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Contract Now Required to Buy?

pismodude2

pismodude2

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 22, 2008
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MacWorld
I came across an interesting statement over at Engadget:

"AT&T says there's no way to buy it without agreeing to a contract. So sorry."

So who thinks that this means that you must sign up for a contract before you can get it?

Who thinks that "no way" coming from AT&T really means "I have no brain and don't know what 'jailbreak' means"?

According to Apple's site, the plan is sold separately still: "Requires new 2-year AT&T rate plan, sold separately."
 
pismodude2 said:
I came across an interesting statement over at Engadget:

"AT&T says there's no way to buy it without agreeing to a contract. So sorry."

So who thinks that this means that you must sign up for a contract before you can get it?

Who thinks that "no way" coming from AT&T really means "I have no brain and don't know what 'jailbreak' means"?
Click to expand...

It means, you're not walking out of the store without writing your name on a piece of paper promising to give them thousands upon thousands of dollars for a silly phone.
 
Maybe not at first, but what if they do like every other cell phone manufacturer, and sell the non subsidized phones at full retail...go price a new unlocked treo or blackberry
 
According to Apple's site, the plan is sold separately still: "Requires new 2-year AT&T rate plan, sold separately."

I *really* hope this means that you can still buy the iPhone at Apples stores without a contract! I live in one of the ****** countries that are not in Apple's list of 70 supported countries :mad:
 
Hmm.... "wcnghj" at this site claims that:

"According to the Apple rep. I spoke with, you buy the phone whereever, then activate it(cough jailbreak cough) at home with iTunes."

So they "force" you to activate with iTunes... Unless you Jailbreak the phone.

(at least I hope that's the way it is!)
 
Activation probably works the same.

And you wont get the subsidy immediately. It will come in the form of a rebate check or credited to your account.
 
That is the worst thing for current iphone owners, wanting to keep their current rate plan.

Was hoping to just buy one, then change it over. AT&T is so easy on not checking against phones and rate plans that I felt it had a shot.

I feel we haven't heard the whole story yet, but it does sound like there will be a contract in place before purchase, just like there is now to receive the discounted price on the iphone.

I just wonder what the non-discounted price will be. Canceling the contract is around 200 if I recall.
 
Apple abandons it's customers ...

kellen said:
That is the worst thing ...
Click to expand...
Since I am Canadian and likely to be soaked for twice the price for this phone I am super mad about this.

Apple is really just cutting it's customers loose here and they should be ashamed of themselves. There is still time for them to "climb down" and reverse this evil little choice they have made and I certainly hope they do, but it seems right now as if you *won't* be able to buy without a contract, and said contract can be anything the cell provider wants.

So all that crap from Steve Jobs about how "it's $299 US and no more" is, well... crap.

They have totally caved and gone back to the old model of cell phone distribution where the carrier is back in charge of the price. That means all you USA-ians who think it's "half the price" are being hoodwinked into buying a more phone that's actually more expensive, and people like me that live in Canada are going to have to pay something like double or triple the price of the original iPhone.

Great news from Steve Jobs. :mad:
 
kellen said:
That is the worst thing for current iphone owners, wanting to keep their current rate plan.

Was hoping to just buy one, then change it over. AT&T is so easy on not checking against phones and rate plans that I felt it had a shot.

I feel we haven't heard the whole story yet, but it does sound like there will be a contract in place before purchase, just like there is now to receive the discounted price on the iphone.

I just wonder what the non-discounted price will be. Canceling the contract is around 200 if I recall.
Click to expand...

175+your first month's bill & tax, actually. (been looking into this option)
 
Nde said:
I'm cancelling my contract on the 12th if they make me sign a contract at checkout.
Click to expand...

You'll also have to return the phone.

Gizmodo reports that the Return period is being extended from 14 to 30 days, that the activation will be in the store, and there is not going to be a no-commitment price like on other phones

Source
 
How about filing a police report for a missing/report iphone? Just curious to see how they going to make people return their phone.
 
Nde said:
How about filing a police report for a missing/report iphone? Just curious to see how they going to make people return their phone.
Click to expand...

When you sign that contract you need to give them a social security # (in the U.S.) and they do a credit check. They will report you to a collecting agency who could, theoretically, repo your phone. Also, they can put it on your credit history that you were not faithful in your contract and damage you that way.
 
So sad...:eek:

Sounds like I need to get my retired Grandpa to get me an iphone. He doesn't live in US so he doesn't give a crap about his credit history.
 
Zoide said:
According to Apple's site, the plan is sold separately still: "Requires new 2-year AT&T rate plan, sold separately."

I *really* hope this means that you can still buy the iPhone at Apples stores without a contract! I live in one of the ****** countries that are not in Apple's list of 70 supported countries :mad:
Click to expand...

Its not all that vague, the sold-separately part is to make sure you know that the price of the phone does not include the att plan.

Try buying it from a different supported country, you won't get such a deal becuase of our weak dollar, but it might be easier to do.
 
So if I buy one from apple online for $200 and use my old iphone's sim card in the new iphone ... y would that not work?
 
darngooddesign said:
Its not all that vague, the sold-separately part is to make sure you know that the price of the phone does not include the att plan.

Try buying it from a different supported country, you won't get such a deal becuase of our weak dollar, but it might be easier to do.
Click to expand...

buying in another supported country won't work cuz here in mexico, we need to pay $499mx thats like $50us for 18 months so its imposible to.:mad:, and yes the lines will be really slow.:(
 
Virgil-TB2 said:
They have totally caved and gone back to the old model of cell phone distribution where the carrier is back in charge of the price. That means all you USA-ians who think it's "half the price" are being hoodwinked into buying a more phone that's actually more expensive, and people like me that live in Canada are going to have to pay something like double or triple the price of the original iPhone.
Click to expand...
I guess Apple could have held out for a few more years hoping to find at least one carrier per country that would agree to do its unique distribution model/revenue sharing.

Didn't seem like that model was going to get them very far, especially in the Far East.

Sorry that Apple wasn't able to fix the problem with your Canadian carriers though.
 
how do you know

carlosluna699 said:
buying in another supported country won't work cuz here in mexico, we need to pay $499mx thats like $50us for 18 months so its imposible to.:mad:, and yes the lines will be really slow.:(
Click to expand...

hey carlos i'm from mexico too i live in monterrey and i have a question how do you know how much is telcel charging because i check telcel's pages yesterday and they didn't say anything about any plan
 
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