Apple Stores Selling iPhone 3G Without a Contract at Unsubsidized Price
Apple Stores Selling iPhone 3G Without a Contract at Unsubsidized Price
Apple retail stores have started selling iPhone 3G's without a contract at unsubsidized price. Apple's move is in line with the rumor that AT&T plans to sell one phone per customer to their existing customers at the full price without the need for a two-year contract. So here are some...
Comments
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Well, at the price, it's a great idea for Apple. They know their phones can be unlocked, so they're basically saying:
"Look, we've got a ton of extra iPhone 3G's, so we'll give them to you to unlock if you pay us alot of extra money [and we'll look the other way]."
It's great for the consumer, because if you want to buy an iPhone and unlock it, you don't have to find some way around dropping AT&T's contract.
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Am I missing something? Isn't the early-termination fee at AT&T only $175? So in effect, can't you already get an iPhone for $374/474?
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Why would someone spend $600 on a phone that they're going to have to get a contract with ATT on anyway over a $200 (or $100 for refurbished) phone with a contract? You're spending an extra $400-$500 for . . . . nothing.
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You're right, I had almost bought Greg's explanation but early termination fee would be a cheaper way to take that route.
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Yiure not tied to AT&T. You can go with T-Mobile.
Even with ATT, you're not stuck paying $70/month. Maybe you're one f rye lucky ones who has wifi everywhere you go, so 3g is no use. That'll save you about $30/month which more than covers the difference over two years. Mind you'd that covers a very small bit of the population, but this is basically Apple trying to sell off last year's model before the new one's announced.
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lol its a screw job but for all those people that are tempted enough to want an iphone they will go for it cause thats comparable with prices on ebay however i would wait to june if i was them because the price isnt worth it for me.
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we have the same problem over here in the UK!!
O2 is the only network to officially cater for and provide data coverage for the iPhone.
Iphone's are available from the apple store but they are the same price as from O2 direct!
There has been no mention from O2 about the 'new' iPhone as yet, it's unknown even if O2 will be the official carrier this time round.
I waited for the 3G to become available on 'Pay as you go' before I parted with my £342 (GbP) as I felt my call usage couldn't warrant a £35+ 18month contract
Official O2 iPhones in the UK on Payg come with 12months free unlimited data and Internet use. An extra worth £120 to us -
I doubt it that you will be able to unlock this, as theyre probably selling out these phone with the 2.2.1 firmware, which right now is unlockable, according to dev team.
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I like the comment above about terminating the contract. I wonder what the sales person would say when you go in buy an iphone then say thank you i would like to terminate my contract here is 175.
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But wouldn't early termination effect your credit score, or lower your reputation with the company?
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yeah its good that apple have released the pay as you go modle but there are stupidly expensive...
by the way...for great Up-to-Date news, tips, tricks and great deals go to www.bestiphone2u.com -
Why not wait for couple months and get a new iphone? Does not make sense to spend that much money and get frustrated when June/July comes sighing for the new iphone..:)
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No, as long as you pay it, they don't care either way. Now, if you were to cancel and then not pay the fee, then that would be a problem and probably would not give you a new line/phone until the fee is payed.
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firmware 2.2.1 is currently unlockable on the 3g so any1 who buys this is retarded
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In early termination if you cancel your contract before a set period of time you have to return the phone and all accessaries or they charge $25 dollars for each accessary you don't return and the full price of the phone in a bill mailed to you. It used to be 30 days, but by then you have your first prorated bill of $120 plus, then the $175 early termination fee. After all that do you really save that much?
Source: I used to work at AT&T.
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actually, this way of selling iPhone 3g to customer was available for a long time in UK. However, the tariff is quite expensive if using iPhone with pay as you go sim card(o2 carrier)
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I thought that the iphones were only locked because of the fact that they were subsidized through AT&T!!! So why are they selling LOCKED iphones for an unsubsidized price? If I pay full price for my iphone without an AT&T subsidy, then my iphone should be unlocked right? Why do we always allow companies to take our money and not give us a fully functional product? It seems that it should be illegal for apple to do something like this. I thought that once your contract obligation was completed that you could call the cellphone company and request that they give you the unlock code for your "fully paid for" cellphone!!! Its just another example of how the cellphone companies are taking our money.
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why is everyone acting like this is a new thing every phone sold at an AT&T store has an unsubsidized price. You have to buy it at that price if: you broke a phone with no insurance and are not eligible to upgrade or just want a new phone but are not eligible to upgrade or plain don't want a contract. This has been this way for years on years before Cingular bought AT&T and changed their name(yes Cingular bought AT&T). More to the point why should the rules you have accepted for years change for one phone. The people are like but that's too expensive for a phone the motorola RAZR2 sold for $599.99 without a contract for the longest time and people bought it, but it's outrages because the iPhone cost the same price. Oh and they all come locked because it's the same product with or without the contract, they're not going to have two stacks of phones, they're are just starting to sale them without a contract like every other phone they sale.
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I think the company must give us a fully functional product and it must be worth our money.The bad news is that these phones are not unlocked so you still need to use AT&T's service. and it does not make any sense to spend money on a product like this .
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The calculations you all are making don't take into account other standard fees that AT&T charges with a new account. I know because I priced all this out once before I found a way to get a factory unlocked phone from Hong Kong (I live in China).
Breakdown was like this (3 months ago):
Phone $199/$299
Activation: $35
1-month service (required) $80 (after tax)
Early termination: $175
Taxes $40 (approx)Total $530/$630
Also, as Mike noted, you have to wait 30 days before you can cancel (if you want to be allowed to keep the phone). So, unless you are really diligent and on top of it all, chances are there will also be a slightly pro-rated charge for that second month that you will likely slip into before the cancellation actually takes place. Oh, and if you want to send text messages during those 30+ days, that was extra too last I checked. So yes, you might still save SOME money up front. But really not that much. And the whole process would be a pain in the @$$. Lastly, with the non-contract option you can choose slightly cheaper cell plans from AT&T depending on what's important to you.
But all that being said, you are still stuck with AT&T and not being able to buy local SIM cards in other countries if you travel international. So still a no-go for me.
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if anybody needs an iphone 3gs i got one for sell cheap text me/ call me at 1-780 994 1061
