Phone Smart With a Little Help, You Can Trade Yourself Free of Your Wireless Contract
By BOB TEDESCHI The New York Times January 1, 2009
The last of the major wireless carriers recently made it cheaper to escape your contract by pro-rating early termination fees. But if you bought that new BlackBerry Storm last week, only to find you would rather have something else, you still face $175 in contract cancellation fees.
Unless, that is, you can find someone to take over that contract for you.
It's a little-known fact that cellphone carriers will let you swap contracts with another person, no matter whether you have one month or two years remaining on your commitment. They just will not help you do the hard work of finding someone who actually wants your contract and the vintage flip phone that came with it.
That's the sort of dirty work best left to the Web, where sites like Celltradeusa.com and Cellswapper.com act as matchmakers for those who want to swap spots in the cellular realm. It costs $20 to use Celltradeusa and $25 for Cellswapper, but for those who feel trapped in a contract, that is a small price to pay for freedom.
First things first: why exactly would you want someone else's cellphone contract? Simple: you can get fairly new devices and accessories, often free, without having to swallow a two-year commitment or pay an activation fee of $35. This is especially useful to those who are waiting for a new device to hit the market but do not want to spring for a new phone in the meantime.
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