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expired Posted by treo • Mar 23, 2023
expired Posted by treo • Mar 23, 2023

256GB Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G 2-in-1 Smartphone (Various Carriers)

(Activation Required) + Free Shipping

from $300

$1,800

Best Buy
1,739 Comments 314,633 Views
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Deal Details
Best Buy has 256GB Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G 2-in-1 Foldable Smartphone Tablet (AT&T or Verizon) on sale from $299.99. Shipping is free or select free store pickup where available.

Thanks to Community Member treo for finding this deal.

Note: Activation on cellular carrier is required. Be sure to select your carrier and select 'Activate Today' to see pricing. Availability for store pickup may vary by location.

Available Carriers:Available Colors:
  • Phantom Black
  • Phantom Green
  • Phantom Silver
Specs:
  • Screens:
    • Main: 7.6" Infinity Flex display - Cover: 6.2" Dynamic AMOLED
    • 120Hz AMOLED 2X Screen
  • Memory: 12GB
  • Storage: 256GB
  • Main Camera: 12MP Wide, 12MP UW, 12MP Tele + 2x optical zoom, 10x digital zoom, 10MP Front
  • Battery: 4,400mAh / 25W Super Fast Charge
  • S Pen Support
  • IPX8 rating

Editor's Notes

Written by powerfuldoppler | Staff
  • About this deal:
    • Activation on a cellular carrier is required for from $299.99 pricing. Activation fees may apply and vary by carrier.
  • About this product:
    • Rating of 4.4 from over 140 Best Buy customer reviews.
  • Additional Note:

Original Post

Written by treo
Product Info
Community Notes
About the Poster
Deal Details
Product Info
Community Notes
About the Poster
Best Buy has 256GB Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G 2-in-1 Foldable Smartphone Tablet (AT&T or Verizon) on sale from $299.99. Shipping is free or select free store pickup where available.

Thanks to Community Member treo for finding this deal.

Note: Activation on cellular carrier is required. Be sure to select your carrier and select 'Activate Today' to see pricing. Availability for store pickup may vary by location.

Available Carriers:Available Colors:
  • Phantom Black
  • Phantom Green
  • Phantom Silver
Specs:
  • Screens:
    • Main: 7.6" Infinity Flex display - Cover: 6.2" Dynamic AMOLED
    • 120Hz AMOLED 2X Screen
  • Memory: 12GB
  • Storage: 256GB
  • Main Camera: 12MP Wide, 12MP UW, 12MP Tele + 2x optical zoom, 10x digital zoom, 10MP Front
  • Battery: 4,400mAh / 25W Super Fast Charge
  • S Pen Support
  • IPX8 rating

Editor's Notes

Written by powerfuldoppler | Staff
  • About this deal:
    • Activation on a cellular carrier is required for from $299.99 pricing. Activation fees may apply and vary by carrier.
  • About this product:
    • Rating of 4.4 from over 140 Best Buy customer reviews.
  • Additional Note:

