Smartphones

BrutulTM

Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.
<Silver Donator>
14,656
2,511
So... I posted it on Ebay and with 8 days left, the thing is up to $100. The two people who had the top bids so far have 0 and 1 review, respectively.

Should I be suspicious? I mean, why would you pay $100+ for a defective phone?

Assuming I wait for them to pay (with paypal) before sending out the phone. Any scams that make use of this? i.e. will get paypal to reverse the charge because the phone is broken?
Maybe they think that they can fix it and turn it around for a quick profit? Or maybe they're idiots and didn't notice the part where it is broken.
 

The Dauntless One

Lord Nagafen Raider
1,159
137
I wish we had something nearly that respectable in Canada. All of our plans/providers blow.
Fido/Koodo/Virgin $56 dollar unlimited plan with 2GB data is not bad.

People should have called retention when the Big 3 were pissing their pants at the Wind pricing. My plan is $45 and includes 6GB data and value pack. Only thing I'm missing is MMS which I don't use.
 

Kedwyn

Silver Squire
3,915
80
You can get straight talk for $40 per month and unlimited everything (data 2gb or so before they throttle you) and not have to jew the system with VOIP. Its all unlimited. Just have to pay it for the year. Plus it can be used on Tmobile or AT&T.
 

FleshStick_sl

shitlord
182
1
A fairly sexy case I am thinking of getting:
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Issentiel Leather Flip Case

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Joeboo

Molten Core Raider
8,157
140
http://gigaom.com/mobile/how-t-mobil...less-industry/

T-Mobile wants to push in the direction of not subsidizing phone purchases anymore. Actually sounds like a good deal, buy your own phone(or bring an existing phone to them) and your plan is $20 per month less for 2 years, that's a savings of $480, a lot more than you usually save off of a phone purchase through any of the US carriers with a 2 year contract. Most of those subsidies are in the $300-$350 range.
 

Kedwyn

Silver Squire
3,915
80
I would prefer it that way but the reality is most of America is functionally retarded and loves their payment plans. Monthly payments almost always win regardless of if its a better deal or not.
 

Soriak_sl

shitlord
783
0
According to theFDIC, 75% of American households believe they could not come up with $2,000 in 30 days. It's not at all surprising that people prefer payment plans to paying $500 upfront.

It's not even such a bad deal... with the T-Mobile value plans, you'd save $130 over 2 years, or about $5/month. As far as finance charges go, this one ain't so bad.

Of course post-paid still wins, because you can get something like a $30 or $40 per month plan that undercuts dramatically what the carriers can offer.
 

Devlin

Golden Squire
832
9
I don't understand why you guys get so bummed in the US on contracts.

My current contract is sim only, 600 minutes, 5000 texts and unlimited internet.

?16.
 

Kedwyn

Silver Squire
3,915
80
I really don't save anything moving my lines to pre paid I'd actually lose a fair bit. I have 5 lines with AT&T with tax it comes to just under 200 including corporate discount. 4 smart phones 1 dumb phone. I also have 1 prepaid line with Straight Talk since I ran out of space on our plan.

I get 40% off handsets and accessories, subsidized handsets and full service (LTE). We have plenty of minutes (A List and Google voice) and unlimited texting.

Nothing pre paid comes close to beating what I have with AT&T. So depending on the situation its not always a bad deal compared to pre paid. Now the regular Joe Blow without any discounts is getting straight up fucked.
_____
I don't understand why you guys get so bummed in the US on contracts.

My current contract is sim only, 600 minutes, 5000 texts and unlimited internet.

?16.
You can't compare the land mass, population and density of Europe and the US. Naturally its going to cost a bit more to blanket all of the US with wireless and considering that our costs aren't that bad.
 

Kedwyn

Silver Squire
3,915
80
You can specify the 10 most called numbers and they are free both incoming and out going. So what I've done is use a program called voice + to initiate calls through Google voice over the cell network (not voip) so that every out going call essentially is a free call for everyone on the plan since it rings back with your GV number and then connects your call. Excellent quality never had any issues.

With A List and voice + for outgoing 5 of us only use 400 or so anytime minutes out of maybe 3k (Alist, n/w, anytime) total minutes a month.

If minutes become a big issue I could even force GV to show its own number for incoming calls which would eliminate the need for any minutes what so ever since they would all be A list minutes.
 

Eomer

Trakanon Raider
5,472
272
I don't understand why you guys get so bummed in the US on contracts.

My current contract is sim only, 600 minutes, 5000 texts and unlimited internet.

?16.
Because we get fucked, is why. Both in the US and Canada. I pay $95/month for the package my Blackberry needs to be useful. I think around 500 minutes, unlimited texts, and I'm not sure how much data but around 2gb I think. And it's a three year contract to get the full handset subsidy. I'm coming up on 2 years with my Torch, and quite honestly I don't know how I've made it this long.

The cell phone market in Europe is actually competitive, so maybe contracts aren't so bad there. In North America the competition is a sad joke, and getting locked in to 3 year contracts with a device that has been changing so rapidly is completely ridiculous.

Don't even get me started on roaming charges. It costs me more for wireless data 5 feet across the 49th parallel than it would to literally mail old school 3.5" floppy disks individually.
 

Big Phoenix

Pronouns: zie/zhem/zer
<Gold Donor>
46,225
97,808
I don't understand why you guys get so bummed in the US on contracts.

My current contract is sim only, 600 minutes, 5000 texts and unlimited internet.

?16.
Not really that great considering tmobile offers unlimited text/data and 100 minutes for $30.
 

Chancellor Alkorin

Part-Time Sith
<Granularity Engineer>
6,051
6,036
Not really that great considering tmobile offers unlimited text/data and 100 minutes for $30.
Holy shit. I wonder what their roaming rates are up in Canada.

Isn't it sad that it could conceivably be cheaper just to pay that, given how expensive and horrible our plans are?

EDIT: Oh, shit, never mind. T-Mobile roams with Rogers in Canada. $10 per MB. Hahaha. Fuck Rogers.
 

Chancellor Alkorin

Part-Time Sith
<Granularity Engineer>
6,051
6,036
It wouldn't be worth it at those roaming rates anyway, which is really too bad, given that it costs the telcos a grand total of absolutely nothing to allow us to roam. That's what makes the entire thing feel like you've been bent over the workbench. There is no additional cost for "long distance" or "roaming" these days. Fucking greedy telcos...
 

Devlin

Golden Squire
832
9
Not really that great considering tmobile offers unlimited text/data and 100 minutes for $30.
$30 is like ?20.

600 any network minutes vs 100 any network minutes.
5000 texts vs unlimited texts.

It's not a bad deal but an hour and forty minutes talk time isn't that great. Unlimited texting isn't that big a deal when you have unlimited internet imo.
 

Ossoi

Potato del Grande
<Rickshaw Potatoes>
17,657
8,746
This is what I refer to with over-saturation on the Nexus 4. The grid pattern at the top of the screen should continue all the way down the screen, at least it did on my Galaxy Nexus. As you can see from the screenshot, the grid is barely visible unless you look out for it.


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