yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] NavySpark:
Just make sure you see a phone payoff and lease termination charge on your account. What has been happening, myself included is a few days later the bill is generated for the day you made the purchase for upcoming service. The payment is then applied to the bill.

I called and got it corrected 2 days later, and 2 days after my phone was unlocked. Canceled my service today and phone still good to go on Cricket.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Ascertion:
My Essential got relocked to Sprint. I guess I need the phone activated on Sprint for 50 days before they will unlock it again.

Mine is fully paid off and unlocked automatically after 2 days or so from paying it off. Then relocked after ~3 days.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] justlookin412:
I didn't have this issue. I use Sprint, so my lines were ready for upgrades once I paid mine off. Thanks anyway!
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] stereotada:
So I just paid off both my phone's. I have a bill for my first months service. Does this need to be paid off before they will unlock it ?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] cfclay:
I agree with your first option. New model coming. Flush out the old
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] State.of.mind:
I hope that is the case, but if that were true wouldn't we have seen countless news articles about the release of a new Essential phone? I think the companies staple is software update.

I don't know what is going on with the relationship between Sprint and Essential, but there was probably some type of disagreement that caused the phone to be pulled from shelves at Sprint. The phone seems to be hovering steady at the $499-449 price point on other platforms.

Honestly I think that this opportunity has the potential to be a win for Essential. Sprint will see an uptick in churn (new customers canceling). On the other hand Essential is getting some great marketing. Although it seems like they are being undercut by Sprint, Essential could turn that negative into a positive by continuing to deliver consistent software updates. Right now the company needs to focus on rebuilding its trust with consumers.

---------- Post added at 02:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:28 PM ----------

I would say pay it off and then wait for Sprint to send you the payment back in the mail. I think I read that they have a 15 day customer satisfaction guarantee.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] jakkzen:
They reversed your unlock? I don't know how they can do that after they issue the unlock. I have 2 essentials one black that came unlocked, and a white one that we requested an unlock after paying it off yesterday. Sprint does some shady stuff, so I guess it doesn't really surprise me. They told me they wouldn't unlock the phone because it hasn't been active on the account for 50 days (like everyone else), but I told them that it isn't active on the account but paid in full, how can they deny it being unlocked? They had no argument, so I guess we will see what happens. They said it will take 72 hours or some BS.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] FallN:
I got in on this deal. I had just ported in and set up a BYOD Free Year account with my iPhone on October 30th then I saw this deal.

I opened up a new normal line of service, ordered the Essential, paid it off in full (total $167.17 with all taxes) and it UICC unlocked itself 2 days later.

I'm loving this phone and I'm loving having only paid $167.17 for it! ?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Nochis:
I also bought one that came locked. Called customer service said same thing 50 days. Couple days later contacted via chat, they said was already unlock. I didn't activated on the account, I tried with other sim and it work. Just try after two days of been paid and see if it's unlock.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] cfclay:
I started my new line of sprint on 11/24. I work in rural Arkansas and this phone is already a brick in terms of data. I've roamed all day. Should I pay off lease the moment that free camera ships,then hold to unlock, then cancel line ....or is it the same spend to wait until 1/23/18? I forget how sprint prorates or calculates bill. This is line four of a sprint plan we were wanting the last two lease plans to expire in the summer of 2018. The bill actually runs 11/18-12/17.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] NavySpark:
Closed the account today after three days of unlocked status. Got a transaction ID and was told since I was in my 14 day period I would be refunded the entire cell service bill within 90 days minus the cost of paying off the lease and paying off the phone. Came out to $157.xx for me with tax for the phone.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] cfclay:
Hot dang- that is exactly what I want to do!
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] NavySpark:
After reading so many problems and people trying to game the system I was skeptic but I was patient and courteous through each interaction. Did it all by the book when it came to payments, paying it off, waiting 2 days for unlock and canceling.

Only fear I have is not getting the 81 service refund, even if I didn't I would have only cost me $238 for the phone.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] cfclay:
Sorry if already you have described your steps in a previous post... but can you be more specific on your processes? Did you start a new line to get the phone. How many days after purchase did you pay it off? Did you pay off over the phone... what did you do- just call and say “service sucks, but I’ll buy the phone?”

What’s the the $81?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] NavySpark:
Started a brand new line, not a sprint customer for over 10 years.

Ordered 11/19, turned on phone with SIM on 11/21.

