Buying an unlocked phone

[GP_Matt]

So, my wife's phone broke. Broken screen and now the mic doesn't work very either.
She has an S3 with Bell and a year left on her contract. They will let her upgrade early, but it will extend her contract and force her into a new contract. The new contract adds about $25 a month to her plan to keep it similar and getting out will cost $320 to break the contract.

I am interested in switching to Wind next year but need a new phone right away. Can I just go anywhere that sells phones and buy an unlocked phone then switch it over to my Bell account?

Does anyone have a better idea?

[Nammer403]

If you buy an unlocked phone just pop in the SIM card from your existing device and you are good to go

[Anduril]

You won't find simply unlocked devices anywhere. The best alternative is finding a carrier/retailer to sell you a Nexus 5 outright ($350) as that'll be the best option for a number of reasons such as value, fitting your criteria and availability.

Other alternatives include buying a Bell/Virgin locked device and unlocking it down the road but it's hard to pass up on a Nexus 5 based on value in short and long term.

[FlameOn]

Online is your best bet for unlocked devices my friend. Amazon now has an great unlocked phone section as does expansys and NCIX
http://www.expansys.ca/
http://www.amazon.ca/b/ref=sv_Wire_5...ode=3379583011
http://www.ncix.com/category/mobile-phones-90-1216.htm

Also some companies sell unlocked cell phones direct. Google does this, Sony and for a one hour window on the 17th Oneplus will as well
http://store.sony.ca/unlocked-smartp...oid-Smartphone
https://play.google.com/store/devices
http://preorder.oneplus.net/
I've also bought phones locked from a specific carrier and unlocked them from online sites, usually the fees for this are like $5-10 so it's not a bit deal for certain models of phone.

As others have mentioned, you are good with an unlocked phone to pop in any sim card... provided the phone supposes AWS or frequency 1700 for Wind.

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by Anduril

You won't find simply unlocked devices anywhere. The best alternative is finding a carrier/retailer to sell you a Nexus 5 outright ($350) as that'll be the best option for a number of reasons such as value, fitting your criteria and availability.

Other alternatives include buying a Bell/Virgin locked device and unlocking it down the road but it's hard to pass up on a Nexus 5 based on value in short and long term.

Koodo sells them unlocked I think. Also check Kijiji or Craigslist. Getting an older unlocked phone helps tide you over until you switch. Then at least you have a back up when another phone dies too.

[Anduril]

Originally Posted by dammage79

Koodo sells them unlocked I think. Also check Kijiji or Craigslist. Getting an older unlocked phone helps tide you over until you switch. Then at least you have a back up when another phone dies too.

Koodo sold devices will be locked to Koodo. The Nexus have been the only exception for carrier supplied devices with iPhones being a special case.

[Nammer403]

Not too sure if a lot of people use this, but if you are buying a used phone through kijiji I would recommend using this site to make sure you don't get flamed. http://www.protectyourdata.ca/check-...ice-in-canada/

You never know bout people now a days

[DoubleF]

Buy an unlocked phone and use till end of contract. When you switch, keep using that phone. Some providers if you say you have your own phone, you can get a discount on your contract for bringing your own phone. (Ranges from 10% to $10 a month IIRC).

Unlocked phones include but are not limited to...

iphones from the Apple store. iPhones elsewhere might be locked.
Sony Xperia from the Sony store.
Borrowing an unlocked phone from someone for a year. If she's not picky, an ancient dumb phone might work too.
Purchasing a Blackberry phone from the Blackberry website (YMMV)
Other online cellphone purchase
Windows 7 phone (I don't recall any of these being locked, and it's too bad you just missed the guy selling his on the buy and sell forum)

On a side note... who else here has an unlocked phones collecting dust to sell or loan to OP? I know I've seen a few names on the OPO thread. I unfortunately have Fido locked phones only.

@GP_Matt: Changing phones isn't overly complicated. It's as easy as popping your old sim into a new sim (assuming the sims slots are the same size). It's porting info that's the pain in the ass if you have no idea what to do. It's like assembling IKEA furniture with no instructions. But with all things, youtube can teach you anything better than instructions or an article can.

[TopChed]

If you're looking for something cheap to tide her over, Blackberry has recently discounted some of their phones heavily. You can get an unlocked q10 for $200.

Link

Edit: just saw that it's out of stock currently.

[Regular_John]

Maybe give iPhix a call, I know they occasionally buy older unlocked stock and sell it. They recently had a batch of iPhone 4S's unlocked for a few hundred bucks.