Original Post

Written by treo

Community Voting

Deal Score
+132
Good Deal
Visit Best Buy

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Top Comments

stealth805
136 Posts
95 Reputation
Want this phone for $299 and not have to pay the monthly fee and be able to use another carrier??
Let me save y'all about 4 hours, which is how long it took me to finally get to the right people to make this happen. Here is how I got this handled
I ordered a $5 Tello number, selected e-sim, received number within a few minutes. Make sure to register the pin they give you in the email, it gives you all the port out info access. Theres a code there that is needed to enter in Best Buy portal when you port it over to ATT.
Ported that number in to ATT via Best Buy portal
Picked up phone
Powered on Phone with ATT sim
Finished ALL account creation, including pin number creation etc via ATT email
Spent 3 hours getting tossed around 10 different reps and departments and supervisors via online chat, disconnected multiple times, told no multiple times, etc etc etc.
Don't bother submitting request online for unlock, it will be denied.
Just call technical support, JUST CALL!!! 1800-288-2020. Call from a phone other that the Z Fold 3. Reason you call from other phone is you will want to pop your sim in from other provider to get to the sim unlock prompt while you are on the phone with them. Tell them you need technical support, you may get tossed around one more time, but you WILL get someone that can help you.
Have your link ready that states phones paid in full at purchase can be unlocked without waiting 60 days. I had to legit provide not just the wording, but the exact link. The rep will literally navigate to it and will be super surprised and state that this is the first they've ever heard of this policy and that they always get hassled by the unlock team and ultimately never get the unlock code for the customer.
Have your receipt from Best Buy ready ready to go (I had to legit take pics with my phone and text them to a number they gave me).
After about 10 minutes with the rep, they provided the unlock code.
Make sure to input the unlock code prior to getting transferred over to cancellation department.
Get sent over to cancellation department and submit for cancellation under buyer's remorse policy.
Done and done. Save yourself a lot of time and just call them. I paid $299 plus tax and have a fully unlocked phone on T-mobile with no issues at all. ATT service is shut down, I didn't care about the Tello number, much easier to pay the $5 for a Tello than mess with a number you actually care about keeping. Just cancel the service and it is over and done with.
I obviously can't promise this is gonna work for every single person. I suppose a non-cooperative rep might not wanna go the extra mile for you, but my telephone rep was super helpful and patient. She admitted I had done my diligence with researching the terms and pushed the "unlock team" to help her with the code. YMMV of course, but this worked for me. Just be patient and courteous to the rep. I was frustrated with how long it was taking but you need to acknowledge that each new person you talk to, it is their first interaction with you, they have no idea how long you've been dealing with people. You can avoid a lot of frustration by just calling to start out instead of trying to manage the situation via online chat.
Questions, feel free to ask, perhaps I wasn't completely thorough, but that was basically what I went through. Good luck all.
quantecipher
2786 Posts
1616 Reputation
As soon as yo have the phone in hand.

Port out the line to cancel. Line automatically cancels as soon as the number it ported out (5-10 mins). You can port to Tello for $2.50.
https://slickdeals.net/f/16531969-tello-50-off-selected-plans

These phones are subsidized by the carriers and hoping people would switch or add more lines and stay with them, etc; therefore different carrier may offer different prices.

You can request unlock right away because it's paid in full with no money owed; i.e., no monthly installment,

Yes.

Port out the number to cancel right away (5-10 min, as soon as the number is ported) so that you don't have to deal with rep that doesn't allow you to cancel. You can port to Tello for $2.50.
https://slickdeals.net/f/16531969-tello-50-off-selected-plans

Yes, but you can cancel right away.
snoopykul
26 Posts
18 Reputation
Option 1 worked for me

I picked up my Fold 3 this morning from bestbuy. ATT variant.
Ordered online with the porting in option as it wouldn't let me order otherwise. Used a random boost mobile number I had and have no intention of porting in a number.
BB didn't ask for anything in store, just gave me the phone and i walked out.

Received att emails after pickup, created account, created ATT PIN, jotted down account number, and saw $60 plan but $0 due.

unboxed and booted with t-mobile sim card, asked for unlock code.

tried to unlock from my att portal, but denied.
tried to unlock using the request unlock website for non att members, but denied via email

Started a chat with att to cancel service and request unlock.
I mentioned having bad service reception in my area and wanted to cancel and wanted to unlock phone to use it for work which was a different provider.
They wanted me to reset the network, but i said not interested just want to cancel.

They also mentioned that i lose my port in number if i cancelled. which was wierd since i never actually ported in the number yet.

Eventually, they said, "Since the total due balance if $0.00 there will be no charges now. Your services with AT&T will be completely shut off."

Then i asked about the network unlock, which they said they sent directly to my phone. Didn't work even though she said it was unlocked on their system. Eventually they provided the unlock code which worked.

Now my fold 3 is cancelled with att service with 0 payments or fees and unlocked so i can use my Tmobile sim.

hope that helps some of ya.

1,738 Comments

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Apr 10, 2023
3,546 Posts
Joined Jan 2005
Apr 10, 2023
zettler
Apr 10, 2023
3,546 Posts
Quote from gadgetNerd :
If you can tell me which step is failing with what error e.g. odin installation, firmware download/extract, putting fold3 in recovery mode or flashing it using odin then I can try to help.
Thank you both. I just hated being a pest.

