Re: Google is preparing to replace RCS with MLS

Arno Welzel wrote on Tue, 20 Aug 2024 09:29:53 +0200 :

You live in a world that is foreign to Americans, where we get plenty of
phones for free, without contracts, and without any real strings attached.
 
But we do have to pay local sales tax on the full MSRP of our free phones.
 
Also the iPhones aren't free for some reason, as they're only 1/2 price.
 <https://i.postimg.cc/Xq5SpS4D/tmopromo02.jpg>
 
We even get free tablet SIM cards for life, but at only 200 MB/month data.
 <https://i.postimg.cc/nhpbcP50/tmopromo04.jpg>

 
I can't see anynthing on the links posted - just a blank page with a
header, nothing else.

That's your browser then but don't worry. It was just a proof of what I
said, which is T-Mobile gave *everyone* in the USA a free 5G Android phone
around the March 2021 time frame as part of their promotion of 5G coverage.

Well, everyone with a post-paid plan got that offer of a free 5G Android.
The USA is nothing like Germany when it comes to good customer service.

I had four lines, so I was eligible for four free Android phones, but one
of my lines is a kid who is in love with Apple so we had to pay 1/2 price
for the 5G iPhone 12 mini (with a tradein of an iPhone 7, as I recall).

The Androids also had a gimmicky trade-in, which was you had to trade in
*any* phone that you had, from any vintage, so I dug up 3 old flip phones.

Then you have to pay the full California 10% sales tax on the imputed MSRP.
Which is the only cost you had as they sent the phones with new SIM cards.

There is no change whatsoever to your contract other than they put a lien
on it for the MSRP for two years, 1/24th of which is removed each month.

After those 24 months happened, not only was the lien removed, but T-Mobile
automatically removed the network lock on the phone so it can be used with
any carrier you want after that - all of which they did automatically.

If, perchance, you want to drop T-Mobile during the two year lien period,
then all you have to do is drop them and pay back what's left on the lien.

For example, if the MSRP is $200 and you drop T-Mobile after one year, all
you do is pay $100 for the remainder to T-Mobile - which means you got a
$200 phone for $100 - but I wasn't leaving - so I let the lien expire.

Even the warranty replacements were free because I had to go to the
T-Mobile store (which charges $20) but T-Mobile credited me that $20 twice.

Notice it's a free phone in every way possible except in California taxes.