So...how are YOU getting out of your current contract?

[MovieCutter]

So, just curious...I'm stuck in a contract with T-Mobile until February 2008...bastards (I thought the phone would come out LAST year, and when it didn't, I gave up and reupped for two years). So how are you going to get out of your contract. If you're with Verizon, you're lucky with the uppage in SMS prices, but for some of us, it's not so easy. :(

[yoda13]

I am with Verizon, but before I found out about that a few minutes ago, I was just going to wait it out....:(

[mac-er]

From a local newspaper:

Q. I have a problem with Sprint. I canceled my service in September. I read something in the newspaper on Oct. 22 that said you could cut the service off for any reason without being charged. - G.T.

A. The article you read was in the Sunday Business section of the Winston-Salem Journal. There isn't a never-fail escape clause in mobile-phone service contracts. Most of the time, if you cancel before the end of your contract, you must pay a termination fee.

However, a customer can get out of the contract through a loophole that allows cancellation if there is a rate increase. The story, which came from The Wall Street Journal, said that this loophole applies to the four major mobile-service providers, Cingular, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon. The cancellation clause is allowed within a certain period of time after customers receive notice of the rate increase.

Your contract should include a section about this provision. (If you don't have your contract handy, the article suggests looking on the carriers' Web site for the policy.)

[mrkramer]

I'm waiting for it to end and hoping that Rev. B will be out by the time my contract with Sprint ends.

[killmoms]

I'm paying out as soon as the phone launches and is readily available.

[Grimace]

If you don't currently have a Verizon SMS plan (to then get out of) - can I add one tomorrow, then be able to terminate early without a penalty? :confused:

[jono_3]

anyone know of a way out of a rogers contract(in canada assuming they will be the carrier)?

[Anonymous Freak]

Eh, don't sign up for 2 year contracts in the first place....

And if your contract will expire by early next year, just wait until then! We'll have the second-gen iPhone by then, and might even have new lower price ones as well.

I'm holding out for an iPhone with iChat AV built in. (And, as I mentioned in another thread, for either the iPhone to come to T-Mobile, or for Cingular to get better data pricing.)

[clevin]

im already out of plan, now im paying month-2-month

[jessica.]

For me, I am with Cingular and locked in for another year on one phone and not locked in on another. Frankly I do not care. For me it comes down to simple math. If it is $150 to get out of my contract with Cingular and the phone is $200 with contract and $400 without (I'm just giving numbers) then it is in fact advantageous for me to buy myself out of my plan and save $50. I have a way to get a free phone but sometimes it means I gotta change my #. I got my Cingular 8125 for $50 and sold it on ebay for $325. I am now in the market for something else which will probably be the slvr or the blackjack. I don't seem to care about the iphone much. Although I always say that and then wind up buying.

[zap2]

Mines been up for a while....I've been waiting around for the iPhone

[MBHockey]

By some stroke of fate, my Verizon contract expires June 19, 2007 :)

[BurtonCCC]

I'm not planning on getting the iPhone, but if I did have to get rid of my current Cingular plan, I'd just tell them how awful their service is and ask them to cancel. It really is bad. As soon as they started running those "the network with the fewest dropped calls" commercials, I started getting dropped calls. Only after those commercials started! Also, when I call my girlfriend, who has Cingular also, it takes about ten seconds before I even hear the ringing noise. When we do get connected, her voice is soft and mumbled with lots of static when she is talking and what sounds like no sound whatsoever when she isn't talking, even though my phone's volume is at a reasonable level. We both use high-quality phones from well-respected manufacturers, so it's not the phones. We also have both made sure that we have five bars of service before getting angry at Cingular as well.

Lame.

Daniel.

[QCassidy352]

I am with Verizon AND my two year contract expires June '07. :D

[njmac]

I don't have a cell phone :) , I don't need a cell phone :) , why do I want this phone so much then? :confused: ;) Damn Apple

[savar]

So, just curious...I'm stuck in a contract with T-Mobile until February 2008...bastards (I thought the phone would come out LAST year, and when it didn't, I gave up and reupped for two years). So how are you going to get out of your contract. If you're with Verizon, you're lucky with the uppage in SMS prices, but for some of us, it's not so easy. :(

I'm not suggesting anybody does this, as its likely illegal, but if you are really at the end of your rope with your cell provider, this DOES work:

Most companies will let you off the hook if you move to an area where they don't provide coverage. So you can either find a big gaping hole on their coverage map, or just pick a foreign country. Then you call and tell them you're moving there, and you found out they don't have service, so you want to cancel. I did this myself because my previous cell phone company (don't want to name names) was crooked and a bunch of liars and I was fed up with their BS.