And I've only been trying to do this after 9pm...or 1am...or.....
Apr 10, 2023
195 Posts
Joined Nov 2020
Apr 10, 2023
CyanMeerkat9809
Apr 10, 2023
195 Posts
Quote from gibsonbass :
Do you still need to have ATT sim inside the phone to reset and force the update?
yes. Put ATT SIM from f3
Apr 10, 2023
11,063 Posts
Joined Mar 2011
Apr 10, 2023
gibsonbass
Apr 10, 2023
11,063 Posts
Quote from CyanMeerkat9809 :
yes. Put ATT SIM from f3
Didn't work. I don't want to flash to update the firmware as it could void the warrant. This phone, with the chances shitty screen protector being peeled off, I don't wanna take a chance.
Apr 11, 2023
195 Posts
Joined Nov 2020
Apr 11, 2023
CyanMeerkat9809
Apr 11, 2023
195 Posts
Quote from gibsonbass :
Didn't work. I don't want to flash to update the firmware as it could void the warrant. This phone, with the chances shitty screen protector being peeled off, I don't wanna take a chance.
just factory reset has nothing to do with smart switch, flash odin

Quote from xing4
Ran into a few issues but was able to fix all of them. Here is my experience. Hope it help.

Upgrade Android OTA:

The update in Setting quickly said "You're on the latest version" (or similar) even I'm on ATT 5G for the whole night + a few restarts. I decided to factory reset the phone and realized there was a setup wizard which I didn't complete when I powered the device on at the first time. Therefore after this reset, I completed the wizard (skipped steps where a "skip" button was offered, such as login google account, login samsung account, att cloud service with monthly charges, but I completed all other steps to the end). I especially remembered where was a step saying to setting att related software. I guess that was the key.

Then I went to the Update and updates just pop-up. It takes ~8 updates to be latest (Android 13 with March 2023 security patch). The SIM manager & 2nd IMEI (for Esim) showed up after 5~6 updates.

just make sure you don't SKIP ATT related software upgrade

good luck!
Last edited by CyanMeerkat9809 April 10, 2023 at 05:29 PM.
Apr 11, 2023
359 Posts
Joined Dec 2021
Apr 11, 2023
SeriousKitten2924
Apr 11, 2023
359 Posts
Quote from CyanMeerkat9809 :
just factory reset has nothing to do with smart switch, flash odin

Quote from xing4
Ran into a few issues but was able to fix all of them. Here is my experience. Hope it help.

Upgrade Android OTA:

The update in Setting quickly said "You're on the latest version" (or similar) even I'm on ATT 5G for the whole night + a few restarts. I decided to factory reset the phone and realized there was a setup wizard which I didn't complete when I powered the device on at the first time. Therefore after this reset, I completed the wizard (skipped steps where a "skip" button was offered, such as login google account, login samsung account, att cloud service with monthly charges, but I completed all other steps to the end). I especially remembered where was a step saying to setting att related software. I guess that was the key.

Then I went to the Update and updates just pop-up. It takes ~8 updates to be latest (Android 13 with March 2023 security patch). The SIM manager & 2nd IMEI (for Esim) showed up after 5~6 updates.

just make sure you don't SKIP ATT related software upgrade

good luck!
Now when my ATT service is cancelled and the SIM does nothing, how can I update my Fold if I don't want to flash it with Odin because afraid to loose warranty?
Apr 11, 2023
359 Posts
Joined Dec 2021
Apr 11, 2023
SeriousKitten2924
Apr 11, 2023
359 Posts
Updated firmware using Windows version of Smart Switch. But second update of Android 13 was downloaded and stuck on file checking in Windows and download mode in the phone. And it sits in this state for several hours. Don't know if I unplug it or restart will it be okay or will damage firmware and brick the phone? And it still didn't unlock yet...(
Apr 11, 2023
233 Posts
Joined Jun 2015
Apr 11, 2023
crackerjeffbox
Apr 11, 2023
233 Posts
Bought 2 from this deal, slapped the 80$ spigen case on them and babied them, both me and my wife's started bubbling within 2 weeks, gonna return them while I can and go back to the s21

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Apr 11, 2023
359 Posts
Joined Dec 2021
Apr 11, 2023
SeriousKitten2924
Apr 11, 2023
359 Posts
Quote from crackerjeffbox :
Bought 2 from this deal, slapped the 80$ spigen case on them and babied them, both me and my wife's started bubbling within 2 weeks, gonna return them while I can and go back to the s21
You don't want to make a warranty replacement for screen protector? Best buy shows $45 restocking fees for returning this phone.

