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iphone with one month at&t contract .. is it worthy !!

A

abulrom

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 19, 2009
11
0
hi ..
after reading a lot and calculating i've come up with the following

iphone 3gs 16gb with at&t contract costs :

199$ initial price
36$ activation fee
69$ first month service (cheapest plan)
69$ second month service (because you'll break in the 31th day so you come in a new month)
165$ ETF (early termination fee) { 175-(2*5) = 165$ }
50$ tax ( i'm not sure of the value but i think so )
--------------
588$ (total)


iphone 3gs 16gb without at&t contract (no-commitment ) costs :

599$

is it worthy to have 1 month of headache for 11$ !!!!

am I right ?? if not please say why ??
 
abulrom said:
hi ..
after reading a lot and calculating i've come up with the following

iphone 3gs 16gb with at&t contract costs :

199$ initial price
36$ activation fee
69$ first month service (cheapest plan)
69$ second month service (because you'll break in the 31th day so you come in a new month)
165$ ETF (early termination fee) { 175-(2*5) = 165$ }
50$ tax ( i'm not sure of the value but i think so )
--------------
588$ (total)


iphone 3gs 16gb without at&t contract (no-commitment ) costs :

599$

is it worthy to have 1 month of headache for 11$ !!!!

am I right ?? if not please say why ??
Click to expand...


Technically it would be more than 11 dollars, because you calculated tax into the 588, it would be 599 plus tax. Not sure where you are located, but it would probably be 50-55 on top of the 599. So overall it would be about 60 dollars in savings if that can be done. I couldn't tell you if it would work or not, I havent researched into it.
 
Mlrollin91 said:
Technically it would be more than 11 dollars, because you calculated tax into the 588, it would be 599 plus tax. Not sure where you are located, but it would probably be 50-55 on top of the 599. So overall it would be about 60 dollars in savings if that can be done. I couldn't tell you if it would work or not, I havent researched into it.
Click to expand...

Yeah - but he also didn't calculate service taxes.

69$ first month service (cheapest plan)
69$ second month service (because you'll break in the 31th day so you come in a new month)


Those numbers don't include taxes. Which,as we know - aren't cheap either.
 
The second month will be prorated so it wouldn't be the full $69. And a better way to do it would be as soon as you get the 3gs switch the sim into a dumbphone and cancel the data plan.
 
Nonetheless it will end up being cheaper. Its just a matter of going through the process to work it all out. Figure the following:

Phone-199
Activation-36
First Month-80(With Tax)
Second Month-25(Just estimating everything out)
ETF-either 170 or 165, because your not finishing the second month.
Phone Tax-50

Total-Roughly 560

Without Contract-

Phone-599
Tak-50

Total- Roughly 650.

So in the long run it seems like a much better deal to go through the trouble.
 
Mlrollin91 said:
Nonetheless it will end up being cheaper. Its just a matter of going through the process to work it all out. Figure the following:

Phone-199
Activation-36
First Month-80(With Tax)
Second Month-25(Just estimating everything out)
ETF-either 170 or 165, because your not finishing the second month.
Phone Tax-50

Total-Roughly 560

Without Contract-

Phone-599
Tak-50

Total- Roughly 650.

So in the long run it seems like a much better deal to go through the trouble.
Click to expand...

They don't prorate the last month of service when you cancel, so it would be the full 80 for the 2nd month, putting the total at 615 instead of 560. Is it worth a month worth of trouble for $35?
 
Not to mention - you pretty much give up the ability to go back to att for 6 months. Which based on when you start this process could further inhibit your master plan to have the latest and greatest iPhone when it comes out
 
STEVESKI07 said:
They don't prorate the last month of service when you cancel, so it would be the full 80 for the 2nd month, putting the total at 615 instead of 560. Is it worth a month worth of trouble for $35?
Click to expand...

In that case, I dont think it is worth it for 35 dollars, seems like a lot of hassle. At least the options are laid out for the OP.
 
ok .. let's say it would be like :

199 price
36 activation
80 first month (with tax)
80 second month (with tax)
165 etf
50 tax
-------------
610 $

a little bit better than 650 $ contract-free price (with tax)
 
And remind me again, why are you cancelling? Seems like you just want to get the phone.

iPod Touch anybody?
 
PDFierro said:
And remind me again, why are you cancelling? Seems like you just want to get the phone.

iPod Touch anybody?
Click to expand...

I need a phone with hight capabilities .. not hight capabilities without phone !!!

of course i'm gonna unlock it , not just use it as an ipod touch (which costs only 199$)
 
lavinci said:
I would go for it, now if it is $100 difference, I would go with the ETF one.
Click to expand...

no .. the difference is : 650 - 610 = 40 $ not 100 $
read this again :

199 price
36 activation
80 first month (with tax)
80 second month (with tax)
165 etf
50 tax
-------------
610 $

and this :

" They don't prorate the last month of service when you cancel, so it would be the full 80 for the 2nd month " ... thanks " STEVESKI07 "
 
abulrom said:
no .. the difference is : 650 - 610 = 40 $ not 100 $ (use the calculator to make sure)

read this again :

199 price
36 activation
80 first month (with tax)
80 second month (with tax)
165 etf
50 tax
-------------
610 $

and this :

" They don't prorate the last month of service when you cancel, so it would be the full 80 for the 2nd month " ... thanks " STEVESKI07 "
Click to expand...

