It Pays to Talk...(or How I Ended Up Buying a G1)
After talking to the in-store staff at the T-Mobile store in Maidstone, Kent, UK, I am now the owner of a G1 looking at a total cost of £360 ($580) which is about the price I would expect to pay for an unlocked G1
You may wonder why yesterday I was looking figures that were twice that amount, well, it’s a mixture of good fortune and good customer service. I explained my situation to the in-store staff and they explained they could offer me a “£20 per month for 18 months” contract or a “£30 per month for 12 months” contract (both of which have a total cost of £360), but I would have to pay more for the ‘phone.
I opted for the £30 per month tariff, thinking the ‘phone might be about £100 or £150, but when they rang up the cost of the G1 and it came up as £0… yes, free. The staff verified it with someone on the phone who agreed to let the sale go through.
So now I have a G1 at a price I was happy to pay, on a contract that won’t leave me stuck with an also-ran if new Android phones appear and gain market share in the next year, and added to that I am seeing reasonably OK 2G reception, it looks like most of my problems with the purchase have been resolved.