When the only decent nokia handset is about $600 more without a subsidy, and even with a heavy usage plan the discount of $320 on a handset is still way more on the N85 then getting a 900Mhz one outright from parallelimported.

E71 is $200 more from telecom then most other places, Some of the less featured handsets are a bit more acceptably priced but this is still a fair way off vodafones free handset offer thats quite cheap to buy out of at 6 months into it and has the free 3 months access on it.

While the $18 for 240 megs is probably more suited for me then the vodafone $40 for 512 megs - but the $22 a month saving does nothing when the handset costs $600 more.

Sure, I get 3g everywhere, no fall back to 2g in buildings and no missed calls on vodafone, but I still feel that I am better served by running a CDMA phone for my voice since it has proven to be way more reliable for incoming calls then either of vodafones networks, and keeping a vodafone handset for 3g data use and just accepting that I cant use it in some buildings.

now, if vodafone would pull finger and make 900Mhz 3g urban so that they were not crippled with the 2100 of 2g fallback problems then IMO with pricing as it is, they would have the upper hand.

I can see why they didnt launch with the N97 like I had being told they were going to, they would probably have wanted over 2 grand for it, and thats hardly a good image.

So thanks for nothing telecom, nothings changing here - prepay for voice on you and prepay for data on vodafone for me will stay till 2degrees launch and then I will reconsider things.