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The traditional way of buying a phone — from your wireless carrier, with interest-free payments running months into the future — will lock you out of some newer ways to get a phone online.
That’s because all three of the nationwide wireless carriers continue to lock phones they sell against use on competing services until the customers involved pay off any remaining balance.
That impedes you from saving money on wireless service by taking your business to another carrier with a better plan. It also stops you from using such short-term options as cheap prepaid eSIMS for international travel and SpaceX’s Starlink connectivity for phones in dead zones.
Fortunately, you don’t have to buy phones like that. You can purchase a phone unlocked directly from a manufacturer instead — without having to pay the full price up-front. Apple, Samsung and Google all offer zero-interest payment plans and let you trade in an older phone, much as the carriers do. (Some retailers offer similar deals.)
Those trade-in options allow time to transfer your data, apps, settings and account from the old device to the new one before you must ship in the old phone.
This process can involve a little extra work compared to handing over your current phone at a wireless carrier’s store and getting a new one in return. But it also represents a cheap price to escape purchase conditions that evoke the bad old days of carrier contracts with early-termination fees.
The Washington Post on Thursday published a secret list of all donors who committed to give $100,000 or more to President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project as of late September. The list, an internal spreadsheet used to track contributions for the fundraising effort, shows a total of $333 million from private donors, aligning with the administration’s public statements about the amount it has raised for the project.
Many of the donors on the list have not been previously reported. Others were known to be contributors, but The Post is for the first time publishing the amount of their gifts. Search the full list below.
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The twice-defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, employers of the best player in baseball history plus two other former MVPs, a half-billion dollar colossus so mighty the sport is about to shut down rather than allow them to continue to dominate, finally met an opponent they could not topple: the Milwaukee Brewers, whose entire starting lineup combined makes as much as Shohei Ohtani.
As baseball debates the necessity of a salary cap, its proponents have pointed to the Dodgers’ run as evidence that the sport’s economic system is broken. But on Thursday night, the Brewers (total payroll: $144.5 million, good for No. 19 in the sport) finished off a four-game sweep of Los Angeles in the National League Championship Series.
Milwaukee will play the winner of the American League Championship Series, currently being contested by the Tampa Bay Rays ($96 million, No. 28) and the Cleveland Guardians ($74.8 million, No. 30). No matter the outcome, the real winner will be the salary cap opponents.
When should you divulge a secret? Especially if it’s not really yours to tell?
Here’s the scenario: You just found out several friends’ husbands have had affairs with the same woman. Do you tell your friends about their husbands’ infidelity?
Advice columnists Carolyn Hax and Shane O’Neill received a letter asking for guidance after this scandalous discovery.
In their new “Life Hax” podcast, Carolyn and Shane give some options for how the letter writer could approach it. And they weigh a rubric for whether it’s ever a good time to spill the beans.
“Most of the time,” Carolyn notes, “it’s a bad idea to tell somebody else’s secret.”
But here’s the curveball: What if your own husband had an affair with that same woman?
To hear what Carolyn and Shane would advise, follow the “Life Hax” show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have your own question to ask the show, email [email protected].
Surveys released this week offered more good news for Democrats ahead of midterm elections. Methodology, including sample sizes and margins of errors, are available in the links to these polls.
Democrats hold a big edge on the economy
Americans trust the Democratic Party more than Republicans “to keep the country prosperous,” in Democrats’ first clear lead on the economic issue since 2012, according to Gallup’s annual governance poll.
A majority of adults, 51 percent, chose Democrats when asked, “Which political party do you think will do a better job of keeping the country prosperous?” A smaller group, 37 percent, selected Republicans, in a year where affordability has dominated midterm election campaigns.
You can read more about the poll’s findings here.
Corruption emerges as voters top concern
More voters are concerned about corruption in government than any other issue, surpassing health care and inflation, and trust the Democrats more than the Republicans to tackle it, according to a Fox News poll.
Eighty-eight percent of registered voters say they are concerned about corruption, with 60 percent saying they were “extremely concerned.”
The Democrats hold a 10-percentage point lead of 54 percent on which party voters trust more handling the issue.
Good morning. It’s Friday, Oct. 16, and three children and a teacher were shot dead at an Oregon elementary school yesterday. That is the top story in today’s edition of The 7 briefing.
The children killed at Silver Rail Elementary in Bend were ages 5, 8 and 11, according to authorities. Police said the assailant, 16, was fatally shot by a “community member” who followed them into the school.
The shooting marks the 21st mass killing with a gun in the U.S. this year, according to a Post analysis.
This morning’s briefing also covers a power struggle at the White House, with officials jostling for position ahead of expected heavy losses for Republicans in the midterm elections.
Further down, The Post is rounding off this week’s series about knee health by examining which pain treatments work well and which don’t.
Read today’s edition of The 7 briefing here.
A college accreditor is tapping the brakes on the expansion of a fast-growing online program in Maine known for helping students obtain degrees in as little as a few months.
The New England Commission of Higher Education said in a letter that the University of Maine at Presque Isle will now need approval before adding new majors or degrees to its online YourPace program, which lets students finish classes at their own speed.
The commission cited “concern about the dramatic growth of the YourPace program attributed in part to the speed at which students have been able to complete the credits required to earn a degree.” However, the University of Maine System noted that the program retained its accreditation.
The Washington Post reported in April that many students are flocking to online programs such as the one at Presque Isle that let students earn a degree faster than is possible through traditional university programs, allowing them to save time and money.
The commission said it plans to take a broader look next month at its policies for all colleges around transfer credits and competency-based education, which let students finish classes at their own pace by proving they have mastered the material with an exam or projects.
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The post See the full list of major donors to the White House ballroom appeared first on Washington Post.
