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Canceling an iphone on ATT

K

knight42

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 6, 2008
19
0
Hey All

Am wondering if someone can give me some advice.

Im from England, but going to stay in America for at least the next three months. I have been looking at the ATT iphone stuff as I need a phone when im out there.

As I understand it, I can buy an iphone (or rather an American friend of mine can on their account) I can use it for say three months (paying the monthly bill as well) then cancel the account for $175 and keep the phone, which I could then unlock and bring back to England.

Can anyone confirm this? Is it easy to cancel, I dont want my friend to end up with over a years worth of monthly charges if we cant cancel it (well I would still pay, im not gonna abandon them, but you know what I mean!)

If anyone has any advice id be really happy, Thanks people!!
 
Yeah, you're pretty much spot on. You'll have an activation fee and some proration charges on your first bill which will make it a bit higher. And you'll have taxes on the $175 ETF, which will make that higher. But other than that, pay the ETF and unlock it and you're set to go with a nice iPhone to use in Europe. Good luck with it.
 
wow, thanks!

Its really crazy. A pay as you go 32gb iphone 3gs is £538 ($880) in England (granted you do get a years worth of free data, but no extra call minutes)

So I have no problem paying;

iphone $299
Monthly (3x $80) $240
Termination Fee $175

= $714 (plus a bit more for taxes etc)

Still works out a lot cheaper, and I get data/phone minutes when im in the US, seems a bargin. Hope it works!
 
Second point as well that really surprised me about this.

I havent had an iphone on contract here in the UK on o2, I have just had a pay as you go, so am only speaking about ALL the other contract phones I have had.

If you want to cancel your contract you would need to pay your basic payment for EVERY month left on your contract, so canceling a phone could cost you hundreds of pounds.

Thats why I wanted to check with people in the know, as its a different system there, I know ATT takes a lot of stick, but seems they have a much fairer system!
 
your math is kinda off. Taxes are gonna be more than a BIT. the phone will be about 350 after taxes. I think activation is like 35. your monthly bill will probably be closer to 90 or 95 with taxes, higher end if your in NY. and you mentioned something about a free year of data in england? That actually seems the better deal to me
 
chstr said:
your math is kinda off. Taxes are gonna be more than a BIT. the phone will be about 350 after taxes. I think activation is like 35. your monthly bill will probably be closer to 90 or 95 with taxes, higher end if your in NY. and you mentioned something about a free year of data in england? That actually seems the better deal to me
Click to expand...

Yeah sorry about that, my math is always a bit off! I still think running it this way will save money. Last time I was in America for a month using my o2 Iphone and it cost me $70 in a month (And that was very light use of the phone) so with the minutes/date I will get in the US, it should work easier.

Unfortunately the free data from o2 only works in the UK, outside I believe its £6 a MB, so soon adds up.

I do take your point though, will have to sit down with a calculator and work it out more precisely!
 
knight42 said:
Yeah sorry about that, my math is always a bit off! I still think running it this way will save money. Last time I was in America for a month using my o2 Iphone and it cost me $70 in a month (And that was very light use of the phone) so with the minutes/date I will get in the US, it should work easier.

Unfortunately the free data from o2 only works in the UK, outside I believe its £6 a MB, so soon adds up.

I do take your point though, will have to sit down with a calculator and work it out more precisely!
Click to expand...

I don't know the exact cost, but I do know that you can buy an iPhone in the US without a contract for around 700-800 dollars. This way you won't have to go through the whole process of canceling
 
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