Free X-box or PS3

[BigSi]

Thinking about upgrading my phone for a new model. For an extra £5 a month I can get a free PS3 or X-box on a new contract with The Carphone Warehouse. Is it really that simple, or is there a catch?  :-k :-k :-k :-k :-k

[Mareng]

How long is the contract? 12, 18 months or more??

Do you get owt else for your £5?  More minutes or text or anything??

Does the extra £5 also tie you into a longer contract that if you dont get it??

How much do the consoles cost now??

If you sit down and work it out, id the console actually fre or do you pay for it (or even pay for some of it) with the £5 extra..

[Mark_Solesbury]

im sure that there will be a catch...

They are both £300 consoles, so they will be recouping their costs somehow..

What is the term of the contract?

From a quick google, is it the £50 per month contract for 18 months - thats £900 for a start!

[BigSi]

I think it was the £40 per month for 18 months contract.

[bensonsnuts]

I'm looking for a new phone deal and all the " free " gifts I looked at were paid for by increased costs to the customer either monthly or a big initial cost on the phone .
 I'd look for the cost of the same contract without the freebie and see how much it is.
If the PS3 is really free you won't find it cheaper will you

[Mark_Solesbury]

Stuff is very rarely free...

£40 for 18 is £720 - whats the cost of a similar contract without the ps3?

The PS3 is now £289.76, and the Xbox 360 is £249.49.

Plus there will no doubt be call charges each month??

Just look hard at all the options before signing!

[Thrasher]

I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.

RRP is not "cost". It's all about commission and profit.

[UKJeeper]

Look at the contract prices from the high street phone shopes (Voda, Orange, Tmobile, etc), then look at the prices on the offers from thelink and carphonewarehouse. They're the same.

I'm 14 months into a contract with Orange through thelink. They threw in a PSP. Still quite happy with the deal. No hidden extras. My oldest boy got a similar contract and got a Wii. Again, no hidden stuff. I'll be looking at scoring an Itouch in a couple of months.

I'd much rather get 'freebies' through a name brand shop like those two than some of the pikey 'back of the newspaper' places. They have very small print in their contracts...

[Range Rover Blues]

S/H PS3 will be less than £180 now if you hunt around, plus there is one model (I can't remember which) that is better than the other 2, the first and last models IIRC have less features.

[Welshbreed]

They'd say the PS3 was out of stock and would not be able to give a date due back in. The X-Box 360 would be the arcade (core) version, and not very good at all. If your going to get an X-Box get a Pro (20GB hard drive) or an Elite (usually black, with a 120GB hard drive).

[Drift]

A girl in our office just recieved her Xbox.
She had to wait 2 weeks after taking the phone contract out then got a call saying the xbox was in the shop and to pick it up.
Its only the basic early xbox though.

Not like the monster one I had to buy my son for christmas  :lol: :lol:

[robert francis]

if your paying an extra £5 a month, its not free! but if its an 18 month contract it works out you would pay £90 for the console, they most probs get a kick back from the phone company for the rest, ? thats my way of thinking

[jay118]

If you are going to go for that contract dont get the XBOX360 they like to overheat and get the ring of death , I know Ive had 3 of them in two years , Gettin playstation next its much better machine.

[Mark_Solesbury]

My 360 has more fans than my PC in it.. It really is lound when its on, kinda like the old dreamcast used to sound like...

Its supposed to sure the ring of death, but im already counting on it showing up when its a 366 days old  :?

[jay118]

My last xbox 360 had the king cooler on the back an it still went pop , I felt like chuckin it through the front window really p**sed off with it .

[UKJeeper]

I like the 360 as i can play all my network stored movies on it, which is very cool. watching movies on a PC monitor is not the same thing.

However. The PS3 has the blueray HD drive on it. Blueray appears to have won the HD wars as ALL the major movies studios are now signed up for it.

Of course the HD DVD drive for the 360 is an external drive. Very easy for Microsoft to start making Blueray drives instead.

[Thrasher]

PS3 is easier to use as a streamer than the 360 ... esp as it does divx ;-)

[richo]

My mate has just done that deal and has got the x-box coming .I will let your know what he's paying.
I would go for the ps3 as its got a blue ray player in it.

[UKJeeper]

PS3 is easier to use as a streamer than the 360 ... esp as it does divx ;-)

WRONG! The Xbox 360 DOES play Dvix. [-X

Proof a) http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=xbox+360+divx&meta=

Proof b) I play Divx movies on mine all the time.

[UKJeeper]

I would go for the ps3 as its got a blue ray player in it.

Xbox 360 will be getting one.

http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/006502.html

Microsoft could have the Xbox 360 Blu-ray drive ready as early as this May.

[Thrasher]

WRONG! The Xbox 360 DOES play Dvix. Naughty Naughty

Proof a) http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=xbox+360+divx&meta=

Proof b) I play Divx movies on mine all the time.

I have one and it refuses to play half the stuff the PS3 does.

However it is also not as good (for my application) because :

1. Wireless is an "extra" and costs about £50

2. Because it is mickeysoft it really doesn't like non-MS uPnP stuff (i.e. Twonkyvision) so therefore tries to force you down the media-centre/media player route (argh)

3. It's buffering is not as configurable.