![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-124371-100x100.png\")
so... can't Ronny buy one off ebay then?
P.S. cute kitty!!
so... can't Ronny buy one off ebay then?
P.S. cute kitty!!
![\"user-pic\"](\"/css/images/default.gif\")
This goes to show how fucked up the wireless market is. I don't get how they can get away with selling an \"AT&T-only\" under antitrust laws. One should be able to go to a store, pick up a phone, and use it on whatever carrier they want (obviously taking into account CDMA/GSM/etc.) Crap like this reminds me of when people were forced to rent phones from their service providers back in the 60s.
Considering that you're buying a phone for full price, it shouldn't matter what you do with your phone...as long as Apple gets their money for it. I love my MacBook and iPod, but I'll probably never buy an Apple product again (at the VERY least I am NEVER buying an iPhone) seeing how they treat their customers.
The product you're buying isn't the iPhone - it's the iPhone service, which includes both a monthly charge and a hardware charge.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-332258-100x100.png\")
@scootinger: That's really I wasn't all that impressed with the iPhone concept when it was announced several years ago. Sure, it may do some cool things, but at the end of the day you're hooking it up to Big Telecom and you're inheriting all of the negative aspects that that entails. And in this case, you're more or less forced to do business with one of those Big Telecom players..you don't even get the benefit of competition from the others.
Mind you, I didn't really have a better idea for Apple if they wanted to get into the cellphone business. I just wasn't really that impressed.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-243547-100x100.png\")
@Bradford Charles Meckel: I think this is an Appl policy. Appl is the company that wants to send you to jail for jailbreaking their iPhone, I'm sure AT&T could care less. They just want the probably slim profit they would get from a full price iPhone.
@meske: Nah, ATT makes out like bandits selling you the service on iPhone. Lots of people forced to use your service, that means no discounts, no competition.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-75959-100x100.png\")
@meske:
It's Apple AND AT&T. I'm sure Apple got a nice wad of cash from AT&T for exclusive rights to the iPhone for a number of years, and AT&T gets to lock trend seeking customers in to a 2 year agreement with a mandatory $30/month data plan.
I think it's all hype and BS. Of course, this also illustrates how our wonderful \"free market\" economy doesn't impart much \"freedom\" to the consumer.
hey idiot, we dont have a free market economy. No where in out laws does it say we are a free market. free market means the goverment has no regulations, so when your hippie azz is at taco bell in a free market they could be using horse and grasshopers to make your taco meat. Don't bash the system if you dont understand it. The United States use a thing called capitalism which is based off the free market model. No where in the world does free market exist.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-42079-100x100.png\")
Reading comprehension would help you here on the internet.
Notice the quotations and the context of his statement. It was a knock at the concept of the free market which is sold as beneficial to the consumer, when it is anything but! (Hint: You likely agree with each other concerning market regulation)
The problem is we are in more of a \"free market\" economy than we have seen since before Pres. Theodore Roosevelt. Regulation has been washing away since the Reagan admin and there is little to no enforcement of Antitrust laws in this country, which would be more relevant to the discussion than the type of government regulation you refer to which ensures you're eating food that is safe, or that toys/automobiles/etc.. are safe to use.
@Jon Oesterlin: Ooo, did I touch a nerve? Someone got too much urine in his corn flakes this morning. You must think our present economic woes were caused by an over abundance of financial regulations! *gasp* Take a deep breath and relax, Mr. Vaporlock :)
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-887707-100x100.png\")
The first phone was returned to them, so that shouldn't even count. The second was lost. They can disable it from using their network. I guess they are worried you are using it on some other network, or someone you sold it to is doing that.
That didn't sound like a real manager, with any decision making authority, either.
Yup, we need another law.
@taking_this_easy: I work for ATT and never have ran into this. Apple might blacklist it on their side but its not done on ATTs.
The only things I have ever come across being blacklisted is when adding the data plan to a stolen blackberry. It shows up as lost/stolen on our blackberry provisioning tool. Have worked there over two years and thats the only brand of phone I've ever run into on it.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-552321-100x100.png\")
@taking_this_easy: Yep, stolen phones are blacklisted by the IMEI :p
It doesn't sound like telling them it was stolen would make any difference with this asinine policy though.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-804913-100x100.png\")
Sales are sales.