P.S. I'm going to return it too, as they refuse to unlock it as they say I purchased it on 28th March and changes to the policy was made on 28th also.
Apr 11, 2023
359 Posts
Joined Dec 2021
Apr 11, 2023
SeriousKitten2924
Apr 11, 2023
359 Posts
Guys, I received the answer:

"All of these photos were attached with the FCC case you are correct, but none of them reflect the order going through prior to the 28th. Unfortunately since the device was not ordered prior to the 28th there is nothing I can do to assist with unlock. The best I can advise is waiting the 60 days required of active service in order to attain your unlock code. I apologize I cannot assist further. But my hands are tied with this issue."

I reordered the phone for the second time on 28th March as they were unable to send it to me because twice they had issues porting my number and said I had to cancel and reorder. First order was on 24th March.

Is that lawful for ATT to behave like that, are they correct in their declining me to unlock?

Or should I go to FTC/FCC again? Can you suggest me doing something else with another complaint?
Apr 11, 2023
8 Posts
Joined Mar 2021
Apr 11, 2023
NervousStag2984
Apr 11, 2023
8 Posts
Quote from crackerjeffbox :
Bought 2 from this deal, slapped the 80$ spigen case on them and babied them, both me and my wife's started bubbling within 2 weeks, gonna return them while I can and go back to the s21
Same here, mine bubbled within a day of usage... BUT I got free replacement at ubreakifix and it has been working like a charm since then!
Apr 11, 2023
233 Posts
Joined Jun 2015
Apr 11, 2023
crackerjeffbox
Apr 11, 2023
233 Posts
Quote from NervousStag2984 :
Same here, mine bubbled within a day of usage... BUT I got free replacement at ubreakifix and it has been working like a charm since then!
Ubreakifix told me they weren't equipped to do it properly and could only get 90-95%
Apr 11, 2023
6,976 Posts
Joined Jul 2007
Apr 11, 2023
lou2004
Apr 11, 2023
6,976 Posts
Quote from crackerjeffbox :
Bought 2 from this deal, slapped the 80$ spigen case on them and babied them, both me and my wife's started bubbling within 2 weeks, gonna return them while I can and go back to the s21
are you talking about the actual screen or just the screen protector? if just about screen protector, they are just $10+ at Amazon or free replacement from Samsung.
Apr 11, 2023
233 Posts
Joined Jun 2015
Apr 11, 2023
crackerjeffbox
Apr 11, 2023
233 Posts
Quote from lou2004 :
are you talking about the actual screen or just the screen protector? if just about screen protector, they are just $10+ at Amazon or free replacement from Samsung.
The protector but it's difficult to apply correctly plus the hassle as nearest replacement is 50m away. Plus have wifi issues with both
Apr 12, 2023
254 Posts
Joined Jul 2017
Apr 12, 2023
Yoksel
Apr 12, 2023
254 Posts
Quote from NervousStag2984 :
Same here, mine bubbled within a day of usage... BUT I got free replacement at ubreakifix and it has been working like a charm since then!
Is bubbling looking like drops of water in the middle of the screen along the folding line? I think it's starting to come up on mine too. Not visible when the screen is dark but visible on a bright white screen.

Does screen protector replacement actually fix this? Meaning it's a problem with the factory-installed screen protector and not a design flaw of the phone?

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Apr 12, 2023
102 Posts
Joined Aug 2014
Apr 12, 2023
NFS851
Apr 12, 2023
102 Posts
Quote from Yoksel :
Is bubbling looking like drops of water in the middle of the screen along the folding line? I think it's starting to come up on mine too. Not visible when the screen is dark but visible on a bright white screen.

Does screen protector replacement actually fix this? Meaning it's a problem with the factory-installed screen protector and not a design flaw of the phone?
Mine had that at first and by the end of the day it was completely detached up the middle of the fold. I even tried to push them out gently but it didn't help. I had mine replaced almost 2 weeks ago and it's been great since. I think someone else posted and nailed it on the head that these phones have been sitting for awhile and the since people were experiencing this within the first year that it makes sense for them to be popping up as they are several years old now. I can't speak for the longevity of them after replacement but I did order a few off Amazon in case the place where I had mine replaced at runs out of stock.

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