Guys,

I went to the Cingular store to buy a new 8700....been with AT&T for years (and with a BB) and obviously now with Cingular. After looking at the 8700 I decided to buy it but I was told I had to pay $499 instead $299 because I had a few months left on my contract. It sort of kills me how they pay for new subscribers and penalize the longtimers ( Iguess they want churn)....so I am still looking for an 8700 that I can use with my Cingular plan. Any suggestions? I really can't justify getting dinged $200 just cause.

If you are in good standing per your account (on-time payments, few Cust. service call in's, etc etc) then you could qualify for an "upgrade" which would get you a discounted price (though not as good as a new user contract would get) but still discounted. Also, you could set up a new account, data only, it would just cost you 50$ a month instead of 45. Might make up for the extra 150$ (Blackberry 8700c goes for 449...not 499)

You should call in to Cingular Sales and really push them. Ask them to look at your history and push. I have always had success with this, they used to have cust service people in an area called Customer Retention that focused on these things- ask for that. Tell them you are thinking on switching carriers- I once had a rep. say that he was just waiting for me to say that and it allowed him to offer me a better range of phones for "free".

The real point is to push- I had 4 months left on my contract and got the upgrade deal. I called sales and worked the deal- they mark your account then go to the store or have them ship it from Cingular direct. The store people do not have the lattitude that the sales dept. has- in my experience.

Good luck- just some tips that I hope can help.

Thanks guys.