Perhaps you need to read better? I believe lavinci meant that if the difference was $100, it's worth the headache to go the ETF route. :)

abulrom said:
I need a phone with hight capabilities .. not hight capabilities without phone !!!

of course i'm gonna unlock it , not just use it as an ipod touch (which costs only 199$)
Click to expand...
Apologies on this, I'm not following, you need a tall iPhone? You most likely won't be able to unlock it since new iPhone's should come with 3.1 firmware.

Also note, if you go the ETF route, I'm not sure how keeping your number comes in. However if you are uninterested in keeping your phone number, then I guess the point is moot.
 
bytethese said:
Apologies on this, I'm not following, you need a tall iPhone? You most likely won't be able to unlock it since new iPhone's should come with 3.1 firmware.
Click to expand...

iphone is tall enough :cool: .. but even if u like more taller phones .. check this LG ( the tallest touch screen phone ever ) LG BL40 Chocolate :
http://www.gsmarena.com/lg_bl40_new_chocolate-2916.php


"You most likely won't be able to unlock it since new iPhone's should come with 3.1 firmware"

yeah u're right if i don't downgrade to 3.0 then jailbreak the phone .
 
abulrom said:
iphone is tall enough :cool: .. but even if u like more taller phones .. check this LG ( the tallest touch screen phone ever ) LG BL40 Chocolate :
http://www.gsmarena.com/lg_bl40_new_chocolate-2916.php


"You most likely won't be able to unlock it since new iPhone's should come with 3.1 firmware"

yeah u're right if i didn't downgrade to 3.0 then jailbreak the phone .
Click to expand...

Ok, the whole thing made sense until there. You can't downgrade the 3GS unless u saved a file while it was on 3.0. Even then, you can't downgrade the baseband PERIOD, making it impossible (for now) to unlock a new iPhone 3GS with 3.1
 
abulrom said:
iphone is tall enough :cool: .. but even if u like more taller phones .. check this LG ( the tallest touch screen phone ever ) LG BL40 Chocolate :
http://www.gsmarena.com/lg_bl40_new_chocolate-2916.php


"You most likely won't be able to unlock it since new iPhone's should come with 3.1 firmware"

yeah u're right if i didn't downgrade to 3.0 then jailbreak the phone .
Click to expand...

I guess what I am saying is what do you mean by hight?

Also, how do you propose to downgrade the firmware? If you get that far, unfortunately you would still be unable to unlock the device since the baseband is currently not unlockable.
 
mackmgg said:
Ok, the whole thing made sense until there. You can't downgrade the 3GS unless u saved a file while it was on 3.0. Even then, you can't downgrade the baseband PERIOD, making it impossible (for now) to unlock a new iPhone 3GS with 3.1
Click to expand...

My man, thats what I did (twice, actually, i got a iphone 3g in december and a 3gs in june) and its a pain in the ass. I wasnt aware you could buy a iphone without contract right directly from AT&T. If they are willing to do that, why the f not have them be unlocked. We bought ours to be on a local GSM carrier that doesnt care what you use and doesnt force you to have data plan. Make sure you dont port your number over, just get whatever number they want to give you and then either port your number to your new GSM company or use your existing sim. Dont port your number and cancel your account, you lose your number that way.
 
bytethese said:
I guess what I am saying is what do you mean by hight?

Also, how do you propose to downgrade the firmware? If you get that far, unfortunately you would still be unable to unlock the device since the baseband is currently not unlockable.
Click to expand...

yeah .. i know .. but i thought it's right to say high capabilities for phones (they use it a lot in GSMarena.com ) .. furthermore i'm not american (never visit America before) and in my country only few people speake English well (glad i'm one of them) .. so forgive me if i had some mistakes !!

about downgrading to OS 3.0 : i've read that it's possible .. actually i have no idea about baseband .. thanks for telling me coz i was about to ask my uncle ( american citizen ) to buy me the iphone 3gs ..
ok lets wait till dev team find the solution ..
 
abulrom said:
yeah .. i know .. but i thought it's right to say high capabilities for phones (they use it a lot in GSMarena.com ) .. furthermore i'm not american (never visit America before) and in my country only few people speake English well (glad i'm one of them) .. so forgive me if i had some mistakes !!

about downgrading to OS 3.0 : i've read that it's possible .. actually i have no idea about baseband .. thanks for telling me coz i was about to ask my uncle ( american citizen ) to buy me the iphone 3gs ..
ok lets wait till dev team find the solution ..
Click to expand...
I see what you mean now, I figured you weren't native English speaker but I understand now. :)

You can downgrade, just not on the iPhone 3GS. Baseband is also not able to be downgraded on the 3G or the 3GS.
 
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