Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Better to get iPhone from AT&T or Apple store?

K

klamchowder

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 22, 2009
2
0
After months of iPhone envy, I'm going to take the plunge and upgrade my existing AT&T phone to the iPhone 3GS.

Are there advantages of doing it at either AT&T or the Apple store?

Looking fwd to finally being able to join in your forum...LOL!

cheers,
 
If you need to choose between an Apple Store or an AT&T store, I'd go Apple any day of the week. Wireless stores feel like car dealerships to me.

I got my phone online from AT&T, as I was getting a second AT&T phone (non an iphone) for my wife, and the online discounts were available for the second phone.
 
I got mine from the AT&T store. Bought phone and apple care as well. For buying apply care they threw in a free car charger ($30 value). I was also taxed on $199. Went there to ensure that my phone bill was set up properly. I have a corp discount and wanted to make sure it still applied. It applied to both voice and data plan.
 
If I had to choose between AT&T and Apple, easily Apple would win.

Another choice to look at is Best Buy. Not sure if this is correct, but a friend told me that Best Buy's insurance covers ALL damage. So even if you drop your phone and the screen cracks, they will give you a new one. Again, not sure how accurate that is, but definitely worth some research?
 
Get it from Apple. I got mine both times from AT&T because the first time no Apple Stores around and second time I had to go fix something in AT&T system that showed I wasn't upgrade eligible (I owned and bought a 1st Gen) just because of a stupid relocation I did.

AT&T rep fixed it by calling his regional manager who said it's a system bug (he fixed it by doing a regional bypass, but it work for a few minutes since no one can override the system) and to buy it at the $299 point I had to buy the iPhone on that point in time (small windows of opportunity). Still god experience, but I wanted to do it at Apple:(
 
i got my 3g at att and my 3gs at apple. just as easy at both. but apple was just more fun. i was playing around with the macs the whole time.
 
Got my 3G S at AT&T in about 5 minutes total time. I got my 3G from AT&T as well both with no problems.

Probably would have taken a lot longer in the Apple store due to all the people playing with toys and asking random questions.
 
at&t obv knows the plans and whatnot much better than the apple folks..i know this from personal experience and as a former at&t employee

also, your going to get the same exact product with the same exact service from both places, only difference is that you can help an at&t employee out by giving him some commission with your purchase..apple employees dont get any commission no matter what

if you give an at&t employee a slightly bigger paycheck, you'd be stimulating the economy..and if you help the economy, you'd be considered a good american

so what it comes down to is..are you a good american or not? :p
 
darngooddesign said:
The only benefit to buying from Apple is you can kill time fooling around with the Macs.
Click to expand...
LOL. Every time I go in there there's a million people on those macs and the iPhones are begging to be fooled with.....
ViPa said:
at&t obv knows the plans and whatnot much better than the apple folks..i know this from personal experience and as a former at&t employee

also, your going to get the same exact product with the same exact service from both places, only difference is that you can help an at&t employee out by giving him some commission with your purchase..apple employees dont get any commission no matter what

if you give an at&t employee a slightly bigger paycheck, you'd be stimulating the economy..and if you help the economy, you'd be considered a good american

so what it comes down to is..are you a good american or not? :p
Click to expand...
Wow that's a stretch but true none the less! When I get my iPhone at AT&T it will be for the following reasons:

1) The AT&T store is a little under a mile from my house, I can hear my new white iPhone 3GS calling my name from here. Apple store is always packed and those lights make it feel like there trying to cook me
2) The AT&T store is 500 feet from where I will be working, walk out of work, go to AT&T store, buy iPhone, ??????, profit. Pretty simple.
 
Neither because they don't insure it. Best Buy does for 15 a month and I know that is steep but alot cheaper than replacing it. I have it on mine and my wifes and have already had hers replaced. It covers everything except theft. Also if i break my iphone 10 times in 2 years you wanna know how many times they will fix it? Yeah you guessed it 10 and more if i need them too. Also there is no deductible. Just my 2 cents.
 
$15/mo to insure an iphone? totally not worth it IMO unless your VERY clumsy

$180 per year JUST to insure it????
 
ViPa said:
$15/mo to insure an iphone? totally not worth it IMO unless your VERY clumsy

$180 per year JUST to insure it????
Click to expand...

75 USD per month for an iPhone?!? IMO not worth it. (not srs) if you get rid of your 1500 texts a month an suck it up with 200 and a free texting app when you run out that's easily covered....might fine deal so you don't have to worry about breaking it. I just hope bestbuy would give you a new iPhone and not a refurb...
 
I was the first one in my local AT&T store on launch day and was out and done in about 15 minutes, at least 5 of which were spent trying to get my screen protector to work with the iFrogz Luxe case I was planning on using at the time.

At either of the Apple stores near me, it takes 15 minutes just to get someone to acknowledge that I exist and would like to take some of their time to actually spend money in their store. There may be a coolness factor, but it's dwarfed by the extreme aggravation factor (at least at those 2 stores, which may or may not be representative of others' experiences at other Apple stores, blah blah blah.) I try to avoid going there at all costs.
 
waynemel said:
I got mine from the AT&T store. Bought phone and apple care as well. For buying apply care they threw in a free car charger ($30 value). I was also taxed on $199. Went there to ensure that my phone bill was set up properly. I have a corp discount and wanted to make sure it still applied. It applied to both voice and data plan.
Click to expand...

"$30 value", huh? I think you mean "AT&T normally rips folks who don't know any better off for $30". No mobile phone car charger is worth $30. These can be had for $5 or less.
 
Blueline29 said:
I was the first one in my local AT&T store on launch day and was out and done in about 15 minutes, at least 5 of which were spent trying to get my screen protector to work with the iFrogz Luxe case I was planning on using at the time.

At either of the Apple stores near me, it takes 15 minutes just to get someone to acknowledge that I exist and would like to take some of their time to actually spend money in their store. There may be a coolness factor, but it's dwarfed by the extreme aggravation factor (at least at those 2 stores, which may or may not be representative of others' experiences at other Apple stores, blah blah blah.) I try to avoid going there at all costs.
Click to expand...

Wow, so you are one of those people who takes a perfectly beautiful iPhone and keeps it in an ugly case plus an ugly plastic "screen protector", huh?

To each his own, but I *hate* screen protectors. The iPhone screen is airplane grade glass with hi-tech coating. Out of the box is is VERY scratch resistant.

I keep my 3GS naked, just as I did with the 3G and EDGE before it :D 2.5 years, hundreds of drops, and never a problem.
 
Apple Store for the experience of buying a new iPhone. If you want to avoid the lines at the Apple Store, then definitely the AT&T Corporate Store is for you. They'll setup your account much faster and won't treat you like a number. I've always enjoyed the AT&T experience since my 3G purchase last year. I even made an appointment with them for the War Department to get her 3GS iPhone at AT&T this year...:cool:
 
patrickvanzandt said:
Wow, so you are one of those people who takes a perfectly beautiful iPhone and keeps it in an ugly case plus an ugly plastic "screen protector", huh?

To each his own, but I *hate* screen protectors. The iPhone screen is airplane grade glass with hi-tech coating. Out of the box is is VERY scratch resistant.

I keep my 3GS naked, just as I did with the 3G and EDGE before it :D 2.5 years, hundreds of drops, and never a problem.
Click to expand...

It's doesn't matter how beautiful it looks when someone bumps your phone to the ground and the phone doesn't work anymore ;)

And I use a privacy screen protector.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back