-CH> In a credit and truth in lending or fair trade scenario,
-CH> there is
-CH> a deception when the cellular company and the salesman do
-CH> not tell the
-CH> customer that they are not really getting the phone for
-CH> free and that
-CH> they would be within their legal rights to obtain a phone
-CH> from anyone
-CH> they choose.
Cellular dealers would love it if everyone came in with their own phone to 
activate. They'd be able to keep their full commission and wouldn't have to 
subsidize the phone at all. That's where they make their most money, when 
someone activates existing equipment.
Your paragraph above further indicates that you really don't understand how 
things work in the cellular industry.
If a customer buys a phone without the benefit of signing up with a carrier 
they will pay full price for the phone. If they sign up for service they will 
get the phone at a greatly reduced rate thanks to signing the one year 
contract. The cellular service provider will pay the dealer a commission 
which part of goes towards reducing the price of the phone for the customer.
What I would like to know is how is going to another store, paying full price 
for a phone, and then going someplace else to activate it, going to help the 
customer. They will still need to sign a one year contract, still pay the 
same monthly fee, and still have to pay a security deposit if one was 
necessary.
You are right though, a customer can get their phone from anyplace they would 
like and beleive me, the dealers love people who come in with their own 
equipment.
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