Free Cell Phones All Around - Cashing in on Consumerism - Answering Service Resources

Home
>
Mobile & Cell Phone
>
Free Cell Phones All Around - Cashing in on Consumerism

Free Cell Phones All Around - Cashing in on Consumerism

There's no greater way to win the hearts of consumers than to give them something for nothing. In our society of advanced communications devices and state-of-the-art technology, one of the best commodities to target for these give-away tactics is the cell phone. From simple port-to-port communication to comprehensive electronic office features, these hand-held units have become a rather luxurious necessity in these "need-to-know" times in which we live.

Of course, no legitimate business can expect to thrive by giving away its merchandise. Since cell phone companies actually make their money through the purchase of calling plan contracts, the phones themselves aren't really an issue. From the carriers' perspective, then, the "free cell phone" strategy offers the best of both worlds: consumers are happy, thinking that they're being given a substantial gift, and businesses are making money by selling phone service or specific calling contracts, which are necessary in order to use those shiny, new phones. In order to ensure their victory in the race to gain more customers, some cellular phone companies offer packages that even include a rebate. In other words, they'll give you a free cell phone and then offer a substantial mail-in rebate (usually $25 or more) so that it appears as though they're paying you to take the device. Kudos to the marketing people who conceptualized that strategy!

Verizon Wireless

As one of the leading cell phone carriers, Verizon offers free devices when consumers purchase one of a variety of calling plans. These cell phone deals include your choice of model (several of which are offered) and, in some cases, a mail-in rebate. Other perks may include:

Free Long Distance
Unlimited In-Network Calling
Unlimited Night and Weekend Minutes
Free Roaming
Up to $250 in Mail-In Rebates (allowing for free cell phones plus cash back)

Of the various calling plans which are offered, you may expect to find:

Discounts on personal plans
Discounts on family plans (shared minutes)
Free long distance
Unlimited nights and weekends (most plans)
Free long distance plus unlimited nights and weekends (some plans)

Cingular Wireless

Another strong competitor in the area of cellular phone systems, Cingular has also cashed in on the "free cell phones" marketing strategy, offering consumers a variety of perks and calling plan benefits, in addition to state-of-the-art devices and rebates. Among the many "extras" that this company offers are:

Roll-Over Minutes (i.e., you don't lose any unused "any time" minutes)
Free Nationwide Long Distance
Free Roaming
Largest Mobile Digital Network
Free Voice Mail
Free Call Waiting
Free Caller ID
Free Call Forwarding
Free 3-Way Calling
Up to $225 in Mail-In Rebates (allowing for free cell phones plus cash back)

Available calling plans may include:

Discounts on personal plans
Discounts on family plans (shared minutes)
Unlimited night and weekend minutes
Unlimited mobile-to-mobile minutes
Unlimited night, weekend and mobile-to-mobile minutes (some plans)
Primary and secondary line deals
Multiple phones for family members

Sprint

While the plans that are offered by Sprint aren't as lofty as those of more competitive cell phone carriers, they do offer some benefits to the consumer, including free cell phones and a small variety of perks in order to entice potential customers to commit to one of their calling plans. Some of the specials that may be included in their packages are:

Free Nationwide Long Distance
Free Roaming (only with phones that are also on the Sprint PCS Network)
Unlimited Night and Weekend Minutes

In addition, special calling plans are also provided, which may include:

Personal calling plans
Family (shared) calling plans
Wide-Area calling plans
Unlimited PC-to-PC calling
Multiple phones with family calling plan
Two lines of service on one bill
Up to $200 in Mail-In Rebates (allowing for free cell phones plus cash back)

T-Mobile

The benefits that are offered by this carrier are similar to those which are offered by Sprint although ? when compared ? T-Mobile seems to do a bit better in the area of the numbers of benefits that are offered, translating to more perks for the consumer. Of the standard benefits that are offered, you can expect to find:

No Roaming Charges
Free Long Distance
Free Voice Mail
Free Caller ID
Free Call Waiting

Their variety of calling packages may include:

Personal calling plans
Family calling plans
Unlimited weekend minutes
Unlimited mobile-to-mobile minutes
Two lines of service on one bill
Unlimited mobile-to-mobile minutes plus unlimited weekend minutes (for some plans)
Up to $250 in Mail-In Rebates (allowing for free cell phones plus cash back)

