Is It Really a Free Cell Phone Offer?

A Free Cell Phone Offer – Beware of the Hidden Costs!

Free Cell Phones Sometimes Cost You Much More

You need to read this before you sign up for a free cell phone.

Before you commit to a lengthy contract with a huge cancellation penalty , just to get a free cell phone, there are some things that you really must understand…

The reason you see all the full page ads and great deals for free cell phones, you need to understand the economics of what is really going on.

If you do not, you will end up paying much more than you have to, become obligated to a lengthy contract (carrying a big cancellation penalty ), and possibly damaging your credit.

You a likely familiar with the expression “There is no such thing as a free lunch”. That same applies to cell phones- there is no such thing as a truly free cell phone offer.

One way or another, you will pay for that free cell phone, sometimes much more than what is worth.

Note- What Follows is an Explanation of the Hidden Costs of Free Cell Phone Offers.
However, Many People Still Ask Us Where to Find Free Cell Phones...

It is the best place we have found for free cell phones:

LetsTalk.com, The Smarter Way To Buy Wireless

The “authorized dealer” with the web site or more likely, cell phone store at the mall, only makes about $50 from the big cell phone company. That’s if and only if you sign a service contract.

They may make a little on the mark-up of any accessories you buy, but their main goal is to get you to sign that contract.

My last experience with a free cell phone offer illustrates many the traps of free cell phones…

Here’s my Horrible Experience With a Free Cell Phone Offer

My wife and I went into the store, which is exactly what they wanted us to do- that was the entire reason for their ad and offer.

Yes, we could have free cell phones at those rates if we signed a 2-year contract (which carried a $250 early cancellation penalty) plus they needed to do a credit check on us to make sure that we would qualify for the advertised rates.

Of course the helpful sales woman didn’t mention the credit inquiry (which can hurt your credit score), that was buried in the contract. Fortunately, we had a credit score over 700, so we did qualify for the advertised rates. If we hadn’t, the rates would have been higher.

Being frugal, I selected one of the free cell phones, but my wife liked a different one, so we had to pay $100 extra for her cell phone.

So there we are, new phones in hand, ready to checkout, and we are handed the two page, extremely fine print, service contract. Wanting to get on with life, I skimmed it and signed without fully realizing what I had just obligated myself to.

Of course, the best rates were for the plans that had the fewest minutes. Scared by the $.45 per minute charge if we exceeded our monthly minute allotment, we committed to one of the more expensive plans. (Another skillful up-sell by the cell phone company.)

One of the things that I missed in my skimming of the plan, was the trap that we were really paying for our free cell phones with our minutes. We had agreed to a 500 minute per month plan, which in reality was not enough, because at 450 minutes, and not at 500 minutes, we went into the $.45 per minute excess charge.

That is exactly what happened to us… Our first few months with had extremely high overage charges- much more that we were paying for out plan’s 500 minutes. So we bumped up to an even more expensive plan with more minutes. Another up-sell to help pay for our free cell phones.

One of the problems with that the old-fashioned cell phone companies is that you never can get accurate, real time information on your minute usage.

If you have the awareness that you are coming up on the end of your billing month, you can pay them for a call to get a minute usage summary, but there is a big disclaimer that this may not be up to date information.

The reason for that is that most of the older cell phone companies (the ones advertising a free cell phone offer) have older software, which gives them data that is about 2 days old.

This older software is one of the reasons why the old-fashioned cell phone companies can’t ever put you on a no contract basis.

The few companies that are using the newer, real-time proprietary software can warn you with text messages that your minute allotment is coming up. Thus giving you a chance to purchase some more minutes at a reasonable rate and not the outrageous rates the other cell phone companies charge.

This company, that we highly recommend, has this new technology to save you money.

Back to our story... here’s where I really got angry with this cell phone company and our allegedly free cell phones…

Since we had spent more than we had planned when we walked into the cell phone store – for my wife’s phone upgrade and for the more expensive service contract, we opted not to pay the extra $5 per month each for the phone insurance. That $5 per month fee still had a $50 dollar deductible that we had to pay if we ever broke our phone and it didn’t cover the loss of it.

We felt like such savvy and sophisticated shoppers. After all, these were free cell phones, how much could it cost if one ever broke?

I found out just how expensive my free cell phone was about 6 weeks later…

I was running through a parking lot trying to catch someone who was driving out.

My free cell phone slipped out of the belt holder and fell onto the asphalt. It hit on the hinge just right and it broke into 2 pieces.

This shocked me, as I had owned cell phones since the beginning of cell phone time (the big bag phones). Over the years, I had often dropped all my other phones numerous times and never had a problem.

I called the cell phone company and explained, expecting to get a replacement phone- after all, it was just one of their free cell phones.

No more nice sales girl (the one who just wanted us to sign that 2 year contract). Now I had to deal with a matter-of–fact person on the customer service number.

(Have you ever noticed that the big cell phone companies are only friendly to you when it is time to sign a new contract?)

I was informed that since I neglected to purchase the cell phone damage insurance (which still would have cost me the $50 deductible) I could replace phone for just $279.00!

I was outraged. I wanted out of my contract. After all, I had only signed it a month and a half earlier.

Yes, of course, I could cancel my contract, but I would be charged a $250.00 cancellation fee!

I asked if I could get some sort of credit towards the purchase of a new phone. Yes, in another 10 1/2 months, when my we had our contract for 1 year, I would be eligible for a $75 voucher to buy another phone. (whoopee). I wasn’t eligible for another free cell phone offer until more 2 years.

Of course, had I taken them up on either of those offers (when I could in 1 or 2 years), then I would have to sign another 2 year contract!

Fortunately, I knew that despite the marketing of “it’s the network”, there really are only 2 different cell phone networks in the U.S. and I had an older phone that was programmed for the same network that this provider used.

The solution was that I was able to use my older cell phone for the duration of our contract.

That free cell phone offer had significant hidden costs.

That free cell phone offer caused us a lot of frustration too.

Now, do you see now why free cell phone offer really isn’t free?

Finally, You Now Have a Better Choice Than Any Free Cell Phone Offer

They are a no contract cell phone company.

They do not require contracts because their philosophy is that if great prices and service are offered, there is no need to have a contract.

They are also a no credit check cell phone company.

If you are just starting out and have no credit, you can still get cell phone service at their low, advertised rates. Even if you do have established credit, why should you jeopardize your credit score with inquiry just to get a cell phone?

While you won’t find a free cell phone offer, you will end up paying much less by purchasing one of their wholesale priced cell phones and trying out their no deposit, no contract, and no credit check cell phone service.

To find out more, please click here.

That Said, and I Still Get Many Inquiries For a Good Free Cell Phone Offer

If this applies to you, I have found a place that has good prices, a huge selection, comparison data, and user reviews.

The usually have more than one free cell phone offer available at any time.

Here's some more information to help you...

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