Thoughts on upgrading to a new Sprint phone then have T-mobile pay ETF, will I save $?

[bigboss35]

Just signed up to the forum. Sorry if this question/idea has been talked about already (please provide a link if so) or if I'm just slow but I'm tired of these Carriers screwing customers so I want to know if anyone has more information.

Currently I'm on Sprint's unlimited plan (4 more months left on my contract paying $90 plus tax) with an iPhone 4s in South Florida. I'm looking at the Nexus 5 (had a Droid Incredible before iPhone) and looking to make the switch to Tmobile. Here's my idea:

Since Tmobile is offering to pay my ETF fee and I don't want to pay Tmobile $400 or $20/month for a Nexus 16gb (which is really worth $350, I should get the 32gb for that amount) does anyone foresee any issues/challenges with upgrading my iPhone to a Nexus 5 at Sprint (currently $99 with a new 2 year agreement) then a month or two down the road switch to Tmobile and have them pay the ETF. I don't believe I am liable for paying off the Nexus 5 at Sprint (I'll have Tmobile pay for it ;D) and telling Tmobile its "my phone" (what confuses me is this Simple Choice Plan that Tmobile intoduced). What would Tmobile say? "This phone can't be used on our network"? (that's my current situation, I cant move to Tmobile because my iPhone 4s is CDMA even though it has GSM components too. It makes no sense)

Is anyone aware of terminating a contract really early (say 2 months in) at Sprint and the consequences besides the ETFs? I'd have to pay a lawyer the total amount of a two year agreement and new phome to look that *ish (contact/agreement) over right lol.

Thanking you in advance for any feedback,

Boss

 

[cerob]

You will just have to pay the ETA to Sprint, but you won't be able to get T-Mobile to pay the ETA because in order for you to get that benefit from T-Mobile you have enough to buy a phone from T-Mobile, If you don't buy a phone from T-Mobile you don't qualify for the offer to pay for your ETF to Sprint (or any other carrier).

Sent from my XT1056 using Tapatalk

 

[Almeuit]

You will just have to pay the ETA to Sprint, but you won't be able to get T-Mobile to pay the ETA because in order for you to get that benefit from T-Mobile you have enough to buy a phone from T-Mobile, If you don't buy a phone from T-Mobile you don't qualify for the offer to pay for your ETF to Sprint (or any other carrier).

Sent from my XT1056 using Tapatalk

This. You have to trade in a working device for T-Mobile to pay the ETF.

Sent from my T-Mobile Note 3 using AC Forums.

 

[weknsmith]

This. You have to trade in a working device for T-Mobile to pay the ETF.

Sent from my T-Mobile Note 3 using AC Forums.

You could trade in your old iPhone to T-Mobile, and then purchase the cheapest phone possible from them. For example, buy a T-Mobile flip phone for around $50.

This is what a T-Mobile representative recommended to me when I was planning on switching over from Sprint. I told him I was going to finance new devices for 3 of my 4 lines but didn't new a device for the fourth. All four of the lines have an ETF, and the only way to get them all paid is to trade in an old device for all lines + purchase a device for each line.

In the end, I stuck with Sprint due to unusable data on T-Mobile when I am out on the road. Speed tests on T-Mobile Edge are 0.01 Mbps on I-70, I-65, and US-31 as soon as I leave the major cities. I spend way too much time on major interstate roads outside of major cities to put up with speeds that are that bad.