Currently with an old Samsung S9+ with tmobile carrier and thinking about getting a newer phone maybe upgrade plan for more Hotspot. Costco still a good way to go? Or tmobile store?

Hi tech friends!

So I recently got two "new" at&t phones through a Costco deal. It sounded like an amazing deal which might of been the first red flag.

My sister received her new iPhone with no issues. My samsung galaxy S24+ came in an At&t box, not the original samsung galaxy boxing which I thought was weird. On top of it they had a notice saying that they understand its not in the original packaging, but its still a new device. But when I tried to activate my Samsung Galaxy 24+, I received a screen saying "your phone was factory reset. Enter your PIN to unlock it." Obviously I don't know the PIN since it's supposed to be brand new. So I brought it in to two at&t stores who also didn't know how to unlock it and said I should send it back and it might be refurbished.

Has this happened to anyone? I'm very angry, but I wanted the reditt community to comment before I lay fury on At&t. Thanks!

Hey Im looking to get a new phone on black friday. Ive heard a lot that Costco has the best black friday deals and cheapest phone plans, so I have an appointment to check out whats the best they can offer. My current phone is a Google Pixel 6a which now has battery issues and very cracked screen.

The 3 main phones they have on sale are the standard model Samsung S25, Pixel 10, and iphone 16. I will start by saying my needs for a phone:

1. EDIT: The absolutely most important thing is I need a phone that allows Wifi Calling. Do all the phones do that now? Is that more a carrier specific thing?

2. Camera pics/videos are by far the most useful thing I need in a phone. I use my camera a lot, far more than anything else on my phone. Pictures, videos, etc. I want great photo quality and easy to use.

3. I want a phone that has a pretty good speaker to play music/videos. I watch youtube and listen to music on my phone raw a decent amount of time, so having something that sounds nice is a good feature. I also do listen to music on ear buds as well pretty often.

4. I want something that has good battery that will last long in charge and in life span. Something thats not going to progressively get terrible over a short amount of years.

5. I want something pretty powerful, but doesnt need to be insanely powerful. I do stock trading on my phone rarely, but when I do I want it to work fast and reliably. I believe the stock trading apps do use a lot of data and CPU power running all the data and charts and all that, so something powerful will be helpful.

6. I use GPS a fair amount and need it to work FAST and accurately. Hate laggy and slow GPS.

7. A phone that I can pull up multiple apps and flip back and forth between them quickly and have good performance refreshing pages and using multiple apps without lag and delays.

The things I dont really care about:

1. I dont play games on my phone basically ever.

2. I dont watch movies or watch intensive videos and streams very often at all on phone

3. I dont care for good phone call speakers or microphones.

4. I dont care about charging speed or touch screen responsiveness being 0.0000000001 milliseconds.

5. I dont care about the design or colors really of the physical phone.

6. I dont really care too much about the display screen being super amazing and perfect color and stuff. Just would rather better performance than the best display.

Any advice or suggestions appreciated! Really want to make the best decision because I do not change phones often. I usually will keep my phone for like 3-5+ years if I can.