Will a Cell Phone Carrier ever attempt...

[mase123987]

...to pay a customer to take a phone on a two year contract? Hear me out. There are already plenty of phones that you can get for free or basically free on contract. What if a carrier advertised "get paid $50 with one of these phones!" (probably be the older ones) They could then, in small print, say that it comes off your first month's bill. Talk about catching people's attention by basically just giving a discount on the first month.

 

[drbanks]

If one does, the others would surely follow. Given the extortionate pricing on a service contract compared to just about any prepaid rate, it'd sure make sense.

But they're engaging in a sort of passive price fixing by playing chicken with each other. Neither ATT nor Verizon really wants to cut profit margins by being the first to swerve.

Leaving Sprint and Tmo. Tmo's already slashed their prices for service, unbundled the phone subsidy, then announced zero down.

Which means if anyone is going to do it, it'll be Sprint first.

 

[mase123987]

I think someone like Nokia could get a carrier to do this exclusively for one of the low end phones to help boost sale numbers. The phone maker could cover half the cost.

 

[jmshub]

Eventually, I could see something like this happening. Cell phone advances are slowing down, and it'll be harder to get people to buy new phones, especially out of cycle. But, in the interim, I don't see them having to do this.

 

[TechFreak1]

Actually that is a service some phone shops (high street) offer here, you take a certain phone and tariff - they either give you a percentage or fixed amount off your first month, duration of contract or every quarter. Sadly they don't have website otherwise I'd link it. However there have been some scams and stitch ups with this sort of service too..

 

[NTUser]

Wouldn't put it past Verizon to do this... Always read the small print.