Called customer service to pay off phone and lease on 11/23. Also paid the whole first month's bill. Left Sprint SIM in and on cell connection, no wifi and the UICC unlock worked on 11/25. Button is in the settings menu under oadmn. Immediately pulled Sprint SIM after unlock and installed Cricket SIM, worked perfectly.

Today, called and cancelled. Reason is data connection does not work while on the phone. I do need this from time to time for work. I asked to keep the phone and just cancel the service. Asked for a confirmation # and she gave me the transaction ID # and told me up to 90 days for credit of service charges. I was entitled to full charges refunded since still in 14 day guarantee window.

The $81 charge included my first bill, taxes and regulatory fees, shipping cost and the fee for not having autopay setup.

Optional: flashed non-Sprint firmware from essential site with latest updates on the same day as the unlock. Variant still shows Sprint in bootloader.

EDIT: You have to make sure the lease and phone payment actually reflect in the payments section correctly. Initially it showed as a payment toward my cell phone bill. Had them fix it and it showed two transactions, one for paying the lease early and the other for the buyout price.

Also, i'd save a copy of the bill and any payment information from the online account access. This way you have something to go back on if issues down the road.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Rafy186:
Is it possible you can show a snippet of your bill? I have a bill where it says nov 14 - INST:Lease Device Purch for $34.59 then another one that says nov 14 - INST:Lease Cancel Charge $103.76. I've had my device for over 2 weeks now and still no unlock.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] xDark_:
Ok, so I've paid off the phone and it says it's unlocked via UICC and the My Sprint app shows I have a bill of $60 for the month. I'm 7 days into the 14 day buyer's regret period.

Do I pay this month's bill off to ensure my device stays unlocked (I heard over on SlickDeals that their phones were getting relocked), then cancel the line within 14 days and they'll refund me for the first month's bill? Or should I just eat the $60 charge, cancel after the 14 days, and then cancel the line? I want my device to stay unlocked so I can use it on T-Mobile.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] NavySpark:
Thats exactly what mine says, did you try the UICC button? Kept it on cell service and not wifi?

---------- Post added at 01:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:24 PM ----------

From what I could tell on relocks is that people left or put their Sprint SIM back in after unlock. I honestly couldn't see how they could relock a phone not connected to their cell network.

I paid the bill just to keep from having any issues with the unlock, not sure if it mattered. I'd try to cancel under 14, my representative said I'd receive a refund for the payment I made toward the cell bill.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] cfclay:
I just tried to pay off mine, and they’ve supposedly processed it, but she couldn’t allow me to pay “right now”, but check back in two hours... strange.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] jakkzen:
You should be able to go to your Sprint account page and look at recent payments and it will show if it was processed. Also look at your bank account transactions.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] cfclay:
They never took any bank card information.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] jakkzen:
Hmm... That is strange. Unless they have your card on file, and they will just charge you when you least expect it. They did this with me. I filed a fraud report with my bank and they refunded me what Sprint stole. Then issued me a new card. Sprint is a shady company when it comes to taking your money. Just watch your accounts.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Rafy186:
Then my issue must be that I diconnect the phone since it's my step father's account. He uses his phone for business purposes and refuses to use the phone. The most I've left the phone connected was for 24 Hours before he had to connect his Galaxy S7.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] cfclay:
They tacked the charges onto my bill. It was 130.80.

My bill was already 235 and due on 12/11.

I will call and cancel this line of service after I see it is unlocked ,but why do I feel like I'm going to have to pay my bill in full before they will unlock it?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] borijess:
I just ordered one but it's on backorder. Are you guys paying it off and cancelling before u even get the phone?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] justlookin412:
You have to wait for it to be shipped. If you cancel now, they won't ship it.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] DrvLikHell:
I just ordered this phone for a friend who travels frequently so this is concerning. I've never heard of two sim locks on a phone, but this is the 3rd post I found talking about a separate lock for international usage.

I've read up on the process required to get Sprint to unlock the phone for use on other US carriers and I was planning to cancel Sprint service before 14 days. But if I have to have it on their service for 50 days then that's going to add quite a bit of cost to the phone (approx $150). What if you pay off the lease first? Will they provide the international unlock then, before the 50 days is up?

