Free Wiis & PS3s From Carphone Warehouse November 29, 2007
Read more Broadband , Consoles , Gadgets , Games , Gizmodo UK , Mobile Devices , Mobile phones , PS3 , Smartphones , Wii
There might be console shortages looming for Christmas but seemingly not at Carphone Warehouse, which has just been onto Gizmodo to point out that it has plenty of Wiis and PS3s.
The retailer is giving away free Wiis and PS3s with certain new phone and broadband contracts. Anyone looking for a new phone and a console could kill two Christmas presents with a single flick of your plastic friend on this one. That said, nothing is truly 'free'.
The phone and Blackberry contracts are 18 months with Orange and O2, respectively. They start at £35 per month for 500mins of calls per month and free texts. All of the handsets in question are free. The Wii offer applies to the Nokia 6300, 6300 White and 7373 as well as the Blackberry Pearl in silver and black.
The PS3s – the inferior 40GB versions though – are being dangled free with AOL Wireless Broadband Plus contracts – around £20 per month - but for a minimum of 24 months.
Go here for the Wii offer and here for the PS3 offer.-Martin Lynch
Editor and Contributor | Martin Lynch
Contributor | Tamlin Magee
Comments
The 40GB isn't entirely inferior. It's based on an updated MB design with a 65nm chip instead of 90nm, which results in much less power used, heat generated, noise generated. It's likely it'll be more reliable in the long term too. Course, they don't mention that in the specs. Remember how the first gen PS2 failed after a while with broken lasers etc? I wouldn't buy a first gen PS3 myself given the choice.
I recently received MY free PS3 with my Orange mobile phone Nokia 6300)contract (mine was only 12 months)& i am 100% satisfied with it.
If there was ONE thing potentially negative about the 40Gb, for me, it would be the TWO (rather than FOUR) USB slots.
The smaller Hard Drive & lack of Memory Card slots effect me in no way whatsoever. a seriously great bargain if you are due for an upgrade or are changing from Pay-As-You-Go to contract :)
what the hell is this JS file that IE blocked when i visited your page?
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It's hardly free if you end up paying £630 over the course of 18 months (minimum). A brand new Nintendo Wii with Wii Sports sells at £200 - £250.
It will probably be cheaper to buy the console, a hell of a lot of games, and still get a decent new pay as you go. Don't be fooled by these sorts of deals.
I'd rather cut a hole in my eye than buy one of these phones.
How long did it take for them to deliver the PS3?
If you already are paying (£35 - 40) for a monthly contract rental it's not costing you anymore is it? And with a monthly contract at least you get a new phone every year.
Pay as you go is only cost effective if you keep your phone for a long time and you have low usage.