shitty deals

Three years from now, you'll see the same changes and say the same things. It would make no difference if you locked down now, or locked down later. You'll still be able to compare significant changes over the years, whether it be more features to your plan, differences in price.

yeah i was sure apple had some remote self destruct feature to sell more phones

I'm on the Enbridge plan. Which technically I'm not supposed to be on, because I've never worked for Enbridge. :pokerface:

Might be a special case? It's Bell, BTW. I've been getting told by all the CSR that I call that they can't put the 6GB on there.

I won't sign a 3 year contract. I just buy the phone outright. That said, I'm one of few people who have a valid reason not to. I have moved for work a few times and my work takes me in a few different locations where sometimes Rogers works and Telus / Bell doesn't, and vice versa. I just switched from Rogers to Telus because where I work now I don't get any cell service with Rogers. If you live in a city and don't plan to leave, contracts work just fine.

If you dont need the newest phone on the market (which I know alot of people on RS are phone whores), theres deals out there.

3 times this spring Telus offered 3 phones including a BB Bold 9700 for $0 on a 1 year term. New phone, not referbs. The deals ran for 48 or 72 hours. I went that route. Granted its not a new model phone (was 1 generation old at the time), but it does everything a new generation phone does, and cost me $0 instead of $600.

in the end, the monthly fee associated with the 'free/discounted' phone almost always pays off the phone .. and some vs a deal that you could have crafted with the retention department.

i dont think its a bad idea, you can always modify your plan as long as you stay with the same carrier, just ride out the 3 years and buy another phone for yourself.

It's a now win situation when it comes to technology. But like the quote above, I don't need a phone every 2yrs or even every year.
Some ppl have to have the latest greatest technology and they pay the price for it.