How to get out of cell phone contract

**NewLeaf** · 01-11-2009, 05:00 PM

I have 1 year left of a 2 year contract and 2 cell phones. It would cost $200/ea. to end the contract early. Does anyone have any ideas for me???? It was a big mistake to get into the contract.

**rasilla** · 01-11-2009, 05:06 PM

There are a few sites where you can swap or sell your phone & contract to someone...

www.celltradeusa.com
www.cellswaper.com

Here is an article about them from the NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/01/te...h/01smart.html). You can google "Cell Phone Trade" and get a few other sites that do the same thing.

Good luck.

**pen32** · 01-26-2009, 12:35 PM

i have been told that if you transfer the phone number from your current provider to another one, it voids the contract. however, you either need to start another contract with a new provider or you need to get a friend that is willing to take over your number for you...

**Contrary Housewife** · 01-26-2009, 03:13 PM

If you have service with Sprint you can currently get "out" free through Jan 31. More information here:

http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/...gh-january-31/

Every provider I know of charges a termination fee equal to the remainder of your contract. They are determined to get your money. The only other time I have seen that rule waived was when my FIL passed away, and then we had to provide a death certificate, and follow up on it twice to get them to stopping billing him.

**Nishu** · 01-26-2009, 05:01 PM

It may be cheaper to downgrade to the absolute bottom of the line service. I've done that before when it was my only option.

**NewLeaf** · 02-03-2009, 09:21 AM

We are going to downgrade to the absolute neccesities and probably not re-up the contract. I just don't like the feeling of being "stuck" in something.

**rainbowgc** · 02-03-2009, 12:33 PM

We had to wait only 6 months to end our contract, then we went with T-Mobile pre-pay and I keep it charged and off so I only use it when I want to use it!

**NewLeaf** · 02-03-2009, 03:06 PM

I too will go with a prepaid when the contract runs out.

**gardening momma** · 02-03-2009, 05:19 PM

Whenever we make changes to our service, it renews the contract for 2 years from that point. So you might want to ask about that before you do it. Once we switched to a plan with a different number of minutes. Another time it was switching to another plan that was basically the same, but cheaper (a promotion they were offering if you start a new contract--current customers can do it too, but you're starting over with a new contract if you do it). Both these times it was ok with us to do that, and we were aware that's what would happen. But in your case, do you want to start over with 2 years to go? Ask before you switch anything.

**FrugalMomof3** · 02-03-2009, 05:31 PM

I have to agree with the above post. When we changed our plan it automatically renewed our contract for another 2 years. Might want to call your current provider and ask them what they can do to help you in these hard times. Maybe just maybe they might give you a break.