Sprint and ATT?

[andrewxie]

Hi guys! Most of you probably know about Sprint's new $50 unlimited plan and the iphone for life deal. I have been a ATT user for awhile now, everything was great until I moved to Seattle. ATT LTE is SO slow here! I know Sprint has lower coverage in the nation compare to ATT. I checked out my friends Sprint 5c, it was so much faster.
So my question is, Can I get a Sprint Iphone 6 at first, then later if I do not like their service, maybe I can unlock the phone and switch back to ATT?
Thanks a lot guys!

 

[Duvi]

Nope. Highly unlikely that it'll be unlock-able this early.

If you don't have unlimited data, then go for it.

Technically you can upgrade with at&t and port to sprint after the 14 days and have them pay part of what you owe for your device on at&t.

 

[michikade]

The Sprint iPhone is CDMA and the AT&T is GSM - which means a lot more when we're talking about EDGE / 3G speeds, but the Sprint iPhone is a different model number than the AT&T one so you may have trouble getting it to work right. Sprint's is the international CDMA version whereas AT&T is the US/Canada/Puerto Rico GSM version.

AT&T: Phone 6 - Model A1549
iPhone 6 Plus - Model A1522

Sprint: iPhone 6 - Model A1586
iPhone 6 Plus - Model A1524

 

[andrewxie]

Thanks Duvi! I am thinking the same thing, but if I want to get my hands on the new iPhone, then I would have to choose either one really. Sprint is great but you can only use Sprint phone on Sprint, plus the whole iPhone for life plan is a lease, not owning the phone if I am understanding this right.

 

[Duvi]

Two ways to do it. Lease and EZ Pay. EZ Pay... You keep the phone after you're done paying for it.

 

[michikade]

Thanks Duvi! I am thinking the same thing, but if I want to get my hands on the new iPhone, then I would have to choose either one really. Sprint is great but you can only use Sprint phone on Sprint, plus the whole iPhone for life plan is a lease, not owning the phone if I am understanding this right.

I called Corporate earlier today and asked, and they said that after the 24 month lease period if you want to keep the phone, all you have to do is pay the balance (so, for example, for a 16gb iPhone 6 you pay $20/month for 24 months and end with a balance of $170 if you want to own it, or you can turn it in). So you can own it if you want. With EasyPay you pay a little more each month, but don't have a remaining balance at the end of 24 months. If you want to upgrade annually with Sprint you need to do EasyPay to keep with the no-money-down phones but if you want to keep it you'd have to pay it off first, of course.

 

[andrewxie]

Michikade, So lets say I pay off the phone after first month, all I need to do from then is just to pay $50 every month. And I will own the phone?

 

[michikade]

Michikade, So lets say I pay off the phone after first month, all I need to do from then is just to pay $50 every month. And I will own the phone?

I didn't ask that far into it, but I don't know if you'll get the extra $10 a month discount if you do (it'd be more like EasyPay at that point, and their monthly unlimited everything plan is $60/month). That's something you may want to speak to Sprint Customer Care about to see how they'd handle that, but chances are good it wouldn't be iPhone For Life plan, it'd be the Unlimited plan with an EasyPay phone paid off.