[shuabert]

What's this fear of being "tied to" a carrier? It's relatively easy to "sell" the remainder of your contract on Kijiji or Craigslist by offering the phone for free.

Posted via CB10

[mokimoki]

So my question is when I buy my priv out right from AT&T will it be unlocked and will I get the updates straight from BlackBerry?

Posted via CB10

[nward2010]

No & No

RED  Q5 SQR100-2/10.3.2.2789 on Bell Mobility Network

[conite]

So my question is when I buy my priv out right from AT&T will it be unlocked and will I get the updates straight from BlackBerry?

Posted via CB10

No. You need a factory-unlocked device, not simply SIM-unlocked.

PassportSQW100-4/10.3.2.2789

[mokimoki]

Thanks conite, so I would be able to use my priv on other networks (GSM) correct, I just won't get the updates straight from BlackBerry ,
can I pay a fee to get it factory unlocked?

Posted via CB10

[conite]

Thanks conite, so I would be able to use my priv on other networks (GSM) correct, I just won't get the updates straight from BlackBerry ,
can I pay a fee to get it factory unlocked?

Posted via CB10

Yes you will be able to use a SIM-unlocked device on other networks. No, you won't get direct updates.

You can't factory-unlock a device after the fact though.

PassportSQW100-4/10.3.2.2789

[JNorth22]

I'm buying my priv out right from AT&T and I live in Bermuda I'm currently on Digicel (GSM), would it be unlocked and can i use it in Bermuda .

Posted via CB10

Shout out to Bermy! My AT&T Z10 automatically connects to Digicel's network when I'm in Bermuda so you should be straight. I'd probably get the Priv direct from BlackBerry just to avoid any issues though, especially if there's not much difference in the price.

Posted via CB10

[BK_NY_RAY]

Paying in installments, jump on demand. Just off the top of my head

Posted via CB10

[mokimoki]

Thanks, so are you Bermudian or do visit often

Posted via CB10

[Dirtymike14]

I'm just curious as to why anyone would purchase a Priv from a carrier instead of directly through BlackBerry. Especially with the focus on security and monthly updates that carriers probably won't provide (at least in a timely manner), I'm wondering what the benefit would be to buying from a carrier and dealing with their bloatware and lack of updates. I thought about the financing aspect, but there are plenty of third party mobile phone financing companies to choose from, so you don't have to use a carrier for that.

I know when I bought my Xperia Z3, the unlocked version from Sony didn't support Band 12 so I had to buy from T-Mobile, and I've regretted it ever since as mine will never be updated to Marshmallow. So I'm wondering if there are other similar reasons to go to a carrier instead of directly through BlackBerry.

I'm due for an upgrade anyways so I figured I may as well get one cheaper on contract rather then fork over 899CAD for one

Posted via CB10

[BoldBigWorm]

I buy mine str8 from Telus for a few reasons. There phones are usually all pentaband. They charge 35 dollars to unlock with no wait time. As far as bloatware goes,they only have one "my telus account". Since OS10 launched they are the first to get blackberry's usually weeks if not months before the other Canadian carriers.

I want my device on launch day and don't trust the mail with such an expensive purchase...

[buwee]

Because if I have any problems I take it back to my carrier's store - they will either send it in for repair or give a new one if it's within 30 days and if they do send it in they will provide me with a loaner of the same calibre. Best of all, I do not have to deal with Digital River & I don't care about wireless charging - I'd rather have the extra LTE bands. Oh, and I can get device care from my carrier for a much better price and coverage too.

[JeromeM]

I must say the device protection is pretty neat, I've used it a few times in the past and since my work covers my plan the $8-$10 a month is paid for, I had a Z10 which wasn't the most performing but it broke and I just had to pay $200 to get a new Z30, Z30 broke so paid $200 to get Passport. Sure paying $200 sucks but if you have to buy a phone outright because yours got damaged that's $500-700 but usually if people are paying out of pocket for their plan they will factor in the $8 a month which I am not since I don't pay.

[Fr3lncr]

From a cost standpoint, in Canada at least, I don't see the point of buying phones from carriers as you are usually better off buying the device yourself.

