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this post was submitted on 21 Jan 2026
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As a reminder to everyone:
If you can afford it, you can 100% just... Buy a phone online and use it with your carrier. Make sure it's carrier unlocked, but yeah. All but one of my phones (bought in an emergency) was bought this way, and I've been through... 5 or 6? carriers and never had an issue
I'm all for buying my own phones and not getting one bundled with service. However, many times getting a carrier unlocked phone carries a price premium. As long as you're fine sticking with your current carrier, they can even be carrier locked and work just fine. I agree though, ownership of your phone outside of your carrier's billing is the right way to go.
That's a good point. I've started advocating for buying phones lightly used (1-2 generations behind). Until just a couple of months ago, I was rocking a phone from 2019 with no issues. When I upgraded recently, I bought a Pixel 9 from a reseller selling one with an open box and a slight scuff on the bezel (that gets covered by a case anyway). Now I have an almost new phone that works like a dream for almost 75% of what I would get buying it directly from Google.
My current phone is a Galaxy S9 from 2018. I bought it used three years ago for less than $100, and it does more than I'd ever need it to.