How to Get Out of Your Sprint Contract without Paying an Early Termination Fee

Have you been itching to leave Sprint, but you are still on contract?  As it turns out, their terms and conditions have changed recently, and this may mean that you can get out of your Sprint cell phone contract without paying the dreaded early termination fee (or ETF).

This is applicable for people on family plans and have a discount applied on their account.  Basically what Sprint has done is that they have decided that only the first line of your family plan will be able to have a discount (not the additional plans), whereas previously, they did give this discount.  Since this discount will raise most people’s plans prices each month, there are opportunities to get out of your contract without paying the ETF.

Call the Sprint Consumerist Hotline (703-433-4401) and tell them that you would like to cancel your service because of the increase on your bill regarding your discount on your family plan lines.  Make sure to mention that since this is an increase of your bill on your contract, that you do not need to pay the early termination fee.  They should know about this, and if they do not, ask to speak to a manager.  This will be valid as long as they are made aware within 45 days of the change.  Make sure you have a new carrier to port your number to after you cancel your Sprint service.

Enjoy your savings and don’t worry about paying any of the dreaded ETF!

How to Create a Backup of your iPhone

Although it is fairly easy to do, there are still a lot of people that would not entirely know how to create a backup of their iPhone.  Here is a quick guide in case you find yourself unsure of how to create a backup.

•  Plug your iPhone or iPod into your computer
• Load iTunes
• Find your iPhone or iPod on the left side under the Devices section of iTunes
• Right Click on your Device
• Click Backup

How to Put a Passcode on your iPhone

Are people always messing with your iPhone? Or do you just want to make sure your data is safe in case you iPhone gets lost or stolen?  Either way, there are several different situation that making having a passcode on your iPhone a good idea.

With the iPhone, you are able to create a 4 digit passcode to prevent people from getting into your phone’s data.  To do this is simple, and there are also several options you may not have known about including:

• The ability to have a complex multicharacter passcode

• The ability to erase all data after 10 failed passcode attempts

• The ability to require a passcode only after leaving the phone idle for a certain number of minutes.

Here is how you do it:

1)      In your iPhone, go to the “Settings” application

2)      Select “Passcode Lock”, it should be near the bottom of the screen.

3)      Select “Turn Passcode On”, it should be near the top of the screen.

4)      Enter in a 4 digit passcode, and then reenter it once more to confirm.

5)      Now you have a passcode on your iPhone!

In addition, you can add several options:

If you would like a complex password, combining both numbers and letters:

1)      Slide the “Simple Passcode” slider to say off.

2)      Enter in your old passcode

3)      Now you can enter any string of characters as your password.

If you would like your iPhone to only require a passcode after leaving it idle for a certain number of minutes:

1)      Select “Require Passcode: Immediately”

2)      Change to your preference of when you would like the passcode to be required, ranging from 1 minute to 4 hours.

And finally, if you would like your iPhone to erase all of its data in the case of 10 failed passcode attempts:

1)      Slide the “Erase Data” slider to say on.

2)      Confirm on the next page by clicking “Enable”

Be careful as in the case you were to forget your passcode and try 10 times, all of the data on your iPhone will be erased!  However, this can be particularly handy in case you were to get your iPhone lost or stolen and it had sensitive data on it.

And that’s how you put a passcode on your iPhone!

The iPhone Antidote – Now We Buy All Types of iPhones

Up until recently, here at the iPhone Antidote we only purchased the iPhone 4.  Now we are excited to announce that we purchase all types of iPhones in ANY condition!  That means that no matter what kind of iPhone you have, we are willing to buy it!  It does not matter if it is used, broken, or even water damaged.  Heck, your iPhone 4 could be sitting in water right now and we would still be willing to pay $150 for it!

We have discussed earlier why it makes sense to upgrade your phone as soon as possible here (sometimes you can actually make money)!  So why not do it today?

Come give our site a look, and check out our newly updated quote section under the “Let’s Start” heading at the top of the page.

