@tbrminsanity: That's a smart way to figure the number of contacts/BPs awarded. I agree that a good contact costs about 6 BP. Instead of 6 × Charisma, my rule gives you 6 × (average Social skill pool). That's one less for characters who default on all of their Social skills, and 1-4 more for characters who develop them. Altogether, street sams are likely to get 1-2 free contacts, hermetic mages will get 2-4, elven shamans will get 4-8, and faces will get 10-12. That seems about right to me, and you can't really "munchkin" it, since you need to drop points on a lot of skills to get the most out of it.
@Faradon: The reason I want to give these away is because I think they're good for the game, but players simply aren't willing to pay for them. In contrast, they will happily pay for commlink upgrades, because they see a tangible, personal benefit for doing so out of the gate. If I thought that commlink upgrades were very important but undervalued by players, I would look at adjusting costs there too, but I don't see that happening.