Hunt down the jailbreakers on Ebay, not in your loyal customers who are actually willing to shop at an AT&T store.
@Wombatish: Jailbreaking a phone is not illegal so they cant go after the people that actually jailbreak or sell them. There is the issue right there, they are trying to create a false sense of control so that they can monopolize the market with certain technologies. remember the reason ATT got broken up in the first place? Just goes to show you most major corporations don't care about laws or customers just money and greed.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-109756-100x100.png\")
I just don't understand Apple's behavior. Do they think acting like they have to ration the iPhone makes people believe they are that much more important and rare?
Sounds like this is AT&Ts restriction not Apple's... Apple would sell him the phone but AT&T will not connect it to his service. Why not go with the new number and be done with it?
@SynMonger: No, he *PAID* an ETF to Verizon to port his number to ATT, so now that he's vested in that number (personally and financially), he doesn't want to lose it. Apple+ATT offered him a solution, but he rejected it, and that is *entirely on him*.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-428137-100x100.png\")
@ludwigk: Maybe he should just sign up at GrandCental and forward his calls to a new number.
(Disclosure: I have no stake or interest in GrandCentral, but I am a member)
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-390449-100x100.png\")
@ageekymom: Maybe he should just sign up at GrandCental and forward his calls to a new number.
Uhhh...grand central hasn't allowed people to sign up for a long time. From What I understand even the invites from existing members have dried up.
Also, if they'll let him *add* another line to his account, he can buy the second phone and then call and swap the numbers with the original line and then pay the ETF on the second line. The ETF will be equal to the difference between a full price and discount iPhone ($300) so he'll be all set.
@GTI2.0: Yeah, I bet nothing would go wrong with trying to do all that! AT&T can screw up anything, anytime.
This is why I won't ever buy one. Can you imagine going to a car dealer and them saying \"Don't ever paint it red, or you'll be in trouble!\" Really people rent I phones. They don't own them.
I'm actually really confused by this.
I get that you're paying an ETF and all that, but if you cancel that number, would you still have to pay the ETF?
Seriously, if you want another Iphone that bad, just cancel the number and get a new one instead of whining about it.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-590531-100x100.png\")
@Jessica Haas: I think he must have previously paid the ETF to retain the number, since he talks about paying it to Verizon, not AT&T. The fee is mentioned to indicate that he has an attachment to (and investment of sorts in) the number.
Did you report you iPhone as stolen to the police? If you did, just request a copy of the police report and show it to the losers at the AT&T store. If not, then you really should have.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-465792-100x100.png\")
@Valhawk: It's not like law enforcement is going to spend any time trying to recover your iPhone. Why waste their time reporting it?
I'd just get their cheapest phone they have to replace the SIM card he lost, and then go buy a jailbroken iPhone.
It's AT&T's loss and it's too bad.
Maybe threaten to buy a jailbroken iPhone and use it on T-Mobile's service. :)
Go to your local craigslist and buy a new Iphone. I do blame Apple for this slightly as they signed exclusivity to AT&T without making any demands as to how things would be handled. But unlike most Appple fans I KNOW Apple is a company to make money just like AT&T and the way things are setup are the why they are because some fat cat thinks it makes the most cash. I have a 3G Iphone and I only keep it around because it has the best web browser for now, but as soon as something better comes along you can bet your bottom dollar I'm jumping ship.
@Michael Ortega: Mike this is really an Apple thing, its their cow getting gored (though ATT benefits from it as well).
Please understand that ATT exclusivity is mutually beneficial to ATT and Apple, its a symbiosis, not a parasitic relationship.
First off, this is a system issue that a manager literally can not override. There is not a button that can be clicked to override this.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-680922-100x100.png\")
I have a old samsung phone (from AT&T).
Tell the OP that I'll paint a cute lil apple logo on it and he can have it for $50.
Why do so many people keep recommending that he do X, Y and Z to get a new iphone? Newsflash! There are other models of cell phones out there and other cell phone companies that will gladly take your money.
