manny said:

@ Fred

Try my store.
All they ever want to sell anybody is Lottery tickets.
Sometimes I feel like I'm really bothering them, when i request
" Just some airtime ".

Yep, sounds like the staff at that store figured out that they can't make the big bucks like the boss promised by selling any add-on crap to customers, so they just sit back, do the minimum work required to maintain their employment, and hope for the day they can leave to go on to bigger and better things... like becoming a GM assembly line worker.

There is no guarantee that there will be an April promo. Speakout doesn't have a promo EVERY month.

But, that being said, I would still wait. Why? Cause the March promo isn't really that great.

If you're going to use your phone more than once a week, buy the phone at the regular price ($59) and buy a $75 airtime card (which will give you $93.75 airtime). Sure, you'll be spending $34 more, but you'll be getting $43.75 more in airtime.

If you're going to be using the phone A LOT LESS than once per week, then you'll only need a $25 airtime card.

Try my store.
All they ever want to sell anybody is Lottery tickets.
Sometimes I feel like I'm really bothering them, when i request
" Just some airtime ".

Thanks!

Thanks for clarifying my previous post (point #2). I'm still bloody confused.

I'm sure the staff at these stores get some type of kick-back or bonus when they sell the extra air time vouchers or push people into buying add-ons. I spent many years in sales and I always laugh when I look back to my younger days about how naive I was when the boss would tell me I could make money by selling upgrades, add-ons or other value added nonsense. Yeah, right...

The fact is the staff at these stores would need to sell many phones and air time vouchers each day to make any amount of worthwhile bonus. For example, let's say they get $5 for every $50 air time voucher they sell (and I'm probably being generous using that figure). Do the math... they need to sell 10 vouchers PER DAY just to make an extra $50, which they are then TAXED on by at least 25% as income. The sad truth is that ANYONE can make much more money with far less effort by simply going around and collecting recyclable bottles and cans for a couple of hours each day, which by the way is NOT taxed as income and is pure profit. I know several homeless guys that do this around the industrial area where our warehouse is located and they could literally make $600+ per week (or more!!) if they could stay sober long enough to do it regularly.

Anyway, that's my rant and comparison about how the poor retail employee is duped into trying to sell the add-ons, upgrades, etc, etc when it really gets them very little extra income, yet they expend more time and energy attempting to chase those extra bucks than the homeless guys who collect bottles in our area.

Regarding your #2 point in your post:

Speakout phones include $5 of airtime, which is 20 minutes of talk time (not including the $.99/mth fee).

Also, as far as point #3, my guess is that Speakout airtime has such a markup for the stores that the guy really really wanted you to buy it. Or maybe he gets a kickback for every customer that buys a $50 card? Who knows, but that was still really crappy customer service.

1- The phones themselves are various prices depending on which model you get.

2- The cheapest phone is the Nokia at $60. This INCLUDES $25 air time (about 20 minutes actual talk time) with the purchase of the phone.

3- They try to push buying a $50 air time voucher on top of that by saying you get a $9 discount (so basically the $50 voucher is now only $41).

I thought I was losing my mind because I tried telling the guy right off the bat that I only wanted the phone with whatever air time came with it. But he kept going back to this extra $50 voucher deal as if it was a condition of buying the phone. Finally I had to tell him I DON'T WANT THE EXTRA $50!!!!... I ONLY WANT THE PHUCKING PHONE WITH WHATEVER AIR TIME IT COMES WITH!!!

I'm not sure why they are pressing this deal so hard and trying to deceive people about it. It truly is absurd.

They do sell other phones as well, even if the selection is limited.

And you always have the option of buying a SIM from someone on this list and then buying whichever GSM phone you wish.

To those people that hardly ever use a cellphone except in emergencies (gasp, could this be Speakout's target market?!?!), the 1208 is decent little phone. It has great battery life and gets really good reception (gets much better reception than my old high-end Sony Ericsson).

What's the worst case scenerio? You buy the 1208 (PLUS sim and $5 worth of airtime), and then buy another phone off ebay and you can use the 1208 as a backup phone. Heck, that's exactly what I did. And next week when I'm painting my apartment, I'll take my SIM out of my good phone, stick it in my 1600 (same phone as the 1208) so I don't risk getting paint on my good phone. In the summer when I'm dog-sitting for a friend of mine for a week, who has horrible cellphone reception in her basement apartment, I'll be using my crappy Nokia that gets awesome reception. And the next time my brother breaks or loses his phone, I'll give him that cheap Nokia to use.

Nokia 1208 from Speakout - $59 + tax
-new with warranty
-comes with SIM and $5 airtime

Nokia 1208 from Ebay, including shipping - $20 (at least)
- probably used
- does NOT come with SIM ($30 value) and $5 in airtime

As you can see, the 1208 from Speakout isn't that bad of a deal.

The Nokia 2610 has a horrendous mirror finish on its screen which makes it difficult to see. I'd stick with either a 1208 at the same price (better battery life, but a much more basic operating system) or the slightly more expensive 1680 (better battery, larger screen, same OS as the 2610).

The 6061 is a decent phone, but it's a little dated. It has an external antenna, a smallish internal screen, and no external screen. The 2760 flip costs more but is better in all those areas, and it has better battery life to boot.

JL68 said:

It seems that 7-11 in Canada is not selling the Nokia 2610 and 6061. Is this ad in USA ?

The Nokia 2610 and 6061 used to be part of the regular phone lineup available at 7-11 stores in Canada. They might have stock remaining at some stores. Good Luck...

JL68 said:

It seems that 7-11 in Canada is not selling the Nokia 2610 and 6061. Is this ad in USA ?

I was just in a 7-11 and they had the same ad in store. It mentioned those models.

It's good for those who were going to buy a Nokia 1208 and only buy small top-up cards when they need them. These people will welcome the small savings (as compared to no savings). Generally these people will probably end up being clients new to Speakout.

This promotion is not for those that plan on buying $75 or $100 top-up cards less often. And obviously not for those that buy $100 top-up cards during the free phone promo just to resell the SIM. This offer does not make sense for those types of clients.

Goes to show that you can't please everyone all the time.

Note also that the $50 buys your choice of a 1208, 2610 or 6061 flip phone.

you have to buy $50 then pay another $50 for the phone

so it's $100 for $50 airtime compared to $100 for $100 airtime last time

😉