Purchasing

[Porkchopexpress1969]

I have a Note 4 ( love it). But I bought it on the 2 year AT&T subsidized plan. Now that those plans are not offered anymore, and you have to do AT&T Next programs now. So Basically you have to pay for the phone outright, if that is the case now why is AT&T still putting their apps on the phone? If your paying for the phone, (s8 $849) you should be able to get a phone with their crap on it. Am I wrong?

PCE

 

[Aquila]

You are wrong, but you shouldn't be wrong. In a world where everything made sense, you'd be right. But this is a world where nothing but money matters above any individual level.

 

[Porkchopexpress1969]

Agreed, but if I outright pay for the phone, i should have a stock Samsung Note 8. But it wont be. Can you buy these from Samsung?

 

[Aquila]

The S7 and S8 were both available unlocked from Samsung, I can't recall if the Note 7 was but I do expect the Note 8 to be available unlocked, within 1-2 months of launch.

 

[103Softail]

Note 7 here in Australia I bought outright. See no reason why 8 won't be available that way too. That's the only way I will purchase these days, forget plans!

 

[Porkchopexpress1969]

I would like to outright buy it from Samsung for the AT&T network. Hopefully I can do that here in the US

 

[Lepa79]

I would think an unlocked will be available. I honestly would rather do that Next Program with AT&T since I upgrade my phone every year.

 

[iGalione]

The only problem with this theory (which I 1000000% agree with), is that because you are paying for it in monthly installments, through their financing, it is still within the AT&T realm of usage... unless you paid for it outright, and bypassed this altogether... the only thing you run into at that point is that you are purchasing a phone that has their radio tailored to their particular spectrum (even though it can be used, with a degraded service, elsewhere) and not buying it unlocked...

And Samsung, who I love their devices but hate their support model, makes everything dependent on Cell Provider availability, and they suck for updating their unlocked versions on time... It's mind baffling

 

[Bishop_99]

Yeah I bought a Note 4 upfront from T-mobile online the day of the release to use on the MetroPCS. About $800, and not only do they keep their apps in there, they won't unlock it unless you use their service for 40 days. That pisses me off even more, paying $800 and they won't unlock it right away

Thankfully, MetroPCS runs on the same network as T-Mobile, so it didn't need to be unlocked. That just shows another aspect of what you don't have control over even when you pay for the phone upfront at full price.

 

[Aquila]

A huge part of the deal here is that you are not buying the device in the same way that you buy a shirt. You're buying the hardware, sorta, but the software is entirely something you are merely licensing. So you get the software on their terms, no matter how much you pay for it. Technically the hardware they have some recourse on too should they decide to disable their software or use their software to disable it, etc.

 

[Ejjba]

I hate to say this but I would think that besides the tech gurus most people like the additional software because it makes them realize what they can do. After they kind of sort that out they should be able to get rid of what they don't want. I bet most people (not here) don't know how to delete what they don't use
Imho

 

[Aquila]

You're right, most people don't know how - but it also doesn't matter. Even for those who do know how to delete it, it doesn't free up usable space for them, so it's pointless.

 

[Ejjba]

Just a note my wife and grandchildren love all the programs that are on their phones. Lol