If you don't like how you're being treated, take your business elsewhere. If enough people did that, it would *much* more effective at altering their behavior than complaining on the Internet. If you \"just can't live without a iphone!\", tough cookies then, you get what you deserve. It's the gadget addicts that are the enablers for poor customer service.
@ShortBus:
It's hard to feel sorry for anyone buying anything Apple makes, then acting surprised at their ham-fisted attempts at locking down every controllable aspect of what you bought / breaking what already works via 'updates'.
And a week later, the same asshole will buy an iPod to reward them for shitting on him. And the cycle continues...
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-185231-100x100.png\")
Companies who try to implement byzantine consumer-unfriendly rules really like your argument. It means they can get away with doing what they do, because God forbid anyone should try to fight back.
I work for AT & T and can tell you that 499 is not unsubsidized pricing. There is not an unsubsidized price for the Iphone. You have to get a new 24 month contract and the 499 is considered \"exception\" pricing.
From my experience, one of two things happened. The OP either took his initial 8 gig Iphone and didnt return it to the store to get his 16 and chose to sell it on Ebay and since you are only allowed one exception, he would not be eligible.... or he returned the 8 gig and it wasn't returned properly and is still showing that he has already had his one exception.
The OP was misinformed from the fact that this policy isnt only two weeks old, but was put into place a long time ago.
@Ryan Bartlett:
So what you're saying is the basic iPhone costs AT&T more than $499? Because unless they are paying more than that to Apple directly... then $499 is unsubsidized no matter what they want to name, whether that is 'exception' or 'wearerobbingyoublind' pricing.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-706751-100x100.png\")
I think that the greater issue here is that wireless carriers are exerting too much control over their customers. Why don't the consumes all band together and fight this kind of crap? I'm not into the whole jailbreaking thing but, they don't have a right to restrict our purchases because they think we might be jailbreaking iPhones. Do they want customers or not??? This is stupid.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-710849-100x100.png\")
Don't jailbreak and you won't have this problem
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-525207-100x100.png\")
He didn't (or at least, there is nothing in the post to suggest that he did), and yet he DOES have this problem.
Yeah. If this happened to me, my response would be \"fine, I'll buy a jailbroken one elsewhere, and use it on T-Mobile. Happy now?\"
Christ - if that's how they actually treat their customers, it's almost worth deliberately getting an unlocked one and running happily into the arms of T-Mobile.
FWIW, running an iPhone on T-Mobile is cheaper, both for minutes and data/texts, than AT&T. No 3G though, but if this is what AT&T is doing to its customers to reward their loyalty (and turning down $500???), then screw that, eh?
If the company pays more than $500 for the phone, and wont sell it to you for $500, they arent exactly turning down $500, they are turning down losing money. You people do realize that at&t pays more than $299 for a 16gb iPhone right? They sell it at a lower price because you are committing to two years of $70 a month. It becomes unprofitable if they have to take a $200 hit every month......
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-570438-100x100.png\")
That's a pretty stupid way to look at things. Especially since the OP isn't jailbreaking anything.
If the aforementioned \"manager\" doesn't do anything, the OP should just fire off a EECB. Be polite, professional, and concise, and kindly explain to them that you can always take your business elsewhere.
You can also just get another SIM card from AT&T, and buy another iPhone off of eBay. Also, can't you just walk into an Apple store and pick up an iPhone if you want to? Contract or not.
This is not a policy to limit jailbreaking. It is a policy to prevent unlocking - that is, using the phone on another network. Apple has its money from the purchase of an unsubsidized phone. It is only AT&T which stands to be harmed by unlocked phones, thus their refusal to activate the new phone to protect their interests. This is misguided but it remains AT&T's restriction not Apple's
The answer is simple. If AT&T and Apple are so set upon themselves not to sell the damned phones to the public.....DON'T BUY ONE!! Just go to a Blackberry for a year or so until they get in their stupid ass heads that they are wrong about how they are treating the public!!
The pricing quoted, $499 for the 16GB model, is not an unsubsidized price. AT&T offers two \"tiers\" of pricing for the iPhone - Upgrade ($199/$299) and Early Upgrade ($399/$499). The Upgrade pricing is available to any new customer or any customer qualifying for a standard upgrade. The Early Upgrade pricing is available to most customers who are not eligible for the Upgrade pricing. The no-commitment pricing is $599/$699, but is not currently available. See:
http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/specials/iphone-info.jsp#0faqSection1
This would not happen if you got an Apple...
um nevermind.