I read a lot about it on various forums before trying it. I've heard of it backfiring -- the company might ask for proof of change of address or something like that.

In my case they didn't ask for any proof, but it was a little time consuming to negotiate my way into it. Some of the customer service reps are paranoid, and some are just awfully pushy salespeople, and they will offer all kinds of alternatives, like putting your service on extended vacation. (At the low cost of $6 a month! Not including the new contract you have to sign when you come back! Yippee what a deal!) I just told those people I would mull it over, and then called back a little later to deal with somebody else. All told it was 4-5 phone calls and one e-mail, but I got my service canceled with no charges.

I've been with Verizon since then and although the service isn't perfect, its much better than my previous, and at the very least I'm not aware of them having blatantly lied to me, which my old provider did on several occasions -- one occasion compelled me to involve the BBB and I got a large discount for the next few months after that.

I certainly wouldn't do this just because I wanted to get a phone from a different provider. Part of the price of the phone is the obligation to the contract, and I'm happy with my cheap Verizon phone so I will observe the terms of my contract.

My previous contract -- with the hated provider -- was on a phone that I had purchased off eBay. I benefited absolutely ZERO from that contract. The reason I was in it in the first place is related to one of the lies I mentioned above, and that's why I had no problems conning my way out of it.

[solvs]

I'm with Cingular now. I can re-up in Sept. I haven't decided on whether or not to upgrade to the iPhone, but I can if I want to. I have one of those ROKRs, and it isn't great, but it works fine for what I do with it.

[snakelda]

I have verizon but I don't really want to subscribe to cingular just for the phone...I'm waiting 'till iPhone comes to verizon.

[ogee]

I wont "get out early" as I'm disappointed with the Apple phone vaporware.

When I have held one in my hand and had the chance to play with it for a while, I will reconsider, but as for Europe its at least a year away Im not overly bothered about the device.

[iBookG4user]

Currently I'm locked in to a 2 year contract with T-Mobile, but I figure that I can ask my friend (who is moving to Cingular for the iPhone) to buy me one and unlock it and I'll give him $10 for unlocking it. (Just so that if he bricks the phone or something like that then I don't pay)

[Anonymous Freak]

Currently I'm locked in to a 2 year contract with T-Mobile, but I figure that I can ask my friend (who is moving to Cingular for the iPhone) to buy me one and unlock it and I'll give him $10 for unlocking it. (Just so that if he bricks the phone or something like that then I don't pay)

The only problem is that there is presently no known way to unlock the iPhone, and no guarantee that it will even be unlockable. If Apple hard-codes the iPhone to Cingular, then it's stuck on Cingular. (er... "at&t" now.)

Phones only get unlocked when and if an unlocked version of the phone becomes available, and those with debugging tools get their hands on it and figure out how to unlock otherwise locked ones. So hopefully Apple won't sign an exclusive agreement in Europe, that way we only have to wait for the iPhone to come out in Europe before someone figures out how to unlock it.

[dmw007]

I don't have a cell phone :) , I don't need a cell phone :) , why do I want this phone so much then? :confused: ;) Damn Apple


Because it is the best phone ever created! ;) :D :)

[gkarris]

I have an old plan: 1000 minutes, free nights and weekends, mobile to mobile, long distance, nationwide, on T-Mobile for $44.99 - can't beat that anywhere...

[raptor96]

I don't have a cell phone :) , I don't need a cell phone :) , why do I want this phone so much then? :confused: ;) Damn Apple

Because you're the market they want! Come on really, $600 for a phone with no replaceable battery? I've had many a time when I was on a trip and switched out my battery to be able to keep going. I'm not trying to turn this thread on its head but really, if you use your phone heavily...hell if you just keep bluetooth on, your battery's toast on this iPhone...you'll be carrying chargers with you so you can charge while getting lunch, while driving, while at work etc.

