I don't mind the runaround method to save money on a new phone.
In late April, My wife was out of Contract on T-mobile and I wanted to get her a new phone for her Bday in April. I bought my wife a Nokia N82 for her Bday - $469 shipped from MacMall. I took advantage of a deal on slickdeals to "renew" her T-mobile contract to get a new 1 year contract, no activation fee, and a free BlackBerry Pearl 8100 after rebate. I sold that Pearl on ebay for $189. after ebay/paypal fees, I pocketed $160ish. Putting that towards the N82, you could say I got it for $300 w/ a 1 year contract.
(I put the "renew" in quotes because I actually started a new contract under my dad's name and brought in the out of contract number to replace the new temp number assigned. So it's not really a renew, but I'm pretty sure you get a better deal for signing a new contract rather than renewing so I'd go with that).
I probably could have gotten the N82 for cheaper if I was more patient. And now, I think you can get the Curve 8320 or Pearl 8120 for free with contract so those are better phones that would fetch more on ebay.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
I don't mind the runaround method to save money on a new phone.
In late April, My wife was out of Contract on T-mobile and I wanted to get her a new phone for her Bday in April. I bought my wife a Nokia N82 for her Bday - $469 shipped from MacMall. I took advantage of a deal on slickdeals to "renew" her T-mobile contract to get a new 1 year contract, no activation fee, and a free BlackBerry Pearl 8100 after rebate. I sold that Pearl on ebay for $189. after ebay/paypal fees, I pocketed $160ish. Putting that towards the N82, you could say I got it for $300 w/ a 1 year contract.
(I put the "renew" in quotes because I actually started a new contract under my dad's name and brought in the out of contract number to replace the new temp number assigned. So it's not really a renew, but I'm pretty sure you get a better deal for signing a new contract rather than renewing so I'd go with that).
I probably could have gotten the N82 for cheaper if I was more patient. And now, I think you can get the Curve 8320 or Pearl 8120 for free with contract so those are better phones that would fetch more on ebay.
Hope this helps.