[Macworld]

Post your comments for More answers for iPhone 3G questions here

[bak464s]

I switched to AT&T from Sprint back in late March when my contract with Sprint had expired. I had every intent to purchase an iphone back in March but was advised to hold off and simply get a cheap phone and wait for the new iphones to come out later this year by my sales person at a local AT&T retail store in St. Louis, MO. I was a little skeptical of this so I made a call to AT&T's customer service to see what they had to say on the matter. They told me that yes, a new version of the iphone would be coming out in only a few months and that if I switched to AT&T now I would have no problem getting the iphone when it came out. But in fact, it would be easier to get the iphone because I wouldn't have to worry about porting my number when the new iphone came out I would just simply switch devices. With the recent news that I will now be paying $399 for my iphone instead of the $199 simply because I listened to my AT&T sales person and the customer services representative—you can understand how I am more then just a little upset. I spoke to an AT&T representative yesterday who was less than helpful on the situation. Essentially AT&T is telling me that no we didn't want your business for the last 3 months and because you switched to AT&T early as recommended by your employees we are no penalizing you for doing so with a $200 surcharge. So, please let me know if I am not understating something. My current plan $39.99 media works $15.00 = $54.99 per month as opposed to the $69.99 text messaging of $15.00 = $84.99 per month with the iphone. That is a difference of $30 per month or $720 over the life of my contract. Seems pretty silly for $200 don't you think?

[louielu12]

Thanks!

[flybynight]

So, if you pay an extra $400 for the "no-commitment" iPhone, that means that you can get out of your service plan without having to pay an early-termination fee... and those usually run, what, $175 or so? I wonder how many of those they are going to sell?

[Ronald_Schoedel]

Here's one:
Will a new iPhone 3G buyer be forced to subscribe to the 3G plan even if 3G service is not available in his area and does not appear to be anywhere on the horizon for said user's area?
If so, this is a rip off and amounts to nothing less than a $10 monthly tax on having a newer iPhone. If my soon-to-be-purchased iPhone 3G only runs on the EDGE network, since 3G does not exist here, why should I pay for service that does not exist?

[flybynight]

My understanding is that you have to pay it no matter what with the new iPhone. I see your point, but then if you travel, you would be able to use the service. Maybe unlikely for your situation, but I'm sure it would be a pain for them to keep track and block your 3G service (or charge you extra) for those times that you are in a 3G area.

[TheBum]

I'll ask this again: What about corporate employee discounts for those of us fortunate enough to have them available?
The plan with the old iPhone was ineligible for those discounts, but since the new iPhone is subsidized, shouldn't discounts be treated the same way they are for other subsidized phones, i.e. actually honored?

[Ronald_Schoedel]

As AT&T is perfectly capable of tracking roaming charges and data usage (witness their metered data rates on some plans, and the enormous data charges people have incurred whilst using their EDGE iPhones outside the States), it seems to me they should not charge people with no 3G access for 3G speeds, based on the possibility that I might travel to an area with 3G.
I live and work in Alaska, and spend probably 51 weeks a year in Alaska. The chances of me ever using 3G in the 24 months following my purchase of an iPhone are next to none.

[johnnylawson]

AMEN to bak's comments about switching to at&t before this news release - I was told the exact same thing. Switched from Verizon for 5 years to at&t to port my number over and get ready for the iPhone. I called customers service and sales rep from local store - same standard line... we're sorry you were given mis-information. Makes me very, very, very frustrated because I was lied to. The point of calling customer service or sales rep is to get the facts. What's a shame is there is no one else to talk to above customer service about this - and they are the ones giving out bad information.

[rawphoto]

Just buy a used 1st gen iPhone when they go on eBay, Friday afternoon.

[bak464s]

Thats not the point. The point is I was lied to and tricked into signing a 2 year contract and now they want to screw me out of another $200 dollars!