1)      Simply select the model of your iPhone and an instant quote will show up!

2)      Click “Let’s Do It!” located just under the quote, and fill in your shipping information.

3)      Click submit and a prepaid USPS Priority Mail PDF Label will download.

4)      Send your iPhone in using this label.  The label will work for any type of packaging, and works from anywhere in the United States.  Don’t worry about sending in the box or accessories, you can keep those if you would like.

5)      In just a couple of days you will be paid via check or paypal (your preference)!

With payouts up to $400, sell your old iPhone today!

Check Data and Cell Phone Usage for Overage

Have you ever thought you might be a little over budget on your text or data usage for the month? It is easy to check and find out. And if you are actually over your plan for the month, don’t worry, just predate your bill with AT&T here. This can also be quite nice if you are worried about international or roaming usage, as this will show your limits as well as your actual usage.

In order to find out, simply take your phone and dial *3282# and click send. This triggers AT&T to send you a text message which will state the information regarding your plan. It specifies:

a) Your Next Billing Cycle Date
b) Data Usage
c) Text Message Usage
d) International/Roaming Data Usage
e) International Text Message Usage
f) Other Plan-Specific Information Regarding Your Phone Plan

That is it!  Enjoy!

How to Pre-Date your Phone Bill and Avoid Overages

Uh oh.  It happened.  You sent too many texts, used too much data, or called too many people.  Don’t worry, as long as you haven’t actually been billed for the usage, you can actually predate your bill with AT&T.

This can come in particularly handy if you are trying to “get by” with the smallest cell phone service package, if you are traveling and didn’t upgrade to an international or roaming package, or if you just happened to use your phone a little bit more than normal this month.

The process is surprisingly easy, but many people still don’t know that it is an option, and end up paying hundreds, even thousands, in overage fees (international data is billed at a staggering $20,000/GB as opposed to the normal $12.5/GB for domestic data).

First go to https://www.att.com/wireless/ and login to your wireless account.  Then click “My AT&T” and then continue to “Wireless”.  At this point, if you are on a family plan, make sure that you are on the phone number that you want to change the rate plan for.  Click “Manage Features”.

Now you are able to select the features that you want to have on your account (or wished you had at the beginning of this billing period).  Choose the features which you want, and click continue at the bottom.

This brings you to a new page where you are asked to “Select an Effective/Expiration date”.  Now you have the option of three choices:

1) Backdate to the beginning of your billing period

            This is really great in case you are already over your limit for your bill.  This is the primary situation where you can save a considerable amount of money. Say goodbye to cell phone overages!

2) Make effective today

            If you know you are about to start using your phone more, or going traveling starting today, this is the option for you.

3) Future date to the next billing period

            This option is great for those who are well prepared, and don’t want to worry about going over in the future.  Unfortunately, you cannot choose a specific date for the features to be enacted, so you either need to future date it to the next billing period or wait until you actually need the features and choose “Make effective today”

How to Check for Cell Phone Upgrade Eligibility

Have you ever wondered if you could upgrade to a new phone?  Maybe you have had your phone for quite some time, but when you signed up to buy your last phone you had to sign a two year contract.  Many times AT&T and the other major cell phone carriers will allow you to upgrade your phone before your two year contract is up.  This is something that many people do not know, and can be very beneficial (See why upgrading your phone as often as possible is important).

Usually, it turns out that carriers will allow you to get a discount on your new phone every 12-18 months (rather than the 24 months which is agreed upon).  In fact, new iPhones have been released just about every 12 months (with the exception of the 4S which was released 16 months later) and AT&T has almost always allowed for people to upgrade to the new iPhone early, thus giving their customers a $400 discount every 12 months!

So if you are interested in upgrading to the newest and latest phone follow the instructions below.  And if you aren’t interested in upgrading phones, maybe you should read here and see how you could be wasting almost $20 a month.  You might as well upgrade, sell your phone and make a profit!

Luckily, checking to see if you are eligible for an upgrade is pretty simple!  Simply follow the instructions below.

