vB Easy Archive - No MORE free phones?!?!?!

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No MORE free phones?!?!?!
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Posted by: Telegraph

Has anyone noticed that Cingular only has ONE, yes you heard me right, ONE free phone on the website WITHOUT having to deal with a refurb or mail in rebates? That phone is the Nokai 6010. I know stores are also unable to offer that great of a deal on phones. Does anyone care about the subsidy of phones? Is Cingular right in doing this or are they just shooting themselves in the foot again?

Posted by: dobiegillis

I had a friend that just a few weeks ago had to pay $75 for a V180 when he renewed his contract and switched from AT&T. I told him it was a rip off. He said they had no free phone at the time.

Posted by: SLOYAROLE™

I'm sticking to ebay when it comes to phones. I re-upped to get the V220 (free) but bought a Nokia 3220 a few weeks later. Next will be the 6101. Once this 2 year deal is up, I'm staying montly. I'd rather pay the $$$ for the unlocked/unbranded phones.

Posted by: StattlichPassat

Quote:

Originally Posted by dobiegillis

I had a friend that just a few weeks ago had to pay $75 for a V180 when he renewed his contract and switched from AT&T. I told him it was a rip off. He said they had no free phone at the time.

Bahahahaha!!! They couldn't pay me to use that phone. That is nuts.

My store loses so much money from not having a free phone it isn't funny- Cingular really needs to make its agents/stores/website pricing equal. Now.

Posted by: nskgti23

Quote:

Originally Posted by dobiegillis

I had a friend that just a few weeks ago had to pay $75 for a V180 when he renewed his contract and switched from AT&T. I told him it was a rip off. He said they had no free phone at the time.

He only signed a 1 year contract... That is why...

Posted by: dobiegillis

Quote:

Originally Posted by nskgti23

He only signed a 1 year contract... That is why...

Well that is possible. He said it was a 2 year though but he is a hairdresser and they are known to be dingy.

Posted by: Rcadden

Check some local agents. For new customers, we have 4 free phones at Sam's Club currently. For upgrades they're all $30, which isn't bad.

Posted by: edmund

yeah, where I work...we have 3 different free phones with a 1 year contract...nokia 6010, LGC1300, and LGF9100 (which the 9100 has a $50 mail in rebate with addition to it being free from us, so you make $50)

I was in the cingular corporate store here in town not long ago and the cingular rep told me something about the reason they didn't have any free phones was because customers were more likely to get that one even if it wasn't a good phone...I was like "ok..."

Posted by: elushon

Only free one we've got is the 6010, and you aren't getting that for free unless you get at least te 59.99 single line or the 89.99 FT.

Well okay there is the 3120 but that's free after rebates.

Posted by: walkguru

free phones are hardly ever, any good.

Posted by: The WB

My Nokia 3390's were good when I had T-Mob service.

I was also able to get Nokia 6800's with my AT&T service - all for free and both have a pretty good track record!

Posted by: triple5soul8781

Quote:

Originally Posted by SLOYAROLE™

I'm sticking to ebay when it comes to phones. I re-upped to get the V220 (free) but bought a Nokia 3220 a few weeks later. Next will be the 6101. Once this 2 year deal is up, I'm staying montly. I'd rather pay the $$$ for the unlocked/unbranded phones.

Hell yea to that. Idont even know why i signed for a 2 year. I mean yea 48$ for my v551 was great but id alot rather put that towards a like v635.

Posted by: eimajuno

Most of the time, Free phones are free for a reason.

Posted by: triple5soul8781

hey man 6010 isnt a bad free phone. What do yo uwant a camera/videophone for free? Go to t dealer for that. But i dont see verizon or any other company givin gout much better deal. Go get a sweet t-mobile camera phone for free and have no service lol

Posted by: cingtd

Remember folks, phone prices usually change monthly, weekly or sometimes daily. It all depends on what models are currently available. While there may be very few free phones now at little or no cost, next week there may be six. New models are coming this month (can't say which models or when) and pricing on some older models will be coming down soon.

Posted by: Mark Larson

I will never buy a carrier phone if it is not free or very cheap. I can spend my money much better on a phone they haven't disabled the features of and slapped their logo all over. Why the heck would I get something that is usually more unstable and built to make them more money when I could get the real deal myself? See Verizon - their phones cost in the hundreds of dollars, AFTER CONTRACT. That's insane.

All I can say is Thank God for Amazon and the fact that they offer T-Mobile where I live.

Posted by: triple5soul8781

yea verixon does screw u since through them is ur only option to phones. thats why i went gsm

Posted by: drinkbrew

you are usually going to use a phone for at least a year so if you have to pay $20 or $30 dollars for a phone that is more reliable and you know will give you better service its worth it. the nokia 3120, samsung x497 are both good phones for a small price

Posted by: i0wnj00

Who cares about "free" (read $0)? I don't, in my book anything up to $40 qualifies for "free" in my book especially when it comes to basic phones.

