living wirelessly

been spending the day looking over wireless services and comparing prices on the internet. apparently the ones that fit my budget most are t-mobile and at&t. for $39.99, both has free phones, 1-year service agreement, unlimited nights and weekends, but tmobile gives 600 minutes while at&t gives 700. so i'm still contemplating.

the thing about att is the $1.75/mo something something fee. sure, it's only $1.75, but i'd rather use that money permonth to buy some food. att's activation fee is also a buck more than that of tmobile. plus with $5/mo i only get 100 txt msgs, compared to tmobile's 300 txt msgs for only $3. so overall, i'd have to pay a little less than $5 more if i were to use att. that much more for a year, that's $60 yo. so i think i'm leaning more toward tmobile.

well, the thing about tmobile, is that whenever i go to some sites that give reviews on phones, almost none complains about the phones. BUT, instead they complain about tmobile. mostly just bad services, which i don't mind since i don't need to use my phone inside classroom or labs or library, and i'd rather have it say "no service" because that way if i forget to silent it, it wont go off like a madman. however, there's one or two reviews that talk about how charges start the day the agreement was signed, the phone has been activated since the purchase, but it does not arrive until 2 weeks later. so that's like half a month wasted money. well, i'm sure that doesn't happen everytime, but if that does happen to mine, that would suck. i mean, if you buy something online, that IS the risk, but 2 weeks is just too much yo. it's like paying $29.95 for that yahoo!dsl but don't get to use it for the first half-a-month.

BUT.

then i found a1wireless. for some reason, they have a really good offer, WITH A BETTER PHONE. i really don't care what kind of phone i would get, but any sane person should always go for the most gain with the least sacrifice. in that case, i think getting a sony ericsson T610 with car charger, portable handsfree, and free shipping for $24.99 isn't bad, right? this is with the 39.99 plan from tmobile. and not just that, but they are also giving $100 tmobile mail-in-rebate, $25 a1wireless mail-in-rebate, and $25 a1-appreciation mail-in-rebate IN ADDITION. so in the end, i'll be making $125, the other $25 goes to the $25 i've paid for the phone. with an extra $125, i won't mind, even if the phone doesn't come for a month. it's wasting $40, but when i get the rebates, i'll end up still making $85.

but then again, i have never heard of this a1wireless. they have stuff that says "authorized dealer," but how can i be sure? i mean, the economic principle says "there's no such thing as free lunch," and i believe that. what's the catch? it would suck if then i'm forced to subscribe to this and that and other crap in order to get my mail-in-rebate.

so, if you've heard of this a1wireless, let me know. also, tell me what YOU think about buying and signing up to wireless services from these unknown authorized dealers, as opposed to purchasing it from the provider's main website?

i would sign-up for these services at those booths in malls, but the fact that they've been bothering me, a passerby, for the past 3.5 years kinda makes me hate them. with passion.