Switching Carriers Question

[Macnificant]

i ha e been with Verizon for 10 yrs or more.

The account is in my wife's name and we have 2 iPhones and a basic flip phone for her mother on our plan.

I bought the iPhone 7 plus so I have to contract with Verizon and want to try T Mobile for a month or so to see how service is in our area (Buffalo/Niagara Falls).

Can I go to T Mobile and sign up for service on a monthly basis or do they require a commitment?

 

[dictoresno]

did you buy the phone outright from Verizon, full price?
is your wifes line out of contract too?

your best bet may be to buy a t-mobile prepaid SIM card (on sale for $3 on their website with code) and then purchase a monthly prepaid plan to test it out before you port your number over to them entirely.

 

[eyoungren]

i ha e been with Verizon for 10 yrs or more.

The account is in my wife's name and we have 2 iPhones and a basic flip phone for her mother on our plan.

I bought the iPhone 7 plus so I have to contract with Verizon and want to try T Mobile for a month or so to see how service is in our area (Buffalo/Niagara Falls).

Can I go to T Mobile and sign up for service on a monthly basis or do they require a commitment?

They do not require a committment. T-Mobile did away with contracts a long time ago.

But if you buy a phone, they will require you to make monthly payments until it's paid off.

And if you lease a phone, you will also be making monthly payments for 18 months, then you'll be given the chance to either pay the purchase option price, continue paying monthly until the phone is paid off, or turn in the phone and start a new lease.

If you intend to move your phones over you will simply pay the plan price, but there is no guarantee that your Verizon phones will work as well on T-Mobile as they do on Verizon.

Finally, the only plan offered to new customers officially is the T-Mobile One or One+ plans. You can get capped data (up to 10GB I believe) with the older Simple Choice plans, but you HAVE to go to a T-Mobile store to get those. They are not offered online.

 

[chscag]

The T-Mobile capped data plans are the most economical that they offer. My wife and I do not use much data and only pay $79 / month for 2 lines of 3 GB of data each. (unlimited talk and text) Our T-Mobile service here in Dallas - Fort Worth is very good but as pointed out above you need to check how well it is in your area before switching over.

 

[Macnificant]

did you buy the phone outright from Verizon, full price?
is your wifes line out of contract too?

your best bet may be to buy a t-mobile prepaid SIM card (on sale for $3 on their website with code) and then purchase a monthly prepaid plan to test it out before you port your number over to them entirely.

I bought it out right. She has a few 3 months left with Verizon.

I want to try it for a month first before she comes over to T-Mobile
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They do not require a committment. T-Mobile did away with contracts a long time ago.

But if you buy a phone, they will require you to make monthly payments until it's paid off.

And if you lease a phone, you will also be making monthly payments for 18 months, then you'll be given the chance to either pay the purchase option price, continue paying monthly until the phone is paid off, or turn in the phone and start a new lease.

If you intend to move your phones over you will simply pay the plan price, but there is no guarantee that your Verizon phones will work as well on T-Mobile as they do on Verizon.

Finally, the only plan offered to new customers officially is the T-Mobile One or One+ plans. You can get capped data (up to 10GB I believe) with the older Simple Choice plans, but you HAVE to go to a T-Mobile store to get those. They are not offered online.

I bought my phone from an Apple Store but I am with Verizon so isn't the phone unlocked ?

 

[eyoungren]

I bought my phone from an Apple Store but I am with Verizon so isn't the phone unlocked ?

Yes, it's doubly unlocked. Meaning that it was never locked by either Verizon or Apple to begin with.

But unlocked does not mean you have the full capability of the device on other carriers. It may be missing one or two frequencies that T-Mobile uses because the device was intended for Verizon.

 

[dictoresno]

Yes, it's doubly unlocked. Meaning that it was never locked by either Verizon or Apple to begin with.

But unlocked does not mean you have the full capability of the device on other carriers. It may be missing one or two frequencies that T-Mobile uses because the device was intended for Verizon.

The Verizon version has all North American bands. It will work without issue.