I shelled out 30 bucks for a Nokia 6010 since my mom wasn't too happy about "no coverage" in VT and the rural part of Québec close to the VT border where Roger Wireless has service while using a Samsung 225 (900/1900) on the N. America plan. Oops...she's missing the 850 MHz band on her phone!

She wanted the Samsung C207, but I'm not too sure of the quality of the Rogers Wireless network where she lives or am I too sure of Samsungs. Nokia's for the most part are always a safe bet for backup phones.

Posted by: ev01ut10ndt

I had no luck in finding ANY phone under $100 for a 1 yr contract extention for two lines. (and I called almost 10 asian stores in the so. cali area that are famous for offering outrageous deals).

Already fairly pissed that I would have to pay $40 bucks for a stinkin se t237 from cingular (and no other stores can beat that price), I just called the one last store I did business with. Adding a new line(2 yr contract) onto my family plan....for a moto v551 (which was free for me 6 months ago with the same exact requirements).....$220 BUCKS!

Am I just getting higher prices than usual from calling instead of walking in? or did cingular go nuts with the phone prices...

Posted by: deepinya

220 for a 551? omfg you got RAPED.

Posted by: Mark Larson

Quote:

Originally Posted by i0wnj00

Who cares about "free" (read $0)?

The rest of us posting in this thread.

Kindly take your latte-sipping self elsewhere where they appreciate thread derailment and showing off that $40 is nothing to you.

By the way, thanks for ensuring that prices for commodities rise faster and faster.

Posted by: Seltzer

Quote:

Originally Posted by Telegraph

Has anyone noticed that Cingular only has ONE, yes you heard me right, ONE free phone on the website WITHOUT having to deal with a refurb or mail in rebates? That phone is the Nokai 6010. I know stores are also unable to offer that great of a deal on phones. Does anyone care about the subsidy of phones? Is Cingular right in doing this or are they just shooting themselves in the foot again?

Why no free phones? Simple, Cingular is scrambling to keep existing customer, namely former AWE customer, and TDMA customers. They are EASY prey for Verizon and T-Mobile to catch. The VIP mailers are offering free phones to TDMA customer and existing Orange customers.

Based on the last two quarters, Cingular upper management paid 40+ billion for a customer base that Verizon is getting by the droves. So, it's logical to try and stop the bleeding. Cingular is very mismanaged.

Posted by: i0wnj00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Larson

I wasn't intentionally trying to troll, piss anybody off or otherwise step on toes. I thought this thread was about buying refurb phones for backup purposes since the people were talking "free" phones, in this context I misread on my part. What may seem snide or otherwise on your part is a misjudgment on my part.

She's not a Rogers Wireless customer, she's still a Cingular customer. No, I don't know if the refurb is going to work or not even with the 850 MHz on the phone I bought...this is a hit or miss for me.

Posted by: ILuvMyMac

I was at the site today to see if the P207 is back, and there are a good half dozen free phones ...

Posted by: DonaldMick

Yeah, but you've got...

~ LG C1300 - refurb. Need I say more.
~ Samsung X497 - new, but only free after MIR. Not enough information to form an opinion of quality.
~ SE T226 - refurb. Not the greatest Ericsson out there.
~ Nokia 6010. Decent.

I dunno what ZIP you were looking in to get 6 "$0" phones (I checked 10101).

Posted by: ILuvMyMac

There were those 4, the C1300i and a Moto something or other. *shrug* didn't pay that close attention, just noted in passing they were there.

Posted by: wierdo

Given today's plan prices, it seems that if you can afford the plan, you can scrounge $50-$100 to purchase a phone that works well, so the service won't suck. Aside from the 6010, the free phones pretty much all drop calls and get poor reception. Unless, of course, you're talking about a dealer significantly discounting a midrange phone.

Posted by: I have a phone

why does everyone think they are entitled to subsidized equipment?

Posted by: cingtd

Quote:

Originally Posted by I have a phone

why does everyone think they are entitled to subsidized equipment?

Because they have been trained to think that way by cell companies (Cingular and all the others included) for years and convincing them otherwise will be difficult.

Posted by: Mark Larson

Quote:

Originally Posted by I have a phone

why does everyone think they are entitled to subsidized equipment?

Because they need to give me an incentive to sign a contract, let alone a long-*** 2 year one it would cost $200 to get out of.

Posted by: walkguru

free phones are for suckers.

Posted by: I have a phone

and they are going the way of Dino the dinosaur

Posted by: wierdo

They should, since the majority of them that Cingular has at any given time are such pieces of crap that they make the network look bad.

Posted by: hadeedg

you can choose from four free phones at my store.....

with a 59.99 plan or higher