vB Easy Archive - Cingular 8525 (or others if theres a good one) service, prices, and conditions

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Cingular 8525 (or others if theres a good one) service, prices, and conditions
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Posted by: Cyber Akuma

I don't really have any expirence with buying a cellphone. I was looking around for a good PDA phone, I didnt really care what provider I chose just as long as its not Verizon.

I was mainly looking for a PDA phone with the following:

3G
Supports WIFI
Can play MP3 files (A plus if it can use them as ringtones too)
Can use external storage
Supports GPS
Not hard to link with a PC

This phone seems to support all those and has many more features, and reacing reviews it seems to be a very good one.

However, it got confusing when searching for prices. They varies from $500 to $150.

The cheapest deal I found was on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Cingular-8525.../dp/B000KFWUMG/

For my area there are two deals I can get, getting the phone for $175 from Wirefly and for $150 from Amazon.

When I looked up wirefly, I found an incredibly surprising amount of 1/5 reviews, many people complaning about no customer service, lost orders and plain ignoring rebates.

http://shopping.yahoo.com/merchrati...hant_id=1018219

Not to mention the conditions of the contract didnt seem too friendly:
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CONDITIONAL $250 Equipment Discount Included: Your price paid includes an Equipment Discount of $250 that has been provided to you in exchange for either activating a new, non-substitute line of service or renewing an existing line of service and your agreement that, for the 181-day period following activation or renewal, you will (1) pay your balance due each month and otherwise maintain your account in good standing, (2) not disconnect this new line of service, (3) not transfer this equipment to another line of service, (4) not transfer or port an existing phone number to this line of service, (5) not change your service rate plan to a service plan with a lower monthly service rate, and (6) not use this line of service to replace an existing line of service. If these conditions are not met, you hereby agree to pay and authorize Wirefly to charge your credit card $250 as reimbursement of this Equipment Discount without need for further approval.
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However, the Amazon deal seemed to have similar terms:
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Conditional $250 Equipment Discount Included: Your price paid includes an equipment discount of $250 that has been provided to you in exchange for either activating a new, non-substitute line of service or renewing an existing line of service with Cingular, and your agreement that for the 181-day period following such activation or renewal you will: (1) pay your balance due to Cingular each month and otherwise maintain your account in good standing; (2) not disconnect this Cingular line of service; (3) not transfer this equipment to another Cingular line of service; (4) not change your Cingular service rate plan to a lower monthly service rate--this includes canceling or removing required PDA, BlackBerry, or smartphone features after your product has shipped; (5) not use this line of service to replace an existing account with Cingular. If these conditions are not met, you hereby authorize Amazon.com to charge your credit card $250 as reimbursement of this equipment discount without need for further approval.
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I was starting to wonder if this may be somehow related, the terms seem surprisingly similar, as well as the price, id hate to get burned on something expensive like this. Has anyone ever had expirence with getting this phone/offer from Amazon, or a similar phone with these same providers/conditions? Can I trust this offer form Amazon? Its obvious I cannot trust the one from wirefly. Is this offer still eligable if I already have a Cingular phone but am on a family plan that is not under my name?

Also, from those conditions, it almost sounds like you can never disconnect the service, switch, or chose a cheaper plan. This almost sounds unrealistic, usually these contacts have a specific date until you can basically end your service without any fees or disadvantages, but I don't see any date or time limit listed here. Are contracts normally like this or is this some overly-strict contract compared to what most cellphone service contracts are like? I don't see how a lifetime contract with such limiting conditions could be legal.

If this really is a terrible deal due to either the trustability of the offer or the contract, is there any good place/deal you can recommend? Getting this phone from Cingular themselves, even with a 2 year contract, is $400. That is too steep for me.

And would this phone basically be ok with any plan I chose? I remember some people commenting that one should not bother with this phone if they do not want to spend at least $110 a month for service, that's just insane.

And if this phone isnt that good, can you recommend a good one with all the features I am looking for?

What do you recommend I should do?

Posted by: suthurnlatino

I would go with Amazon anyday of the week before Wirefly. I've heard too many horror stories about them. BTW I am not sure that the 8525 has built-in GPS.

Posted by: MI_canuck

8525 does NOT have built in GPS

Posted by: RF9

Quote:

Originally Posted by MI_canuck

8525 does NOT have built in GPS

But it does support GPS if you have buy a separate bluetoot GPS receiver. He said "supports GPS" so I was also unsure if he knew it didn't have built in GPS or if he meant will just work with GPS.

Posted by: LexusPursuit

Although if one really wants to get technical

, the 8525 does have built in GPS, however, it currently is not practical to get working (from XDA-Dev)

Posted by: MI_canuck

Quote:

Originally Posted by LexusPursuit

Although if one really wants to get technical

, the 8525 does have built in GPS, however, it currently is not practical to get working (from XDA-Dev)

hmmm... interesting... It probably works by using nearby cell towers to triangulate location, I don't think it would be true satellite-bases GPS as most people know it.... In fact, triangulation might be how most cell phones that claim to be "GPS enabled" are doing it... But maybe not, maybe some in fact do have a tiny satellite receiver inside, but somehow i'm skeptical of even that...

peace

Posted by: Cyber Akuma

I was talking to a friend and he was saying that Verizon was coming out with a new model soon that is basically an upgraded verizon xv6700 which will have more features than the Cingular 8525.

