<\/p>\n
Cancelling your cell phone plan can cost you $100s, depending on who your carrier is.\n<\/p>\n
Sadly though, many of us are unhappy with our current contracts and would like to end them early.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, many of us are locked into pretty long contracts with early termination fees.<\/p>\n
In fact, in one survey<\/a>, 36% of participants said they had a contract of 24 months!<\/p>\n But, is it possible to get out of a cell phone contract without paying fees?<\/p>\n It is!<\/p>\n I\u2019ll level with you here, canceling your cell phone contract isn\u2019t without a bit of effort. It is totally possible though.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re not happy with your cell phone carrier, paying your way out of your contract isn\u2019t your only option.<\/p>\n Here are legal ways to get out of your cell phone contract for free.<\/p>\n One of the easiest ways to avoid paying early termination fees is to switch to a cell provider that will pay the fees for you.<\/p>\n This option isn\u2019t available with all carriers. But with some, like T-Mobile and Sprint, for example, it is. Certain wireless carriers run promotions that offer to bail you out if you want to end your contract early.<\/p>\n For example, at the time of writing, T-Mobile had a promotion where it will pay off your current phone and service contracts when you get a new phone. It will pay off your contract up to $500 per line or $350 in early termination fees through virtual prepaid card and trade-in credit.<\/p>\n It\u2019s certainly worth having a shop around to see which carriers offer this and consider switching over if you do want to stop those ETF fees.<\/p>\n Cell providers that will pay your early termination fee include:<\/strong><\/p>\n US Cellular<\/a><\/p>\n Ting<\/a><\/p>\n Keep in mind that some of these companies may not \u201cpay\u201d for the early termination fees per se but they give you a few hundred dollars in credit which essentially acts as them covering fees from your old provider.<\/p>\n Did you know that when you first sign a contract or get a new smartphone<\/a>, there\u2019s a grace period that allows you to assess the quality?<\/p>\n Mobile carriers offer this grace period so you can make sure that your service and device meet your needs and, well, just work as they should!<\/p>\n This means that if you find that, for example, your service isn\u2019t as good as you expected, then you can end your contract without having to pay fees.<\/p>\n Just read the fine print to see how long you have to end your contract before you get charged any fees.<\/p>\n Generally, carriers give you at least 14 days to assess the quality of service.<\/p>\n Also make sure you test your phone service in all the places where you will use it, like at home, the office, and grocery stores, etc. You want to take full advantage of the grace period.<\/p>\n Getting out of your contract is much easier in the first few weeks, thanks to this grace period. If you\u2019re still within the grace period, just contact your cell phone carrier to explain the issues with your service and ask to end your contract.<\/p>\n A lot of people don\u2019t know that a change in the terms of the contract they signed can actually give them a way out of their contract.<\/p>\n Mobile carriers are supposed to tell customers when they make any changes to the contract. These changes could extend the length or increase the cost of a contract.<\/p>\n Even though carriers do have to let customers know of any changes to their contract terms, they don\u2019t necessarily have to make these changes obvious.<\/p>\n They can bury the notice in the fine print of your bill.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why you should do some research to see if there were any recent changes to your contract if you\u2019re looking to cancel your service.<\/p>\n Scour your last few bills and compare the service charges to see if there have been any changes. Also check all correspondence from your carrier, when you login to your carrier\u2019s account \u2013 check your inbox too.<\/p>\n You can also do a search online to see if other people have reported they\u2019ve had new fees or terms on their contracts for the carrier you\u2019re with.<\/p>\n A quicker way to find out about changes to your contract is to call the customer service line. Just ask if there have been any recent changes to your contract agreement.<\/p>\n If there have been changes to your contract, you may be able to end it early without having to pay any penalties.<\/p>\n After all, why should you have to uphold the new terms of a contract that you didn\u2019t originally agree to?<\/p>\n Another way to cancel your contract is to transfer or trade your contract with another person.<\/p>\n For example, you might not get great service where you live, but your friend gets great coverage from that carrier in their area \u2013 so your friend might consider taking on your contract.<\/p>\n Just ask friends and family to see if any of them would like to take on your contract. If you call customer service together, this can be done pretty quickly.<\/p>\n You will need to ask to do an Assumption of Liability. This transfers the rest of the contract to the other person. Make sure your bill is current before you transfer the contract.<\/p>\n The other person will receive a copy of the terms and will need to show that they have read them and agree to them. The carrier may need to do a credit check for the other person as well.<\/p>\n If none of the above works for you, just consider something simple:<\/p>\n Call customer service and ask!<\/strong><\/p>\n If you\u2019re good with negotiations, this could work for you.<\/p>\n Contact customer service and ask them if there\u2019s a way to end your contract at no cost.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll probably have to escalate your request and provide legitimate reasons you want to end your contract early.<\/p>\n Now, I\u2019ll level with you here \u2013 this option doesn\u2019t always work.<\/p>\n The thing is though, even if you aren\u2019t able to cancel the contract without paying fees, you may be offered other benefits.<\/p>\n Carriers want to keep their customers. So, if you tell them you\u2019re looking to get out of your contract, they\u2019re likely to offer you incentives to keep you on as a customer.<\/p>\n These incentives could be a few dollars taken off your bill or a credit on your next statement.