Thanks for the rooting idea. No, I haven't tried rooting my phone yet. I have friends that have rooted their phones, but I've never tried it myself. As I'm eligible to upgrade my phone (and I wouldn't mind getting a new phone anyway), I'll probably just buy a new phone.

I'd like to avoid this type of issue in the future with a new phone though, and it's probably safest to either buy a Nexus phone (or as you mentioned an Android phone that you can root), or just buy an iPhone. The Project Fi that [MENTION=406305]tedder[/MENTION] mentioned sounds interesting.