The 3G iPhone purchasing checklist – don’t wait in line without it!
Thinking of buying a 3G iPhone? Well, it won’t be quite the brainless affair that buying the 1st gen model was. Here’s some helpful hints a little birdy told us for all of you planning to waste your lives show your Apple pride by waiting in line for the device:
– Have your social security number and government ID ready (that means license or equivalent, NO SCHOOL IDS), Apple will be doing credit checks and in-store activation through Easypay
– You have to pay with a credit or debit card. Cash and checks won’t be accepted. (The loophole to that is that you can purchase an Apple gift card with cash (or check), and use that to purchase the iPhone.)
– Plans will be decided in-store. Existing customers will get billed, first time AT&T customers will have to pay the activation fee in store (no gift cards for that)
– Rumor has it the iPhone may go on sale at 8am on Friday. The Apple Store is allegedly changing “visuals” at night until around 3am, instead of closing the store during the day and opening at 6pm the way they did for the 1st gen iPhone.
So … I feel like there is something I am missing here: Is ATT shutting off EDGE? for those of us that don’t care about 3G and don’t mind a slow data network, is something happening to our phones? Why all the heat?
The new 3G iPhones can use both the EDGE and 3G networks. There is a preference setting on the phone where you can specify that you want to use the EDGE option instead of 3G. Selecting that option will increase battery life. With the new iPhone the option is yours to choose. The phone will even switch to WiFi automatically when it can detect a local connection that you have access to and accessing data services.
No, AT&T will not be shutting off EDGE. Take into account the new 3G phone, if you are not in a 3G area, you will automatically drop to EDGE speeds. So if you have the original iPhone you will still keep your plan and you will still have EDGE.
Hope this helps!
Credit checks? Isn’t that just for new customers?
What about deposits? I had to put down a $300 deposit on an Alltel PC card 2 years ago, and when I got the iPhone, no deposit. That’s a huge advantage that no one ever mentions.
I was just told that by an AT&T salesperson that they WILL accept cash for the iPhone.
Yet more info direct from att:
http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/specials/en/iReady_checklist.pdf
New Zealand seems to be interesting at the moment.
Vodafone released the price of the iPhone model although they haven’t released the details of the plans.
Here’s the kicker, the iPhone is $199 for the 8Gb iPhone. That’s $199 New Zealand dollars. At the current rate of exchange that works out to be $150.23 US dollars.
Of course it seems to me that we will be getting raped on the data plans (Vodafone NZ’s call plans are actually the cheapest in the OECD) as currently we have to pay $49.95/month for 1Gb of data. I guess we’ll find out what the data plan is going to be come 10:00am today.
Incidentally due to us being +12hrs on the dateline New Zealand will also be one of the first (if not THE first) countries to get the new iPhone.
I am so glad my plan is up for renewal now. 🙂
Okay that’s officially bullshit.
The phone is $199(NZ) ($399 for 16Gb version) if you purchase 2 years on the highest plan they have which is $250/mnth. That’s only $3000/yr. The phone is $549 on the cheapest plan of $80/mnth. I knew it was too good to be true.
The good news though is that you can purchase the iPhone outright on PreyPay but that will set you back $979 and $1129 respectively.
The shit news. Here’s the plan details:
http://www.vodafone.co.nz/iphone/plans.jsp
Ironically it probably would be cheaper to get the iPhone on PrePay and a data contract than it would to purchase a plan.
re: Loweded Wookie
Apparently someone is not smart enough to determine the proper cost of things. All smart phone plans are similar in the cost structure in any given region, thus they all cost around NZ 3000/yr in term of service fees. In the US, at least, the iPhone plan, when introduced, was the LEAST EXPENSIVE smart phone plan available with UNLIMITED internet access, thus your funny account don’t make sense. Yes, the low IQ trolls tried it in other regions too, but people are smart enough to figure out that the iPhone has great features at a competitive price in the smartphone market.