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Best way to get iPhone out of contract and onto T-mobile

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bozeefus

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 18, 2008
70
0
***THIS IS ALL UNDER THE ASSUMPTION THAT I GET A NEW CONTRACT WITH AT&T*** i have been with t-mobile only and never been with at&t before

so apple announced a new iphone called the iphone 3gs. as a result, the price of the old iphone 3g has been adjusted

old iphone 3g 8gb - 100
iphone 3gs 16gb - 200
iphone 3gs 32 gb - 300

old iphone 3g 8gb without contract
iphone 3g 8gb - 65 (originally 100, 35 cashback)
one month service - 70
activation fee - 36
cancellation fee - 175
total = 346


thoughts?


edit: included the bing.com 35% CB on phone

---everything below this point is the old post - ignore it please ----


This is what I posted on ipodtouchfans.com:

After a week of Craiglist browsing and talking with countless incompetent sellers, people wanting me to meet in shady areas known for crime, etc etc
I'm thinking my best option to obtain iPhone is through AT&T directly. I also plan on using it on T-mobile.

As far as I know, here is the total cost of getting iPhone without contract:

iphone 3g 8gb - 200
one month service - 70
activation fee - 36
cancellation fee - 175
total = 481 :x

Of course, you can buy a refurbed for 100
so price drops to 381 accordingly

Are there any fees I'm missing? Are my numbers right?

thanks for your time!
Click to expand...

it has come to my attention that there are further discounts available.

if you do live.com CB, you can get 35% cashback on iphone + contract. however, i do not know if it's 35% cashback on just the phone unit or 1st month's cost as well.

in any case, the "live.com CB" deal will be:
iphone 3g 8gb - 130 (originally 200)
one month service - 70
activation fee - 36
cancellation fee - 175
total = 411**

reburbished:
iphone 3g 8gb - 65 (originally 100)
one month service - 70
activation fee - 36
cancellation fee - 175
total = 346**

**it's possible it may be cheaper if the cashback also includes CB on first month of service (~25 dollars cheaper)
of course, it's live.com CB program so it will take months to get your money back.

anyone know of other deals or errors in my math?

thanks!


edit: oops, i hit submit too early. i forgot to include the best buy offerings.

best buy silver:
iphone 3g 8gb - 100 (originally 200)
one month service - 70
activation fee - 36
cancellation fee - 175
total = 381**

however, although the deal seems good, it comes with problems. first, i need to find someone who is a silver members (i know a couple of friends who work @ best buy but i do not know if they have achieved silver status or if they are willing to buy one for me). also, since best buy is a 3rd-party retailer for AT&T, they might charge more for early termination fee. any insight on this guys?
 
Applejuiced

Applejuiced

macrumors Westmere
Apr 16, 2008
40,672
6,533
At the iPhone hacks section.
Or maybe if you know someone that has an iphone you can have them go to Apple or AT&T and tell them they want to buy another iphone cause their got lost/stolen. They'll pay full price for it but at least you wont have to go thru activations, cancellation and other bs....
 
B

bozeefus

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 18, 2008
70
0
Applejuiced said:
Or maybe if you know someone that has an iphone you can have them go to Apple or AT&T and tell them they want to buy another iphone cause their got lost/stolen. They'll pay full price for it but at least you wont have to go thru activations, cancellation and other bs....
Click to expand...

oh, is the retail price cheaper than going through all of that?
 
Applejuiced

Applejuiced

macrumors Westmere
Apr 16, 2008
40,672
6,533
At the iPhone hacks section.
Not if they already have an Iphone.
What happens to people that lose their Iphone 3G or get it stolen. They just get another one but they pay full unsubsidized price. They dont resign another contract and be locked down for 4 years if they just bought one and lost it.

jason72780 said:
It's still not for sale contract free , so they'd be signing a new contract and paying the early upgrade price.
Click to expand...
 
dave006

dave006

macrumors 68040
Jul 3, 2008
3,566
889
Just West of East
jason72780 said:
It's still not for sale contract free , so they'd be signing a new contract and paying the early upgrade price.
Click to expand...

Applejuiced said:
Not if they already have an Iphone.
What happens to people that lose their Iphone 3G or get it stolen. They just get another one but they pay full unsubsidized price. They dont resign another contract and be locked down for 4 years if they just bought one and lost it.
Click to expand...
No, they pay the "Early Upgrade" fee of $399/$499 and start a new two year service agreement. You don't really extent contracts or add to the contract lenght with AT&T.

