iPhone Questions.

[Pookieinc]

So I'm thinking about getting an iPhone, and I was speaking to Verizon to see if I could cancel my account and they told me something interesting and made me think it could be a loophole in the whole iPhone system.

They said that their service, as well as many other services, have a plan where you have a primary, then a bunch of secondaries. The primary pays most of the money, and the secondary pays a much less amount. I was thinking, what if one were to put their iPhone as a secondary account, so that it comes out very cheap?

I also had one more question:

For those of you that switched from Verizon, is the price difference pretty much the same? We have like 5 people on our account, but all of our contracts are ended so we want to switch to AT&T. Would it be possible to have the same price, if an iPhone was also in our plan of 5 with AT&T?

Thanks!

 

[GoCubsGo]

I think prices are the same or close to it but Verzion's network will not support the iPhone be it a primary or secondary account. Sorry.

 

[avaloncourt]

Well, it's not apples to apples (no pun intended).

Verizon's plans have a primary phone and then up to four secondaries that can be added into the plan (or an extra fifth if you have an EVDO data card).

Sure, you can cancel your account with Verizon but you'll be hit with an early termination fee just as I was.

No, your plan with AT&T won't work. The iPhones have their own phone structure. There are iPhones and then there are any other phones. I just went through this. A single iPhone 450 minute plan (Unlimited Data, 200 text messages, 5000 night and weekend minutes) will run you $59.99.

There is an AT&T Family Talk plan for 2 iPhones which kicks the minutes up to 700 and the N/W minutes go to unlimited. Other factors remain the same. You can add up to 3 additional iPhones for $29.99 each.

The catch is that regular non-iPhone phones can't be intermingled with the iPhone plan. You'll start all over with generic phone one on its own plan with 450 minutes at $39.99. If you go with the family plan then the first two generic phones together with a 550 minute plan will run you $59.99 and each additional generic phone will run you $9.99 each to add.

Of course, I was giving you the bottom end of the plan minute pricing. They go up from there but the phone adds remain the same.

So, no you can't rush over to AT&T buy up four generic phones, put them on a plan and then add in an iPhone. They were way ahead of you thinking this one through.

 

[Pookieinc]

Well, it's not apples to apples (no pun intended).

Verizon's plans have a primary phone and then up to four secondaries that can be added into the plan (or an extra fifth if you have an EVDO data card).

Sure, you can cancel your account with Verizon but you'll be hit with an early termination fee just as I was.

No, your plan with AT&T won't work. The iPhones have their own phone structure. There are iPhones and then there are any other phones. I just went through this. A single iPhone 450 minute plan (Unlimited Data, 200 text messages, 5000 night and weekend minutes) will run you $59.99.

There is an AT&T Family Talk plan for 2 iPhones which kicks the minutes up to 700 and the N/W minutes go to unlimited. Other factors remain the same. You can add up to 3 additional iPhones for $29.99 each.

The catch is that regular non-iPhone phones can't be intermingled with the iPhone plan. You'll start all over with generic phone one on its own plan with 450 minutes at $39.99. If you go with the family plan then the first two generic phones together with a 550 minute plan will run you $59.99 and each additional generic phone will run you $9.99 each to add.

Of course, I was giving you the bottom end of the plan minute pricing. They go up from there but the phone adds remain the same.

So, no you can't rush over to AT&T buy up four generic phones, put them on a plan and then add in an iPhone. They were way ahead of you thinking this one through.

Thank you guys for the answers so far. Maybe you all can decide what is the best way to do this.

We have 5 people on our plan right now (my family and my grandparents using one phone). I want to get an iPhone, and the rest of my family don't really care what phones they want. Right now, with Verizon, we are spending about 100-200 dollars on our family plan. Do you think that there is a plan with AT&T that can put us in that price range, if I do decide to get an iPhone?

Thanks for all your help!

 

[pranavss11]

The prices would be the same. But do not forget about Verizon charging you $175 PER LINE cancellation fees. Trust me I paid that to cancel mine of my family plan.

