Best Holiday Season Deal for the T-Mobile G1 Google Android Phone

Posted by Joe on November 29, 2008 | 39 comments | Filed under : Service Providers

The best current deal in the US for the G1 Android Phone during the 2008 Holiday Season can be had by those in the military and special corporate discount programs.

Surprisingly there were no special Black Friday deals anywhere on the G1 that I know of and it does not look like any Cyber Monday deals will pop up either so unless you live in the UK were you can get the G1 for FREE then here is my best advice.

T-Mobile will provide the G1 for $139.99 while also removing any activation or upgrade fee plus 10% off your monthly bill if you are a member of one such corporate discount program – The Freelancers Union.

A commenter, Ruben, pointed out to me within my post on getting the G1 for the cheapest price that you can easily sign up for FREE to the Freelancers Union by:

Signing-up at http://www.freelancersunion.org/
Once signed up go to their T-Mobile Premiere page here

The caveat to this is in order to get the $140 G1 online you MUST be a new customer to T-Mobile, not a current subscriber looking to upgrade their phone, like I was – although you can still get 10% off your monthly bill even as an active T-Mobile customer by:

Filling out this form
Then send the completed form to this email or mcsamigrations@t-mobilesupport.com

Today I received the G1 for $139.99 without any additional fees via a price match at a local San Diego T-Mobile store by simply providing a copy of the printout showing the Freelancers Union corporate discount rate on a new activation even though I was upgrading as a current T-Mobile customer.

This did NOT work over the phone, online, or at busy T-Mobile stores but from my personal experience it worked quite easily at those T-Mobile stores that are somewhat secluded and not within shopping malls.

Please let me know if anyone else had success doing this and any assistance I can provide to make sure you get the best deal on the G1which incidentally is almost $5 less than the $144 it reportably costs HTC to make the phone.

*** As a note – I had stopped posting on this site recently until I actually got a G1 since I felt hypocritical having a site on Android but not having a phone using it – so as of Saturday November 29th I am a proud G1 owner ***

1 GiGiG December 1, 2008 at 12:25 pm: The link should be freelancersunion.org. I went to the site you listed, and I think it was a high school drumline. Thank you for the tip!
2 Averad December 1, 2008 at 1:37 pm: Thanks a lot for this info it really does work. If you want to get the 10% discount you can call instead of filling out that form and e-mailing it.

Averads last blog post..LICD: You’re Just a…
3 Michael Martin December 1, 2008 at 1:53 pm: I fixed the link to the correct Freelancers Union site to http://www.freelancersunion.org/

Thanks GiGiG!
4 ruben December 2, 2008 at 8:06 pm: enjoy all xD
5 Gloria December 4, 2008 at 10:46 am: thanks!…I ended up going on t-mobile.com and used livechat to get my account migrated. quick and easy…10% a month adds up
6 ken December 4, 2008 at 11:40 am: how you do the price at the tmobile local store? and what print out did you have to bring

thanks
7 Michael Martin December 4, 2008 at 11:54 am: @ Ken,

Go to http://extranet.t-mobile.com/tmobile-exc/shop/products/handhelds.do

Then select the G1 by putting it into your cart and going through the order process until you get to the final invoice breakdown before the actual purchase.

Print this out and bring to a T-Mobile store.

