own the cell phone

no i mean something like att or t-mobile, because of the 2 yr contract i can get the phone for free, i wanna know after 2 years do i own that phone?
 
during the contract, the phone legally still belongs to the network. after the end of the contract, the phone is 100% yours to do as you please with.
 
usually you will have to pay the remaining amount. for example, if you are on a plan that is ?30 per month and you have 7 months to go, then you will have to pay 7 x ?30 = ?210.
you will be legally obliged to pay that amount otherwise you will end up in court.
 
if you failed to finish the contract the phone will be block by network, you cannot use the phone much better to finish contract first or you have to pay penalties from them.


best regards
http://www.alcatraz-gsm.com/
 
Both AT&T and T-Mobile are GSM providers, like the kind I mentioned.

If you are 1 year through a 2 year contract, you will have to pay an early termination fee. More than likely, you can keep the phone. But, if you want to use the phone with another provider, you will have to get it unlocked through the provider before you terminate your account, say with AT&T, to go to T-Mobile. You can usually pay to have it unlocked, but doing it through the provider is free.

Usually, if the service sucks enough, and you still have a year left on a contract, it makes sense to just pay the ETF, and move on, maybe selling the phone to help with the costs.
 
Technically you own the phone as soon as they sell it to you, even if it is free. You are free to sell it, break it, trade it basically do whatever you want with it. At no point past your trial period are you required to return the phone to the provider.

If you signed a contract, you are obligated to either keep service throughout the duration of the contract or pay the early termination fee

As far as unlocking goes, the provider doesn't have to unlock the phone for you, even if you are out of contract. Tmobile is much nicer about this, but it's a lot harder to get AT&T to unlock a phone for you.
 
these are the rules for my network from the Terms & Conditions, and these are the same rules that are used by others. the 'early termination fee' is as quoted below and above by be me.


http://www1.orange.co.uk/mobileterms/
 
NA carriers don't do that as far as I know, there is simply a set fee for terminating your contract, it doesn't vary based on how much your monthly bill is.
 
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