There is not currently a full unsubsidized price for the iPhone 3G in the US market. AT&T has announced in July 2008 that they may offer this option in the future and the price would be $599/$699. This is why you cant' buy an iPhone 3G from Apple, AT&T, Best Buy and now even Wal*mart without a two year service commitment.

Dave
 
Applejuiced

Applejuiced

macrumors Westmere
Apr 16, 2008
40,672
6,533
At the iPhone hacks section.
Oh, I see what dave is saying.
So if I bought an iphone last month and lost it then instead of having 23 months left on contract I'd get another one for the $399 - $499 price but start my contract again from todays date so another 24 months to go. Makes sense.
 
B

bozeefus

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 18, 2008
70
0
jeremykyle said:
The iPhone would actually be $399 if you are not signing a new contract. I am a little confused by this post.
Click to expand...

sorry about that

the main thing to note is that i plan on starting a new contract with AT&T, get iphone, pay EFT, and use iphone on t-mobile.

the rest of my main post just lists the cost of doing this under various promotions. i was actually hoping people would proofread my math, note other misc. fees, or input whether others have done this.
 
mhnajjar

mhnajjar

macrumors 6502a
Mar 3, 2008
777
0
bozeefus said:
sorry about that

the main thing to note is that i plan on starting a new contract with AT&T, get iphone, pay EFT, and use iphone on t-mobile.

the rest of my main post just lists the cost of doing this under various promotions. i was actually hoping people would proofread my math, note other misc. fees, or input whether others have done this.
Click to expand...

I do not see why this should not work. ATT is very stupid with their deals. In 3rd world countries, you have to sign a 6 months contract instead of 2-years for way less than what everyone ends up paying with AT&T!
 
G

gmudotedu

macrumors newbie
Feb 25, 2009
3
0
Have you or anyone you know actually used an iPhone on the T-Mobile network? Not just for phone calls, but for web browsing and the whole nine? Because I have heard plenty of people talking about it being possible theoretically, but I have not yet seen an iPhone that was working on the T-Mobile network. Also, how do you open the phone to put the T-Mobile SIM card into it?
 
A

aFo

macrumors newbie
Feb 17, 2009
14
0
Why not just get an iphone on ebay? There are so many on the market..I got mine for $400 unlocked, and now there are plenty for $350 or less. Using it with T-mo right now too.
 
B

bozeefus

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 18, 2008
70
0
gmudotedu said:
Have you or anyone you know actually used an iPhone on the T-Mobile network? Not just for phone calls, but for web browsing and the whole nine? Because I have heard plenty of people talking about it being possible theoretically, but I have not yet seen an iPhone that was working on the T-Mobile network. Also, how do you open the phone to put the T-Mobile SIM card into it?
Click to expand...

i actually know more people who have iphone on tmobile than on at&t. and yes, it does work on t-mobile.

EDGE works
but i don't know if 3G works (probably not but I won't be purchasing a data plan anyway)
 
G

gmudotedu

macrumors newbie
Feb 25, 2009
3
0
Ebay it, then T-Mobile. Clearly.

Yeah I bought mine on ebay for $281, but that does not reflect the prices that I just saw on ebay today. I broke the one I bought on ebay, took it back into the Apple store, paid $199 and got a brand new iPhone and didn't sign up for any AT&T nonsense! I told the guy that it's unlocked and I use T-Mobile. He just went in the back, got me a new one, kept the old one, charged me $199, no tax, end of story. I live in Virginia, a state that has 4.5% sales tax, so I don't know why they didn't charge tax, but I'm not gonna complain! I love my iPhone and I love having it on T-Mobile with unlimited minutes for $49.99 and unlimited data for $19.99 (but this will change to $39.99 eventually).
 
P

ptsube

macrumors 6502
Oct 12, 2008
277
24
Buy a locked iPhone on eBay, then unlock it yourself. It's quite easy to do. You'll save a lot of money and hassle by doing this.
 
R

rudetude

macrumors newbie
Apr 16, 2009
19
0
i guess you can get out of your contract if you cancel it in the first 30 days, but does anyone know if they will let you keep the iphone?
 
zub3qin

zub3qin

macrumors 65816
Apr 10, 2007
1,314
2
ptsube said:
Buy a locked iPhone on eBay, then unlock it yourself. It's quite easy to do. You'll save a lot of money and hassle by doing this.
Click to expand...

I thought you couldn't unlock a 3G iPhone with the latest firmware?
 
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