I would advise calling them first as some stores look at that and quickly dismiss it as being for NEW customers, unless you are, but for current customers only some stores price match.
8 JD_NorCal December 4, 2008 at 2:30 pm: AWESOME… Just got my freelancers discount on my plan. They also have discounts for a new line of service… I already have four lines, so waiting for one to drop off the two year mark. Then I’ll add another line with the G1!!!! GREAT NEWS!!! Go to http://www.tmobile.com/corpdiscount and use the link to chat. Make sure you have your Freelancers number and the toll free number that appears on the left of the t-mobile premiere site for ordering. It works like a charm.
9 Daniel Fonda December 10, 2008 at 2:28 pm: T-Mobile will no longer do the one-year contract w/the Freelancer’s discount. Only two years. I was told there was no one with the authority to make an exception, which is probably a dodge, but there’s not any obvious recourse unless someone wants to post a number for corporate relations that doesn’t go to sales.
10 jonathan December 11, 2008 at 2:03 pm: good tip. Worked for me. Had a G1 since late Oct, bought a new one for my wife. They retroactively gave the 10% to my plan in addition to my wife’s new plan. Also got the 2 free airline tickets vouchers. They wouldn’t waive my $35 activation as it past the 30 days initial trial though.
11 heroljp December 16, 2008 at 1:45 am: Is the freelancers discount still valid? Is there a time limit?
12 Michael Martin December 16, 2008 at 7:07 pm: The Freelancer deal is still in effect at least though December 2008.
13 anthony December 17, 2008 at 10:58 am: i tried this and they would give me the g1 for 139.99 but i would have to have a flex pay account and would not be given the %10 monthly discount.
14 anthony December 23, 2008 at 2:15 pm: Well I tried again and this time everything went smooth. About $150 shipped. My g1 came the next day and I am using it to leave this comment! Thank you to whoever discovered this.
15 KING December 23, 2008 at 4:44 pm: HEY MICHALE IM INTERSTED IN THIS SO OK I HAVE A 2 YEAR CONTRACT WITH TMOBILE SINCE NOVEMBER 2007 AND I HAVE FOUR LINES IF IM NOT MISTTAKING U ARE SAING WITHT HIS CAN GET THE G1 FOR 139.99 AT THE MBILE STORE AND WONT HAVE TO SIGNUP FOR ANOTHER ACCOUNT OR LINE AND ETC THEY WILL JUST GIVE ME THE PHONE PLZ EXPLAIN TO ME IN MY EMAIL OR ADD ME ON MSN SO I CAN KNOW TNXSW ITS WAJID456@HOTMAIL.COM
16 iwantmyG1! December 27, 2008 at 1:43 pm: i signed up for freelancers and then i went to the livechat with T-mobile and they told me that there was only a discount on handsets and that the discount would not apply to the G1. I then proceeded to argue that other members were able to get this deal and the rep would not budge. i really wanted to get a G1 for cheaper than 400! grr :/
17 Michael Martin December 27, 2008 at 2:02 pm: Did you go to the Freelancers T-Mobile page link and go to the PDA section to see the G1 listed?

There you should see the G1 for $139.99 and then either point the T-Mobile rep there or scan and email to them….else print and show a T-Mobile store.
18 iwantmyG1! December 27, 2008 at 5:03 pm: I tried again and the rep kept telling me to purchase it through the website. The problem is I’m already a current T-mobile customer…

Fortunately, I got 15% off my monthly bill (thank you very much )…but I’d still like to find a way to get the G1 for cheap! I’m currently in Tennessee and none of the T-mobile stores that I have called have the G1 in stock so I can’t go get it there…
19 Cinn January 4, 2009 at 4:41 pm: Could someone give me the email address to send that form? The link is not working.
20 Michael Martin January 4, 2009 at 5:01 pm: @ Cinn,

I fixed the link and also displayed the email address.
21 Stan Berka January 4, 2009 at 8:05 pm: Hi,
I wanted to by G1 for some time. I signed up for the FreeLancer Union but the Discount page there says explicitly that the pricing is for new activations only. I’m not a new customer. How did you manager to get the price match based on that info from FreeLancers Union?
22 Michael Martin January 4, 2009 at 11:29 pm: @ Stan,

Correct as in my case as well I used it for an upgrade.

As I wrote in the post, “Today I received the G1 for $139.99 without any additional fees via a price match at a local San Diego T-Mobile store by simply providing a copy of the printout showing the Freelancers Union corporate discount rate on a new activation even though I was upgrading as a current T-Mobile customer”
23 mdaddys January 14, 2009 at 9:54 pm: I’m in SD, what store did this work at?

TIA
Mike
24 Michael Martin January 14, 2009 at 10:51 pm: @mdaddys,

The one in Clairemont next to Target at 5504 Balboa Ave.
25 Reinaldo January 17, 2009 at 1:31 pm: Hey Mike,
Have you heard if this is still working or is the deal no longer an option.
Thx!
26 Michael Martin January 17, 2009 at 2:53 pm: @Reinaldo,

I just checked, its still there for $139.99 – http://extranet.t-mobile.com/tmobile-exc/shop/products/handhelds.do
27 rm7910 January 18, 2009 at 5:03 pm: Hi, i signed up for the freelancers union and went to the premiere site. I used the online chat function they gave me the 10% but could not give me the G1 at that price she said to contact the sales department by phone because i am not a new customer but I do what to renew contract. How do I get the phone?
28 Michael Martin January 18, 2009 at 9:59 pm: @rm7910,

The answer is in the post itself as well a reply to a previous comment as I was already a T-Mobile customer but fulfilled my original contract.

