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From: Andrew <andys@nospam.com>
Newsgroups: comp.mobile.android,misc.phone.mobile.iphone,uk.telecom.mobile,comp.mobile.ipad
Subject: Re: Phone Trade-ins
Date: Sat, 7 Dec 2024 21:07:35 -0000 (UTC)
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croy wrote on Sat, 07 Dec 2024 12:45:35 -0800 :

> How do phone trade-ins work?  Do I need to send in my old phone first, so
> the seller can verifiy its qualifications, or do I get to keep my old phone
> long enough to get the new one working, and then send my old one in?
> Or....?

I don't know how they do trade-in phone processes in the UK & Europe (maybe
others on this ng can let us all know so that we all learn from each
other), and I don't know how pre-paid phone plan trade-ins work, but I do
have experience with post-paid trade-in processes for my USA T-Mobile
phones (currently Samsung Galaxy A32-5G phones & an iPhone 16 Pro Max).

Plus a half dozen or so iPads & Android tablets, only two with
free-for-life SIM cards which are limited to 200MB per month.
 <https://i.postimg.cc/nhpbcP50/tmopromo04.jpg> 

1. The only correct answer is from the entity (a carrier perhaps?)
   who is performing the trade-in process... and even then.... 
   call them twice and ask the same question, you can get two 
   different answers. Ask me how I know this.

2. I've done iPhone and Android trade-ins with T-Mobile USA, so I can 
   only tell you how "they" handled their trade-in process (& even then,
   every trade-in deal can be different).

3. For the iPhones, T-Mobile gave me half off the old iPhones and sent
   me the new iPhones and at first "debited" me the full price until 
   I sent in the trade-in old iPhones and then they instantly reduced
   the cost and charged me monthly 1/24th of that cost on my bill.
   <https://i.postimg.cc/YC1B906F/tmopromo01.jpg>

   Note that the old iPhones must be *evaluated* by T-Mobile where the
   rules are they must not have a broken screen & they must power up.

   Note that you do NOT send them the charger or cables or case.
   Just the phone with the battery in it.

   Note that you have a "lien" on your bill for 24 months of that
   half price of the iPhone. This "lien" is reduced by 1/24th
   every month until it goes to zero and at that point, T-Mobile 
   automatically unlocks the phone from their factory over the air.

   I only had to pay the $20 California sales tax of 10% on the MSRP.

4. The rules were similar for the handful of Android phones, only the 
   trade-in for the Android phones was that we had to give them *any*
   phone whatsoever (even an old flip phone or kyocera or whatever!).

   That old phone (any phone whatsoever!) had to not have a broken
   screen and it had to power up - but that's all it had to do. 

   Again, they didn't care about the charger or the case or the cables.
   Just the phone with the battery inside of it.

   In this case, they gave us full price off so the handful of Android
   phones were free. <https://i.postimg.cc/Xq5SpS4D/tmopromo02.jpg> 

   Note that you have a "lien" on your bill for 24 months of the full
   MSRP price of the Android phone. This "lien" is reduced by 1/24th
   every month until it goes to zero and at that point, T-Mobile 
   automatically unlocks the phone from their factory over the air.

5. In the case of the Android phone, I broke it twice (because I 
   experiment with phones so most of the bricking was my own fault
   most likely, but that doesn't matter).

   T-Mobile replaced the phone twice, under warranty, where they 
   insisted that you bring the broken phone to the T-Mobile store 
   to get it evaluated before they hand you your new replacement phone. 

   For this, T-Mobile charged $20 the first time, and then a year later,
   for the second phone, it was $25 dollars (due to inflation alone). 
   But I argued I shouldn't have to pay that so they credited my bill
   both times, meaning the warranty was free (but I had to pay for my
   gas to get to the nearest T-Mobile store to effect the swap).

   At the store, T-Mobile offered to bring over my data and setup from
   the old phone to the new phone, but since that's so trivial to do, 
   I told them I'd do it myself (since I plan ahead for that by years).

   So the phone was free, and the two replacements were free. 

   I only had to pay the $20 California sales tax of 10% on the MSRP.

6. There is no contract with T-Mobile so the cost of your monthly bill
   does not change (other than the sales tax you have to pay initially).

   There is no extension of your bill period because it's already a 
   month-to-month bill that you can cancel sans penalty at any time.

   However... if you do cancel, say, oh, after about a year, then 
   you owe T-Mobile the remaining "lien" on the phone, which, even 
   if that happens, means you got the phone for half price.

Basically, you can't lose as you pay nothing for Android Galaxy phones, 
and you pay about half price for Apple iPhones.

YMMV