Cell Phone Shopping Made Easy with Amazon Wireless [ARTICLE]
Amazon reinforces their clout as a dominant online retailer with the launch a new niche service: Amazon Wireless (Beta). The new store offers cell phones and wireless plans with bonus features like deeply discounted phones, multiple carrier choices, smooth shopping experiences, zero rebate hassles and free two-day shipping. If the opportunity to pick up a one-cent cell phone isn’t attractive enough, just remember that it’s backed by Amazon’s world class customer service and security guarantees.
Better in Beta
Amazon Wireless promotes the new service as Amazon Wireless Beta, simply put: Amazon has released the service for public use but continues to test features and gather input. The store will `officially’ launch when Amazon has heard from customers and refined the experience to Amazon’s high standards. Don’t worry, the beta store already surpasses most online shopping experiences and does not bog you down with technical jargon.
Simple Shopping
By shopping at Amazon Wireless, you can avoid sometimes-pushy and almost-always-frustrating cell phone sales people at mall kiosks or road-side stores. You use a single, easy-to-use site to compare phone or plan parameters that are most important to you: carrier, features, price, color or brand.
Take your time to review service packages and find the one that’s right for you; there’s no pressure to click a button until you’re ready. And, you can look at best-seller lists and reviews to see what other customers are purchasing and why. When rebates are offered, you won’t have to wait for a check in the mail. Amazon Wireless instantly deducts the amount of the rebate from your purchase.
Amazon Wireless boasts a wide variety of services and phones in their new specialty store, including more than 100 phones and smartphones (but not a single iPhone, perhaps their primary flaw) as well as service plans from three different carriers: AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless.
Service Selection
Plan details, such as minutes per month, vary by carrier, but Amazon Wireless facilitates three basic service types:
- Establish a new individual account by choosing a carrier and selecting a phone (most of the time you can also transfer your old number).
- Upgrade your phone with an individual account by extending your contract through AT&T, T-Mobile or Verizon Wireless.
- Upgrade your phone as part of a family account by extending your contract through AT&T, T-Mobile or Verizon Wireless.
Certain conditions apply, of course. Check with Amazon Wireless for more information.
Once you’ve established an Amazon Wireless account, you can begin managing your service plan through Amazon Wireless. You can still visit your carrier’s website, or you can stop in one of their branded stores for personal assistance.
Good to Know
To benefit from Amazon Wireless, you must activate a new individual service or extend an existing contract, so plan on locking into a contract. For stand-alone phone purchases without a service plan attached, you can shop at amazon.com instead. Amazon Wireless doesn’t yet offer newly created family plans, however, you can manage an existing plan.
Amazon Wireless can’t process employee discount service plans or company-issued cell phones and they don’t accept Amazon gift cards at this time. One more item to note: Some phones are refurbished (lightly used or unused and returned within 30 days of purchase). If a phone’s price seems too good to be true, check the phone’s description where its refurbished status should be clearly labeled.
