[Terrin]

I have had AT&T cell service. Further, I have dealt with the company for home phone service and DSL. AT&T is a horrible company. The customer service stinks. It nickel and dimes customers. Worst, it used to charge customers bogus charges knowing full well that many customers wouldn't contest the charges. Finally, it voluntarily gives the government full access to your personal information without so much as a court order.
I love Apple. I love the iPhone. Not enough to use AT&T though. My first generation one works great on T-Mobile.
For the record, I don't care what Verizon says, it never had a chance to offer the iPhone. Apple was always going with the GSM network because of it's larger spread throughout the world, which meant AT&T or T-Mobile. Apple, however, knows you get a better deal if you get companies playing off of one another.

[chowza]

They've been available in Hong Kong, from the online Apple Store and from Apple resellers, for at least 6 months already. They are sold unlocked by default, have no tie in with any carrier, and sell for approx. the same price as AT&T is now offering (my family has two, both of which were registered via Apple in the US with no problem, and which work perfectly with various SIMs from the US and from other countries). So, if you want one that is legally unlocked, with no carrier tie-in, take a vacation to Hong Kong.....:-)

[moonbuggy]

Haha... What a rip off for the little ifools. LOL. I love how Apple gives you almost the right amount of memory so that you are tempted to pay more and more for each GB extra. Then when you get 8GB and think over 16GB, they want yet another $100 on top of that for only 8gb more. Typical apple. If it weren't for ifans being obsessed, every one could get one for $200.. But no, they are just too brainwashed. And yes, I could easily afford a bag of them, but could care less about having an over rated, battery depleting, mp3 player with retarded games that will never get used more than once. I just want to find out if one will blend...

[Sigil]

Yes, AT& T's customer service leaves a lot to be desired, but I rarely have to call them. So, to an extent it is irrelevant. My iPhone works. I'm happy with it. That's all I really want. In theory, if things are going as they should, cellphone companies should be invisible. There shouldn't be a need for customer service. AT & T allows customers to change or edit their plans online. (In the iPhone's case, that's limited to the text messaging options.) So, again no need to call them. I've been with Verizon, Sprint, and Cingular (through the merger) and Verizon has excellent customer service, but I remember having to call them a lot! I had to call Sprint a lot too. I ended up getting many credits, replacement phones and "sincere" apologies. However, the customer service was meaningless when I was waiting for my replacement phones. (Yes, defective phones that had issues not caused by me) I had billing errors with both. Yes, I got credited for the "billing errors" that I noticed, but I had to call them about it. I never had to call AT& T from a pay phone or a friend's phone. I did this several times with Verizon and Sprint. With Cingular and later AT&T, my contract was never restarted, after making changes to my plan. I HATED THAT! I didn't even know about it the first time I did that. THAT WAS VERY SNEAKY! Oh, I remember the great customer service and the policy was painstakingly explained to me. I digress. The goal for these companies is to be INVISIBLE! I should rarely require customer service. They all need work, but so far AT & T has just been wearing camouflage just in sight of my peripheral vision.

[frozencards]

Even with the purchase of the Iphone without a contract, you will still need the ATT $30 Iphone data plan. If you used the Iphone without the data plan you could easily rack up over $1,000 in data charges. I work for an authorized indirect dealer and I have actually seen thousand dollar phone bills from people who acquired Iphones (probably on Ebay) and used them without adding the data package.

[junkmail999]

I think MM missing the point here. Everyone loves their iPhone here and every where else. We are discussing about how ATT is trying to clear the stock before june by selling locked phones for full price.



you are just freaking out how much you love your phone. Fanatics like you are encouraging these companies to keep all these controls.

[sporks]

Nobody is forcing you to buy a phone from AT&T. So who is greedier? The vendor wanting to sell something for the most that he can, or the buyer who wants it for free?

[Alex_Hill]

"Nobody is forcing you to buy a phone from AT&T. So who is greedier? The vendor wanting to sell something for the most that he can, or the buyer who wants it for free?"

No one's saying we want it for free; they're asking $600 and it's not the price I'm complaining about! It's the lock-in of a phone even when sold at an un-subsidized price that's the issue.

It may not be in Apple or AT&T's financial interest to get my business on those terms; that's their job to figure out. I'll I'm saying is I'd be willing to pay $600 tomorrow for an unlocked iPhone. Next time I'm in Hong Kong....

[Speed_Racer]

$600 for an 8GB? Tell AT&T to take a flying leap. Go buy one with a service plan for $200 then end the plan and pay the $175 early termination fee. $375 and you're set.

[rishim]

Wow, for once the UK is ahead of the US. We've had the pay as yuo go iphone for about 5 months

[Wondercow]

moonbuggy said:

>And yes, I could easily afford a bag of them
If you need to brag then it just ain't true.
>but could care less
If you could care less it means just that--you could care less, which mens that you care, if only a little.

[Podesta]

AT&T has the most liberal discount policy of all the cell phone providers. As for as I'm concerned getting a $10 discount each month on my account makes up for the rude customer service I encountered during the first six months of iPhone availability. People are imperfect. Mature adults accept that.

I'm skeptical of some of our 'new' participants and their orders to people not to do business with Apple and AT&T. They sound a lot like the same crew of 'never buy anything, steal it' folks that were bid farewell a week ago.

[Andrewhall]

iPhoneUnlock3G
I got an unlocked iphone and had a t-mobile it was working for 30 hours...last night i was setting up a pic i took for a wallpaper and then all the sudden it went black.I used iPhoneUnlock3G net and now it is ok.

[twitterci]

Believe me my friend, it's not only AT&T but also Apple who is greedy. Do you know that Apple gets a share on every monthly payment on an AT&T customer who uses iPhone? That's why upgrading is too costly, because then there won't be too many iPhone's around and Apple wouldn't get enough share from it. I love the products they produce but Steve "Mobs" makes me sick!