Updated G* phone price survey (see post 13248 for prices of two months ago).
Since last review, most of the G* affiliates web sites have introduce the "Freedom" Plans with bundled 699$ phones, and almost all have lowered the "list" price of the phone to no more than 1199$. There are signs of competition driving the prices below that in several instances.
The best deal for heavy users is probably at ICC
skyplus.icc.com
which offers the G* Q-phone for as little as 700$ when purchasing the Beyond 500 plan (500$/month with 500 bundled minutes, 0.99/minute therafter.) This is listed as a monthly plan, so one presumably could buy the phone at the low price than switch in a month to a lower cost service plan.
For those not comfortable with that strategem, Buyphone.com will sell the Q-phone for 850$, for all the "Beyond" pricing plans bundled with 50 or more minutes...
buyphone.com
Of course, most G* dealers have adopted the "Freedom" plans, which gets the customer the phone for aboout 700$, but obligates him to a 24 month contract at a higher cost than the "Beyond" plans.
Verizon, GMPCS and Norsat all offer that option, along with a list price of about 1200$ for the phone alone:
airtouch.com
gmpcs-us.com
norsatglobal.com
Airstar, with banner ad "we will not be undersold" does indeed offer the best "Freedom-like" deal, plus gets extra credit for jiggering slightly with the G*USA suggested airtime rates. Airstar customers save a couple of bucks on the phone and a few cents per minute on airtime relative to other G*USA suggested prices. The best deal is for those using between 250-500 minutes per month: they'll save 11 cents a minute relative to the G*USA suggested airtime rates (Hey! that could be as much as 50$/month!)
Several sites are not publishing the "freedom" plans, but will sell you a phone at or below the list price with no (apparent) obligations to sign up for a plan. The best deal may be offered by "beeperdood" aka Gunnar J. Sandstrom, formerly with GMPCS
itswireless.bigstep.com.
999.60$ and walk away with a new G* phone...
N. Shore Systems Group, World Comm Center and Preferred Communications are at the 1199$ list price, essentially:
satphone-solutions.com
worldcomcenter.com
satstar.com
You can get a phone from O'Gara for $1095, with a minimum plan of 30$/month, each minute is 1.69$
globalsatphone.com
I could find only one dealer with published rates that has not lowered them since the last survey: Manhattan Microwave, which no doubt is the vendor contacted by all Wall Street analysts to assess G* sales, still offers phones at 1500$, and minutes at 1.39-1.69. Thanks, guys.
com-sat.com |
