AT&T and Getting an iPhone – Worth It? Possible? Fair? Suck?
Written by Russ on July 1, 2008 – 4:50 pmFor quite awhile, I’ve not really cared about the iPhone. I have a Blackberry and it’s held its own. My wife has an iPhone I got her last year and I like it. I miss my camera. I miss some of the features and IM-like text messages call out to me.
I decided that I want an iPhone, and recent events (next post, I promise!) have afforded me the luxury of purchasing one on July 11th, when the 3G iPhone is launched.
But today, I spoke to AT&T to see how the landscape would play out for me, given the scenario with our family plan with them.
The Scenario
Me: Blackberry 8830
My wife: iPhone 4gb
Me: Upgraded phone in September 2007
My wife: Has never upgraded through AT&T since we started with them
Me: Not available for reduced-cost hardware upgrade
My wife: Reduced-cost hardware upgrade AVAILABLE!
The Logic
In my mind, it does not matter who is the owner of which phone, on which line. All that matters is that we have the option to purchase a new phone at a reduced cost and that we pledge 2 more years of our ever-increasing-costs mobile service plan.
To be fair, I realize that this could kind of seem like skirting the system. I don’t see it that way, but when you get down do it, I don’t write the rules.
I just wish the rules were better, overall, so we could not feel like we’re going to get royally screwed out of $200.00 to get a 3G iPhone on July 11th.
I should, from where I stand, be able to purchase the iPhone as the hardware upgrade for my wife. Then, I should be able to pass it along right over to my line and apply the services to it that I see fit.
Right?
Why should AT&T care who has which iPhone and on which line? THEY’RE BOTH UNDER THE SAME CONTRACT FAMILY PLAN!
Sorry, that’s just so crazy that I felt like shouting at the interwebs.
The Real Deal
As my curiosity became more and more piqued, I took the deep dive and called AT&T’s nearly worthless Customer Support.
Oh, like it’s a secret. Find any mobile carrier that has a glowing reputation.
After my second call (see, I told you), I learned a few things:
1) If I buy an iPhone at the reduced hardware cost, it has to go to the line assigned (my wife’s line)
2) If I simply swap out the SIM card–well, I don’t know exactly. What I gather is that I cannot do this and that there will be some form of hell to pay in the form of some sort of weird pro-rating of costs or they’ll take my baby or something evil.
3) Customer Support really knows less than most of us who truly give a crap about this stuff, and they certainly have no motivation to make us happy. In the least.
So, What Can I (We–I’m Not the Only One Feeling a Bit Ripped-Off Here) Do?
Good question.
The answer is this: I don’t know.
However, I have some questions of my own about all of this–and I need your help.
If the iPhones use SIM cards, why the heck does it matter which phone I upgrade? That is, I should be able to do a hardware upgrade on my wife’s iPhone and then just swap out the SIM cards, call AT&T and pick the services I want.
Right?
Any reason this won’t work?
What is the worst they can do? Upcharge me another $200?
I do not know, but any speculation outside of what I’ve written and what AT&T has told me would be appreciated.
I’d prefer it if AT&T doesn’t Rogers us.
Posted in Rant | 7 Comments »
great post. And thanks for calling them. We’re having a very similar situation in our household, so my hope is that with folks like you writing about it, at&t will simplify the process before the eleventh. Although if they don’t, someone else will create a usable solution (read: hack).
So maybe this is the dawn of a new era of iPhone hacks now that the sdk is about to go live: hacking at&t customer service process
It’s not going to happen. Since they are covering more of the cost of the phones, this is how they are making it up.
So far the best I have read is to buy it outright and not extend contract for another 2-years. Also, it appears to be cheaper way to go compared to the low price + 2-year contract.
Either way, I will be iPhoneless, but maybe I will pick up an old model and use it on my t-mobile.
I live in India where we were all dependant on unlocked Iphones till now, atleast we could ask someone to bring one from USA, but now it seems dismal, as there is a huge plan termination fee
sorry about your troubles with the iphone sir. i too am joining brad in going iPhoneless as the cost to switch over is just too steep. The thing that bugs me the most about this whole iphone issue is that it is so anti-apple. the apple brand always seemed to be about loyalty to the apple. if you purchased their hardware it worked. you weren’t constricted by software or environments. when a windows box couldn’t open a file, a mac could. Macs could network windows machines much sooner than a windows networks accepted macs. sure itunes has their drm format but itunes allows you to convert that to non-drm, in typical apple fashion. now apple has hooked up with ma bell (the original microsoft) and created a device that locks you into one system and the tyranny of their dictators. apple loyalists are used to working around the system but now it appears that their fav brand is becoming THE MAN. i’m actually considering the iPodTouch as it will give me everything except for the phone piece. with my DSL going ATT i can hook into wifi hotspots just like all the iphone dudes and have my contacts etc all hooked up. i can keep my lofi uscell phone and be happy with that. i dunno, just thinking out loud. [ok, enough cliches for one post].
So? What did you end up doing? Update, plz!
I went ahead and got the iPhone.
The rub here is this: Activating in store “seems” like it was part of the culprit for a phone that I had to fully restore once already.
Also, I seem to have a hardware issue where my phone seems to fall off whatever network I’m on; I’ll notice it when I stop getting emails in a reasonable amount of time. Since there are still lines up the wazoo at the local stores, I’m not about to go and try to get a replacement for a few days, and that kind of stinks.
I think we all feel like we should get something new that is, well, new. When it’s less than perfect AND new, we start to feel cheated and all the small things seem to grown exponentially.
I’m getting used to it–and I’m glad I bought it. There is enough in the UI to keep me going for awhile and to inspire where needed.
As an aside, my friend Mark and I were in line together. His iPhone has a slight grey spot on the view and he needs to swap his out, as well. These aren’t minor inconveniences, either.
They’re major pains, and even if it’s just a few out of the million-plus sold so far, it’s me, it stings, and it’s a bear to deal with AT&T CSRs take out their stresses on the consumers (I was hung up on twice when I asked for a supervisor because I felt I wasn’t being listened to–this resulted in me getting an unasked-for $25 credit today when there was a follow-up).
I had the first iPhone, my girlfriend had a motorola something.
I wanted the new 3g and wanted her to have my old iphone. I backed up my iphone with itunes.
I bought the new iphone 3g and they set me up at the apple store, which shut the att service off on my old iphone.
I went home, restored my contacts from itunes and made sure my new 3g was working properly.
I completely reset my old iphone, which takes about an hour, then put my girlfriends SIM card in it.
I hooked the old iphone into itunes and was able to activate it with her number.
Three days later…
Sometimes my 3g gps shows her location, not mine. weird.
i will be going to att and getting some answers.