Originally Posted by Dillsnik

Unless of course you want to use it on different networks, ie international.

Carrier phone comes with those fat discounts, so i don't know why anyone would ever PREFER to pay full retail?

Yet people say they prefer to do it.

So that you aren't trapped in a 2 year contract. You re-pay that discount you get over the life of the contract. If more people were not locked into contract and went to the lowest priced carriers it would force overall prices down, contracts keep people trapped and thus put less incentive on the companies to lower prices.

I noticed that unlocked phones show they support all the major bands. Whereas the locked phones only show their respective bands. For example: the SGS2 T-Mobile only shows their UMTS bands being 1700/2100, 2100 vs the Unbranded one which has 850/900/1900/2100 and then there's the Gnex that has 850, 900, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100. Does that mean that potentially the unlocked versions could have better 3G+ reception?

I have my M-Defy here and switching basebands to the 850/1700/2100 gave me great 3G reception in my house, whereas my branded Vibrant barely has any 3G reception and often switches to EDGE as I learned it only supports 1700/2100, 1900, 2100. This is also backed up by the fact that unlocked carrier phones are limited to only their GSM speeds since all GSM frequencies are supported on any phone but the UMTS bands are special to each carrier: the iPhone for example plays a huge role here and ever since TMO acquired some AT&T Spectrum: my iphone 3G does get 3G coverage and AT&T's 3G does cover the 850 spectrum.

Freedom.


(One-word response because it's a blanket statement.)

Originally Posted by Jaguar10301

If more people were not locked into contract and went to the lowest priced carriers it would force overall prices down, contracts keep people trapped and thus put less incentive on the companies to lower prices.

No. Quality of service keeps people "trapped." I had a pay as you go phone for years and switched to at&t because their service was better. I got a contract because I got a cheap phone and I could apply a work discount to the plan. I also got a grandfathered data plan.

at&t has free Lumia 900s and an "unlimited" LTE data plan that allegedly they don't start throttling until 5gb. Which non-contract carrier is offering all of that?

If I had a landline and I was just going to do some texting and light voice usage I would go with a pay as you go service assuming it had good voice service in my area. My problem with say Tmobile was its voice service sucked at one place I visited often. There was a time I made two hour drives in rural areas on a regular basis. It sucked. I had a phone and minutes and I couldn't use them because the service was so bad out there. So I just sat in the car for two hours. After about a year of that I joined at&t. Never had a problem with service again.

Originally Posted by Jaguar10301

You re-pay that discount you get over the life of the contract.

With a contract I am buying the NETWORK. Simply getting a contract solely for a phone does not make sense.

Originally Posted by sitizenx

With a contract I am buying the NETWORK. Simply getting a contract solely for a phone does not make sense.

You'd be surprised at just how many people do just that. They renew their contract: use their upgrade to buy the phone, then sell said phone for a premium on Craigslist, Ebay, Amazon, etc. Meanwhile obviously retaining their old phone for use. What does the carrier care? You're still paying their rates so it's not their business to ask what you do with your newly-acquired/newly-sold phones.

unlocked fones accept any sim card. and unlock fones tend to last long