The 69 dollar phone is a subsidized pre paid device. They plan on taking a loss on the sale and making it up with cell plans.
Also this is a niche device for a VERY niche audience. It will never be cheap cheap, just cheap for what it is.
Fun fact that’s actually how I got my top-of-the-line phone for free. I went in for a new phone&plan and we negotiated a good plan that worked for me, one that came included with a phone. When it came time to close the deal they go into the back and get me a phone. It’s a crappy hand-me-down, so naturally I ask if they have any other options. There were two more options each one took them longer to come back from and each one being pretty much the same thing. I ask if they have anything better and they go back and grab an Iphone which I declined because I don’t fuck with apple. They take the phone, very quickly put it away, then walk right up to the rack, picked one of their best phones and handed it to me. I smiled and accepted.
Because they’re salespeople paid on commission, I was able to game the system to effectively rob the store of an expensive product and the most fucked up thing about that whole situation is that everyone involved still made more money off of me in the long term than if I walked. We really need nationalized communications utilities because the whole thing is just so ridiculous.
So you just kept saying no until they brought you a nice phone?
Seems like a great way to get unexpected monthly charges for a nice phone on your bill.
It’s been over 3 years now and they haven’t fucked around, mostly because if they did it would have people asking questions like “why do we have to pay a private company for a public utility anyway?” Besides, doing so would have been a breach of contract and would have opened them up to getting sued. The plan quite literally said that a phone would be provided, it never specified the quality of the phone.
