T-Mobile Complete: a $300 contract-free BlackBerry Curve 8520 with one month service
By Ross Miller 
posted November 18th 2009 10:27PM
posted November 18th 2009 10:27PM
Good old T-Mobile's on a roll these days with new phone plans, and this one seems perfectly catered to stocking stuffers. The quartet of phones start at $59.99, but so far we know of two: BlackBerry Curve 8520 for $299.99 and the Pearl for $149.99, according to the Best Buy stores we contacted. There's no contract commitment, and according to the press release, the first month is included in the bill from the point the phone's out of the box and activated. We don't know the details of that first month of service (data? texting?), but it's still a pretty penny for an unsubsidized handset. After that second month, of course, T-Mo's probably hoping you'll be enticed to keep with the network. If not already, you should start seeing the phones pop up at local Best Buy and select Walmart locales shortly. Press release after the break. T-Mobile announces the availability of T-Mobile Complete, a pre-packaged no-annual contract solution that offers the value of a monthly plan and the first pay-in-advance BlackBerry smartphone from a national U.S. carrier. With T-Mobile Complete, customers can choose from four handsets starting at $59.99, which includes first month free. Customers can also choose from a range of unlimited plans starting at $50 per month. T-Mobile Complete is currently available nationwide at Best Buy and at select Walmart locations.
T-Mobile Complete kits are the easiest way to give phones this holiday season. Just buy the kit, wrap it, give it as a gift, and the recipient can activate service from anywhere, anytime – and they get the first month free! One of the four devices available through T-Mobile Complete is the BlackBerry Curve 8520 smartphone, the first pay-in-advance BlackBerry smartphone available from a national carrier. Smartphones will be a hot gift option this holiday season – in fact, T-Mobile expects smartphones to account for 40 percent of its sales in the fourth quarter of 2009.
T-Mobile Complete is just one great holiday gift option from T-Mobile. With a wide array of devices this holiday season – including the broadest lineup of Android smartphones of any carrier in the U.S. – there's something for every type of customer.
T-Mobile Complete kits are the easiest way to give phones this holiday season. Just buy the kit, wrap it, give it as a gift, and the recipient can activate service from anywhere, anytime – and they get the first month free! One of the four devices available through T-Mobile Complete is the BlackBerry Curve 8520 smartphone, the first pay-in-advance BlackBerry smartphone available from a national carrier. Smartphones will be a hot gift option this holiday season – in fact, T-Mobile expects smartphones to account for 40 percent of its sales in the fourth quarter of 2009.
T-Mobile Complete is just one great holiday gift option from T-Mobile. With a wide array of devices this holiday season – including the broadest lineup of Android smartphones of any carrier in the U.S. – there's something for every type of customer.
And a 2 year contract and monthly bill that you may not want. Plus iPhone 3g does not have 802.11 N.
and get locked into a years long plan.
That's the benefit - you get a phone as functional (if not as pretty) as an Iphone, but you get to choose your contract, change your contract, move carriers, stop using the phone whenever you want without extending a contract, paying to buyout a contract, waiting for the contract to end, etc.
It's how it's done in most of Europe, and it is how it should be done here. It benefits the consumers, creates competition, lowers the prices of plans, allows the real benefits of phones and service to be compared properly, and rewards both the handset makers and the providers for making choices that benefit the consumer.
dont forget the $900-$1200 per year in services
Ughh, I just cant bring my self to say it. Fir......
FIRE?!? WHAT FIRE?!?
Pork chop sandwiches!
Get out! Get the F*CK OUT!
Firmament?
Fir? But it's not Christmas yet!
Fir coat?
Firm cocks are your favorite?
hmm not bad too bad its not the new bold 9700 :D
Yeah the chances of that happening with a nice phone like the new Bold, are pretty slim.
Well, unless it's coming from Palm.
If only tmobile could expand coverage, their phones dont work here, and in the areas they do work (far from here) no 3g. Sighh
you said it before me. They do work here, not as well as at&t (which works very well around here), but there is zero 3G on T-Mob here, which is a deal breaker.
man, if only T-Mob would roll out their network faster. They are proving to be the nicest to their customers out of all the carriers.