Has anyone heard anything about this? And is Verizon a good service provider? I tended to stay away from them because I heard they modify/lock their phones so they will only work with their online store, not allow you to use your own music/ringtones, change the os with their own, etc but I was told that they did not do this to PDA phones.

Any comments on this or my other previously asked questions?

Posted by: MI_canuck

all *I* can say is that I went from vzw to cingular.... and I don't regret it... but your mileage may vary...

if you ever intend on traveling outside the US, i'd recommend you go with a GSM/UMTS provider, rather than a CDMA provider....

cheers

Posted by: badkarma

Did you ever order from Amazon? I was hoping to perhaps go into the store and ask them to PM Amazon.

Posted by: Cyber Akuma

No, I want to make sure that I can trust this rebate and exactly what the terms and conditions mean before ordering.

Posted by: brain21

I don't know dude, I have been looking at this same phone and same plans these last 2 days since I got sent an MDA brick (dead).

I follow that amazon.com link and al I see is the 1 wirefly offer. I tried changing my zip, and it doesn't change anything. Whats your zip? Or has the deal gone away since you originally posted?

Anyway the $175 deal is from Wirefly thru amazon. I would stay away from them. ALL I saw was bad reviews, every single one stating that they do not send out their rebates.

If you buy on amazon.com via wirefly, they will not honor number portability, which not only sucks, it's just stupid business sense IMHO. If you go directly to wirefly.com they offer it for $199 and honor number portability.

Almost all of the other places I went for cheap cellphones were actually just linking me to wirefly (like buy.com for example).

I did find the same phone for the same price ($199) on www.letstalk.com The reviews for letstalk.com are more mixed (IOW, there are some good reviews there too). A few years back (like 3 or so) I bought a Nokia 9290 from letstalk.com for $50. Back then I actually had a god experience with them. I think my rebate may have come back a week or two later than they promised, but it did come.

Also, the 8525 is coming out for t-mobile in 2 months. It's exactly the same, but its dark blue. T-mobile seems to have some of the best discounts for new customers (w/o going thru wirefly), but when I talked to them today they said it would probably be in the 300-$400 range (no surprise). They didn't say if that would be retail price, or discounted, with new service price. I'm hoping I can get it for closer to $250 and stay w/ T-Mobile simply because I can get unlimitede internet for $5.99/month by changing proxy settings on the phone. Don't know how long that will last, but I bet when they switch over to HSDPA at the end of 2007/early 208 that loophole may go away.

I personally am debating - should I wait & see on the t-mobile one, or should I go for the LetsTalk.com deal since I had a good experience last time (though I may be pushing my luck). I don't THINK that letstalk.com is associated with wirefly, but I could be wrong.

I keep looking for a good deal on the phone thru a reputable dealer, but I can't find one. Even if I go through Cingular thru my company (we get "premiere" discounts) this phone is still at $359.

One thing... on letstalk.com I couldn't easily find what the terms of the agreement are.

Any additional options are welcome!

Brain21

Posted by: brain21

Now that I look at it more closely, the letstalk deal REQUIRES that you get the PDA Connect Unlimited data plan on top of whatever phone service plan you get. That's $40 a month extra. If you don't want it, then tough luck. If you wanted to try to use MediaMax instead, then you can't and you are speding $20 a month extra.

Something to think about when looking at your pricing options.

At this point the rumor is that the new T-Mobile phone (probably the same HTC Hermes as the 8525) will be out in a month. Sometime mid-may (I have seen as early as May 11th being rumored - that's only a few weeks away). I decided I'm going to wait until that comes out and see how much they want to rip me off for :-) At least w/ T-Mo I can use the $6/mo proxy to get net access on it for now. Once they turn on HSDPA at the end of the year or early next year that loophole will likely go away. I don't mind paying a little extra for the fast data (T-mo currently charges $30 extra for unlimited data and likely that won't change for the HSDPA rollout - just a guess).

When the T-mo phone comes out I will compare a 6 month cost-analysis for T-mo vs Cingular w/ Corp Discount vs Cingular via letstalk.com

Until then, I think I'm going to stick to my crappy little sony clamshell. It's only for a month more. I can hold out :-)

Brain21

Posted by: wratran

Most deal on 8525 will make you sign up for the PDA connect $40 plan. But you can cancel it after the first month. In the agreement, it does not state how long you have to keep the data plan. It states that you have to keep the voice plan for 2 years...

VErify it with the vendor before buying

Posted by: brain21

Good information to know!

Posted by: i835 chirp

8525 sounds like the device for you. There are a few new devices coming out but I doubt you'll get any for as good a price as Amazon is currently offering. I've seen people get theirs for 300 from Amazon, still satisfied.

Posted by: celloholic

I just sold my unlocked 8525 used for $500. By far it was the best phone I had owned. I use to work for Cingular until they shut down all of the smaller stores in my area.
I ended up going with a XV6700 from Verizon and am unlocking it for Cricket service. When I'm out of the area I still have coverage in the truck with handsfree Onstar analog/digital Gen 6.

Posted by: Cyber Akuma

I see, so, everyone seems to be telling me that its a great phone. What about the Amazon deal then? Can I trust them? Any special cases or gotchas I need to be aware of? I didnt fully understand the terms they were talking about.

Posted by: briansho

I was shopping around for this phone trying to get a good deal and I noticed amazon lets your order as an upgrade. Can you order the phone at the discount even if you aren't eligible for an upgrade until 06/08? Anyone ever try this and just enter their current account info? Will they just send you a phone with a new SIM card and disable the old one?