Switching from Verizon to T mobile

[Carolinatim]

I want to switch from verizon to t mobile but I have read a lot of conflicting information. I will lay out my plan and hopefully someone can tell me if I have missed anything or if it will work. I am currently on verizon and eligible for a phone upgrade.
1. Upgrade to a new Galaxy S6 or Droid Turbo on the verizon edge plan
2. Cancel my verizon plan and have T mobile pay off the phone like they advertise
3. activate the phone on T mobile (not sure if it will work)
4. Say goodbye to V and save money each month

 

[TisMyDroid]

That's a tough one Carolinatim. The first thing I would do is check with others that currently use t-mobile in areas where you use your phone the most (probably work & home). Find out how their phone reception is for both data and calls. That may be your biggest deciding factor.

sent from my Note3 (soon to be??) using tapatalk

 

[UltraDroid]

There may be another issue. T-Mobile like most of the world uses GSM technology and has SIM cards for their phones. Verizon sells CDMA devices which may or may not use a SIM card.

Sent from my Note 3, using magic and TapaTalk version 2.4.15 ...

 

[Carolinatim]

I did check with a friend who lives close by and coverage is good here. I stopped by a T Mobile office today and asked my questions. The answer I got was that they would pay off the phone, but I had to give them the phone they paid off. I was under the impression that I could give them ANY used phone but he said that was not the case. I could do what I had in my plan but it would not benefit me because they would get the phone in the end.

 

[Carolinatim]

Now I have thought of a plan B. T Mobile says they will also pay any early termination fees if you switch. So plan B is
1. Upgrade my phone which triggers a new 2 year contract and costs me $100-$200
2. cancel the contract and move to T Mobile
3. Let T Mobile pay the ETF
4. Enjoy my new phone and save money. In the event that the phone does not work on T Mobile, sell it on ebay and buy one that does

 

[Jonny Kansas]

I'm so very confused by all of this. You're not going to make any money off of what you've got planned here. Is that what you're trying to do?

Like UltraDroid said, it's different technologies switching between VZW and T-mo. If the phone works on T-mo, it will likely not FULLY work, but I doubt it will work at all.

I'm confused why you would want to upgrade your phone through VZW if you're going to sign a new contract with T-mo. Don't they offer a plan like the Edge Up plan and/or offer deals on phones with new contracts?

I'm not trying to be rude or anything. I'm just not understanding the logic in your plans.

 

[Jeffrey]

The new VZW phones do SIM cards and yes VZW uses CDMA technology. From what I understand, VZW phones have world radios similar to the iPhone 6. But, for some reason they don't work as well as the iPhone. I have read numerous reports from those stating they can receive and make calls on GSM networks but have has difficulty on the Data side.
This would need to be verified with TMO if you plan on using the VZW phone on their network.

 

[mountainbikermark]

The new VZW phones do SIM cards and yes VZW uses CDMA technology. From what I understand, VZW phones have world radios similar to the iPhone 6. But, for some reason they don't work as well as the iPhone. I have read numerous reports from those stating they can receive and make calls on GSM networks but have has difficulty on the Data side.
This would need to be verified with TMO if you plan on using the VZW phone on their network.

The T-Mobile side will have 3g data and not LTE when using a Verizon phone on their network. When I switched to them I brought my old phone to try before buy.

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[pc747]

Unless you have a Nexus 6 or a new moto x (which I doubt because it is not available for purchase) it will be hard to go from Vzw to TMo without buying a new phone (especially if you want to have access to LTE).

Here is my honest suggestion my friend. If you can afford it get a cheap LTE phone that works on TMO and try it out for 3 weeks using it like you would use your vzw device. I say this because many people who stormed out of vzw to tmo ended up going back because tmo's signal is no where near that of vzw in the area they live. In larger cities, especially if you live in or near the center, you can get away with using tmo but outside of that you really want to make sure you will be satisfied with the experience you will be getting on tmo. I left my vzw unlimited data for at&t and barely got it back. When I left the next time I made very well sure I was done.

Did that mean I would have a month where I am paying two cell phone bills? Yup and it was worth it to make sure that I wasn't jumping into a worse situation.

 

[Carolinatim]

I'm so very confused by all of this. You're not going to make any money off of what you've got planned here. Is that what you're trying to do?