Nextel

Of the many cell phone carriers, Nextel doesn't appear ? at first ? to have as much to offer as most of the others, but the options that they do offer are rather impressive in some areas, which would make up for the lack of some of the more standard benefits that their competitors offer to the consumer. Although they don't actually list any specific "standard benefits," they do offer special calling plan packages, which may include:

Personal calling plans
Family calling plans
Multiple phones for family plan packages
Unlimited night and weekend minutes
Free roaming (within their network)
Free long distance (within their network)
250 direct connect minutes (most plans)
Unlimited direct connect minutes (certain plans only)
Up to 25 cell phones ($15 each additional line)
Up to $300 in Mail-In Rebates (allowing for free cell phones plus cash back)

While each of these carriers offers a specific amount of benefits to their consumers ? some far more than others ? the calling plans differ according to whether you're opting for a personal or family package, and the number of minutes that are included in each package for a set fee each month will vary, as well. To see the latest special offers, simply log on to a major internet search engine and type the name of the carrier in the keyword area.

About the Author: Samantha Goode is a freelance technology writer who loves to provide tips to consumers shopping for free cell phones, prepaid cell phones, and cell phone service.

In The News:

Put an End to Cell Phone Spam
PC World - 16 hours ago
Stop spammers from hassling you by keeping unwanted text messages, e-mail, and voice calls from reaching your mobile phone. It's a sad fact that most of us ...

Maverick Mobile Solutions win US award
Sify, India - 6 hours ago
Pune-based cellphone software company, Maverick Mobile Solutions Pvt Ltd (MMSPL), has won the prestigious DemoGod award for its product, maverick mobile at ...
Software tracks stolen mobile phones IT Examiner
all 2 news articles

LetsGoMobile (press release)
Pantech C610: Basic cellphone at AT&T
MobileWhack.com, Australia - 1 hour ago
AT&T has added another entry-level cellphone to their big catalog, the Pantech C610. In case you don’t remember, the cellphone was approved by FCC back in ...
Average user rating: CNET News
Pantech C610 Cell Phone Available at AT&T eCoustics.com (press release)
all 28 news articles

dBTechno
The little company behind the slick screen in Google's new phone
Austin American-Statesman, TX - Oct 5, 2008
In 2005, Synaptics began putting its touch technology in mobile phones. But it had trouble convincing cell phone manufacturers that a touch screen benefited ...
Android’s here, time to Google The Times
all 41 news articles

BBC News
FRA bans mobile phone use
Railway Gazette International, UK - 21 hours ago
Cell phone use by crew members on duty, whether voice or text, was already strictly prohibited by Metrolink regulations.
Train crash may be linked to text message VNUNet.com
LA rail crash driver was texting BBC News
Feds Cite Text-Messaging in Fatal Los Angeles Train Crash; IT ... TMCnet
eFluxMedia - Registerall 895 news articles

Awareness and Use of Mobile Banking Low, But Poised to Grow
MarketWatch - 21 minutes ago
Currently only one in ten consumers uses a cell phone to perform a banking transaction or seek financial information during a typical week, according to the ...

Mobile phones can fry up men's fertility!
Times of India, India - 4 hours ago
The study, which was led by the director of the Center for Reproductive Medicine, Ashok Agarwal, revealed that semen exposed to cellphone emissions lowered ...

PR-Inside.com (Pressemitteilung)
Solving Crossword Puzzles on the Cell Phone
PR-Inside.com (Pressemitteilung), Austria - 7 minutes ago
A development for cell phones that has long been overdue but now it is available at last. Particularly crossword puzzles are still a very popular method for ...

Free cell phone calls
Manila Standard Today, Philippines - 9 hours ago
Wouldn’t it be great if you could make free Internet calls on your mobile phone? With the growing number of phones that support Wi-Fi and 3G wireless ...

Privus Mobile's Wireless Caller ID Service Named 'Best BlackBerry ...
MarketWatch - 21 hours ago
"Mobile Caller ID is a service that consumers have been wanting since the cell phone became mainstreamed into our society over a decade ago. ...

mobile cell phone - Google News

Answering Service ResourceAnswering Service Resource