Originally Posted by jabbamk1:
“Again, missing my point. Cpw get commission for every phone they sell with a network sim so they may as well price it lower than the official sim free version .

But bear in mind its not everyone phone that comes unlocked, e
G iphones don't come unlocked.

Yes the ace 2 will come unlocked”

I haven't missed your point about cpw getting commision, I'm not asking why retailers are able to sell network payg phones cheaper, I fully understand the commission from networks allows them to lower the price on payg phones. What I've been asking is, why do these phone retailers have the exact same thing (in all but name) on offer at two very different prices? Do they expect that customers won't know they're buying higher priced 'official' sim-free phones when they could've paid less for the exact same thing with network payg?

also, don't the network companies know that cpw and p4u are just selling unlocked and unbranded phones? So what incentive is there for vodafone (for example) to pay commission to cpw for a sale of a phone that isn't even locked or branded with their network?

and before, you suggested that online sites like amazon are cheaper in comparison to 'overpriced' cpw and p4u. Well, the samsung galaxy ace 2 costs £174.99 (sim-free) on amazon. However, p4u sells the phone at £159.99 on T-mobile network payg (but because they give you an unlocked and unbranded, its sim-free). So for the exact same thing, p4u is cheaper - even more so when you take into account the fact that the £159.99 includes £20 of air-time, so the phone itself is only £139.99. Is this all right, or have I missed something?