Comments on: Upgrading mobile phones prey to traps, myriad rules

By: Cityslicker

Cityslicker — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 22:38:33 +0000

@jpChris
Beware of regulatory agencies – they make everything cost more, and eat away at your freedoms. Let’s all regulate them ourselves – by not buying from them. I’m my own worst enemy – I’m familiar with the “riding out the phone” concept with AT&T.

By: John

John — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 01:10:15 +0000

Peter,

And what country of 37 million would that be? Yes, we Americans whine a lot….JD

By: Peter H

Peter H — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 00:01:01 +0000

Oh, you lucky Americans! Even our “new” “discount” providers offer only 2 choices – a contract, usually 3 years + a “small fee” for a phone or pay full price. All phones are locked in – soon to be illegal to unlock under our proposed version of your DCMA.

37 million would love your problems.

By: jpChris

jpChris — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 03:39:16 +0000

Totally off topic, but, satellite and cable companies do the same thing to you. Why isn’t there some sort of regulatory agency with cajones to end these ripoffs???

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 19:09:22 +0000

I have Verizon wireless and I am days away from the “eligible” for update day, I saw on the internet ‘wirefly’ had a 24 hour sale on verizon phones for $0.00, free activation, free shipping…to good to be true I thought, I went to a verizon store to ask questions an get any info to help me avoid the cost of an upgrade on two phones with a family plan, they were not very hlpful at all and said th phones might be refurbished phones or the contract may have clauses in it blah blah blah…so I call wirefly as if I were going to buy a phone and asked all the questions I nedded an answer for, they were very helpful and not mad when I ended the call with a “sorry I gotta go” just before closing the deal…I probably lost out on a good deal, my wife was not comfortable with it…keep your eyes open for wirefly they may have another sale, now it will cost me full price for the second phone to upgrade an the price of the Droid as well.

By: josh

josh — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 12:25:44 +0000

just a though you should check out boost mobile they have sprint phones on the boost side and the price per month is resonable and no contracts

By: Bruce Fryer

Bruce Fryer — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 23:31:54 +0000

Four years ago got a killer family plan from Sprint. (3 lines, unlimited data, texting, 900 minutes for $90). 5 cents a minute for overage. It’s no longer offered. So whenever the contract is coming to an end, I get a free phone, and get it extended another 2 years. It’s kind of backwards, but keeps the cost low. The key is all the phones have a gmail client. So gmail aggregates all my mail accounts (and VoiP phone messages from office) and shoots them to the phone. When I need apps I use the iPad (no contract) or my netbook with a $20 / month pay as you go data card. With my eyesight, the smart phones screens were just too small for me.