All Articles Tagged AT&T

This was sent our way along with a tip saying almost a dozen people had successfully processed US apple.com iPhone 3G S orders using this hack to avoid AT&T’s online contract sign-up.

It doesn’t get you the subsidized $199/$299 price, nor an unlocked iPhone, of course, so don’t get too excited.

We have no idea if it actually works either — if orders placed this way will actually ship, or if AT&T goons in black will show up at your door for a little curb-stomping contract reminder. We obviously can’t condone it either, so we link to it strictly for educational and entertainment sake, knowing our readers are all responsible adults. Right?

Check out iTalkiPhone for the details…

No such thing as a free lunch. You don’t get something for nothing. Yesterday we linked to Gizmodo’s response to iPhone 3G owners “whining” about not getting a second bite at the cheap subsidy pricing for the iPhone 3G S.

Bottom line, you got your discount last year in exchange for a 2 year contract. That contract isn’t done in full yet, so you don’t get a discount in full yet.

But that got me thinking. I asked this on Twitter and am getting mixed reaction, so I’ll ask it here:

What if AT&T offered you full, subsidized pricing anyway ($199/$299) in exchange for another 2 year contract? No, not 2 more years starting now — that still costs them a year — but an additional 2 years after the current contract expires, for 3 years total from iPhone 3G S release.

Here’s the math: 2 year current contract – 1 year completed = 1 year + 2 years new contract = 3 years total.

Sound crazy? Rogers in Canada has all iPhone 3G owners on 3 year contracts already. 3 years are normal in some parts of the world.

However, the idea clearly doesn’t scale, does it? If AT&T offers an iPhone 3G S+ with iPhone 4.0 next year, the same math and model would mean you’d have to sign for a 4 year contract to get subsidy pricing (original 2 years – 1 year + 2 years – 1 year + 2 years = 4 years total).

Sure, it looks nice and linear — matching OS version numbers even — but not it’s not realistic long-term. Who’s going to offer or sign a 6 year contract for iPhone X running 6.0?

Still, for just this year, would you fully re-up it to get the iPhone 3G S at full discount pricing?

AT&T and other carriers subsidize the upfront cost of the iPhone and other smartphones and make up the difference via guaranteed long term contracts/commitments. That’s their business model, but it means they can’t and won’t give repeated subsidies until you’ve finished the associated contract terms. With many iPhone 3G owners — still under contract — eyeing the iPhone 3G S, and the non-subsidized price it brings with it, a fair amount of anger has been plasma-cannoned in AT&T’s monstrous direction.

Gizmodo’s Jesus Diaz, however, gives a nasty spoonful of reality medicine to those of us who bought heavily subsidized iPhones last year, and are upset we can’t get the same subsidy again this year:

The fact is that the $199/$299 price tag for the iPhone is the result of AT&T’s—or any other carrier, since the situation is the same all around the world—subsidy. Without subsidy—and tying you to a new two year contract—the iPhone is not different from something like the Nokia N97, which is $700 unlocked. Or the contract-free, unsubsidized iPhone 3G itself: The iPhone 3G costs $770 and $877 unlocked for the 8 and 16GB versions.

He goes on to kick the telcos heartily in their nether-regions as well, pointing out their exorbitant monthly charges, but takes issue with the sense of “entitlement” in modern consumer culture.

If you don’t like it? His advice is to not buy the new iPhone 3G S and wait until next year when you can get a subsidy.

(I’m locked into a 3 year contract which currently has an early termination fee of ~$500, so I feel that pain…)

And in the mean time?

do the rest of the world a favor and stop whining about what you are entitled to. We don’t live in your pretty me me me ME world.

NB: Delayed MMS deployment and lack of anything approaching information on tethering, however — totally AT&T hate worthy…

[Via Daring Fireball]

AT&T (via Macrumors) has posted the above video in hopes of clarifying how customers, new and existing, can get a brand new iPhone 3G S come next Friday:

On launch day (June 19th), two lines will form at 7 a.m. local time at the AT&T retail stores. Customers who had pre-ordered from retail stores will be able to pick up their iPhone 3GSs at that time, while customers who wish to purchase that day will have to wait until the store opens at normal business hours.