 

[Passante]

I currently have a 4 phone family plan with Verizon that expires New Years Eve. I plan to migrate my phone number to an iPhone and leave the other phones with Verizon. We may transfer a second phone number to ATT if my wife decides that she also wants an iPhone. Again the phones that are not being upgraded to a iPhone stay put with Verizon so we don't have to buy new phones.

The is a "Family Plan" for multiple iPhones. Check the family plan tab at this link http://www.apple.com/iphone/easysetup/rateplans.html

 

[kuebby]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/3B48b Safari/419.3)

The prices would be the same. But do not forget about Verizon charging you $175 PER LINE cancellation fees. Trust me I paid that to cancel mine of my family plan.

not if your contract is over. And the new AT&T contract would cost more solely because you'll be getting a data plan, otherwise the carriers are the same price.

 

[djroygbiv]

Quick question for you guys that broke your contract with Verizon, do they always prorate the cancellation fee? I've got about 3-4 months left in my 2-year contract but have the cash (and desire) to buy the iPhone now. If its just a few bucks, I'll take the hit but if its going to be the whole $175, I'll just tough it out.

My thought is to pick up a PDA/Smartphone or something by signing a new contact with AT&T. I'll just dump that on ebay to offset some of the cost by buying a new iPhone. I guess a lot of you guys probably did this right? Any downside to going this route? Any suggestions as to which AT&T phones are in the highest demand right now?

Thanks!

 

[avaloncourt]

Quick question for you guys that broke your contract with Verizon, do they always prorate the cancellation fee? I've got about 3-4 months left in my 2-year contract but have the cash (and desire) to buy the iPhone now. If its just a few bucks, I'll take the hit but if its going to be the whole $175, I'll just tough it out.

AN EARLY TERMINATION FEE WILL APPLY IF YOU CHOOSE TO END YOUR SERVICE BEFORE BECOMING A MONTH-TO-MONTH CUSTOMER, OR IF WE TERMINATE IT EARLY FOR GOOD CAUSE. FOR SERVICE ACTIVATED PRIOR TO 11/16/06, THE EARLY TERMINATION FEE IS $175 PER WIRELESS PHONE NUMBER. FOR SERVICE ACTIVATED ON OR AFTER 11/16/06, OR FOR LINES OF SERVICE WITH MINIMUM TERMS EXTENDED ON OR AFTER 11/16/06, THE EARLY TERMINATION FEE IS $175, WHICH WILL BE REDUCED BY $5 FOR EACH FULL MONTH TOWARD YOUR MINIMUM TERM THAT YOU COMPLETE.

My thought is to pick up a PDA/Smartphone or something by signing a new contact with AT&T. I'll just dump that on ebay to offset some of the cost by buying a new iPhone.

I'm not sure where you're going with that. It's already been explained that the generic phone contracts and the iPhone contracts are kept completely separate. If you generate a regular phone contract and then sell the phone you'll be responsible for the balance of the contract or the termination fee because you'll now have to generate a completely new and separate contract for the iPhone.

I guess a lot of you guys probably did this right?

I cancelled the Verizon contract by simply porting my number to my iPhone. Verizon generated the early termination bill and sent it to me.

Any downside to going this route?

Other than the flaws in your plan?

Any suggestions as to which AT&T phones are in the highest demand right now?

Does it matter?

 

[djroygbiv]

Thanks for your response. Sorry for the flawed logic.....I've been reading about the iPhone, contract, etc. for a while now but misunderstood the contract terms. I thought I had read on various Apple boards that people were still eligible to get a discounted phone every 2 years regardless of their iPhone purchase/contact. On the AT&T site, I saw some verbage mirroring this....saying that you only needed to get a new 2-year contract when you get an iPhone.

It looked like people were getting an AT&T plan (say the $59.99/month voice/data plan) with a new contact. As a new contact, they were grabbing a Blackberry or something and then just selling it brand new on the various boards, ebay, etc. They would then buy a new iPhone and activate it. I didn't realize they were different contracts and this would cause you to have to break a contract and pay penalties before signing a new one.

Thanks again for your help!

Sorry to threadjack a bit OP. My questions were somewhat related so I thought I'd ask here instead of starting a new thread.