Example, my 1GB unlimited calling plan on Virgin costs me $45 p/month on a 'bring your own phone' plan. The same plan on Bell costs $80 p/month which is what you'd have to spend getting the Priv through them on contract. That's $35 p/month x 24 month contract or $840 more than what I would pay staying on Virgin plus the cost of the device as it isn't free even on contract. I can't remember the cost exactly but I think it is still $400 on contract so your final cost buying the phone through Bell at least is $1,240 or essentially $400 more than buying it outright and choosing a 'BYOP' plan on Virgin or Kodoo and probably Fido (which is still Bell, Telus and Rogers anyways).

Virgin isn't selling the phone but the equivalent 'platinum' plan which is what you'd have to pay for a device like the Priv is also $80 p/month so the cost would be the same as Bell.

The equivalent Rogers plan is $70 p/month so with them I'd only be spending $600 more over two years than I am paying now plus the cost of the phone at $400 so $1,000 over two years or $160 more than buying it outright from BB.

Admittedly, it would be better if ShopBB dropped the price to $799 CDN and hopefully it will go on sale for maybe Black Friday in the US or Boxing Day in Canada (though I doubt it as I think the Passport was excluded from those sales last year as it was a new device) so I'll go that route if I can't get it through other means.

[keithhackneysmullet]

I never heard of this being possible--to use a CDMA device on GSM network.

The lte bands on Verizon phones are gsm and unlocked by goverment decree. A Verizon iPhone is the same model as a carrier free iPhone

[snowsquirrel]

From a cost standpoint, in Canada at least, I don't see the point of buying phones from carriers as you are usually better off buying the device yourself.

Example, my 1GB unlimited calling plan on Virgin costs me $45 p/month on a 'bring your own phone' plan. The same plan on Bell costs $80 p/month which is what you'd have to spend getting the Priv through them on contract. That's $35 p/month x 24 month contract or $840 more than what I would pay staying on Virgin plus the cost of the device as it isn't free even on contract. I can't remember the cost exactly but I think it is still $400 on contract so your final cost buying the phone through Bell at least is $1,240 or essentially $400 more than buying it outright and choosing a 'BYOP' plan on Virgin or Kodoo and probably Fido (which is still Bell, Telus and Rogers anyways).

Virgin isn't selling the phone but the equivalent 'platinum' plan which is what you'd have to pay for a device like the Priv is also $80 p/month so the cost would be the same as Bell.

The equivalent Rogers plan is $70 p/month so with them I'd only be spending $600 more over two years than I am paying now plus the cost of the phone at $400 so $1,000 over two years or $160 more than buying it outright from BB.

Admittedly, it would be better if ShopBB dropped the price to $799 CDN and hopefully it will go on sale for maybe Black Friday in the US or Boxing Day in Canada (though I doubt it as I think the Passport was excluded from those sales last year as it was a new device) so I'll go that route if I can't get it through other means.

With Telus's new plans, the savings for BYOD is only $20. I would say $20 saving is the point where it starts to make financial sense to buy outright.

With Telus's older plans, you only get a 10% discount for BYOD ($6 i my case). With these older plans, it is anywhere from $200-400 better to get buy on contract. I have a four year old contract, but Telus said I can renew the contract, and still get a device discount. People should check with their carrier about renewal.

I could go to Koodo's BYOD which would be $10/month cheaper than what I currently have. But even at $10/month savings, I still come out ahead on a renewed Telus contract, plus I can continue to share data with my Son.

So I guess everyone has to do the math for their own situation.

~S

[georgethegreek]

My understanding is that the Canadian carriers model has more LTE bands than the shop BlackBerry model. But the shop BlackBerry model has wireless charging which the Canadian model does not. Updates on most Canadian carriers come very quick (so not an issue) . I think I prefer wireless charging model.

Posted via CB10

[snowsquirrel]

Here is a simple formula I use.

D = (U+S)/N

where
D: the monthly discount for BYOD to make contract cost same as non-BYOD.
U: the cost of unlocking the device
S: the subsidy/discount on the phone when buying on contract
N: the number of months you want to compare. Usually this will be 24, but use a different value if you wanted to compare the cost of walking away from contract in x-number of months.

Example:
For most devices Canadian carriers offers a device discount of $500. The unlock cost is $35. So:

D = (35+500)/25
D= $22.30

Thus if the monthly discount is less than $22.30, you will save money by signing a contract and getting discounted phone.

[tpmjb]

As for CDMA phones... that's a different animal. And, as I understand it, not easy at all as current CDMA phones are hardware locked. Sprint, for example, flat out won't allow non-Sprint phones on their network.

