why are unlocked cell phones so expensive?

I think the reason contract mobiles are so cheap is that the provider knows they have got you

paying a flat fee for at least 18 months. For instance, an SE K800i is about £200 or more unlocked

but I got mine for free on a £15 a month contract along with £30 credit on my account and a bluetooth

headset, I can use eBay on the phone absolutely free and also search the Internet for free and at the end

of the contract I get to pick a brand new free phone and sell my current one.

The providers want to give you as much incentive to sign up with them as they can so they give you

offers to pull you in. Despite looking like great deals you are essentially giving the provider at

least 18 months guaranteed income.

And no, the iphone is not a good deal, it's a terrible deal and probably an even worse phone.

When I got the Sony Ericcsib W810i it was around $289 with a 512mb card at Amazon. But I bought it with a AT&T Cingular plan so it was $0.00 at Amzaon and I actually got a $75 rebate back, so it was negative -$75 (strangely it was about $89 total with contract at Cingular's site compared to the free negative price at Amazon). But of course to get that it was with a 2 year contract like normal. And the phone had cingular software on it, limiting some features of the phone and preventing you from deleting somethings as simple as ring tones that you don't want because they get played randomly with the mp3 software. Who knows, maybe getting it with a contract and that rebate, then cancelling the contract might be cheaper than the unlocked phone, unless they make you pay for the phone on top of the contract cancelling. I'm sure there will be people paying big bucks to get an iPhone to just cancel Cingular and go with someone else.

how do i get it to work with a carrier here?SDog624

If it's a GSM phone, it's simple as putting in the SIM card, and your calling/SMS functions should be active right away. If you want internet, email, MMS, etc., you'd have to get the settings from the Sony Ericcson website, which sends it to your phone, or you get the settings from your carrier, whose customer service reps might be too dumb to know anything other than the carrier phones. These options are not guaranteed to work I never could get these options on my unlocked phone. So you have to do your research and see if your phone works well with a carrier. HowardForums (google) is a good source of information for phones and networks.

It's because you are paying the full cost of the phone. I was searching for this topic of unlock phones. They said its better to buy unlocked. MarieWolfwood

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