In any case...I'm with T-Mobile for like another year with my family's contract. If the iPhone somehow compels I'll probably get Rev B once it's out...though I don't care for AT&T so I'll hope for an unlocked version...

[roland.g]

One of two ways, either wait till February/March 2008 when my contract expires, or if I find myself in the fortunate grace of having my wife want to buy me one for my July B-day present, then I will pony up the $200 contract fee.

Issue is that we made a mistake. Feb/March of 2006 we upgraded her crappy Samsung to a slightly less crappy Motorola V360. Problem is that we had just merged to a family plan and she had upgraded 15 months earlier and wasn't eligible. I had bought an unlocked Nokia 8801 and hadn't used the upgrade in 2+ years for my Sony Ericsson T610 so we had to use my upgrade to get her phone. So she is free to change but I have to wait till next spring. I am the primary and she is the subacct on our plan. Either way we would both have to switch though she would just get some other Cingular phone.

The only other option is that I have complained to T-Mobile several times now about dropped calls and having been a loyal customer since 1999, they may let me out without a fee since the complaints are documented and increasing in frequency.

[Lord Blackadder]

I don't really care much about my phone...it's a tool to me, nothing more. For the record, I have a three year-old Nokia 6010, a phone I imagine few of you would be willing to be caught dead with. :o ;)

Still, the iPhone is pretty cool - even I, a self-professed cell phone luddite, have a small desire to get one. There's really only one thing in the way - the Mac Mini. My daily use computers are all G4s, so I can't justify buying a $600 phone when I'm due for a double Mac upgrade (laptop, tower) within a year or so. Still, when my contract expires I'll have a look at whatever Apple phones are available...if they have a cheaper phone out as is rumored to happen I may go for it.

For the record, cell phone companies are thieves. The way they do business is predatory and it irritates me as much as the RIAA. F them.

[theman5725]

Waiting for my contract to end in 2008. Hopefully by then there will be an iPhone price cut.

[MovieCutter]

For the record, cell phone companies are thieves. The way they do business is predatory and it irritates me as much as the RIAA. F them.

Truer words have never been spoken.

[MattyMac]

I'm one of the lucky ones who is with cingular currently having an expired contract. Just waiting for the day I can sign my name on the iPhone dotted line:D

[OKComputer]

sell my V for 200 on craigslist and pay 175 early termination fee

[wmmk]

I'm on cingular and hope to get an iPhone in a when my current contract expires (I think that'll be october of '08) and I'll be on my HS debate team, which travels nationally on a weekly basis.

[Koodauw]

I am already with cingular, and my contract is up in april. Perfect timing if you ask me. Good luck to all of you who are under contract till past june.

[theman5725]

I'm locked with Verizon until 2008, so I'm just going to wait and see how stuff has changed by then. Hopefully a price drop if anything.

[BenHoleton]

i have Verizon and they keep dropping my calls here in nashville. I am self-employed and my cell is my livelyhood. I plan on raising cain to get out of my contract without paying. Cingular seems to work here in nashville, so it all seems perfect.

[Jedi128]

For the record, cell phone companies are thieves. The way they do business is predatory and it irritates me as much as the RIAA. F them.

Truer words have never been spoken.

Damn Straight.

That is why I have some pay as go from T-Mobile. I buy all my minutes when ever I want and pay zero per month. Not going to let those companies control me! If I feel like spending $600 in June (or will it be April?) maybe I'll get one. I really want one, but its soooo expensive (not to mention being controlled by some company).

Just one other comment, someone mentioned the phone being priced $200 less by cingular.... I think Apple and Cingular both confirmed that that will not happen. Apple is not letting Cingular reduce the price.... there was a rumor about this suggesting that cingular would give free service away instead. Also, I highly doubt Apple will let the phone be unlocked. It is not their style to whore their products out to other companies. I was surprised Steve signed any type of deal with any of the current U.S. brands.... I thought he would make his own service before letting anyone else touch his precious creations...

[miTunes75]

i have Verizon and they keep dropping my calls here in nashville. I am self-employed and my cell is my livelyhood. I plan on raising cain to get out of my contract without paying. Cingular seems to work here in nashville, so it all seems perfect.

Hey Ben: I'm with cingular and I'm in Nashville. It works perfectly here. There is a dead spot on i-65 between 95 & 98, but besides that - I have NOT had a problem yet :)