Where do I buy a phone without having to get a plan with it?

Question

I just want to give a phone as a gift but don't want to put a plan or anything on it and let the person choose the carrier and plan. I can't seem to find anywhere I can get just a phone and not a plan with it.

Answer 1

You can buy a referbished phone or an unactivated phone from most cell phone stores. You're not going to be able to buy a phone and let the person pick ANY carrier. For example,

Sprint and Verison lock their phones so that no other company can access them, if you were to go with one of these, the person would have only 1 option of where the phone would be used.

Cingular and Sun Com run on a completely different network than Alltel, Sprint, Verision, ect....they run on a GSM network so getting a GSM phone would cut down their choices significantly.

Buying an unactivated phone is going to cost you the big bucks. A much better option would be to let them choose a carrier and plan first and then pay for the cost of their phone and activation fee.

Good luck!

Answer 2

When you say "pick their own carrier" if you buy a phone, you can't use it on any carrier. If you buy an "unlocked" phone, it will only work with Cingular or T-mobile. If you buy a Sprint phone, it will only work with Sprint. Same with Verizon, Alltel, and all the other CDMA carriers. If you REALLY want to buy this person a phone, ask them which carrier they want FIRST, so that you know the phone you buy will work with the carrier they pick.

An unlocked phone is a phone that has no software limitations, therefore you can use it on any GSM carrier. Examples of GSM carriers are Cingular and T-mobile. A non-GSM carriers are Verizon, Sprint, and Alltel. They are CDMA and do not support GSM phones, since GSM and CDMA are incompatible technologies. There is no such thing as an unlocked CDMA phone however. If you a phone on ebay that is branded Sprint, you cant take it to a Verizon store and say "activate please" The reason is GSM phones use a removable chip called a SIM card and CDMA phones use a code called an ESN or MEID. when a CDMA phone is manufactured, the carrier that will eventually sell that phone puts the ESN or MEID into their database of ESN/MEID. These are whitelisted codes. So if a Samsung manufactured for Sprint, say a MM-A900, has its ESN in the Sprint database, you can activate it on Sprint network. Verizon will never put that ESN in the database because they don't sell that model. So if you buy a A900 on Ebay and try to activate on Verizon, the ESN isn't in the database and it wont activate.

The best thing to do in your case is ask the person to decide on a carrier, or just write them a check and tell them to go buy their own phone. The last thing you want is to buy a Sprint phone on Ebay and have the person try to activate it on their new Alltel plan.

For more info, go to the website in my source area. It will answer any other questions you may have.

Thanks

-Wireless Buddy

Answer 3

Ebay is the worst place to buy them! I bought a phone the same way that you are asking to buy one from Ebay and I spent $220 on a phone that didnt work! I am still waiting for Ebay to get my money back for me!

If you want a Motorola phone, go to their site directly!

http://motorola.digitalriver.com/servlet/ControllerServlet?Action=DisplayHomeMotostorShopPage&SiteID=motostor&Locale=en_US&Env=BASE


This link might let you buy the phone without the carrier. If it doesnt then you can call them up like I did at 1-866-Buy-Moto

Answer 4

ebay.. is the best way, but if you do not want a plan then go on phones with minutes you buy. You can buy those phones every where. Try it!!

Answer 5

I got my phone at Walmart....I just go buy minutes by calling a number when ever I want....It is not a plan by any means.

Answer 6

Wal-Mart!
You buy a pre-paid phone, and every month, or year(whickever you choose) you will buy moey amounts to put on it. I recommend the Virgin Mobile Kyocera K10 Royal. That's what I have.


Hope I helped,
♥Maddie♥
a.k.
Understanding Youth

Answer 7

you can get a "go phone" that doesn't require a plan at any cell phone store or big electronics store like Best Buy.

Answer 8

I sell you my old phone for $30. Good luck finding a plan with it.

Answer 9

Cingular. Pay as you go phones allow you to buy the phone and minutes separate. You can also do it at Wal-mart.

Answer 10

Most any department store or ebay. But, you have to be careful with the provider you choose. Most providers require you get their phones. But, maybe that is not a concern to you. Good luck.