Edit: After doing a little more reading, it seems that people doing this already were AT&T customers.....not new like myself. Oh well, I guess I'll just bite the bullet and buy the iPhone.

 

[avaloncourt]

I read your explanation and knew what you were getting at. Yes, that only applies to existing customers as a iPhone conversion perk. For the rest of us we have a completely different set of rules.

A lot of things changed at AT&T with the iPhone. Employees aren't even permitted to use their discount on an iPhone plan.

 

[RMferrer]

Yes you can do this...

^^^ you are wrong bcuz i did exactly what he is asking. Here's is my post from another thread on here.



1.) My phone was delivered today (ordered it online)
2.) went to my local att dealer and signed a 2 year contract.
3.) with the agreement i recieved and FREE LG CE110, no point in payin for a phone right bcuz i have the iphone at home waiting to be activated.
4.) In the store the rep activated the LG phone and i went through the agreement via the cell phone which i just recieved.(at this very moment your new phone with att is active, SIM card and all)
5.) I immediately went home, downloaded itunes and proceeded with the activation.
6.)during the activation process you are asked if you want to use an existing att number(which i just recieved, i should mention that i ported my Verizon number), add a line etc. etc.
7.) I chose use existing att number(my ported verizon phone number).
8.)you are then prompted to type in the number you have with att(which i just recieved.) it will also ask you for last 4 of social, billing..etc.
9.) It will then tell you that you need to upgrade to the unlimited data plan $20 and if you want change your plan at all this is the time to do it.
10.) Once everything is completed it will ask if you want to proceed with the changes in your plan bcuz the plan is different from regular plans.
11.) when everything is completed your phone will go from activate phone to your phone is activated.(now at this moment your iphone is active, the iphone has it's own SIM card and no switch is needed, NOW the new phone you just recieved from att is no longer activated!)
12.)AT THIS TIME GO BUCK WILD BECAUSE YOU NOW HAVE THE HOLY GRAIL OF CELL PHONES.

**Oh and btw i just tried calling with the phone i got from att and it does not work, it says service unavailable.**

if i left out anything please add your comments, other than that this pretty much what you will go through. I activated my iphone approx. 15 mins from coming back from the store.

I PAID NO TERMINATION FEE OR ANY OTHER FEE.

 

[avaloncourt]

Well, first off, we were talking about porting from Verizon. It's going to be a little hard to port from Verizon while using the selection that you're going to keep an AT&T number. In the situation above we're carrying a Verizon number over with us.

Normally the stores don't provide you any number at all. They're not supposed to be setting up a new iPhone-based account at all. That's supposed to be done through iTunes. The most they're supposed to intervene in an iPhone transaction is to do a credit check, if requested by the purchased, and provide you with the credit approval number which is able to be entered in the whole iTunes set-up process. You ended up with someone who did something they weren't supposed to. AT&T store employees are only supposed to sell you the phone and send you home to complete things.

 

[RMferrer]

Well, first off, we were talking about porting from Verizon. It's going to be a little hard to port from Verizon while using the selection that you're going to keep an AT&T number. In the situation above we're carrying a Verizon number over with us.

Normally the stores don't provide you any number at all. They're not supposed to be setting up a new iPhone-based account at all. That's supposed to be done through iTunes. The most they're supposed to intervene in an iPhone transaction is to do a credit check, if requested by the purchased, and provide you with the credit approval number which is able to be entered in the whole iTunes set-up process. You ended up with someone who did something they weren't supposed to. AT&T store employees are only supposed to sell you the phone and send you home to complete things.

i did port my number from verizon while i was still under contract. There have been many people who have done this. Seach the forum and you will see.

obviously you did not read my post correctly so i'll explain it again...I already have my iphone, at the time i was with Verizon. So when activating your iphone you will start a new 2 year contract. Att clearly states that exsisting customers who later purchase the iphone with have to start their 2 year agreement again. This is why people purchase unlocked iphones because they aviod restarting a 2 year agreement. But in my case and the op's case we are new customers. So doesn't it make sense to sign a 2 year agreement with ATT, get a free-phone or another at a discounted price, go home and activate your iphone? Bcuz at this point a day or two on a 2 year agreement won't matter.

