If there is still somebody who doesn't know how...

Here's an idea (for which I will give credit to Al Chang) if you want to use your choice of phone, including hot new phones not offered by your carrier of choice, and still get the fat subsidy they offer on their official phones.

In brief:

a) Buy the phone you want, no-contract, either unlocked or locked to your chosen carrier. For example a Nokia E61i.

b) Go to your carrier, and buy the most subsidized phone they have which can use the same calling/data plan you want for your phone in (a).

c) Take the SIM out of the subsidized phone (B) and insert into slot A.

d) Go to eBay and sell your subsidized phone (B) for no-contract price.
Pocket the difference as a subsidy on phone A.

Alternate plan:

e) Buy heavily subsidized phone from AT&T, ie. Treo 750. Unlock it.

f) Walk back into AT&T, tell them you want to switch to iPhone (which turns out to be unsubsidized.) I am told you can do this. Your contract switches to your iPhone.

g) Sell phone E on eBay as no-contract for full price. iPhone for $400 net!

Explained in more detail at:

http://ideas.4brad.com/how-get-subsidy-any-phone-even-iphone


Brad Templeton