Verizon or Unlocked

[MKREdit]

As we approach that crazy time of year when everybody is trying to get there phones ordered on a website that will probably crash an hour in to release the question I have is about unlocked phones.

What is the benefit of ordering an Unlocked phone instead of a Verizon phone and what are the drawbacks?

Keep in mind I would need this information before the 17th since like many of you I'll be repeatedly refreshing the Samsung page to get my order in.

Thanks everybody I really appreciate it.

 

[TheAngryToaster]

As we approach that crazy time of year when everybody is trying to get there phones ordered on a website that will probably crash an hour in to release the question I have is about unlocked phones.

What is the benefit of ordering an Unlocked phone instead of a Verizon phone and what are the drawbacks?

Keep in mind I would need this information before the 17th since like many of you I'll be repeatedly refreshing the Samsung page to get my order in.

Thanks everybody I really appreciate it.

Unlocked doesn't come with all the carrier bloatware that a Verizon phone will come with. That alone is the best reason to get an unlocked device.

Samsungs website isn't going to crash due to an overwhelming number of people trying to pre ordered lol. Those days are long gone, especially given that phones only every have incremental upgrades these days. Less and less people are buying a new phone every year.

 

[Laura Knotek]

Another reason for an unlocked phone is on Verizon phones Call & Text on other devices is not available.

 

[trucksmoveamerica#AC]

A couple things you will not have on the unlocked phone that you will have on a Verizon branded phone that I can think of.

You will not have the video call option on the dial pad on the unlocked

You will not have access to premium call filter on the unlocked. You get the basic but for some reason Verizon will not let you pay for the premium.

I think the biggest benefit of going thru Samsung and buying unlocked is you get the trade in discount immediately. Verizon spreads the discount over 36 monthly credits and if you want to pay off early you lose any remaining credits.

As far as Samsung website crashing, I've never had that, but I've never tried ordering right as the pre-order opens. I've always pre-ordered later on the that day or even a couple days later. We go thru this every year, Samsung does not fulfill orders in the order they received them. I promise you that when orders are being fulfilled there's going to be complaints of people that pre-ordered within 10 minutes of pre-order opening aren't getting their phone on release date but there are ones that ordered a week after pre-order got them 2 days before release date. So my advice is avoid ordering right as the order page pops up and order later that day day, or the next. Point is, don't go out of your way to pre-order early, Samsung fulfilling orders has no rhyme or reason.

 

[mlblack16]

I've read where unlocked devices do not work well on certain networks due to various reason(s), but I've never used one so I have no personal reference. I would dig around on Reddit to see what people are saying.

And as the previous poster mentioned, one advantage is some carriers like to spread your trade-in credit out over 36 months, forcing you to keep your device the entire time to receive the full credit. I just decided to pay mine off after 26 months so that I can get rid of it and trade-in for the S24U.

I've been tempted to go unlocked to bypass AT&T trying to hold that trade-in credit hostage for 3 years.

 

[Katrina White1]

If you're not an annual upgrader and keep your device 3yrs or more, carrier is the way to go. I think they were giving around $800 - $1k for trade ins...as bill credits.

If you're doing a trade in, Going with carrier stores also cuts your anxiety level substantially. Just look at prior preorder threads and you'll see the theft, (possible attempted fraud), lost devices that more are dealing with every year. Mail in trades are a gamble. Most come out unscathed, but more and more are having issues.

 

[trucksmoveamerica#AC]

If you're not an annual upgrader and keep your device 3yrs or more, carrier is the way to go. I think they were giving around $800 - $1k for trade ins...as bill credits.

If you're doing a trade in, Going with carrier stores also cuts your anxiety level substantially. Just look at prior preorder threads and you'll see the theft, (possible attempted fraud), lost devices that more are dealing with every year. Mail in trades are a gamble. Most come out unscathed, but more and more are having issues.

Yes trade INS at carriers are usually a lot less stressful. I know Verizon you hand your trade in to the store and it gets approval or denial right away. You can mail them in, but handing them in at a store takes a lot of stress away.

 

[jamezr]

If you're not an annual upgrader and keep your device 3yrs or more, carrier is the way to go. I think they were giving around $800 - $1k for trade ins...as bill credits.