[MENTION=4725748]NavySpark[/MENTION] Your recount of your experience was pretty concise. I planned on following steps that you outlined within the same time frame. Do you know if Sprint unlocked your phone for use with international sims?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] NavySpark:
I honestly don't know if it was unlocked for international SIMs. I am assuming the issue is that the UICC unlock is only for CDMA networks since its a Sprint phone. However, it wouldn't explain using a GSM carrier stateside working. I don't really see international how that be different but I guess we need some people to try.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] borijess:
Does the free 360 camera come with phone or do you need to order from essential website?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] justlookin412:
It will come with the phone. On their website (Sprint), it states some terms/conditions that you "SHOULD" meet to qualify.

There is a waiting period, where it will be mailed to you at a later date.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] cfclay:
Wonder if you opted for that free camera, and if so, I wonder if you will get it?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] tech_head:
They say five weeks.

Also it's says fees for early termination apply.

BTW - I have an LG G6 and for ~$150 I'm seriously considering this as a second phone.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] cfclay:
How can there be a fee, he is no longer a sprint customer.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] tech_head:
Maybe if you don't have an active account, they won't even send it?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Croak:
If you pick the phone up in a Sprint corporate store, and IF they have the camera in stock at the store, they're required to give it to you at the time of sale. I got mine that way. And most stores stock a camera for every PH-1 they stock.

Also, you can find the phone still in stock in some Sprint stores (outside of major metro areas, mostly), even though it's backordered for online sales.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] vincentallen2:
If you buy the PH-1 from sprint using this method, can you still buy the extended care plan from essential? I don't think so, but I would like to know before hand.

And can you buy two phones at the same time using this method?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Croak:
Don't know about the extended care plan, but Sprint will happily set you up with more than one PH-1, providing you sign up for a line for each phone.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] vincentallen2:
Alrighty, I just purchased two of these in store.

All the sprint stores in my area were sold out and purchasing online wasn't working out for me.

I was told that the PH-1 is on backorder (2-3 weeks) and that the free camera offer will end on the 9th (I'm not sure how true this is, but this what I was told). The rep also told me that the PH-1 is going to be EOL'd pretty soon by Sprint, which is why they haven't gotten any on shelves for some time now. The only one they had in stock was the display model.

I was also told that camera isn't given in store, and that it has to be redeemed with the receipt number online. So doing this method, we probably won't receive the 360 cameras. I'm going to see if I can still get one in stores when they finally arrive.

I was charged $121.24 for down payment, activation, and taxes/fees for both phones.

I'm guessing the remaining $180 lease payments will be charged when I actually receive the phones. So $301.24 for two Essential phones. Not too bad in my opinion.

I have a question though:

Is it normal that they charged me an activation fee? I thought they were supposed to waive it.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] justlookin412:
Yes. They usually charge an activation fee when you purchase in-store. If asked, they may waive it. Online orders have the waived/free activation.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] cfclay:
Purchased my phone last Friday, paid off the lease earlier this week, and I can confirm now that it is unlocked. Has anyone figured out yet why Sprint is doing this??

I plan on canceling this line any day now, I'm just looking for a cricket group to jump onto. When I called Sprint to have it unlocked, they gave me a lower rate for the phones that I do have with them, dropping my bill$10 a month for each line.

Wow
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] tech_head:
You can definitely buy protection through Square trade though.

But, you can just buy two phones.

I just ordered mine and I hate Sprint already.

So they can't do a credit check over the phone or online.

I go to the store and they can't waive the $30.

I get an email from them saying that my online cart still has something in it and they can waive the $30.

So I call. The lady tells me they have the phones in stock and she can cancel my existing order.

I place the new order.

Turns out she cannot cancel the old order. Fine I'll go to the store.

Not so fast. I get an email indicating she lied and it's 2 weeks to get the phone from the phone order which is longer than the other.

They closed before I got the email.

Oh, I also can't set up my online account to cancel the new order because I don't have a phone number!

So pissed. I hate Sprint already.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] glasscitysd:
They gave me a crappy run around too just bit the bullet and paid the activation fee needed a new phone since my nexus 6p was on its last leg can't wait to pay it off and get off sprints crappy network though
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] tech_head:
I was finally able to cancel the phone order.

So only one phone with in store pick up.

Can't wait to dump them.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] vincentallen2:
Coming from a Nexus 6P as well.

Did they give you guys a date on when you should expect to have your phones in store for you to pick up and activate? Or a date for when it will ship, at least?

