So, Rogers (and the other providers) has a new promo out for the Black Friday shopping bonanza. The most eye-catching part is the following:
Get a Samsung device (such as the Galaxy S4) for $0, and you can get the new Galaxy Gear watch for only $50 as a bonus.
The watch normally goes for $320, and the S4 $700 (according to their website). There is a catch, however. The minimum monthly plans start at $70 per month (I went into a store and asked a sales associate). This $70 plan is utter and total crap. It includes 250MB of data per month. I currently have a plan with 6GB of data that costs $50 per month. If you read my previous post, you know you can get a plan from Koodo/Fido that includes unlimited Canada-wide calling/texting and 2GB of data for $60 per month. The same plan costs $85 at Rogers.
The difference in cost over a 2-year period is $822. Gee, that figure looks awfully like the price you'd pay to buy the S4 and the Galaxy Gear watch outright, doesn't it? Except that you have a much cheaper plan with Koodo/Fido. Think about it: you could get the Koodo plan, go and buy $800 worth of new phones, and two years later, you'd be in the exact same position financially.
So, now you know why the phones are "free" at Rogers/Bell/Telus. They "give" you the phones for free (or cheap) and then utterly gouge you on the plans.
There's no such thing as "free" in life people, especially when it comes to private companies. Only a dumbass would assume those phones are really free, and that the company is giving you a good deal. It's quite the opposite: YOU'RE giving the company a good deal - a good deal of your money.
Now, just to make you feel really bad about the lousy deals us Canadians get, check out this website used for comparing UK phone plans and deals. It'll make you sick. FYI, the exchange rate is around 1.75, so whatever the price in £ is, multiply it by 1.75 to get the Canadian equivalent.
http://phonestore.techradar.com/phones
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