“Today I received the G1 for $139.99 without any additional fees via a price match at a local San Diego T-Mobile store by simply providing a copy of the printout showing the Freelancers Union corporate discount rate on a new activation even though I was upgrading as a current T-Mobile customer”
29 Willambq February 25, 2009 at 10:58 am: I signed up for the Freelance and tried this. It seems they are getting warier. I had to call several places before they said they could even deal with it. And when I went in to an Alert exclusive T-Mobile franchise, they were a little bit limited to actually being able to do it as an upgrade in the store themselves. After several calls, the T-Mobile dealer was able to get a call center rep to either wave the cancellation fee (and have to get new numbers but be able to get the $140 price) OR waive the upgrade time period and offer me the phones upgrade price of $159.99. That is $20 more but less hassle and I could keep my old plan grandfathered. So I did that. INCLUDING tax and shipping, the phones are $175 on an upgrade from a 1 year old 2yr contract which I had to renew for an additional 2 years. I was also able to get the 10% off corporate migration processed.
30 DC March 2, 2009 at 10:48 am: Thanks for the tip – I got both the discounted phone and a 10% discount on my bill. I was in the middle of a contract w/ T-mobile, but used this deal in combination with adding a third line to my contract.
31 KL May 28, 2009 at 9:33 am: I have signed up for Freelancers Union but none of the stores were willing to price match with me. A store sales manager told me to check out the price in Walmart because they got the phone through a different wholesaler. I ended up at a Walmart and you know what….they are offering the G1 for $98.88 w/ 2-yr contract (same price for both new activation and upgrade). I upgraded my phone and I didn’t even have to pay the upgrade fee. Also I called in for the 10% discount and Could get it.

So I am all satisfied now.

Hope it helps somebody who are trying to get the G1.=)
32 travis May 28, 2009 at 11:14 am: this is similar to the amazon deal. the catch is there is an activation fee of $35 for each phone charged with your first bill from t-mobile. with the freelancer’s deal, that fee is waived. so basically, it comes down to $133.88 for the walmart one, or $139.99 for the freelancer’s one.

i didn’t see the walmart one, but was considering the amazon until i realized the end price was so close. i decided to go with the freelancer one since it was easier to get the 10% a month that way. (still waiting to hear back on my order, so we will see)
33 Len June 19, 2009 at 12:42 pm: You upgraded and got the G1 for $98? I thought that was for new lines only at Wal-Mart??
34 Timi July 11, 2009 at 2:59 pm: I am going to buy the G1 and was looking for a good price that is not to expensive (since I am going to pay the data plan). I have been looking and a lot of people seem to be saying they can upgrade their phones at Walmart at the same price of a new 2-year contract. I am going to check it out and see. I really do hope its true.
35 Ryan July 28, 2009 at 1:20 pm: How exactly did you talk your way to getting a $140 G1 without having to get a 2 year plan for it as well? I talked to multiple reps for hours and they said I needed to open a plan in order to get the phone at the desired pricing.
36 Michael Martin July 28, 2009 at 1:23 pm: I did have to get a 2 year contract extension on my previous expired T-Mo contract.
37 Emerald July 29, 2009 at 6:55 pm: Hi, when I go to the website they say the G1 phone is 109? but can I buy the phone off the internet then, change my plan at a regular store?….and also how do i get the 10% step by step it kind of confuses me. Plz answer both que’s thnx.
38 Michael Martin July 30, 2009 at 5:10 pm: Wow I see it is $109 now on the site.

I wonder what the myTouch 3G will be in the coming weeks via this deal.

What do you mean change your plan at a store?

For the 10% off you need to join the Freelancer union and then submit this form https://my.t-mobile.com/Corporate/MCSA_Form.doc to mcsamigrations@t-mobilesupport.com
39 kindle case June 14, 2010 at 4:23 pm: thanks for the info you’ve posted, there is just so much info out there and this is such a tiresome topic to research