I dropped my iPhone in a glass of water, which was the end of the iPhone (wimp). My first trip to apple, I talked to a salesperson, and they said I had to pay $499 for a new phone because my contract hadn't ended. I went to AT&T and they were quite unfriendly about it, ending our conversation with \"You're lucky you only have to pay $499.\" I went back to the Apple store and hunted down a manager and showed him my old (dead) phone. He said they would waive the extra $200, and sell it to me for $299.
So maybe you would have better luck at an Apple store than at an AT&T store.
Maybe my case was different, because I had the old phone, but this is pretty incomprehensible.
If you're really desperate, couldn't you pay $699 for the phone from Apple and then transfer your old number to it? I thought they sold them for that if you didn't sign up for an AT&T plan.
The problem is AT&T does not sell the iphone unsubsidized at the moment. According to their site if they did it would cost 599 or 699 depending on the model.
What the 399-499 price is it buys out the rest of your your contract and then you can buy the iPhone for the subsidized cost.
So its 200 to get out of your contract then the 199 or 299 for the iPhone.
A simple solution I've seen people do is setup a family plan, make a new line and buy the iPhone on that line and then transfer his phone number over to it. Sure hes paying about like 10 more for family plan.
@Zenatrul:
A 16gb ipod Touch is $299 from apple. No subscription to anything. The only difference that I can tell between the touch and the iphone, is that the iphone can make phone calls. And you want us to believe that it's ability to make phone calls is really worth an extra $400? Lucky for the phone companies (and apple for this specific phone) that so many schmucks like you actually buy into that crap.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-122843-100x100.png\")
It's awesome how Apple/AT&T's response to people jailbreaking iPhones is to... try to sell fewer iPhones.
What? You're doing it wrong. Idiots.
What's more, there are perfectly viable alternatives to the iPhone out now, so your lauded position on the aerie peak is now more like a leaf pile among several other leaf piles. Wake up. Sell the phones. Don't restrict them via network.
Or not, actually, what do I care? I'll never buy one. Too late. I'll get one of your competitors phones that works just as well, and I'll use it on whatever network I please.
Apple cares how many phones you buy at full price because they have an account/revenue share plan with ATT. When they sell an iPhone, they say:
+ Sale Price
- Costs
+ Subscription sharing over life of unit
= Total Profit
*If* you were buying iPhones and selling them on the 2ndary market, as THOUSANDS of people are doing (every apple store has people who are doing this), they lose the subscription sharing over life of unit, and Apple loses money over their projected figures.
That is why Apple cares how many phones you buy at full price. It's not the end of the story for Apple, and they're still waiting to get more money from you.
This subscription sharing amounts to billions of dollars. If you listen to an Apple quarterly phone conference (which, unless you're an investor, probably isn't worth your time), Apple gives figures for quarterly profits, projected subscription-based profits, and how much it would be worth if they could actualize all the profit right now (mark to market, I believe its called, but that's forbidden due to Sarbanes Oxley). Last quarter, it would have added something like 2.3 billion to their $11b reported revenue. That figure includes AppleTV subscription profits, but lets face it, nobody buys that thing compared to iPhone sales.
I ran into this issue around new years..
I bought an iPhone 3G when it came out in July. I used my Fiancee's line to do the upgrade and just called AT&T later on to put the iPhone data plan on my line as my line wasn't eligible for an upgrade yet.
So we fast forward to right after Christmas. I wanted to get my Fiancee an iPhone as a wedding gift. I was willing to pay the $499 \"early upgrade\" price, however they told me that they couldn't do it on her line as that line had an iPhone upgrade on it already. I said \"Ok, let's use my line\" and I'd call AT&T and straighten out data plans and such later on. No dice. My line alrady had an iPhone on it. They told me I could select from any other handset and I'd be able to move forward. I ended up playing musical upgrades with yet ANOTHER line on my account to get her the phone for New Years Eve.
