If you have a Bank of America checking/line of credit/credit card account, you can also get $45 cashback through Ebates when using Lets Talk. Net cost is only $90 even at this late stage (after having missed the earlier pre-order promotions/coupons). Versus Sprint, where the cost would be $200 plus $36 activation for a total of $236 -- almost $150 more, albeit with instant gratification.
I doubt they will waive the activation fee though. Telesales told me recently that even if you buy ffrom sprint.com they won't give you free activation anymore (but of course, who knows if the customer service person knew what the heck she was talking about).