Free Runner price vs iphone 3G price

[robert lazarski]

On Wed, Jun 11, 2008 at 9:55 AM, Shawn <shelbydz87 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> My question is this:
> say I buy a freerunner, but decide to switch to AT&T as my provider (as I
> plan to do in the near future), will they not hit me with a contract
> agreement anyway? Isn't that how you get the cheapest minute/plans? If thats
> the case, then yeah, it looks like the iPhone is cheaper for my situation.
> If you already have a mobile plan and do not intend to switch, then the
> freerunner is the way to go. . .
>
> just my 2 cents.

Depends on the country and even more on personal preference. I
personally have never used a cell phone via a contract - I buy
pre-paid minutes, because I know what I'm spending that way. Plus the
contract terms are comparable to an EULA - scary stuff to this
individual.

In fact, in Brazil where I live its illegal to sell a blocked phone -
in no small part because those predatory telephone companies do
curious things on their bills and limit their services. I think
perhaps the USA is the odd ball in their "locked" way of doing
business, so ymmv.

I personally would find it ironic if I had an "open source" cell phone
but had to have a contract to use it - but that's just me. Would I be
paying extra on minutes? I only make about 10 minutes of calls a month
and a little more when I travel, but even if it made modest economic
sense, I prefer to pay more for my freedom. Sort of like paying more
for an unlocked openmoko rather than some comparable alternative - if
there's a choice, I'll pay more for freedom. Whether other people
would or wouldn't pay more for their freedom isn't an interesting
question to me - I simply don't care.

Robert