Seriously, the way Apple and AT&T try to lojack the iPhone is obnoxious. It's a freaking phone people.
I understand the reasoning behind it though. Apple sells the iPhone to AT&T at a high price. AT&T sells the iPhone almost as a loss leader, counting on the two years of the data plan to make up the revenue. (The whole \"Twice as fast, half the price\" was BS. You pay an extra $240 over the life of the contract for the data plan.)
I do also understand the Apple forced AT&T policy of no unsubsudized sales. It works this way so Apple can somewhat try and proctect the \"exclusivity\" of the iPhone. Yeah, it's real exclusive now that you can buy it at Wal-Mart.
Oh, you can have my iPhone when you pry it out of my cold, dead hands though!!!!
You would think that the more iphones they sell, they better it is. Sure some are jailbroken and some are switched to tmobile but who cares. i'd still bet that a majority stay on at&t and on that note, why would apple care what service it is on. they get more iphones in more hands and get more of the market.
@bravo369: They get a good cut of the service charges. Apple has always preferred selling fewer units at a high profit.
Get them to give you a new sim card, then go buy one on eBay. The market price is less than $500. And please jailbreak to your hearts content, it makes the phone so much better.
- Proud owner of jailbroken iPhone on T-mobile paying <$50/mo including data
dear at&t. i hate you. congrats on ripping people off right and left. way to take apples genius device and exploiting it. you're really awesome. burn in hell.
Why not go to Best Buy mobile or Walmart and buy the phone, and then have them do an ESN change?
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-336833-100x100.png\")
If the customer has not purchased 3 or more iPhone 3G's then he can get the device at the upgrade price by contacting a manager at the store and explaining to him/her that he has not owned 3 or more iPhones. AT&T has a limit on 3 iPhones per line, sometimes this can cause an error if he swapped out an iphone due to warranty or exchanges (like he claims). An investigation has to be done to prove that he has not purchased 3 iphones but if he is telling the truth then they will sell him one at the early upgrade price (AT&T does not sell the device without a contract).
The customer could also add a line to his plan and get another iphone at the $199 price and just swap the sim cards. Then remove the features from the added line...
Im guessing this customer did not come into an AT&T location and was all friendly. He probably was a jerk and pissed people off because I have come across this issue before and was able to get it fixed with patient customers.
Moral of the story, don't be a bully and work with people. Don't be an ass.
@EGBTMagus:
Again to clarify since so many are eager to attack the carrier rather then listen to reason...
AT&T does not sell the iPhone without a contract. The $399/499 is still sold at a loss.
[apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com]
He now estimates that Apple is charging carriers, on average, $466 per iPhone. Toni Sacconaghi at Bernstein Research comes in with a range that goes even higher; he believes Apple will sell the new iPhones to carriers for anywhere from $350 to $700 each.]
The 499.00 isn't full price. It is a partially subsidized discount, hence the reason that you have to sign another contract. AT&T doesn't yet sell the iPhone at full price (which would be over 650.00).
I would suggest opening a new line, then putting the iPhone on your existing line and cancel the new line. It's a lot to go through, and you'll have to wait 30 days to cancel it, but at least you'll get your phone.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-781903-100x100.png\")
First of all, I have an iPhone and I love it. That said, Apple is a bunch of self-important douche-bags. They tell you how it is going to be and screw you if you ask for something to be changed... such as MMS, emoji, Copy/Paste, text forwarding, a decent version of flash, turn by turn GPS, landscape keyboard for texting, modem mode, video recording, ichat support, wifi syncing, and stereo bluetooth support.
They are completely hostile to any of their customers that want those features. They will tell you what features you want and if you don't like it, then you don't get to have an iPhone.
Also, if you ever try to go to the iPhone support forum to vent your frustration, the apple super-fans eviscerate you. They just tell you, that you are a retard and that you should have known that iPhone would be the only phone in the world to not support MMS et cetera...
There is no good reason for Apple to omit many of these features, and it is just because they seem to hate caving in to their customers and losing control. I would love to see their smug attitude hurt their sales, but I have a feeling that their are enough people that like being told what they like, that Apple won't be going anywhere.
