See that's the thing... I DID try to find out what I would be getting as well as what I've gotten previously. I was told there was NO WAY OF THEM KNOWING. I believe that is BS, I think even Guru agrees that is BS, but as long as they are telling people this then it is just the same.

Guru statement:
"The rest of your arguments about the carrier making more money by not selling you phones or by you retaining your old phone forever indicate a poor understanding of the carrier business. Like I said before, they make money by selling you phones - if they didn't, you can bet they'd encourage everyone to buy off of e-bay."
I'm implying that they make more money by contracts, and yes the phones are there for enticement purposes. I'm just looking at the BIG picture. If you purchase a phone off of eBay and then you sign a contract with Sprint, do they not come out better than if you signed up with them and requested one of their "free phones"? Keep in mind that the phone you just bought from ebay was potentially already purchased from Sprint. Maybe only 25% from Sprint, who knows... and they do get the free advertising.
When I get my $175 upgrade option next month, would it not be benefial to Sprint if I already purchased an upgrade elsewhere? The whole point of the cell phones is to lock you into the contract. Now of course they would love it just the same if you were to purchase phones from them (at Retail Price) to burn in your fireplace, but they would likely frown on the idea of going to a different carrier with the phones you just purchased.

To be fair, all fraudulently obtained cell phones would have to be removed from eBay, craigslist, etc.. at the same time. Otherwise the last remaining Carriers would have a huge advertising advantage. To this end, the fraud must go on.

I think there are some valid points on all sides of this, and I'm not attempting "to be right at all costs" nor claim to have all the right answers.
This can simply be considered a draft that others can pick up, assemble the components, and make any conclusion they choose, or conversely they can rewrite to any publication and allow their readers to do the same.

Merry Christmas

Ok, here's the deal. The new phone that came in was another 6700.

I called Sprint Retentions department and they sent me a Mogul next day.

They offered me a number of deals and I just kept saying no until finally all options were exhausted and they were in the part of the script of "sorry we couldn't help you today" and I finally gave in and said "well I suppose I can go ahead and accept the deal with the Mogul at $200 along with the $10 off my DataPlan for the next 24 months".
So essentially I netted $40 and a Mogul for a 24 month contract. By the way, my contract wasn't going to expire until April 2008.
Also, there were no mail-in rebates with this, all deductions were immediate.

I still have the new 6700 they had given me yesterday and I plan to sell it ASAP. Anyone??


I guess all things considered it didn't turn out so bad after-all. If there is indeed an embezzelment scheme going on then I suppose anyone smart enough to figure it out is like-wise smart enough to work the other side of the coin to their advantage. Well, at least "I" am not :protest:](*,) anymore.