

[svim]

When you buy a phone from a carrier, the carrier has added their own software (branded apps and utilities) into the Android firmware. Being a part of the installed ROM itself, those are system-level apps and such so you can't Uninstall them. (You 'might' be able to Disable the cruft but you can't Uninstall. That's a part of the problem if you buy a carrier-locked phone and you later want to switch to a different carrier)
There's a reason why carriers can offer phones at such low prices, the phones are essentially 'locked' to that carrier so even though the initial cost is lower, they're going to fleece you by locking you into contracted agreement, and by adding costs to your monthly bills over that contracted time period that 'low cost' phone isn't actually saving you money by the time the contract is finished. Or in other words, buying a carrier-unlocked phone costs more up front but after time it can actually save you money. If you want to avoid that branding, don't buy a phone from a carrier. Buy an carrier-unlocked phone, they're available from any number of retail stores and sites. Then you install your carrier-supplied SIM card.

FRP is an Android service, and not relative to any carrier.
https://www.androidcentral.com/factory-reset-protection-what-you-need-know

 

[corvairbob]

ok a bit over my head i guess. i may jst keep looking on ebay and they do not cost me more that the first price and the sim. i have a free sim number on my phone now. the wife got it a month ago on some type of promotion. i had it shut off 3 times in a week but now for the last month it has stayed on. what i need is more storage. my a21 phone is from tracfone and i had the lg k20 but tracfone shut it off because of the 3g stuff. so they gave me the a21 and then i had it unlocked and put the metro sim in it. but the a21 gives me the storage warning every day and i have 30gb out of 32gb used. so i have to find a 64 or 128 gb phone. one locked to metro may not be an issues being the number is a metro number. the only ting with that number is now i get 5 to 10 scam calls every day. on the tracfone i got may 100 in 11 years. i'm wondoer ing if i can switch my tf number over to metro?
thanks

 

[Fox Mulder]

If you buy a locked carrier-branded phone in the US and maintain paid service with them for a certain amount of time (I forget how long), they are required to allow you to unlock it on request so it can be used on another carrier. However, even though the phone can then be used elsewhere it will still have the same branding and system apps on it as when it was locked. Unlocking a previously carrier-locked phone does not change its firmware.
OTOH, a phone which is manufactured as an unlocked device will not come with any branding or carrier-installed apps. It will operate on any carrier network for which it is designed by inserting a SIM card from that carrier and if necessary registering the phone on their network.

 

[corvairbob]

ok i think i understand that but i have no clue on how to find one. i do see this term on eaby no and then in the description boxes ebay puts up. not the sellers. anyway all i'm interested in is getting a 64 or 128gb storage as teh a21 will not let me adopt the sd card. there is lots of talk about how a21 owners are mad because they got the phone and they are now selling them for that reason. so to save the headache i will just get larger storage.

what i asked was this in the original post that got waylaid

i have a free line thru the wife's account and also the a21 tracfone that i unlocked now so i could put a sim in it from metro but i hate that phone. so i'm looking at some phone on the metro site but they say free with a new line. i see some nord n10 and n20 phones but when i click on the item it tells me to visit a store for the nord n10 and click to buy for the n20 but then i click to buy and it said go to the store.

but can anyone tell me if the wife can go to the metro website and order that phone and have my free sim setup to it or maybe get a free line installed and then turn off the free line i have now? or if we go to the store can i get a larger storage phone and get that free line sim from the a21 phone installed and stay free? of will i just have to take a trip and see for myself?

thanks