In any case, my phone is jailbrokn and has MMS, Copy/Paste, video recording and many other missing features due to the wonderful iPhone modding community.
Meh, don't blame Apple. We take orders from AT&T.
Perhaps off-topic, but PLEASE, be selective in your triggering of my \"KITTY!\" reflex.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-83385-100x100.png\")
Just wait until the HTC Touch Pro 2 comes out in 2nd Quarter 2009. You will have a decent keyboard and a phone in which you are free to install anything you like (XDA developers FTW!).
The unsubsidised price is 599 (8GB) and 699(16GB). This guy has been getting a 200 dollar subsidy each time he gets a replacement. Also, he has to re-sign a contract with a 24 month commitment when he does this. Before everyone gets all up in arms AT&T gives a 400 dollar break on each phone. How many would you sell this guy?
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-417754-100x100.png\")
And you fanboys thought Sprint was bad. Welcome to ATT Wireless Hell. Worst choice of a partner ever for Apple.
I work for an AT&T cor store. I have no heard of this before. Tomorrow, I will ask my manager about the situation. As far as i know you can buy a phone at 399 or 499 price for an early upgrade. Maybe, they were trying to get an activation out of it? I am not sure. I am sorry you got such bad service from these people! I hope your situation gets fixed soon.
I would say with doggone near 100% certainty that this situation is entirely on ATT's end, because Apple sells refurbished iPhones periodically on their website with NO contract at all. I bought one at Christmas time for $149 + tax shipped free to my home, I unlocked and jailbroke it and I use it on T-Mobile.
@fantomesq: perhaps because he has friends that already have his phone number, or maybe he uses that number in his line of work. Have you ever changed a number and tried to get all of your contacts informed?
I would check Craigslist as well and there's some chap over in London selling them, there was a tweet about it earlier that he was selling the 16gb iphone for $250 USD and would fedex it so it arrived 48 hrs after purchase. Then should be a matter of asking them for a new sim card for your phone, plug it in and it should disable the other (anyone on this? 1 card good for a line?)
This is old news. If you bought the iPhone 3G, you are not allowed to buy another one at an Apple store. AT&T and Apple are controlling the black market by limiting customers with iPhones. I don't know a work around on this yet.
Welcome to the free market economy. See its working out great for everyone!
If no one else suggested it... all you have to do is go to the store, buy the iPhone with a new number... as soon as you get out to the parking lot, call 611 for customer service and cancel your service. You should then only have to pay the $175 contract cancellation fee, but all monthly services and activation fees will be refunded because you cancelled within the 3 day policy as stated online. Then throw away the SIM chip in the new iPhone... put your SIM chip in... and all's good. Now you only paid $474 plus tax for the phone.. not $499.
Only apple would stop you from SPENDING MONEY with them because they didnt like what you doing with their product. As far as I'm concerned they have no say! jailbreak or not, if i buy an Iphone, i should be able to do what i want with it, whether that's running it over with a TRUCK or jailbreaking, because i PAID FOR IT AND I OWN IT, i am not RENTING or LEASING it, its MINE, I OWN IT.
Only they would try and go against all sane business practices for such a ridiculous reason at such ridiculous extremities.
BTW, this is why i bought a G1 T-Mob is cheaper, better customer 'care' and a better DEVICE
They care because they make way way way more money on the back end. While $500 for a phone isn't cheap, it represents a profit of about $200. BUT the agreement calls for Apple to make about $10-15 per month in perpetuity on the service. Yes you read that correctly, Apple gets paid every month that you used the phone.
Thats why iPhones have a special service plan, its basically a special surcharge just for iPhone users. The price of cool is high. So if you use your iPhone for 25 months (not unreasonable), you generate $250+ of profit on $0 invested.
So Apple is trying to make sure that the minimum # of iPhones gets cracked and used out of network. Because all that cash flow disappears. (And ATT is on for the ride, because they are basically selling you an expensive plan that in reality costs them no more than any other phone)
ESCALATE ESCALATE ESCALATE!!
