Upgrading/Contract Termination

[Raine]

So here's the situation right now: I've only had my iPhone 5S for 7 months out of the 2-year contract, but I'm considering terminating my contract in order to upgrade to the OnePlus One. Hypothetically speaking, in regards to the service, I would have to pay off the remaining device balance, and then move to a prepaid plan right?

[tsizzle · Accepted solution]

If you're buying the phone externally (not from Telus), your options are:

• Keep your contract going & paying your current rates
• Pay off your remaining device balance & you become eligible for their SharePlus BYOD plan ($20 cheaper than the subsidized version) or take one of the other plans and get 10% off
• Pay off device balance & terminate your contract, go to Prepaid / other carrier

If you intend to stay with Telus I would strongly recommend #1 or 2, depending on whether you have the cash available to pay off device balance.

[xray]

You have 2 independent changes in mind.
1) Change your phone.
I believe the OnePlus One is unlocked? You can just put your existing SIM card into it.

2) Change your plan.
Regardless of what you do with your phone you can always pay off your device balance to end the contract. After that you can go to month-to-month, switch to prepaid or leave TELUS.

[Raine]

Ah, okay, so those would be the options I have. Because the last time that I upgraded was from the Z10 to the iPhone 5S, and I had to restart an entirely new contract because at that time, the new law about only having 2-year contracts versus 3-year was enforced. 

[NFtoBC]

I'll happily take your (unlocked) iPhone off your hands.

[tsizzle · Accepted solution]

If you're buying the phone externally (not from Telus), your options are:

• Keep your contract going & paying your current rates
• Pay off your remaining device balance & you become eligible for their SharePlus BYOD plan ($20 cheaper than the subsidized version) or take one of the other plans and get 10% off
• Pay off device balance & terminate your contract, go to Prepaid / other carrier

If you intend to stay with Telus I would strongly recommend #1 or 2, depending on whether you have the cash available to pay off device balance.

[Raine]

In regards to keeping my current contract, I would just be changing my phone, right? But wouldn't that also mean paying off the remaining balance regardless? Because that was what my original assumptions were. 

Either way, my plan was to either sell my phone to a friend who wants it, or trade it in, and then the remaining balance would at least be lowered by ~$250. And based on previous experience with Telus, I would have imagined that I'd have to restart yet another contract instead of continuing the current one. 

[tsizzle · Accepted solution]

If you are not buying the device from Telus, you do not have to pay off your device balance and can just keep going with your current plan, the remaining amount will continue to draw down until the end of your contract.

So to give you an example:

iPhone 5s purchased @ $230, implies a device balance of $490 to start ($720 - 230). 

Monthly DB payment = $20.41

DB remaining after month 7 = $347

You buy the new phone directly from a 3rd party, your device balance continues to go down by $20.41/month until the end of month 24, no need to change your plan. 

Selling your current device to subsidize the One is definitely a good way to go.

[Raine]

Lovely! Thanks for clearing the questions that I have with an example 😄 Made it much easier to understand. All I would have to do is basically get another SIM card since the iPhone 5S uses nano, not micro.