For AT&T:

Grab your AT&T phone and dial:  *639# and press send.

After doing this you will receive a text message shortly after letting you know when you are eligible for an upgrade.

For Verizon:

Verizon is a little bit more complex, but still rather easy.

Simply go to their website here:

http://www.verizonwireless.com/eligible-upgrade.shtml

And type in your cell phone number and email address to find out if you are eligible for an upgrade with Verizon.

For Sprint:

Grab your Spring phone and dial : *2 and press send.

Press 1.

Enter your phone number.

Press 1 to check your upgrade eligibility.

For T-Mobile:

And currently for T-Mobile, it appears as though the only way to find out if you are eligible for an upgrade is to contact them directly, or use this third party website:

http://www.wirefly.com/upgrades/

Stop Wasting Money Every Month (on Your Cell Phone Bill)!

Something tells me you are wasting money every month.  Not a lot, but I bet after you read this you could save anywhere from $5 to $20 a month on your cell phone bill.

It turns out most people are eligible for a discount with their mobile phone service provider, and they don’t even know it.  For example, any student from the University of California is entitled to a 10% discount with AT&T and possibly even more with the other carriers!  A simple 10% discount is very easy to find, and sometimes you can get a discount of up to 25%!  It all depends on your email address.  Do you have an edu email address?  Maybe you just started working at a new company and you have an email address with them?

It is pain-free and very easy to check for and add a discount to your service plan.  You can do it in about 5 minutes.  You don’t need to visit a store or even make any calls.  All that you need to do is check your email address for the discount and then login to your wireless account.

For AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile, the process is amazingly simple.  All you need to do is go to their website and type in your email address (the one with your school, employer, or other organization).  If your email address doesn’t provide you with a discount, look to see if you have another email you could use.  For example, if you used your employer and there was no discount, try using your school, or other organization.

Here are the links to check your discounts (some of them tell you the discount percentage right away, while others require you to login to your account or pretend to start a new account first).  Start saving money today!

AT&T Wireless : https://www.wireless.att.com/business/authenticate/

Verizon Wireless : http://www.verizonwireless.com/employee-discounts-email-authentication.shtml

Sprint: http://sprint.p.delivery.net/m/p/nxt/dev/wdyw.asp

T-Mobile : https://my.t-mobile.com:443/Corporate/Default.aspx

Why it Makes Sense (Dollars) to Upgrade to the iPhone 4S

After the original two years are up on the contract, or whenever they allow for a new upgrade, it makes sense to upgrade your phone.

To illustrate this point, let’s use some numbers. An iPhone 4S 16gb without a contract would cost $600 to buy, but most people would buy it with a two year contract instead and thus pay $200. This equals a $400 savings for using the two year contract, or $16.66 a month savings ($400/24) to stay on a contract with your carrier. So really, by staying on contract you are eligible for a $400 savings every two years.

When you think about it, you should always take advantage of this phone subsidy, as you will likely be staying with the same carrier anyway. Otherwise you are effectively losing $16.66 a month just to have the option to switch phone carriers. Sounds a little expensive!

Even if you did not have any interest in the new iPhone 4S, and you were happy using your old iPhone 4, it would still make sense to upgrade to the 4S and then sell it for the current market price of $600 and make $400, effectively converting your $16.66 a month savings to cash for staying on a contract with your carrier.

Additionally, if you wanted to upgrade to the 4S but you don’t really have the money to pay for the $200 to buy the new one, you could sell your old iPhone 4 to help pay for it. Used iPhones are usually worth a decent amount of money, and often even more than a new one on a contract would cost. For example, if you purchased the 16gb iPhone 4 in June 2010 you paid $200 for it and at the time of this writing, (November 2011, some 16 months later) a used iPhone 4 is still worth about $200. This means that you could sell your old iPhone 4 and have enough money to buy a new iPhone 4S! If you upgraded to the iPhone 4 in June 2010 you would already be eligible for an upgrade now, and that means that you could get the new iPhone 4S FOR FREE!