Other Will Best Buy sell an "AT&"T" phone without an account?

[LGIR627]

I know that the phones they have are really all the same and not carrier branded until activated. I was wondering if they would sell me one at full price without an AT&T account so that I can use it with my carrier (Cricket). My local store has tons of XS max in stock.

 

[rockitdog]

Yes they will sell a device that is unactivated at full price. I’ve done it before, you can buy it on their website for in store pick up too.

 

[chriscrowlee]

I know that the phones they have are really all the same and not carrier branded until activated. I was wondering if they would sell me one at full price without an AT&T account so that I can use it with my carrier (Cricket). My local store has tons of XS max in stock.

It's a total YMMV... corporate policy is they have to, however some of the stores are doing that thing where they hold them back and say "we're saving these for our activation customers"... remember when someone activates a new or add a line in store, BBY gets $200-500 in commission from the carrier, so even if they're getting 20% margin on selling the devices outright they're still going to far prefer activations.

At least we can be thankful they did away with the "$50 surcharge for buying a device outright" policy after several states slapped them with fines.

Bottom line is they should do it, but you may have to ask for a manager and remind them they're not supposed to be holding back devices for only those wishing to upgrade\add lines.

 

[Steve28]

Do you need to buy from Best Buy? If you buy from Apple, they are for sure unlocked. Last year, I bought a "Verizon" model, popped in my ATT sim and used it. This year, I bought the T-Mobile model and did the same thing.

 

[LGIR627]

I don’t see a way to buy online for in store pickup without selecting a carrier. I’m only considering BB because they have them in stock locally. No one else doesn’t.

 

[chriscrowlee]

I don’t see a way to buy online for in store pickup without selecting a carrier. I’m only considering BB because they have them in stock locally. No one else doesn’t.

Currently the only way they have it for in store pickup is if you were to associate it with a line. Which is nuts because they let you do full price\no contract or activation cost online. If I'm doing the no contract option I don't want BBY to have ANY account info.

But then again I don't understand why anyone would ever chose to buy from BBY over AAPL if there's an option.