Pricing is still $199/$299 for 16GB/32GB on new activations with full subsidies. Customers already under contract, having already received subsidies last time around, can expect to pay up to $599/$699 (though some discounts might bring that down a tad).

So, does the video help answer your questions, if not allay your frustrations?

We’ll just pass then the mic and let you tell us what you think in the comments!

Regarding MMS:

We absolutely will offer MMS on iPhone 3G S in late summer once we complete some system upgrades that will ensure our customers have the best experience with MMS.  These upgrades are unrelated to our 3G network.  When MMS is ready, we will let customers know.

Regarding offering a tethering plan:

We plan to offer one but we don’t have an announcement to make at this time.

Joe Chandler
Executive Director
AT&T Corporate Communications

[Thanks to Phil for bringing this one home!]

Although humorous for the crowd attending the WWDC Keynote today, when Apple VP of iPhone Software, Scott Forestall, announced MMS and Tethering, AT&T being deferred until later this summer on the first count, and totally glossed over on the second count, likely won’t be as amusing for US iPhone 3G and iPhone 3G S owners who will miss out on fairly standard functionality other carriers and regions may get on 3.0 launch come June 17.

To learn more about iPhone tethering, visit Apple’s iPhone feature page. To learn more about AT&T’s support for these features–

It was not that long ago TiPb passed along some warning signs we’d seen about AT&T cracking down on iPhone users who currently not on an iPhone data plan. Well they’ve gone and given all of you rebels out there one more warning for good measure.

After some digging around in AT&T’s myWireless application, we have found yet another dose of legalese from AT&T that states they can and will change your data plan and charge you accordingly if you are currently using an iPhone with any data plan other than the iPhone data plan.

While this is nothing earth shattering, we figured we would pass it along so, if AT&T started following up on the warnings, our readers wouldn’t be caught by surprise.

Switch to the appropriate data plan or possibly end up with a larger than normal bill? We know iPhone data use is hammering AT&T’s network, but is this the best way for them to go about things?

Even with all of the negative things said about AT&T, people still love Apple’s iPhone. According to a new report from ChangeWave, customers are still leaving their current cell carrier to flock to AT&T’s network just to purchase an iPhone.

According to this report, within the next 6 months 13% of the people polled are looking to bail out on their current carrier and 33% of those people said they will be headed to AT&T for an iPhone. These numbers are the highest since this question was first asked back in 2005. As for AT&T’s competition, namely Verizon, 24% will be going in that direction.

If you’d like to take it one step further you will find out that current AT&T customers are less likely to ditch the Evil Empire compared to 11% ready to leave Verizon. Now for all of you Verizon fans, they did beat out AT&T in terms of the quality of service customers are getting from the carrier. 50% of Verizon customers reported they were “very satisfied” while AT&T was tied with the likes of T-Mobile and Sprint at 31%.

This just emphasizes exactly how important it is that AT&T keep the iPhone out of Verizon customer hands.

[Via AppleInsider via ChangeWave]

Reuters (via Ars) has word from Ralph de la Vega, the head of AT&T’s mobility and consumer business:

• “Right now we continue to study what is the best thing that is available, not just from an iPhone point of view, but what you can do to stimulate additional demand,”

• “Our business is to sell services,” he said, adding that AT&T doesn’t make money from the sale of devices like the iPhone, which it subsidizes heavily

• “We view Apple as a strategic partner for us, a very good partner to have now and into the future,”

Like the old joke goes, if you ask someone if they’ve considered something — bang! — you just made them consider it. So, yeah, AT&T has considered making iPhone data cheaper… but we still don’t know if they’ll actually do anything about it.

Curiouser and crazier is our motto of the moment, as we get what could be our third (3rd!) carrier leak of the day, following the T-Mobile Austria faux pas highlight an iPhone 32GB and the Vodafone Australia early EOL notice for the 16GB.

This one, according to PhoneArena.com, comes courtesy of and AT&T, which — if accurate — is offering to take in your as yet non-existent iPhone 32GB and give you $355.00 towards a trade in for last year’s BlackBerry Bold.

Okay…