Free Runner price vs iphone 3G price

[robert lazarski]

On Wed, Jun 11, 2008 at 10:56 AM, robert lazarski
<robertlazarski at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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.

Forgot to mention in Brazil there are more choices then, for example,
only two in the USA. So if one starts to screw me, I vote with another
cheap simm chip from a competitor (about 4-5 here in Fortaleza).
Judging unofficially here, its far more common that not to _not_ have
a contract. I'd assume the opposite is true in the USA.

>
> 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
>