If you're doing a trade in, Going with carrier stores also cuts your anxiety level substantially. Just look at prior preorder threads and you'll see the theft, (possible attempted fraud), lost devices that more are dealing with every year. Mail in trades are a gamble. Most come out unscathed, but more and more are having issues.

My issue with carrier trade ins are they apply the trade in value over the whole 36 months in bill credits. If you decide to pay the device off earlier then you lose any trade in credits and value

 

[BerryBubbles]

My issue with carrier trade ins are they apply the trade in value over the whole 36 months in bill credits. If you decide to pay the device off earlier then you lose any trade in credits and value

That's definitely annoying.

T-Mobile has been is a little more flexible on that matter. In the past, I have paid off a device early & purchased a different one through a separate retail store & the monthly bill credits from the original device continued. I called T-Mobile first to confirm that I wasn't 'breaking any rules' and they replied it would be fine.

But since the last time I did that, I purchased the unlocked models of N20U & S22U directly from Samsung.

 

[Joshua Luther1]

I will never buy through a carrier because of the 36 month bill credits. You're stuck with the same phone unless you want pay the penalty to get rid of it early. I have gone back and forth with Samsung and Google several times and have gone unlocked.

The last time I went through Verizon, I bought the iPhone 12 pro. After about 4 months I was able to sell it and pay it off. I just couldn't deal with the annoyances or iOS.

It is tempting to go through a carrier because the deals are usually equal to or better than unlocked. But I never know how long I'm going to keep a phone. My last two phones, the Pixel 7 pro and S22+ had issues. I was able to sell them or get a replacement 7 pro and then trade it in for the S23 ultra.

I'm pretty happy with it and don't see myself getting a new phone for a couple of more years. But sometimes it's a crap shoot.

At least buying unlocked, I can sell my phone or trade it in anytime I want. I still have to continue to make payments on it like a credit card or pay it off depending on if I trade it in or sell it.

 

[Rose4uKY]

A couple things you will not have on the unlocked phone that you will have on a Verizon branded phone that I can think of.

You will not have the video call option on the dial pad on the unlocked

You will not have access to premium call filter on the unlocked. You get the basic but for some reason Verizon will not let you pay for the premium.

I think the biggest benefit of going thru Samsung and buying unlocked is you get the trade in discount immediately. Verizon spreads the discount over 36 monthly credits and if you want to pay off early you lose any remaining credits.

As far as Samsung website crashing, I've never had that, but I've never tried ordering right as the pre-order opens. I've always pre-ordered later on the that day or even a couple days later. We go thru this every year, Samsung does not fulfill orders in the order they received them. I promise you that when orders are being fulfilled there's going to be complaints of people that pre-ordered within 10 minutes of pre-order opening aren't getting their phone on release date but there are ones that ordered a week after pre-order got them 2 days before release date. So my advice is avoid ordering right as the order page pops up and order later that day day, or the next. Point is, don't go out of your way to pre-order early, Samsung fulfilling orders has no rhyme or reason.

Oh really hmm I was wondering how they did it cause we usually order that night after work or one time I ordered mine right away and he ordered after work late we work 2nd shift and he got his 1st. We started doing unlocked and than I had a Verizon S21 I think it was but now to buy it outright and trade in without the 36 month Verizon thing you have to do unlocked so were back to unlocked which is fine with us.

 

[Rose4uKY]

I will never buy through a carrier because of the 36 month bill credits. You're stuck with the same phone unless you want pay the penalty to get rid of it early. I have gone back and forth with Samsung and Google several times and have gone unlocked.

The last time I went through Verizon, I bought the iPhone 12 pro. After about 4 months I was able to sell it and pay it off. I just couldn't deal with the annoyances or iOS.

It is tempting to go through a carrier because the deals are usually equal to or better than unlocked. But I never know how long I'm going to keep a phone. My last two phones, the Pixel 7 pro and S22+ had issues. I was able to sell them or get a replacement 7 pro and then trade it in for the S23 ultra.

I'm pretty happy with it and don't see myself getting a new phone for a couple of more years. But sometimes it's a crap shoot.

At least buying unlocked, I can sell my phone or trade it in anytime I want. I still have to continue to make payments on it like a credit card or pay it off depending on if I trade it in or sell it.

Yes we never do that neither we loved owning our phones outright no extra monthly fee and we can trade in whenever we want not owing any on our phones. We just trade in to Samsung and pay the balance off in a month on our credit card and get credit card points plus we use Rakuten.

