Interesting

Something to note about this though is you're talking about unlocked GSM blackberries.

This PSA doesn't apply to CDMA phones (at least in the US) as Verizon will not activate a Sprint phone and vice versa.

Void warranty?

How much does AT&T sell the for?

Yeah it's quite a rip off. I feel its sort of a monopoly even if you have multiple companies. It's sort of like gas prices. Regardless of what you say it won't change anything. You will pay what they ask for. I wish a carrier would come out and take down these thieves like redbox/netflix took down blockbuster/family video.

Send the phone to me! I'm an AT&T customer who can't get this phone (and I've signed the petition, but you could help a guy out!) :-)

i've seen in rogers website its $599+tax so its around $670 CMIIW

What bothers me is that Rogers decided it was in their best interest to jack up their price to $599 off contract. I thought competition in any business results in companies LOWERING their price to stay competitive!?!?

There's an easy explanation to all of this. The cancellation fee is not calculated based on a 20$/month still left on the contract anymore. Instead, because of the legislation, it is calculated based on the rebate the customer obtained.

Let's say my phone is free on a 3 years contract, but the value off contract is 360$. That means the cancellation penalty will go down 10$ a month from 360$ until it reaches 0$. Why not jack it up to 720$ off contract (I'm not an unlocked mobile phone store, I'm a carrier, so I want to sell plans), that will means a nice 20$ a month penalty and the customer thinks he just made a good deal signing up for such a long time...

Edit: Applies to Canada.

I'm glad I read this, I was getting ready to buy a 9930 from Verizon off contract and have it hooked up on Alltel. I didn't know the unlock would not work on CDMA. Thanks for saving me some cash.

I hope I'm not hijacking this thread (sorry Kevin) but I'm in the market for a 9900 and with all the voice, data, BBM and other costs, I can't seem to figure out which way is more cost effective.

It seems to me that buying the phone up front should give you a cost advantage, but I can't seem to make the numbers work. I always seem to get a higher number over three years when you do a like-for-like service level comparison. Oh and yes, I live in Canada.....GTA.

Am I missing something ?

I have always bought my phones off contract but to take advantage of the 6gig data bundle offered by Rogers I have to go on a 3 year contact. So I may as well get them to toss in a phone for $149 with the data upgrade.

"I'm going to be honest here."

Honest people don't feel the need to make such statements.

I'm not against buying a phone out right. That's probably how I'm going to do here in a bit to upgrade from my Tour to a 9860 because my upgrade isn't available from Bell until April. But I see no advantage to buying the phone outright for a cost savings. Your monthly bill will still be the same. Unless I'm missing something. If I buy the phone outright my monthly bill should be less.

And I agree with blackmoe, if you have to go on contract to get the plan you want, you might as well get the phone at the cheaper "on contract price if you can. You're saving $400 over purchasing outright. Am I wrong?

Good article Kevin, and great discussion, however the true reality related to the on-contract / off-contract decision is somewhat different. Let me explain.

The main reason you would want to buy a device off-contract and pay a full price for it is so you are not tied to a long term contract. This way you are able to sign up for (or continue) with a carrier on month-to-month basis and switch to another carrier if you decide so. You would think....

The reality is however that in most cases going month-to-month will actually cost you probably twice us much as going on the contract. The reson is that all carriers have two types of plans: Regular month to month plans advertised on their web sites and offered to you when you call to open account or switch from another carrier, and term plans with (significantly) lower cost or additional features but requiring you to commit to a 3 year plan (generally 3 years in Canada and 2 years in US).

So if you shell out $600 on your own device and call carrier to sign up you will be paying more for the plan if you just get subsidized phone and go on contract. Unless you pay full price for device and sign a plan contract but that defeats the purpose.

Also carriers offer "retention" plans to customer who call to cancel their service. Those plans generally also require term commitment in order to get even more reduced pricing.

Unless you are on a good (and cheap) month to month plan already and just need new device chances are you are better off going on contract. And if you already have really good plan then chances are you are going to stay with your carrier for a while so why not sign a contract and get device cheaper.

Dont get me wrong - i HATE contract - it just reflects my hard learned lesson when I tried to go "buy my own device so I am portable" route and ended up getting screwed on monthly plan and concluded you cant get away from a contract one way or another.

Just an unfortunate reality of the wireless industry (in Canada at least) and how big three are ripping us off.

(btw - this does not apply to the "other" wireless carriers like Wind or Mobilicity since they have very cheap feature-rich plans without the contracts - but the problem with them is they are usually restricted to coverage within big cities. If you need service which works across canada unfortunately you need to go with one of the big three - ROBELUS).

Hardly any contract system here in India...bought 9900 outright for around 650 Canadian dollars. A bit surprised that the price in Canada is so high...we are used to getting ripped off here.

Bought a 9900 from Verizon yesterday. 3 year contract. Paid $135 and change after tax. Special promotion on now!

It seems that the quick and easy way would be to just compare the full price to the subsidized price, then take a look the early termination fee. If a phone is 199 w/ contract vs. 499 outright, with a 200 early termination fee, you still come out ahead buying the subsidized phone even if you end up paying the early termination fee. With the 9930 having both CDMA & gsm radios,there should be lots of options after unlocking.

I think it is a key point that Telus' 9900 was cheaper on contract. I've noticed on a couple phones before (forget which ones). As a Telus user who usually buys on contract, I'm glad that they tend to be cheaper contract price even if they're more non-contract price. It depends what kind of buyer you are.

How does one in the US buy the 9900 from a carrier in Canada? I didn't see a way online through Rogers or Telus. My 9700 is dying and I need something new asap. Thanks for any help!

When checking prices, remember to check places other than just the carriers. When I bought my first Bold, I got it for $100 cheaper at The Source than I would have had I got it directly from Rogers.

I thought I read that the new Bold's were world phones, so if you bought a 9930 you could still use it on a gsm network similar to the old 8830. Is there any truth to this because I'm thinking about switching from Tmo to Sprint.

i bought my torch 9800 last year from at&t off contract and i got it unlock.. the device died after 3-4 days of usage... something motherboard related i guess.. anyway they told me that since its unlocked the warranty is void... is at&t different from telus or rogers in the terms of warranty??

I got my 9900 sim-free from the uk..

should have told me. i have a team webstore account to use. would have cost u 600$ with tax

Kevin, just a thought, have you checked to see the level of bloat-ware on the devices? I know Telus has been slimming down on that stuff royally, perhaps this is part of why their price is a bit higher. I'm not sure if Rogers puts extra things on their phones still.

They only problem i see with buying a phone full price, being a blackberry anyways, is that rim does not warranty the devices them selves like nokia, apple, motorola and many other companys do. I ran into this problem when purchasing my blackberry 9100 through Wind to use it with T-Mobile because the 3G was compatible. When my device started having problems with the keypad membrane, like so many others are having with the 9100, i called rim and asked if i could get a warranty replacement and they told me i would have to go through the carrier. When i contacted Wind they said they werent able to help me replace it because i was not one of there customers and was not using the device under there network. So buyer beware, always check if you will be able to warranty out your device as you will be stuck with an expensive product that doesnt work in the end....

I've found it at the release date. I wanted the 9900 off contract and I checked Rogers and Bell. I was lucky when the salesman told me at the Bell store to buy the phone at Rogers because of 50$ difference.