[olug] [OT] Purchase new cell phones WITHOUT contract?

[Dan Linder]

(Delete this message if you're just looking for Linux/Unix discussions...)

My wife and I are looking at moving to Ting wireless (www.ting.com) - I
estimate we'll drop to the $80-90 range with past usage of our two
smartphones (Verizon DroidX Gingerbread).

Since Ting is a Sprint MVNO we can't bring our old phones over, but then we
wouldn't want to: they have been dying strange hardware deaths (touch
screen on my wifes dies and has to be powered off to reset, mine takes 30+
seconds to start a call, etc).

I was all set to pull the trigger last night and buy two refurbished phones
via Ting, but my wife (The "Voice of Reason and Finance" in our house) got
worried that we'd be trading in our old DroidX's for something else that
only has a 30-day warranty.

Looking at new phones via Ting and Amazon (which I assume will have a year
warranty), we're well into the $500-$600 range. :(

Aside from buying the phone from Ting.com or Amazon, are there other places
to buy phones for Sprint that aren't tied to a contract and will have a
decent warranty?

(I now return you to your regular Linux/Unix discussion.)

Thanks,
DanL

-- 
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