Oh, there were ways around that. I'm pretty sure there were legal gray areas involved. Verizon didn't like non-verizon phones on their network. Didn't stop me from running a Samsung Epic 4G on their service, which was branded "Sprint".

That code is troublesome though. I'm pretty sure even three years ago phone devices had started locking out people who attempted more than 3 times. For a brute force method, this makes it impossible to do.

[italia2014]

This may be a dumb question, but a simple one. I have a Blackberry Passport from AT&T. If I buy the Priv myself via Blackberry directly, can I simply switch my nano SIM card daily back and forth between the Priv and Passport (depending on which phone I want to use for the day) and have the phone workable in the Priv? This would be the SIM card I currently have in my Passport from AT&T. Thanks.

[conite]

This may be a dumb question, but a simple one. I have a Blackberry Passport from AT&T. If I buy the Priv myself via Blackberry directly, can I simply switch my nano SIM card daily back and forth between the Priv and Passport (depending on which phone I want to use for the day) and have the phone workable in the Priv? This would be the SIM card I currently have in my Passport from AT&T. Thanks.

Yes you can.

PassportSQW100-4/10.3.2.2789

[gqmovement]

The device being locked is of no concern for me. That would be a case by case issue. Not everyone travels around to the point where they would need an unlocked phone and carry multiple SIM cards with them.

But I do realize that some do.

And, while I don't have any issues with AT&T generally, I personally wouldn't bother them with any problems I have with the phone. I've been trouble-shooting and loading leaked and other carrier OSs on my BlackBerry phones since 2007.

Posted via CB10

I travel a bit, but the main factor for me is moving around providers. If I swap out after a year, I want to take my phone swap sim and move on.

[Stupified]

I highly doubt rogers, or any of the big 3 for that matter would agree to the "regular monthly update program" that Blackberry is putting in place. But it might not be so bad. The canadian carriers are someone decent in pushing updates. I just wish BB had the leverage with carriers the way Apple and Google do to push mandatory OTA updates themselves.

Now i wonder if we will be able to do security updates the way we do with BB10 non-OTA. I know you could update nexus devices once the factory images leaked on the internet.

[buwee]

From a cost standpoint, in Canada at least, I don't see the point of buying phones from carriers as you are usually better off buying the device yourself.

Example, my 1GB unlimited calling plan on Virgin costs me $45 p/month on a 'bring your own phone' plan. The same plan on Bell costs $80 p/month which is what you'd have to spend getting the Priv through them on contract. That's $35 p/month x 24 month contract or $840 more than what I would pay staying on Virgin plus the cost of the device as it isn't free even on contract. I can't remember the cost exactly but I think it is still $400 on contract so your final cost buying the phone through Bell at least is $1,240 or essentially $400 more than buying it outright and choosing a 'BYOP' plan on Virgin or Kodoo and probably Fido (which is still Bell, Telus and Rogers anyways).

Virgin isn't selling the phone but the equivalent 'platinum' plan which is what you'd have to pay for a device like the Priv is also $80 p/month so the cost would be the same as Bell.

The equivalent Rogers plan is $70 p/month so with them I'd only be spending $600 more over two years than I am paying now plus the cost of the phone at $400 so $1,000 over two years or $160 more than buying it outright from BB.

Admittedly, it would be better if ShopBB dropped the price to $799 CDN and hopefully it will go on sale for maybe Black Friday in the US or Boxing Day in Canada (though I doubt it as I think the Passport was excluded from those sales last year as it was a new device) so I'll go that route if I can't get it through other means.

You are referring to in market plans, some of us have $70 plans that are eligible for an upgrade which includes unlimited nationwide calling, 100 minutes of North America calling per month, unlimited texting, 6GB of data, voicemail & caller ID. I'd gladly extend my plan for 2 more years and get a subsidized phone to boot as I would be paying the same amount every month anyway.

[Resilience]

You are referring to in market plans, some of us have $70 plans that are eligible for an upgrade which includes unlimited nationwide calling, 100 minutes of North America calling per month, unlimited texting, 6GB of data, voicemail & caller ID. I'd gladly extend my plan for 2 more years and get a subsidized phone to boot as I would be paying the same amount every month anyway.

That's if they let you keep the plan or move onto their "new and better" aka more expensive plans