You are correct in a sense in saying that they are 2 different contracts with the iphone and a regular ATT phone. BUT YOU DO NOT..I REPEAT DO NOT HAVE TO PAY A TERMINATION FEE!!! Call ATT and i will guarantee they will say the same thing. They only thing that will happen is that your 2 year agreement starts over.

so review of what i did...
1.)bought the iphone. i didn't activate it right away
2.)went to att, signed a contract, ported my verizon number
3.)Now as an EXISTING CUSTOMER with a new 2 year agreement, i activated my iphone via itunes.
4.)you are prompted and asked if you are an existing customer, i said yes, ported my now ATT number(previously verizon).
5.)prompted to upgrade my plan for an addtional $20 for unlimited data
6.)iphone activated and LG phone no longer activated.....no termination, no fine, no whatever. Clear cut and simple.

 

[avaloncourt]

Well, that's certainly an interesting yet convoluted way of going about it. I guess if it works and you're satisfied with the song and dance go for it. You aren't actually saving anything by doing that. You're still paying $40 + $20 minimum for the iPhone using your method. That's the same price as a regular plan. You're just getting a phone extra to resell.

The OP wanted to port a bunch of phones over though so he's still be paying full price on the iPhone plan and full price on the first generic phone and share price on the balance of the three phones. You end up paying a minimum of $100 a month just to have an iPhone and one generic phone. That's an awful big markup for having regular phones along with the iPhone.

 

[Pookieinc]

Well, that's certainly an interesting yet convoluted way of going about it. I guess if it works and you're satisfied with the song and dance go for it. You aren't actually saving anything by doing that. You're still paying $40 + $20 minimum for the iPhone using your method. That's the same price as a regular plan. You're just getting a phone extra to resell.

The OP wanted to port a bunch of phones over though so he's still be paying full price on the iPhone plan and full price on the first generic phone and share price on the balance of the three phones. You end up paying a minimum of $100 a month just to have an iPhone and one generic phone. That's an awful big markup for having regular phones along with the iPhone.

Yeah all of our phones are pretty much ending in contracts at the same time, so it's not like we will be paying cancellation fees.

My main question is will the AT&T bill be about the same as our Verizon one, despite me having an iPhone? Are there any huge family plans with the iPhone where we can have the iPhone be a primary (60 bucks a month), and then have the 4 other phones be secondaries (like 10-15 dollars a month)?

I'm also worried because I have been looking at various sites on the internet, and it seems like most people end up with a HUGE bill their first month with all these activation fees and whatnot, also with a bill that is hundreds of pages every month. Is this true?

Thanks for the information everyone!

 

[avaloncourt]

Yeah all of our phones are pretty much ending in contracts at the same time, so it's not like we will be paying cancellation fees.

My main question is will the AT&T bill be about the same as our Verizon one, despite me having an iPhone? Are there any huge family plans with the iPhone where we can have the iPhone be a primary (60 bucks a month), and then have the 4 other phones be secondaries (like 10-15 dollars a month)?

That was the point of my post that you quoted. I guess you didn't understand that. The iPhone bill would be entirely separate from the rest of the phones. So, at the very minimum you'd have $60 for the iPhone alone for 450 minutes. The lowest generic phone plan you can get for family plan is 550 minutes which covers two phones would be $60. Then adding the final three phones would be $10 each.

The minimum cost you would incur would be $60 + $60 + $10 + $10 + $10 for all five phones or $150 monthly. That would be for 450 minutes for the iPhone and 550 for all the rest of the phones combined.

I'm also worried because I have been looking at various sites on the internet, and it seems like most people end up with a HUGE bill their first month with all these activation fees and whatnot, also with a bill that is hundreds of pages every month. Is this true?

Thanks for the information everyone!

Yes, you'll end up with activation charges but, no, you won't end up with a multihundred page bill. AT&T discovered the error of their ways right at the beginning after they sent out their first round of "box 'o bill" and now you'll end up with a summary bill. For just my iPhone with activation my first bill was $110 on the 450 minute plan.