Cell Phone From Third Party?

Cell Phone From Third Party? · 10-28-2009, 12:03 PM

I have a long term hate/love relationship with ATT, our wireless carrier. I read and lusted for a year about a Sony Ericsson phone (C905a) with 8MP camera and WIFI that they would be releasing. Well they did a couple of months ago but the greedy so-and-so's disabled the WIFI. (All their phones with WIFI are smartphones and they want the &^%$#@ $30/month data plan fees)

Anyhow, I can get the phone from Wirefly for $50 with a new 2 year committment, and I can get it unlocked to re-enable the WiFi for $25. The phone is $180 from ATT with committment.

Have any of you folks used Wirefly or other 3rd party vendor for phones? I asked ATT and got the 'don't do that, buy it from us' line but they had no reason why except that the salesperson would not get a commission.

Thanks for any feedback.
Ken

timf67 · 10-28-2009, 12:14 PM

Ken,

If your pricing you list is "after rebates" DON'T DO IT!!!!

I used wirefly several years ago and never saw a penny of any rebates. I followed all of the rules which are a royal pain and I still couldn't get rebates. Further, the phone numbers on the paperwork were all disabled by the time I made it through the 6 month rebate qualification time. Even though I didn't pay much if any more than I would have by going through AT&T, it was still an extremely frustrating experience - There really is no such thing as a free lunch...

Travis Porter · 10-28-2009, 12:15 PM

Phones are currently locked to specific carriers networks. ATT phones only work on ATT's network. I have never heard of wirefly, but most likely they are rebranding and reselling someone else's network. For example, if I remember correctly, the Trac Phone's you buy at Wal Mart and add minutes to are riding on AT&T. Still, you would not be able to take say a Trac Phone and use it as a standard ATT phone.

You can buy cell phones off of eBay for a specific carrier's network, get them activated, and use them. I have done this, and it works. This comes in good when you break your phone, you didn't buy insurance, and a new one from the carrier is outrageously expensive. Just make sure the phone is for your specific carrier.

So back to your question. I would go back to Wirefly and ask them whose network they are riding. If they say their own, I would want to see their coverage map. I would also want to know how they handle roaming. Most of the big carriers now allow unlimited roaming, but if you roam too much, they will send you a nasty letter telling you per the terms of the fine print on your contract that they will cancel your service if you continue to roam so much.

ATT wants you to buy it from them because they get a reduced charge if it goes through a reseller, plus, it makes it look like you left them.

Thinking about your quandry though, carriers normally require data plans on smart phones, that much is true. I am kind of surprised though that they disable the wifi. If you get a data plan do they still disable the wifi or is that the only time they make it usable?

steelwheel1999 · 10-28-2009, 12:40 PM

Ken I recently bought my daughters blackberry from them. The only real difference is that for the first 30 days if you have a problem with the phone you will send it back to them after that it is an ATT phone for all intents and purposes. We had no problems with them except that the phone had to be reprogramed 3 times but it was the bad software not the phone hope this helps.

Thanks MArk

Dragon · 10-28-2009, 07:18 PM

Don't have a whole lot to offer you here but I can say. I was very happy Alltel customer for over 8 years. Then came the big takeover by Verizon and I've been &%^%#$% and (*&*%& complaining, and &$%$# fuming ever since. Service? We won't even go there. Attitudes of their employees? ~~ fair to middlin I guess with the once in a great while person who tells you their sorry and it wasn't their idea. No matter what they say on the TV, it ain't true. Gimmie Alltel back any day.

fergy · 10-28-2009, 07:46 PM

Wow, I've had nothing but good results with Verizon, and won't use ATT anymore due to poor service. The Verizon people have all been very good for me.

The key thing to know is what kind of network the phone is meant to work on, GSM, TDMA, CDMA, etc. Unfortunately, the US is behind the rest of the world and uses multiple networks. Except for Iraq of course, but that's because we sold them our infrastructure in the rebuilding thing...but that's another story.

We've purchased 3rd party phones before, and activated them on our network. It's not a big deal, so long as the phone works on that style of network. You're going to spend time on the phone with them, however, so customer service might mean a lot to you. ATT hasn't got the best record for being helpful there. It's why I don't have an Iphone yet.

But, why do you need wi-fi enabled if you're not getting a data pack from them? Are you looking to hit you're local WLAN from the phone? It might be more hassle than it's worth.