How to Get Out of a Cell Phone Contract

When you can't get out of a cell phone contract, cell phones can be an expensive luxury to have. It's common for one phone with hardly any bells or whistles to cost in excess of $75 per month. By the time you add Internet access, text messaging and other apps (games, screensavers), a monthly bill in excess of $100 is not out of the question.

What's even more outrageous than the bills themselves are the hoops that you have to jump through if you ever wish to cancel your contract. Most of the time, you cannot get out of a cell phone contract without paying an early cancellation fee. These fees can be as high as $300 to $400, which is outrageous. You have a choice of being exorbitant fees, or being stuck with a product that you're unhappy with or that is inferior to another product on the market.

Getting Out of a Cellphone Contract

If your telecommunications deal doesn't work for you, you can't simply double up on your cellular bills. So knowing how to get out of a cell phone contract becomes important.

The following 10 tips have been known to help others get out from underneath their cell phone contracts with little to no repercussion.

10 Tips to Getting Out of a Cell Phone Contract

1. Roam when You Talk

Many cell phone companies do not charge their customers roaming fees. However, when you roam it costs the carrier more money thus cutting into their profits. So, set your phone's preference to roam and use it whenever you talk on the phone.

Better yet, use your phone while roaming during your free nights and weekend minutes to avoid using up any of your minutes. Since you'll be costing the phone carrier money, it's possible they'll let you go with little to no fight.

2. Check for Changes to Your Contract

Any changes that were made to your contract that weren't okayed by you are grounds for a voided contract. For this to work, however, the changes have to be a higher price or fee for services. Some companies look to see if these changes are substantial. Also, you need to actually be using the services in question.

If this applies to you, you have anywhere from 14 to 60 days to attempt to terminate your contract.

3. Use the Free Trial Period

If you are given a free trial period, be sure to use it. Knowing that the phone doesn't live up to your needs or wants is much easier to handle before you're locked in for 2 years. It's better to test the product before you sign on the dotted line, if you can.

4. Complain

If you have problems with your phone, coverage or even the carrier, complain and complain often. The important thing to keep in mind is, every time you call in to complain, you want to document everything. Be sure to document the date and time you called, who you spoke to and what was discussed.

Depending on your ultimate goals, you might be able to work out something else like a cheaper phone bill, if terminating your contract is out of the question.

5. Pawn the Service Off

Try to find someone to take over the service for you. Cell phone companies allow contracts to be transferred. If you cannot find someone, there are several online services such as cellswapper.com or celltradeusa where you can list your phone and contract. Maybe someone would like to take the contract off your hands.

You pay a small fee to do this, but you avoid a huge termination fee and the person who takes the offer avoids the start up costs of a cell phone contract.

6. Fake a Death or Say the Owner of the Phone Died

Cell contracts are void if the owner of the contract dies. If you happen to go the risky route of faking a death, be prepared that some cell phone companies will ask for proof. This means providing a death certificate.

This might not work, but it's an option, if you think you can pull it off.

7. Just Pay Your Bill

This will depend on what your goals are and ultimately how much you're paying already. But to put this into perspective, say you only have 6 months left at $90 a month. That's $540. Most termination fees aren't more than $400. Figure out when it's cost effective to terminate your cellphone contract, so you can terminate your contract and in theory save money.

On the other hand, if you only have 2 months left at $90 and the termination fee is $400, you would obviously be spending more to get out. It would be better to wait in this situation.

Also, note that some companies pro-rate their termination fees. This is something that you'll want to look into and factor into your decisions.

8. Move

An online friend of mine suggested this works, though I've never tried moving to get out of a cell phone contract myself. This is an extreme measure to take to get out from underneath your cell phone contract. I suppose if there is a will, there is a way.

The idea behind this is to move outside the coverage area so you cannot get service. Be prepared to fight long and hard on this one. You're not guaranteed to have coverage in many contracts and you'll have to prove that you moved.

9. Demand to See Paperwork

If your cell phone carrier cannot produce your contract, than you're free to go, in many cases. If they do, you hope that maybe you didn't sign it and no one noticed it when the deal was finalized.

10. Join the Military

This is an extreme action, if you're not planning on an Army career otherwise, but if you are joining the Armed Services, that's a good excuse to get out of your cell phone contract.

This measure is guaranteed to work, though you might find a tour of duty in Iraq or Afghanistan is more of an inconvenience than a bad cell phone contract. Join the army, tell your carrier that you don't want your phone anymore and they'll have to honor that. Even cell phone corporations want to support the troops.

Breaking a Cell Phone Contract

While these tips are not guaranteed to work, they are worth a shot, if you're unhappy with your current cell phone company. Be aware though that cell phone companies will do everything in their power to avoid losing you as a customer. Even worse, they don't want to lose you as a customer to another company.

If you're having a difficult time terminating your contract, the best thing to do here is to leverage the fear of losing you to another company and try to get some free services or money shaved off your bill. While there is no guarantee you'll get a discount, it is better than nothing in the event you can't figure out how to get out of your cell phone contract.

If you found this guide helpful at all try visiting more How to Get Out guides.