-GE> Customers who already own a cell phone, and who sign up for
-GE> new service
-GE> pay the exact same rates, under the exact same terms, as
-GE> someone who
-GE> gets a "free" phone. Therefore, the rates have nothing to
-GE> do with
-GE> getting a free phone. I activate both new and old phones
-GE> every day. I
-GE> assure you there is no difference in the contracts,
-GE> regardless of
-GE> whether the customer gets a phone or not.
Same thing here in the RBS market. The problem with this argument is that 
both sides are right. When the day comes that you can walk into a cellular 
phone store and get a phone for no money and without so much as telling them 
your first name, then the phones will be truly free.
Right now you can get a phone at no additional charge but it is going to cost 
you around 240 dollars broken up over 12 monthly payments. Let's suppose 
someone comes into your store, signs a one year, takes the free phone, and a 
week later loses it. If the phone were really free, you'd say, no problem, 
take another one out of the closet, program it to his number, call banm, do 
the esn change and the matter would be done with.
Unfortunately, that isn't the case now.
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