Strategic Replacement

usingpond said:

Hey guys. I was just wondering about when exactly to replace my iPhone.

As you may know, Apple is often quite generous with their customer support. In fact, I got my iBook replaced with a MacBook a few years ago since they didn't make iBooks and I needed a replacement.

Well, now my iPhone needs a replacement. Part of the screen is completely unresponsive. A good half of it, actually. Anyway, it clearly will require a swap out.


On to the question. Should I wait until 3G comes out? Do you think they would give me the current version of the phone, since they won't be manufacturing the older 2.5Gs after a certain point? I don't really know how it works with iPods. I'm assuming though, that they would go with the iPod policy over the Mac policy if they're different, so please share similar experiences if you have them!

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you'll end up getting a refurb iPhone if you walk into the Apple store.

How did you break it?

Don't you think that they have an iPhone policy?

They have plenty of current iPhones that they will be happy to replace your broken one with. That is, if the reason it doesn't work is a warranty issue.

They aren't going to give you a 3G iPhone just because you decide to wait until it's released. I'd say you were just lucky with the iBook to MacBook replacement.

Hard-Boot, restore, and you should be good to go! I've had that happen a couple times, but it was easily fixed within my 10 minute visit to the Apple Store. What will happen is the Apple Store will run your iPhone through the "ringer" and the only way to replace the iPhone is if they cannot restore it. They'll ask you if you did a recent backup and then they do the hard-boot on their MBP at the counter, and then check to see if there has been any jailbreak or water damage and if there's a software glitch. I've seen them turn away people that felt they should get a "replacement" when in fact, they didn't go through the procedures to reboot or restore their iPhone. Good Luck either way.

SFStateStudent said:

Hard-Boot, restore, and you should be good to go! I've had that happen a couple times, but it was easily fixed within my 10 minute visit to the Apple Store. What will happen is the Apple Store will run your iPhone through the "ringer" and the only way to replace the iPhone is if they cannot restore it. They'll ask you if you did a recent backup and then they do the hard-boot on their MBP at the counter, and then check to see if there has been any jailbreak or water damage and if there's a software glitch. I've seen them turn away people that felt they should get a "replacement" when in fact, they didn't go through the procedures to reboot or restore their iPhone. Good Luck either way.

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SO mi issue is with the speaker, it's broken, I have my iphone jailbreak and unlocked...I can erase the baseband and lock it again like new.....what should i say to the genius? can they know that this iphone where jailbreak/unlocked?
I read some thread about claiming the warranty and they said that they don't have money to buy the contract with At&t so they haven't activated yet but that they tried to use the phone and make 911 call (no ethic at all!) and they hear the speaker broken......

usingpond said:

Hey guys. I was just wondering about when exactly to replace my iPhone.

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Replace it now. Waiting for HSDPA isn't going to help you. If you give them an EDGE iphone, they're going to replace it with a refurbed EDGE iPhone.

If you wait long enough and they're out of EDGE models, I bet you they'll send it in to get repaired, and then you'll have to wait a week or two while they repair your iPhone and send it back to you. Even optimistically-speaking, I don't think they would consider swapping out an EDGE with an HSDPA model for at least a few months after their release.

I'm pretty certain Apple will at least have some spare parts on hand for the EDGE until the warranties begin to run out. In any case, waiting for them to run out of refurbs in the hopes that they'll send you new-model replacement isn't THAT much of a payoff. Is it really worth dealing with a busted iPhone for multiple months? It would make more sense to repair it now, take good care of it, then eBay it when the new ones come out, to help defray the upgrade cost. Which is what most Mac/iPod users do anyway.

If your iPhone isn't too scratched up, it should net a decent resale value, even if it's the old model. Lots of people still don't have 3G coverage and would not benefit from a 3G iPhone, but would be more than willing to take the EDGE model off our hands at less-than-new pricing.

As for me, I might just keep mine around as a backup to my 3G model when I get it. Seeing as this particular phone has lasted longer than any other cell phone I've ever owned, I guess it deserves *some* bit of loyalty.

usingpond said:

Hey guys. I was just wondering about when exactly to replace my iPhone.

As you may know, Apple is often quite generous with their customer support. In fact, I got my iBook replaced with a MacBook a few years ago since they didn't make iBooks and I needed a replacement.

Well, now my iPhone needs a replacement. Part of the screen is completely unresponsive. A good half of it, actually. Anyway, it clearly will require a swap out.


On to the question. Should I wait until 3G comes out? Do you think they would give me the current version of the phone, since they won't be manufacturing the older 2.5Gs after a certain point? I don't really know how it works with iPods. I'm assuming though, that they would go with the iPod policy over the Mac policy if they're different, so please share similar experiences if you have them!

Click to expand...

replace it now and sell it to me... use the money for a new 3G iphone in a couple months

Supposing a June 30 release. They will have iPhone 1.0 on hand for at least 45 days afterward. You'd be better off replacing today and hoping the replacement goes bad in August. lol