I was recently in the market for a new cell phone, thanks to my 2 year old daughter ripping my phone in two pieces. It used to be a flip phone. Now it is a non-working flip phone. My wife and I went to the local Verizon store to research new phones. I also looked at a website I previously came across on the internet, http://www.tmiwireless.com/?aid=5361.

Fortunately I had viewed the site prior to going to the Verizon store or I would have Verizon charges a lot more than the website, which I found surprising at first. It isn't just Verizon either, any of the large wireless companies do the same thing, probably because they just assume people will buy from them rather than shop around.

I will do a comparison to show the differences. I will not compare the rate plans because they are the same between the actual carriers and the commissioned websites.

Verizon:

http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/controller

TMI Wireless:

http://www.tmiwireless.com/verizon/

They don't both carry the same exact choice of phones but the ones that are the same are cheaper through TMI.

• The Motorola E815 costs $79.99 through Verizon. Through TMI, at the time I am writing this article, you can get it for free and they currently include a FREE Bluetooth headset. That same headset at Verizon is $80.

• Through TMI Wireless the Motorola Razor phone is free with a free Bluetooth headset, as is the LG VX8100 with the Bluetooth headset, and the Motorola V325 is free, they don't include a headset as it is not Bluetooth compatible. Those same phones through Verizon are $129.99 for the Razor, $69.99 for the LG VX8100, and $79.99 for the V325. None of these phones include the free headsets.

That is clearly a significant savings regardless of which phone you get. I have Bluetooth with my new phone and I would pay for it, so to get it free is a no-brainer. Those people who don't like ordering from the internet because they do not like paying for shipping you don't need to worry about it, TMI does free Fed-Ex 2 day shipping. I do my comparison between the national carriers and TMI Wireless because that is the site I found the good deals on. I am confident you could find the same deals, if not better, on a similar website to TMI.

NEXTEL:

http://nextelonline.nextel.com/NASApp/onlinestore/en/Action/DisplayPhones?audience=INDIVIDUAL&id12=Personal_PS;Phones&language=EN

TMI Wireless:

http://www.tmiwireless.com/plans/nextelserviceplans.asp

The following models can be found on both websites:

Motorola i710, i760, and i870. On the Nextel website the prices are $79.99, $129.99, and $299.99. On TMI's site the prices are free, you MAKE $125.01 after rebates, and $19.99 for the respective phones.

I also checked Cingular Wireless but they did not have many phones in common between the two sites like Verizon and Nextel did. The Razor was on both sites and it was the same difference as it was on Verizon. Cingular sells it for $79.99 after rebates and TMI gives it to you for free with a free Bluetooth headset as well.

My website is all about bringing my visitors the best internet bargains and if this isn't the perfect example of what kind of bargains are available on the internet I don't know what is. In one case you could save as much as $280 on one single cell phone. If you are married, and both you and your wife need new phones, you could save as much as $560. The phones are not the only things that are cheaper between the two sites. The accessories are much cheaper as well. Depending on what kind of accessories you want you can save 50% or more, in addition to the free shipping.