<\/p>\n Another tip is to let them know if you have a better offer from another provider<\/strong> \u2013 they may be able to match it!<\/p>\n This works well if you\u2019re more than halfway into your cell phone contract since some carriers will negotiate for better offers when a customer\u2019s contract is getting close to expiring \u2013 after all, as I said above, carriers want to keep their customers!<\/p>\n Here are the links to the contact information for some popular mobile carriers:<\/p>\n If the customer service agent you speak with the first time isn\u2019t helpful, hang up and call back to speak to someone else. <\/strong><\/p>\n This has always worked for me in the past.<\/p>\n I can\u2019t tell you how many times I\u2019ve called up customer service for a company one day to speak with an agent who isn\u2019t helpful, only to call up later that day or the next day to get through to someone really helpful who offered me a refund or compensation on my account.<\/p>\n It really depends on who you talk with. So, give customer service a call!<\/p>\n Okay, so at the start of the article, I mentioned that one of the reasons you may want to cancel your contract is because you\u2019re unhappy with your service.<\/p>\n This was the case for me. Where I live, a cell phone tower went down, resulting in no coverage \u2013 none!<\/p>\n I could not make regular phone calls. If I wanted to make a call, I had to do it over Wi-Fi using WhatsApp. That certainly was not ideal for times that I wanted to make calls to places that didn\u2019t use WhatsApp, like my Dr\u2019s Office for example.<\/p>\n In the end, I called up and told them I wasn\u2019t happy with the poor service. They told me it would be fixed soon. The issue continued for months though. So, I kept contacting customer support. As a result, I\u2019ve received $100s in credits!<\/p>\n This means that I\u2019ve essentially gotten free cell service for about three months!<\/p>\n So always report issues with your service!<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s not just credits you can get.<\/p>\n If you have bad service from your provider, this could be a valid way to get out of your contract for free.<\/p>\n Keep track of all instances of things like missed or dropped calls, bad service, calls going straight to voice mail, etc. Call customer service and explain the issues you\u2019re having with your phone.<\/p>\n Keep calling to report issues. And call often! This will make the carrier aware of the issues you\u2019re having and give you more grounds to get out of your contract early for free.<\/p>\n Just make sure you\u2019re polite and explain everything professionally.<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t get anywhere with customer service, and you continue to have issues with your cell service, consider reporting the carrier to the BBB or the FTC. Even just mentioning to your carrier that you are planning to report them can be enough to make them listen to you.<\/p>\n In larger metropolitan areas, you\u2019ll likely get good coverage from your wireless carrier. When you live in a more rural location though it can affect your service.<\/p>\n So, if you\u2019ve recently moved out of the service area, you may not get good coverage from your carrier there.<\/p>\n This can be a valid reason to get out of your cell contract without having to pay those early termination fees.<\/p>\n Do keep in mind though that a lot of carriers will give you a mini antenna or tower for your home that will boost your signal.<\/p>\n If you use your phone in places outside of the home \u2013 like at school or the office \u2013 keep records to show why an antenna or tower won\u2019t work.<\/p>\n Also, keep records of your poor service, dropped calls, etc.<\/p>\n All of this can be used to negotiate your way out of your contract!<\/p>\n Also, if you\u2019re in the military and you have to deploy for a long period, you may be able to get out of your contract for free. Or the carrier may place your contract on vacation mode.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re moving out of the country or to a remote location for an extended period of time, then call to talk to your carrier about your options.<\/p>\n And remember above I mentioned to call back if the first customer service agent isn\u2019t helpful \u2013 this works here too.<\/p>\n There used to be a site called TradeMyCellular.com where you could sell your cell phone<\/a> plan to someone else. Unfortunately, that site no longer exists and I couldn\u2019t find any other similar sites. But you can use the same idea. See if you can find anyone within your circle of friends and family (look on Facebook) who needs the kind of plan you currently have and sell your plan to them with a discount.<\/p>\n That way you avoid paying early termination fees and the other person gets a plan they wanted without having to pay full price for it.<\/p>\n If you are a military member, you should know that according to the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act<\/a>, military members are entitled to terminate their cell phone contracts if they\u2019re deployed.<\/p>\n This won\u2019t help with your current situation, but if you are in the market for a new phone and plan, skip upgrading with the same phone. Instead buy an unlocked phone outright. You can find unlocked phones with great prices on Amazon and elsewhere. And if you don\u2019t use your phone for anything but talk and text and a few videos and pictures here and there, you can get unlocked phones for $100 to $200 that feet the needs of most people in that category.<\/p>\n Obviously, it depends on your current provider and the length of your plan. And there is an easy way to figure out how much exactly you\u2019ll owe if you get out of your current contract.<\/p>\nHow to Get Out of Your Cellular Service Contract for Free<\/h2>\n
1. Switch to a cell phone provider that will pay your ETFs<\/h3>\n
2. Take advantage of the grace period loophole<\/h3>\n
3. Capitalize on a change in contract terms<\/h3>\n
4. Transfer your contract to someone else<\/h3>\n
5. Talk to customer service<\/h3>\n
6. Always report any issues with your service<\/h3>\n
7. Ask to cancel your contract when you move out of the service area<\/h3>\n
8. Sell your cell phone service<\/h3>\n
9. In the Military?<\/h3>\n
10. Skip fees altogether<\/h3>\n
How Much Will I Owe If I End My Contract Early?<\/h2>\n