Earlier this year I started writing buyers' guides for every carrier, and I intended to update them each month. Then I got fed up with the locked phones and service contracts that carriers offered, so I ported my number to Google Voice, paid Verizon my $300 ETF, signed up for a pre-paid plan, and went back to using unlocked devices.
For consumers on a tight budget, switcing to the pre-paid world can be challenging at first. The cost of leaving your carrier during the middle of a contract or the cost of buying an unlocked phone could force you to spend 3-6x times your monthly carrier bill.
Once you get past the initial expenses, your savings could quickly add up. I switched from Verizon to Straight Talk (AT&T), which instantly saved me around $50 per month, or roughly $600 per year. That same $600 is about the cost of most high-end Android phones that are unlocked and sold without a service contract. This means your potential first-year savings could absorb the entire cost of any new Android phone you want.
After making the switch to using an unlocked Android phone on Straight Talk, I see no real reason to return to the land of locked phones and post-paid service plans. I have the freedom to choose the device I want, I can choose what network it operates on, I can decide what software it runs, and I can switch
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