But I’d be remiss not to mention that it does have a few advantages, particularly when it comes to the money you spend upfront. I haven’t bought a phone from a carrier in years and I don’t plan to anytime soon. Shopping How to choose the best wireless earbuds for you Counterpoint: The advantages of buying from your carrier It still keeps up with all the latest apps and, thanks to market forces in the world of Android phones, I was able to grab it for hundreds of dollars less than list price. Last year’s Samsung Galaxy S10e has everything I wanted in a phone: a big screen in a more manageable form factor, a great camera and (gasp) a headphone jack. Some carriers do offer pre-owned devices but the selection isn’t nearly as wide as at those other sites.

Sites like Swappa allow you to buy someone’s used phone, while retailers like Amazon and Back Market offer refurbished devices in like-new state - all for a huge discount. Forget promotions, forget Black Friday: The best deals in the land will almost always be on used or refurbished devices. If I haven’t convinced you yet, here’s the biggest reason I don’t like buying phones from carriers: Buying a new phone is almost never a good value proposition. Shopping Shop with a tech expert: Amazon Echo devices You can buy unlocked phones that are used or refurbished - and save You can also buy an unlocked edition of the recently released and budget-friendly Pixel 4a on Amazon and Best Buy, too. The Pixel 4 is compatible with every major US carrier, though, so buying it unlocked allows you to take it wherever you want, whenever you want. While you can buy it from carrier stores like Verizon, it’ll be locked to that carrier for at least 60 days, depending on your agreement. Google offers some of the best Android phones you can buy today, with a clean interface free of pre-installed bloatware. If it doesn’t suit your needs, or if they jack up their prices unexpectedly, you can then hop on over to a new one with no fuss. Many allow you to bring any compatible phone you want, meaning you can just pop in a new SIM card, try out a carrier and move along with your life. There are a lot of great carriers out there, especially the smaller sub-carriers (accurately known as mobile virtual network operators, or MVNOs) like Mint Mobile, Cricket Wireless, Google Fi and Ting, which offer similarly great service at much lower prices than the big four.

are too loyal to our carriers, probably as a result of the contracts we were once forced into. This may not seem like a big deal, but I think we in the U.S.

When you buy a phone from your carrier, it’s locked to that carrier - that is, if you decide to switch carriers, you have to jump through a hoop or two first. Shopping The principles of buying tech that lasts You aren’t locked to one mobile carrier

T-mobile device unlocking