Hardly.  If you don't like it, don't sign it.  Simple.

You have a grace period to find that out without risk.

Get serious.

No, you either pay retail, or you buy it somewhere else.  There's no right to
a cheap phone without obligation.

So what?

Then go with T-Mobile.  Seriously.

It is easy to characterize carriers as greedy when they ask users to sign
contracts, but that is an unbalanced view.  Much as I've castigated Cingular
recently, there is another side to the contract issue, and it bears telling
and discussing.

Let's start with a little bit of history.  In 1971 I inquired of New Jersey
Bell how to obtain Mobile Telephone Service (that is, the ORIGINAL MTS, with
the big transceiver in the trunk of the car--cellular hadn't yet been
invented).  They replied that there was a two-year waiting list, because
there were only a handful of frequencies allocated, and each frequency was
tied up whenever a single conversation was carried.  The monthly service fee
was $225.00 JUST TO HAVE A PHONE NUMBER.  (This was 1971 dollars!)  I don't
recall what the "per-minute" or long distance charges were, but they had to
be at least a few dollars per minute.

Enter cellular.  My first bag phone, from Cellular One, had a monthly charge
several times higher than I pay now, and there were no free minutes, as I
recall. Roaming rates applied if my calls originated or terminated in even
the next county--$.99 per minute.

When AT&T Wireless appeared on the scene, I began using an Ericsson LX-100
digital handset and received a huge roam-free calling area, relative to what
Cellular One gave me.  I was paying about $100 per month.

Later ATTWS offered free minutes and free N/W, with free long distance, at a
still cheaper price.  I got three lines, at $29.99 apiece, and I signed a
one year term agreement.  ATTWS had a base plan with NO free minutes and a
minimum monthly fee, just to cover the cost of reserving the number in the
customer's name, with a $.75 per minute charge.  No contract.  No free
phone.  Hardly anybody bought it.

Those customers that entered into a term agreement got freebies.  They had a
$20/month plan with 40 anytime minutes (less than $.75 times 40).  They had
the Digital One Rate plan at $29.99, with 250 minutes, free N/W, free
incoming text, and a subsidized phone.

The deal was straightforward: the customer agreed to provide the carrier
with a minimum monthly income for a specific period of time, and the carrier
offered deep discounts off its base prices.  Considering that the long
distance was free, I was able to drop AT&T Reach Out America on my home line
($10.00 for the first 60 minutes, then $7.80 per hour thereafter) and I came
out ahead.  In fact, my long distance savings more than paid for my wireless
service.  Not bad, in exchange for a 12 month term.

With number portability came two-year terms, but heavy night/weekend users
still get a deal that is not likely to be beaten from their landline
carrier.  And cellular call quality is superior to VoIP services like
Vonage, where there are latency issues and breakup of sound (Fortune
Magazine recently did an article on Vonage, and revealed that 25% of their
customers leave each year, dissatisfied over the performance versus Vonage's
advertising claims.  Vonage spends a fortune on advertising just to attract
replacements for those customers.  It hasn't turned one cent in profit.
Clearly, this cannot go on.)

The handsets themselves, if they were not subsidized, would cost upwards of
$200.00 apiece.  Just look at the prices charged for walkie-talkies at Radio
Shack.

The key to controlling costs is to avoid all those value-added features.
Make calls in the free periods.  Don't treat text messaging like it is a
mobile version of Instant Messenger, because it's not.  How many people
really need Internet access or television shows on their mobile phones?
And, if you must have those extra goodies, please don't moan and whine when
the bill comes.

Where can one go and participate in a communications network that took years
to create, and billions of dollars to build, and more millions of dollars to
maintain--all for under $50 per month?  Looking back at the prices that were
formerly charged, I'd opt for a term agreement anytime.  All it takes to get
out of one is to pay the ETF--essentially paying the carrier back for the
retail price of the subsidized phone--and one is free to walk.

As an alternative, there are pay-as-you-go plans that, even though they
offer much less than the term plans, still are much better than one would
have paid for cellular service as recently as a decade ago.  But it is
inappropriate to compare the relative merits of such a plan to those offered
to serious customers that commit to a guaranteed revenue stream for the
carrier.  The pay-as-you-go plans probably represent the least stable class
of customers for any carrier--the 20% of their customer base that causes 80%
of their revenue difficulties.

It still amazes me that someone that is chargeoff all over town can get
wireless service at all.  Seen from that perspective, wireless is a bargain.

What I find offensive about Cingular in particular is their habit of
insisting upon a new two-year agreement at every opportunity,  Posters have
complained that even slight changes to their service were conditioned upon
re-upping.  I have the answer for that, too: leave Cingular like I did.
Vote with your feet.

Yes.

My meaning was consistent with the accepted definition:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoconservatism_(United_States)