[mdmoore]

Your story sounds exactly like our story, except we switched in May from Alltel. I spoke with an online sales rep and with one over the phone, and both said, "No problem. Get a cheap phone and then switch in July when the new one comes out." I would have waited two more months had I known then what I now know. We have a family plan and were planning on switching all four phones to the iPhone, which would have been quite a hefty monthly bill, but now I'm considering opting out early to Verizon or Sprint instead and paying the penalty purely because I feel duped by AT&T. Sounds like we've been screwed.

[Irish2dabone]

Ronald and other's interested on my thoughts around the "great new pricing" on the 3G...
I am on Verizon and have been anxiously looking forward to the 3G release as most of you... yeah, the $599 was cost - prohibitive, but would have bit the bullet if there were more features last year... So, Steve's announcement of a "reduced" and AFFORDABLE 3G iPhone was initially exciting and appealing... but after my recent conversation with ATT sales representative yesterday, I am not so sure we shouldn't be looking this gift horse in the mouth...
First, I am looking at the 16Gig iPhone... so there is $299.99... and I am ok with that.. but then, I learned the following from AT&T two days ago:
* that because ATT is SUBSIDIZING the cost of the iPHONE, they are charging an additional $10 to last years $20/month unlimited data plan (which is mandatory in activating the new 3G for a TWO YR CONTRACT (to recoup their investment...
* Interestingly, I was informed that I would be better-off buying a BlackBerry, TILT, or another phone with a DATA PLAN since I could start and stop usage charges on a monthly basis if desired, whereas it is MANDATORY for iPhone users to sign a 2-yr contract for the data plan
* they have also DROPPED the previously included 200-txt msg's which was included in the original unlimited data plan at no additional charge... now adding a $5 per month charge.
* GPS capabilities on the 3G... that's cool... but there is a $10 per month charge for using it... the sales rep wasn't sure if AT&T was making that a MANDATORY 2-yr contract to buy the iPhone?

With that being said, lets do the math... so if I was going to pay full price on the LESS AFFORDABLE iPhone, based on last yr's prices, I would be sitting at $499 for the 16Gig iPhone. Then there was the $20/mo contracted unlimited data plan for two yr's at $240 ($20 x 24 months = $240) with 200 txt msg's., bringing me to $739 total ($499 + $240).... right!!
With Steve's new AFFORDABLE 16G iPhone, I start at $299 plus the new MANDATORY Data Plan of $30/mo plus $5 for 200-min of txt capabilities ($35 x 24 months = $840), coming to a total of $1,139 ($299 + $840).
So let's see... what was considered UNAFFORDABLE last year at $739 (not including taxes and activation fee's) for a
two-yr contract with AT&T... is now MUCH MORE AFFORDABLE in Steve's eye's with a 3G two-yr. contract with AT&T costing me $1.139 ?? This sounds more like a government accounting system... of Pork spending... shell-game, or a bait-n-switch tactic in making us think we are getting a tax-break on the front-end, when in fact it is costing us more on the back end.
Guess I should be thanking Steve for this new AFFORDABLE 3G iPhone, while AT&T subsidizes his "losses" on the back end
As for AT&T.. guess I should be thanking them for not taking-away the "roll-over" minutes each month for using the iPhone and for considering us unique and functionally astute wireless user's by locking-us into mandatory data charges for two-yr's without a choice of on and off monthly usage charges as other unlimited wireless users of the BlackBerry and TILT who don't require 24/7/365 days a yr use of the internet.
DO THE MATH PEOPLE... Where did Steve or AT&T do us a favor by making the 3G more AFFORDABLE? Thank goodness, we still have the choice to make INTELLIGENT decisions, unlike those who weren't capable of doing the math in over-extending themselves in this mortgage and housing fiasco

[dcpics]

If you think you are never going to use the 3G then why not get a curren iPhone or buy one used and put it on AT&T and then upgrade to the 2.0 firmware?

You get the applications and should still get the Edge plan rates.