Contract buyout from another provider

[jasonbeland]

If I'm currently with another provider on contract, do you or can you offer to buyout our contract if we want to switch?

[srlawren]

@stonechucker yes....but only for personal accounts.  For corporate accounts, they can still charge you an ETF, IIRC.  

[stonechucker]

Unless you're on a very 'different' type of contract, there are no 'early termination fees' anymore as they've been made illegal.  The only fee you need to pay is the device subsidy (ie you're on a 2 year contract paying $25 / month "on top of your plan" for the phone).  If you cancel your service 8 months early, your subsidy fee is 8 x $25, $200.  Your provider has to refund any 'balance' they owe you on a post paid service.

This changed back 2016 or sooner I think.  It's been a while now.

[bsperanz]

@Acekiller

was that in reference to my post? If so, I can elaborate. I was with Bell previously and my contract with them had an early termination fee (probably for the remaining cost of the phone I assumed). Last summer when I first looked into PM, I calculated what my termination fee would be from that point (approx 7-8 months) until the end of my contract (December), and also how much I would be paying for my PM plan. If I cancelled at that time, I would have paid around $80 more than waiting a few months for my termination fee to decrease where the difference would be around $0. 

[Acekiller]

I don't even think the big companies do that these days?

[bsperanz]

before you cancel with them and move to PM, calculate the penalty for cancelling with your current provider and also how much your plan here would cost over the same time frame. Depending where you are in your contract and how much you have to pay out, it may be cheaper to wait a few months before switching over. 

[NDesai]

No contracts on PM. Its a prepaid service. To get out of your contract at the current carrier, you will have to deal with them.