Like UltraDroid said, it's different technologies switching between VZW and T-mo. If the phone works on T-mo, it will likely not FULLY work, but I doubt it will work at all.

I'm confused why you would want to upgrade your phone through VZW if you're going to sign a new contract with T-mo. Don't they offer a plan like the Edge Up plan and/or offer deals on phones with new contracts?

I'm not trying to be rude or anything. I'm just not understanding the logic in your plans.

I'm not trying to make money, just minimize my out-of-pocket and get a new phone in the process. I am expecting the Verizon phone to not work on TMobile and I will have to sell it. However, if I just walk into Tmobile I will have to pay full price for a phone, they don't do deals like Verizon because they have no contracts. If I upgrade at Verizon I can get a premium phone for about $200 instead of $700. Once i have the new phone and verify it doesn't work on TMobile I can sell it on ebay for maybe $600 and use that to buy a premium phone that will work on TMobile.

Here's the math: New S6 from TMo = $680. I can Upgrade to a new S6 on Verizon for $200.
Sell Verizon S6 on ebay for $550
Buy TMo S6 on ebay for $600

So if my math holds, I am done with Verizon and the $75/mo I pay and move to TMo for more like $40/mo and have a new phone for about $250. Does that make more sense?

 

[pc747]

I'm not trying to make money, just minimize my out-of-pocket and get a new phone in the process. I am expecting the Verizon phone to not work on TMobile and I will have to sell it. However, if I just walk into Tmobile I will have to pay full price for a phone, they don't do deals like Verizon because they have no contracts. If I upgrade at Verizon I can get a premium phone for about $200 instead of $700. Once i have the new phone and verify it doesn't work on TMobile I can sell it on ebay for maybe $600 and use that to buy a premium phone that will work on TMobile.

Here's the math: New S6 from TMo = $680. I can Upgrade to a new S6 on Verizon for $200.
Sell Verizon S6 on ebay for $550
Buy TMo S6 on ebay for $600

So if my math holds, I am done with Verizon and the $75/mo I pay and move to TMo for more like $40/mo and have a new phone for about $250. Does that make more sense?

Actually you are going to pay retail for a premium phone at verizon. They may not do standard contracts any more but please do not think you are going to go into VZW and pay $200 for a $700 phone and be able to walk out and take it to another carrier (or sell it). For one the only phone you could technically do that with right now would be the Nexus 6, but the other reason is you pay $200 up front with the remaining balance spit into your monthly bill. If you leave before paying off the balance you WILL get a bill for the remaining balance.

 

[Carolinatim]

Actually you are going to pay retail for a premium phone at verizon. They may not do standard contracts any more but please do not think you are going to go into VZW and pay $200 for a $700 phone and be able to walk out and take it to another carrier (or sell it). For one the only phone you could technically do that with right now would be the Nexus 6, but the other reason is you pay $200 up front with the remaining balance spit into your monthly bill. If you leave before paying off the balance you WILL get a bill for the remaining balance.

I'm not sure that is accurate. If I renew my contract for 2 years they give you a discount on the phone. the S6 is $200 with a 2 year contract. If you leave before the contract is done they charge you an early termination fee (which TMo will cover up to $650). To my knowledge that is the only penalty for leaving early and they do not charge you for the phone in addition to the ETF. What you said may be true if you get the phone on their Edge plan though.

 

[pc747]

I'm not sure that is accurate. If I renew my contract for 2 years they give you a discount on the phone. the S6 is $200 with a 2 year contract. If you leave before the contract is done they charge you an early termination fee (which TMo will cover up to $650). To my knowledge that is the only penalty for leaving early and they do not charge you for the phone in addition to the ETF. What you said may be true if you get the phone on their Edge plan though.

If you have a plan and you researched it to the max. Personally I'm not sure that it will work the way you think but you could prove me wrong. I'm willing to to see if this will work...though personally I wouldn't try it.

Search it out and make sure you get everything in writing.

I'll be watching.

 

[Jeffrey]

You are assuming you will get $550. for the S6. Keep in mind, Samsung announced an S6 price reduction last week. A new S6 just may sell for less than $550.

 

[YankInDaSouth]

I'm pretty sure that part of the T-Mo paying off your phone is you turning your device into them and getting a T-Mo branded device...

G4'ed it!