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more on Locked In a Cell: How Cell Phone Early Terminati on Fees Hurt Consumers
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 05:27:03 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: John Shoch <shoch () alloyventures com> Date: October 11, 2005 9:09:09 PM EDT To: dave () farber net Cc: John Shoch <shoch () alloyventures com>Subject: RE: [IP] more on Locked In a Cell: How Cell Phone Early Terminati on Fees Hurt Consumers
Dave,It is hard to deciper the approach to pricing used by the large cellular carriers, and we all have stories of insane behavior. Some of this is a hold-over from the time when your carrier could hold your phone number hostage, and not give very good discounts on a renewal. My recent experience:
1. Had an old AT&T TDMA phone, which got lost. Tried to replace it at Cingular, but they no longer sell TDMA phones [you can buy a used one on eBay]. I could buy a new GSM phone, but that requires a new plan.
2. So, since I was interested in a new phone, I went on-line and found some great specials. BUT, I was then ineligible for them because I was trying to go from a Cingular account to Cingualar, and the bargain deals don't apply. The deals are only provided to the re- sellers from bringing in a new customer.
3. Cingular just says, "no free phone." When you point out you can go to another carrier and now take your number with (!), they just shrug.
4. But in this process I did discover some great deals on-line: you can actually get a free phone plus a REFUND/REBATE of $100-150 dollars if you sign up for a new phone and plan on a different carrier.
http://www.intelenetwireless.com/ http://www.cellularchoices.net/carrier/cingular/phones/ http://www4.letstalk.com/landing/vsearch2.htm?landId=1&mulService=15. Given this insane behavior, the only thing that makes sense is to shift to a new carrier every 2 years, get a new phone, throw out the old one, bring your number over, and pocket $100-150 cash each time.....
How did we ever end up here? John Shoch Alloy Ventures -----Original Message----- From: David Farber [mailto:dave () farber net] Sent: Tuesday, October 11, 2005 4:02 PM To: Ip Ip Subject: [IP] more on Locked In a Cell: How Cell Phone Early Terminati on Fees Hurt Consumers ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
Current thread:
- more on Locked In a Cell: How Cell Phone Early Terminati on Fees Hurt Consumers David Farber (Oct 11)
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- more on Locked In a Cell: How Cell Phone Early Terminati on Fees Hurt Consumers David Farber (Oct 11)
- more on Locked In a Cell: How Cell Phone Early Terminati on Fees Hurt Consumers David Farber (Oct 11)
- more on Locked In a Cell: How Cell Phone Early Terminati on Fees Hurt Consumers David Farber (Oct 12)
- more on Locked In a Cell: How Cell Phone Early Terminati on Fees Hurt Consumers David Farber (Oct 12)
- more on Locked In a Cell: How Cell Phone Early Terminati on Fees Hurt Consumers David Farber (Oct 14)
- more on Locked In a Cell: How Cell Phone Early Terminati on Fees Hurt Consumers David Farber (Oct 16)
- more on Locked In a Cell: How Cell Phone Early Terminati on Fees Hurt Consumers David Farber (Oct 16)
- more on Locked In a Cell: How Cell Phone Early Terminati on Fees Hurt Consumers David Farber (Oct 16)
- more on Locked In a Cell: How Cell Phone Early Terminati on Fees Hurt Consumers David Farber (Oct 16)