I bought in store, so there's no way for me to track the progress. I hate being out the loop =\
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] glasscitysd:
they had it in stock when I went to buy it in store. kept trying to push a "free" tablet on me as well annoyingly.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] DrvLikHell:
Man, you've got some bad luck there. I ordered mine online on the 30th. They did a credit check online with no problem. In fact, they did the credit check three or four times because I was having an issue with my browser setup and their web application at the very end, after the credit check. I switched browsers and did it all over again, including the credit check. I even thought about setting up the Sprint account under my business name and ran it through once with my businesses tax ID, but then changed my mind. That credit check went ok too. They waived the activation fee and the total that day, including shipping, was $36.50. The website said it won't ship until the 15th of December, which sucks, but that's ok. No Sprint store within 100 miles or more has one in stock.

If you need a phone number, can you make a Google Voice number and give them that? It's not like they're going to call you, and they don't require you to port in or anything.

On a side note, one Best Buy in my area has the phones in stock. They can sign you up with Sprint, BUT the deal is totally different, at least according to the Best Buy rep. He said that the phone lease is $15 a month and the end term buyout is $150. He also said there's only one plan, the $65 a month plan, which is congruent with what the Best Buy website offers - there's no $45 plan option there. I was hoping to pick up the phone at Best Buy without having to wait for it to ship on the 15th, but not with those terms. At least I got to see it in person. Also, there was no Essential floor display, and nothing saying they had the phones. I had to ask, and the guy went in back and got a new, unopened box off the shelf to show it to me.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] tech_head:
All straight.

Just waiting for the store to get some in.

Could be today or tomorrow or whenever.

They have phones on the way but don't know when in the week.

It's not like I *MUST* have a phone.

I have an LG G6 and this phone is just extra.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] omgwtfbyobbq:
Probably the same reason they offered the BYOD/free for a year plan starting in late June, which is to pull customers away from TMO/VZW/ATT.

They could keep trying to sell the EP-1 for $399+, but considering how well its been selling and how many they apparently have, it's probably better from their end to sell these at cost and hopefully gain some customers rather than trying to make money off of phone sales and having a bunch left in stock a few months from now with no customers to show for it.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] vincentallen2:
I just purchased two of these from Best Buy. I had to call around to several stores to find one that had any essential phones in stock. Apparently just one store had them

The deal was pretty much the same as regular sprint, except it was $6.39/month for 18 months.

I believe the extra $1.39 is just BB incorporating the tax into each month. Activation fee was $30 and lease ending pay off is $30

Tomorrow, I'm going to cancel the orders I placed with the Sprint store

My advice is just to check your local Best Buys to see if any of them have any stock left. I now have an actual phone in hand instead of waiting WEEKS just to be SHIPPED.

Happy hunting. May the odds be forever in your favor.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] tech_head:
None in the SF Bay Area at Best Buy. Soonest date is 12/17.

Sprint is faster.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] chiadrum:
Sprint unlocked working on Verizon?

Can anyone confirm if they have unlocked one of the Sprint versions and activated without issue on Verizon? I may be the guinea pig but unlocked for the US means all carriers correct? Can't beat that deal at $145 and I am dying to get away from my GS7.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] kbonnel:
I don't have Verizon, but there were numerous folks in the Slickdeals thread on the deal reporting no issues.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] chiadrum:
Very good to know thanks. Think I'll see if Best Buy has it, then I would have their support if any unlocking issues arise.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] jakkzen:
We purchased a white one for my wife that came locked. After we paid it off it was unlocked by Sprint. Took about a week for them to do it. She uses it on Verizon.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] vincentallen2:
I just paid off the two PH-1's I picked up from Best Buy yesterday. After everything, including taxes/fees, it rang up to be $313.70 for both phones ($156.85 each)

I'm hoping that they unlock soon so that we can use them.

I'm calling telesales now to cancel my sprint store orders.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Nochis:
It took 2 days for mine to get unlock. I didn't have it active on the account either. I called them to unlocked but refuse, said I have to wait 50 days and have it on the account.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] chiadrum:
Wow how does that work? I was told at Best Buy and Sprint today that the phones ring up at 699 and you can't pay off early so I backed off. You activated on Sprint and you were able to pay off early at the $145 price?

I was thinking that Sprint got wise to this and changed the terms. I was told that you were given a monthly bill credit to reduce the phone price, not that actual $145 price on the phone itself.
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] DrvLikHell:
I was also told a different story at Best Buy, except they told me a different lease amount and payoff amount. I wonder if certain Best Buy stores don't want to sell them with the Sprint promotion?
[Essential Phone Guides, News, & Discussion] Zen00:
I just got this deal last Thursday. Seems the phone is now back ordered because they won't ship me one until the 15th.