HTC, T-Mobile & Dopod pricing demistified...
Don't worry all, it's all good. Let me start with the confusion by quoting a fellow Xda members concern about pricing, that was shared by myself and doubtless countless of other potentially interested purchasers of the new Athena, known as HTC X7500 (due out in April sometime), T-Mobile Ameo (available now) and the Dopod U1000 (available now in various parts of Asia).
Quote:
Originally Posted by cudo
hi, yup there is something definitely wrong on flext 35+webnwalk = 119 and on flext 50+webnwalk= 319  ))
cudo
|
Right then....just had a rather lengthy discussion with T-Mobile about this. The information for the Flex 35 offer is absolutely legit!!
That's right 100% correct!!
I was going to send mine back and have this deal, but in the fullness of the contract, the price works out to be exactly the same...down to the penny!
Basically I get 1/2 price discounts on my bills due to my ties with T-Mobile, hence I pay more for the device..but it all amounts to the same, except I get considerably more minutes etc per month.
Bottom line: If your going to be a new customer to T-Mobile and can comfortably afforf the £40 + per month, it is a fair deal. Total cost for the device and perks of the Flext tariff work out to £839.00 or thereabouts.
Compare that to £600.00 for the cheapest deal the Dopod U1000 (add shipping cost), then your really only paying less than £239.00 for the contract over 18 months which equates to 239/18 = £13.20!!
It will actually work out less than that as in the Dopod U1000 you still have to pay for shipping.
So in reality, your paying (e.g) £600 for the device and about £12.00 per month for the tariff.
Another way to look at it is tariff is £42.50 x 18 = £765.
Therefore £839.00 - £765.00 = £74.00 (for tariff benefits)
74/18 = £4.11 per month over 18 months for Flex 35
Apparently HTC will be selling the X7500 Advantage for a bit over £700.00 SIM free, but no other perks like free minutes etc...hence the inclusion of TomTom6.
They all work out to be roughly the same. You get what you pay for and none is actually cheaper than the other.
You simply have to chose which 'package' best suits your needs. Whichever version you buy, no one has got any cheaper than you as we don't know their payment history and Loyalty points awarded in the form of £'s discounted and for what reason they got high or low discounts.
I get low discounts on upgrades or new device/contract, because I always get 1/2 bills on contract tariff, but someone else may have several low cost tariffs, but pay the full bill and thus gets a higher Loyalty reward in discounts (this applies to service providers only).
You may seemingly get the device considerably cheaper at T-Mobile or at a small SP signing you up with T-Mobile, but with a less fulfilling tariff or at a higher rate.
It all sounds terribly confusing, but it's actually quite simple when you think about it and makes perfect sense.
None of these companies lose, but neither do the customers, as we have different 'packages' or 'bundles' with service providers or sellers of other variants of the Sim free Athena.
It all works out fairly in the end....trust me.
Owned PPC Devices: XDAIIi, XDA mini, JasJar, Prophet, Wizard, Hermes, Athena, Touch, HTC Kaiser, current device I-mate Ultimate 6150...scratch that...it's now an
iPhone 3G unlocked to T-Mobile via Universal Sim unlocker V 5.8 and Jailbroken...Running FW v2.1. My iPhone sends and receives MMS's and records video without issue....what's the big fuss?