@ me!!: seriously though, we want to keep our customers and since he has a 3g, he was paying near or over $100 a month! someone will take ownership of your issue, but remember \"THE SQUEEKY GEAR GETS THE GREASE!!\"
Iphones are harder to come by since the original 2g model came out and we didnt activate them in store. Customers could come in and buy up to three with just a simple credit check and nothing was actually started in store. Since 25% of the original iphones were never activated, at&t got smart to the game and decided to go ahead and activate them in store. On top of that, a few months after the release the problem started again with them being sent overseas and unlocked. At&t having the rights to the phone again found a problem and put an error on anybody who had already activated a phone and wanted another one. If the problem is legit like an exchange or a simple lost phone, the rep at the store can call customer service and have the phone activated and the consumer pays regular price. What customers forget is they only receive the subsidized pricing once in a two year period. The regular price for the phones is what you would pay otherwise. There is also a limit to how many phones the customer can buy because there isnt a lot in inventory and they are trying to prevent fraud. As far as the antitrust violation I saw earlier, there are specific phones to every carrier. Tmobile has the sidekick, verizon has the storm, what makes the iphone any different?
I'd go with another company...sure you won't get an iphone but there are plenty of other 'smart' phones on the market. I have a Samsung Delve myself....just couldn't bring myself to support apple or AT&T any longer.
The number one rule of business should always be: \"Don't make it hard for the customer to give you money.\"
It nonsense like this that made me decide to stay with Verizon. Sadly, Steve Jobs must have been in a medically induced coma when he decided to use AT&T exclusively. WTF! I can't buy an iPhone to use on Verizon? Oh well, it's Apple's loss and after how I was treated years ago by AT&T wireless if the only two choices were AT&T and a couple of Campbell's soup cans and a string I'd pick the cans and string!
Yesterday I went to the website and it said I wasn't eligible until July for a new \"phone\"/renew contract. I had gotten the crappy Q9 years ago when they came out and when I had insurance/company replace them with \"possible refurbs or new\" it renewed my contact. My problem my son and I had 2 on the fritz that we had to bang to get working. We were currently paying $180 a month bill for data/phone/messaging ect. I went to the stroe and they couldn't help me and suggested I call.
When I called, I was on the phone over and 1 1/2 hours with numerous folks. They promised to overnight me a phone. Not the iphone that I never had and wanted so bad. I explained the bad experience with this has landed me in my current position and the man said \"your with a special rep now and I will make sure that doesn't happen\". Yeahhh, right!!!!
I offered to drive anywhere in a 50-mile radius to pick-up, to no avail. I needed it today or tomm and that was it. No over the phone stuff. Not a free phone. The $300 iphone. My son didn't care about his phone, he has a zune.... Just the iphone and a cheapie.
I canceled everything (with fair warning and chance for bargaining) and finally switched to sprint.
Now I have two awesome Broadband cards for my laptop with unlimited data and can cancel my COMCAST CABLE!!!!! I can bring my laptop on the road!!! My bill is still lower than Cinguler all together!
There was no sign up fees this week due to the holiday, so my cancellation fees are in my mind my \"fees\". They lost a customer over the iphone and over principle I will never go back.
I do not like change and never rearrange my living room. I have been with them over 8-9 years and was treated so poorly over two months of waiting. They will be lucky to still be in business if they keep running it this way by 2010.
Now, I may have to pay the $400 ETF and pray they don't charge me monthy until the end of the two years. But it is worth it. I believe in treating people right and when you lose their business.
Total BS. I love Apple products in fact I have spent 8-10 grand this past year on them. I bought a new iPhone 4 a few months ago and my wife has my older 3G phone(the original 3G) and I am not able to update her phone until march which makes no sense at all. I was willing to give them $300.00 for a new phone for my wife. I let them know in the AT&T store what I thought about this foolish way of doing business.I'm sure it didn't help but I felt better afterwards.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-257467-100x100.png\")
Exactly how many iPhones have you had? I asked a friend, who's a AT&T Mobile rep, and he said \"4 phones swapped through a line\".
Aka, they're looking for people that are buying the phones, jailbreaking and unlocking them, and then selling them on eBay.
GTI2.0: Meanwhile you can buy as many Nokias as you want, and unlock them with a call to customer service for the code.
@GTI2.0: This is true, it's done to prevent people from buying and selling their phones online.