Just wanna put this out here...if you're buying a phone from someone (as in not from your carrier or…
Just wanna put this out here...if you're buying a phone from someone (as in not from your carrier or an actual retailer, you're buying from Craigslist or FB Marketplace or any other sales app), make sure you know your stuff! Everyday, I have people coming in that have been ripped off or who didn't know their info and are stuck with a phone they paid for but can't use.
1: Make sure you aren't overpaying. So, like, the iPhone 7. If you buy it outright from your carrier, it's $650. If someone's asking $800 for it, you're getting ripped off. Know the actual value of the phone!
2: Make sure the phone has been paid for, reset, and unlocked! If you have T-Mobile and you're buying a phone that was originally from AT&T, it has to be unlocked before it can be switched over. The original owner of the phone normally has to be the one who unlocks to ensure it hasn't been lost or stolen, so make sure they do it beforehand to avoid a headache. Also, if that phone is still in contract, the carrier owns that phone and it cannot be brought over to another. Make sure it's been paid off!
3: Make sure the phone can actually be brought over. Different carriers operate off of different towers. Sprint and Verizon are CDMA, AT&T and T-Mobile are GSM. Sometimes if you try to bring a Sprint phone over to AT&T or vice versa, there will be an issue. The sim cards work differently: with CDMA, the SIM card carries no info on the phone other than the number and carrier info, and every new phone comes with its own sim card. With GSM, the SIM card can also contain the data from the phone (contacts, etc) and SIM cards are usually taken out of the old phone and into the new phone. IPhones usually have no issues switching between carriers, but androids can be a headache. Also, not sure about anyone else, but at Sprint, we can't bring over old phones from another carrier. We can bring over iphone 6s and 7, and SOMETIMES a galaxy S7. If you have an old iPhone 5 that's originally a sprint phone, there won't be a problem, but if it's verizon or anyone else, we can't do it.
Please make sure you do your research, ask questions, and make sure everything is good before buying a used phone!
Brianne·
Мама дочки (3 года), беременна (17 нед.)
Yes! I've actually offered to meet people at T-Mobile when I was selling my old iPhone last year. Since I have minimum knowledge of phones I do that. If I ever sell my current one it'll be for only Virgin Mobile. But I hear you can use Virgin Mobile phones on sprint, so id call a sprint or boost store to ask.
Hannah Clark·
Мама дочки (1 год)
@brianne boost and virgin mobile are owned by Sprint, and operate on the same network. Literally the only difference in them are that the two are prepaid and prepaid plans require you to pay for the phone upfront, and with prepaid you pay for the month you're about to go into rather than the month you just came out of.
As for meeting people at the store, I HIGHLY recommend doing so! We can check beforehand if a device is able to come on to our network, and if it isn't, then it will tell us why (not paid off, not unlocked, etc). Plus, if you go through with the sale, then you have documentation that that phone was sold to you! We've had people who have bought a phone, and then the seller goes and reports it as stolen to get a free one from the insurance company.
Brianne·
Мама дочки (3 года), беременна (17 нед.)
Damn! That is so crazy. Good to know! I will definitely keep that in mind.
Heather ·
What credit score does your company look for without a down payment @scurlock.mommy,
Hannah Clark·
Мама дочки (1 год)
@missheatherbaby it just depends. They don't just look at score, they also look at anything you have in collections, if you've had past accounts with Sprint that you have a balance on, etc. Personally, I'm not sure score-wise because the computer automatically does it when we create the account, and it doesn't show what your score is. We just see how many lines you're approved for and if you have an account spending limit (most people do).
If you don't have any credit at all or you aren't approved for a line, or you simply don't want to credit check, we do have the prepaid option. All phones are available, you just have to buy the phone outright. The prepaid helps you build credit, and after 12mos you can switch over to the normal postpaid account.
Also, some phones automatically come with a down payment. For the iPhone 7, it's an automatic $100 down if you want the 128gb, and $200 if you want the 256gb. We also have phones that have a low monthly payment (as low as $5 a month) that require a $25 or $30 down payment simply because the monthly cost of the device is so low.
However, having a down payment isn't a bad thing. It usually makes your monthly payment cheaper. I never have a down payment on my phones, but I usually put $250 down if I can bc it makes my bill cheaper.
Heather ·
@scurlock.mommy, thank you!