Omegacell Communications - not a rip-off

On browsing for a new phone (yes, I still have my Xperia X10i), I realized that I never posted any feedback about where I bought it.

I got my Xperia from Omegacell Communications.  I checked them out beforehand, and they had a decent physical store and all the phones physically in stock (i.e. in hand, you can pick them up and use them). 

I was initially leery because they appear to sell 'grey market' phones.  These phones don't seem to be distributed in Canada, but they get them anyway.  Which probably means they're not "sanctioned" by the manufacturers.  However, I took the chance after seeing that they actually had a phone to sell.

The advantage is that they sell several leading-edge AWS compatible phones.  Good news for those of us who like WIND Mobile, but don't like the WIND Mobile phone selection.  They also correctly identify the 2100 MHz band as being completely unnecessary, kudos for that.

Anyway, I did end up buying from them, and everything was exactly as advertised.  My phone did indeed come with a European charger (plus American adapter plug), a multilingual manual and a web browser preloaded with bookmarks for Belgian sites, so it is obviously intended for European markets.  But it works fine except for a couple of minor, Sony-related glitches that were fairly easy to sort out.



Caveats:  The warranty is not factory, so if you run into problems you may be SOL.  They have a limited return policy, so be sure you are buying what you want.  And all the phones are (obviously) unlocked, so the prices are the full, unsubsidized price, which can result in sticker shock for the inexperienced.

Also, you will have to do some of your own technical support.  To be fair, WIND was exceedingly helpful and did a great job supporting my "non-WIND" handset when things were not working so great.  But they can't solve everything, so off the Google you may have to go (once in a while) to figure out what is what.

Anyway, I just wanted to mention that although this outfit appears small, and a touch sketchy, they did deliver the goods.  Their Amazon ratings also look solid, so presumably my experience is not the only good one they have delivered.

They now carry the Samsung Galaxy S II (AWS model) with that huge 4.52" screen on it.  I mocked up a 5.0" Dell Streak (too big) and the 4.0" Xperia X10 (no problem).  I wonder what the 4.52" would be like...