anyone on iPhone 4S from bestbuy (Full Price, Replace my phone option) on Pageplus?

[virtmaster]

Hi,

Has anyone tried buying an Verizon iphone 4S from bestbuy at full price (Full Price, Replace my phone option) and using it on pageplus? does it even work ? if yes then what about the GSM side of this phone, does it comes unlocked or you can't ever unlock it because you don't have valid verizon plan for 60 days? the main reson i am asking because u need to use the phone offshore as well and don't want to shell out so much $$ to verizon, i am mostly planning for the TnT1200 or $12 plan. any ideas anyone?

Regards.

[sjv]

good question. I thought Apple made only an unlocked GSM variant of that phone for people that want a BYOD offering and GSM does not work with PP which is CDMA. I wouldn't go below the 1200 plan though if this proves to work because the 12 plan will not give you adequate data for that type of phone.

[virtmaster]

Hi sjv, you are right about the apple's factory unlocked phone, but I am talking about the verizon iphone which is available from bestbuy for full price (actually $50 extra, it $699 for base model) using the "replace my iphone at full price" option in the menu. did no one on HoFo every tried this? hmm surprising..
Yep 1200 plan has good data but i am always near WiFi at office and home, and from my usage pattern i haven't even used my at&t 200mb bucket even to 30-40% limit in last 6-7 months and thus i was thinking about 12 plan, anyways true i can always change it so no problem there, thanks anyways. btw i am trying to switch to pageplus in coming month and thus wanted to test this option, which seems nice instead of getting used phones on ebay from some dealer which i have never seen before.

[Boz1]

it $699 for base model) using the "replace my iphone at full price" option in the menu. did no one on HoFo every tried this? hmm surprising.

If nobody else has purchased a new iPhone for $699 to use on PPC, it is probably because 1) it is stupidly expensive, and 2) there is always the possibility, however slight, that PPC or Vzw will remove all iPhones from the PPC system since they aren't officially allowed, leaving the purchaser with a $699 iPhone that can only be used on Vzw, but without the benefit of Vzw's initial contract purchase discount.

[virtmaster]

1) it is stupidly expensive, and 2) there is always the possibility, however slight, that PPC or Vzw will remove all iPhones from the PPC system since they aren't officially allowed

Yep you are absolutely correct, but aren't there ways (gevey 4S) to get its GSM side working on ATT/TMobile/Straight-talk/AV if PagePlus/Verizon bans it? i mean it is not complete brick and there is always ebay/craiglist for help.

anyways the main point being i wanted a new world phone on pageplus, which had GSM side working in other countries and thus was searching for options, i know there are quite a few options there but thought of asking here for help, if anyone had already tried this or something like this, anyways i am inclined to try this in coming month so will include my experience here in case any one else wants to try it, if it works i mean.

[Boz1]

You probably already know it, but there are several options for world phones that aren't iPhones, including Inc2 (Android), and Ozone (WinMo), just to name two. I've seen them both advertised as unlocked, so I suppose it is possible, although I have no personal experience with it.

I haven't noticed if there have been any reports of a Vzw iPhone being unlocked for use on AT&T, TMo, etc.

Good luck, and if you decide to proceed with an iPhone, report on how it goes.

[sjv]

Yep you are absolutely correct, but aren't there ways (gevey 4S) to get its GSM side working on ATT/TMobile/Straight-talk/AV if PagePlus/Verizon bans it? i mean it is not complete brick and there is always ebay/craiglist for help.

anyways the main point being i wanted a new world phone on pageplus, which had GSM side working in other countries and thus was searching for options, i know there are quite a few options there but thought of asking here for help, if anyone had already tried this or something like this, anyways i am inclined to try this in coming month so will include my experience here in case any one else wants to try it, if it works i mean.

That's a very expensive experiment and you could try something else that someone in the StraightTalk forum is discussing doing with ATT. The math works out a bit better but I don't know what Verizon (or ATT) will end up doing. Here's what they are doing. Sign a 2 year contract and get the iPhone for the subsidized price of $199 for an iPhone 4s w/ 16 GB (or $99 for an iPhone 4 w/ 8 GB). Stay on contract for 1 month and the phone is yours, at least according to someone in the other forum. Now terminate the contract with Verizon by porting to PagePlus. You will owe Verizon the EFT (early termination fee) which I think is $175 but could be more for this phone (not sure). Your overhead then is the activation fee + EFT (and whatever percentage of your one month service you consider to be above one month of service you could have had elsewhere).

So theoretically its: $699 vs (199 + 175 + 35 = 409) not including the service differential. I still want to see if it really works out for the StraightTalk person or yourself if you were to try this. I kind of think Verizon would do something to hinder this but who knows. If you're willing to do your $699 experiment maybe you're game for doing it this way.

[virtmaster]

Hi sjv, actually i checked the ETF and it is $350 - $10 for one month usage so total comes about to be ($199 + (CA tax $54) + $350 - $10 + (first month fees) $70 + (activation) $35) = $698, on the other hand, bestbuy has 30 day return policy on all items and at-least the customer rep which i talked to, said it does cover full priced iphones and thus i can return it in less then 30 days. this way i can be sure that if it doesn't work with pageplus or pageplus refuses to activate it then i don't lose anything (atleast the bestbuy customer rep didn't mention any restocking fees, need to confirm it with another customer rep at bestbuy before proceeding).

Hi Boz1, yep i had seen Inc2 but it is available for $599 (i mean at full price, replace my phone option) and thus looking into iphone which was just few $$ extra then this. Also about using verizon/sprint iphones on P+/Ptel here are some details: http://iphone4scdmaunlock.blogspot.in/

the main thing being i want a new world phone, cdma working on P+ and other country sim for roaming purposes.
anyways thanks sjv, Boz1 for help, will update here if my experiment works out.