 

[T48]

Yes we never do that neither we loved owning our phones outright no extra monthly fee and we can trade in whenever we want not owing any on our phones. We just trade in to Samsung and pay the balance off in a month on our credit card and get credit card points plus we use Rakuten.

The last phone I purchased was my Note 9 that I still use daily. Back then, you could take what ever discounts were being offered & the payments had to remain for 6 months. At that point, they would accept payment in full. It was not long afterwards the plans changed to "lock people in" to longer term deals.

I doubt my N9 will have much trade in value to Samsung. So unlocked would be paying virtually 100% of a S24 Ultra. Bleh. Will see what my carrier (ATT) offers on Wednesday.

I do have one question to anyone tho. Is the carrier provided security software worth much? ATT has Call Protect & Active Armor. Surely Verizon has something similar. Just curious if that adds any real value vs unlocked?

 

[Laura Knotek]

The last phone I purchased was my Note 9 that I still use daily. Back then, you could take what ever discounts were being offered & the payments had to remain for 6 months. At that point, they would accept payment in full. It was not long afterwards the plans changed to "lock people in" to longer term deals.

I doubt my N9 will have much trade in value to Samsung. So unlocked would be paying virtually 100% of a S24 Ultra. Bleh. Will see what my carrier (ATT) offers on Wednesday.

I do have one question to anyone tho. Is the carrier provided security software worth much? ATT has Call Protect & Active Armor. Surely Verizon has something similar. Just curious if that adds any real value vs unlocked?

I've never used any security software on any form of Linux, which Android happens to be.

I'm not even using any special security software on desktop Windows nowadays, just the inbuilt Windows Defender.

 

[mlblack16]

The last phone I purchased was my Note 9 that I still use daily. Back then, you could take what ever discounts were being offered & the payments had to remain for 6 months. At that point, they would accept payment in full. It was not long afterwards the plans changed to "lock people in" to longer term deals.

I doubt my N9 will have much trade in value to Samsung. So unlocked would be paying virtually 100% of a S24 Ultra. Bleh. Will see what my carrier (ATT) offers on Wednesday.

I do have one question to anyone tho. Is the carrier provided security software worth much? ATT has Call Protect & Active Armor. Surely Verizon has something similar. Just curious if that adds any real value vs unlocked?

Things could be different, but when I left Verizon to switch to ATT, I would get hammered constantly with spam calls. Verizon appeared to do almost nothing to block these calls AND I was paying them additional premium services to stop it.

My experience since moving to ATT in Nov 2021 is there are times when I may get a call once a day for a few days but then it usually stops. I'll take that any day over the lackluster effort from Verizon. There's always the possibility they have improved in this though.

 

[mustang7757]

My issue with carrier trade ins are they apply the trade in value over the whole 36 months in bill credits. If you decide to pay the device off earlier then you lose any trade in credits and value

That's why i prefer Samsung unlock version and get whatever discount at check out.

 

[T48]

Things could be different, but when I left Verizon to switch to ATT, I would get hammered constantly with spam calls. Verizon appeared to do almost nothing to block these calls AND I was paying them additional premium services to stop it.

My experience since moving to ATT in Nov 2021 is there are times when I may get a call once a day for a few days but then it usually stops. I'll take that any day over the lackluster effort from Verizon. There's always the possibility they have improved in this though.

That does bring back memories of before the call protect thing. It has cut down the spam calls & I did receive one notification about my name & the dark web or some such. It did not amount to much, but was interesting to see that it picked something up. So that would definitely go on the plus side.

 

[scotiez]

I have been buying directly from Samsung. I have Verizon service and I buy a phone for Verizon, but I pay in full and trade in directly to Samsung. Instant credit for my trade in and I don't have to deal with Verizon for taking 36 months to give you your money for your phone which you no longer have. I have been tempted to buy an unlocked version but I like the premium features for call filter, and I do travel a lot so I want good coverage everywhere. I have heard that unlocked phones can be limited to the best coverage. Not sure if it's true or not but that's what i have read in doing research.

 

[pteezay]

1TB storage is available on the unlocked version whereas Verizon only offers 512MB

 

[ClintRo]

I have used several unlocked on Verizon, never an issue that bothered me.