@Levi
6 year not one problem with service
can we just get 3g blackberrys standard???
desperate
The phone costs $350 retail, buying out right though, and T-Mobile is selling it for $300, and that price pays the first month's bill. Does it include the texting and data package though? Yes, it's required by T-Mobile since Blackberry is making it a requirement that you cannot purchase ANY blackberry phones, since it is a smart phone, with out a data plan. Go ahead, go to T-Mobile and try to buy a smart phone with no data, or even VZW, AT&T, or Sprint, ain't happening bud.
I do hope that other carriers eventually adopt to pricing in this way soon. Or similar to it.
But this is only a savings of $50 from buying it out right, with out the contract. I guess the only true saving is coming from happening which plan that first month's bill lies under from. Like if it was for the 500 minutes with unlimited txt, and web, which is $60 + the $50 you save from the subsidized phone price you save = $110.00. That's pretty nice but yes it would be sweet if they did this for the bold 9700 too, but that phones $450 retail. COME ON T-MOBILE!!! SELL SOMETHING LIKE THE BOLD 9700 FOR $300, THEN WE'D STAY FOR WHO KNOWS HOW LONG, 2 YRS PLUS, YOU'LL BE PROFITING!!!
Yeah, I had to re-read it several times because it seems like a decent deal to me. Depending on the restrictions of the plan, it could easily be $100 worth of service that you're gonna have to pay *somewhere* anyway to use the phone.. so it would be like a $150 discount.
This is similar to what was packaged in with the Ions when they were given away by Google. They included a SIM that had one month's worth of T-Mo service that could be extended if you wanted to stick with the service.
How much does AOL pay you that you think a $300 Blackberry should be a stocking stuffer?
$300.
Apparently Engadget doesn't wrap gifts, everything just goes in your stocking and that's all you get.
One blackberry is pretty much the same as any other. If you want a no-contract BBerry for cheap I don't see how you can go wrong with this one. I suspect all blackberries will be 3g by the end of next year so maybe they're price-dumping them soon? Anyhow I spend most of my time on WiFi on my trusty 8820, everything seems pretty fast to me.
Best plan on T-Mobile
Everything More Plus - $39.99. 500min + unlimited texting
Unlimited Data Plan - $10.00
iPhone 3G or 2G off eBay - $200 - 350
$200-350 +$50 a month
For an iPhone, unlimited data, text, and voice (with Google Talk).
@Bleck Is unlimmited data really only $10 with t-mobile?
The Blackberry complete package is unlim min, data and txt for $80 dollars after the first month. The first month includes that service if you activate it with that. Basically, when you buy it you select your plan, either the 80 dollar complete or 60 dollars for either a 50 minute plan with 5 favs or 300 minute with no favs. Both include data & txt.
Best Buy has actually been selling the Pearl this way for a while, though without this free first month business. I bought one about a month ago for the same price. AND I didn't need to buy a data plan. I was already on t-mobile (pay-as-you-go) prepaid, so I just swapped the SIM card into the new phone. I still don't have a data plan, and I probably won't be getting one any time soon.
...yeah, I have a BlackBerry that I only use for making phone calls and some light texting.
ooh, an easy way to get a new phone since I'm already with the big magenta.
Why is Engadget writing about old stuff? These have been on Best Buy's shelves for a month now or maybe more...and the Pearl we have carried for at least 4 months. Please write about current events...not old pay as you go news. Thanks.
And this ladies and gentlemen is why all these unlocked Nokia phones are such a rip off. Blackberry Curve for $300 with a free month of service? And Nokia has the balls to charge anywhere from $500 to $1000 for their unlocked phones? Many of which are barely better, if at all? Yea. Linux is cool, but not *that* cool. This is getting to be a joke guys.
This phone is really amazing.
If only it had camera flash and 3G connectivity, it would have been a close-to-perfect tech purchase. This review from the Asia-Pacific pretty much sums up what 8520 is all about in this region: http://www.techpinas.com/2010/01/iphone-cases-25-coolest-and-weirdest.html
I'm just wondering if RIM offers different specs for the NA and European market.