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strategy: getting an iPhone 3G this week

shecky

shecky

Guest
Original poster
May 24, 2003
2,580
5
Obviously you're not a golfer.
not having been a line-waiter in the past for new Apple product I am at a loss as to the smartest/easiest way to find myself a phone this week. normally i would just wait a few weeks and walk right in and call it a day, but due to my T-mo contract terminating Saturday AM, i am forced to get an iPhone by close of business this Friday or i will loose my existing cell number** which is not an option as i use it for business. beyond that this little piece of electronic lust is not really so important that i want to wait on lines overnight, etc.

So, after seeing all the stock level threads, the line waiting threads, etc... what is a good strategy to get a phone by this friday? i do not have any FAN numbers, etc.. so i can go to either AT+T or Apple. i am looking for 16GB, probably in white.

1) check apple's website after 9PM, if they say they have phones in stock, get there early before opening and wait and hope i am early enough (i was thinking an hour before opening at Providence Place?).

2) call my AT+T store every couple of hours to see if they have stock and be prepared to run over at the drop of a hat (doable as i own my own business and can go there anytime i like). i was at my local AT+T today and there was only 1 other person in the store so it seems like lines are not going to be an issue.

3) call my apple store every couple of hours to see if they have stock and be prepared to run over at the drop of a hat. the problem here is i might run over and be behind 100 people and loose out anyway. i was at providence place today around 2PM and there were 25 people in line and no phones even in the store (not sure why they were in line).

any thoughts?

**i was thinking if i do not get a phone this week, i could get a payG phone, port my number, and then just wait until AT+T has a phone in a few weeks and upgrade that way. not sure if this is doable.
 
shecky said:
1) check apple's website after 9PM, if they say they have phones in stock, get there early before opening and wait and hope i am early enough (i was thinking an hour before opening at Providence Place?).
Click to expand...

I think this is probably your only real chance. I'd make it an hour and a half though. ;)
 
thats kind of what i am leaning towards (assuming they even have stock tomorrow). i do kind of wonder how accurate those stock reports are on the site tho. i would flip if i went in early and waited based on the website report just to find they have nothing.
 
Do you mean that T-Mobile doesn't continue its customers on a month to month basis after the contract terminates? That certainly hasn't been my experience with other carriers, but I have no experience with T-Mobile. I would have assumed that you would continue to get monthly bills and only lose your number when you stop paying or cancel. It surely would be worth verifying whether this is the case. Then you can take your time to get your iPhone and you won't have to do anything else in the interim.
 
i am getting an early termination without the ETF due to the text messaging increase. this will happen automatically on Saturday. if i do not port the number out before then, i loose it. going back to t-mo and asking them to give me more time is not an option if i still want the ETF waived.
 
If your really want to save your number (and as painful as this sounds) you should consider just going into an AT&T store and port the number over to a new account - they will probably give you a temporary phone until the iPhone comes in (arrange that ahead of time and make sure you get it in writing).
 
ubersalad said:
Anything involving AT&T would be a waste of time.
Click to expand...

They are on you like car salesmen to try to get you do a direct fulfillment. I told them no thanks, I can probably get it at the Apple store sometime this week, they seem to get a ton more of them in than the ATT store.
 
shecky said:
thats kind of what i am leaning towards (assuming they even have stock tomorrow). i do kind of wonder how accurate those stock reports are on the site tho. i would flip if i went in early and waited based on the website report just to find they have nothing.
Click to expand...

Well, I was burned by a false stock report on Sunday. Drove 1 1/2 hours each way, got there before opening, and was told that they had no stock. Not happy.
 
michaelsaxon said:
Well, I was burned by a false stock report on Sunday. Drove 1 1/2 hours each way, got there before opening, and was told that they had no stock. Not happy.
Click to expand...

That is what I am not looking forward to. It's a 2-hr round trip drive for me. I called my "local" apple store. They suggested checking the night before (which I've been doing) then driving out to be there for the 10am opening and then if there are no phones waiting for an afternoon shipment--if it comes.

Not particularly helpful (but very pleasant on the phone).
 
My coworker wanted to get one this week and she's currently a Verizon customer who will be porting her number. On Friday when she went into the ATT store they told her that they couldn't order it for her until she was ready to start the contract and port her number to ATT (in which case, until she had the phone in hand, would not have any service because her Verizon phone wouldn't work anymore).

She called the ATT store again this morning and asked if they could do it again and got someone that knew how. We went in and she ordered it and said they would set the contract up when the phone came in. She was a little miffed that she missed out on a whole weekends worth of orders in line ahead of her now, but at least she's in line.

It has been confirmed several times on the forum now that ATT are not selling to walk in customers and are only fulfilling orders at this point, so going into the ATT stores will be a waste of time. If I were you, I'd try to get someone on the hook that knows what they are doing so you can get on the order list.
 
techiegrrl said:
My coworker wanted to get one this week and she's currently a Verizon customer who will be porting her number. On Friday when she went into the ATT store they told her that they couldn't order it for her until she was ready to start the contract and port her number to ATT (in which case, until she had the phone in hand, would not have any service because her Verizon phone wouldn't work anymore).

She called the ATT store again this morning and asked if they could do it again and got someone that knew how. We went in and she ordered it and said they would set the contract up when the phone came in. She was a little miffed that she missed out on a whole weekends worth of orders in line ahead of her now, but at least she's in line.

It has been confirmed several times on the forum now that ATT are not selling to walk in customers and are only fulfilling orders at this point, so going into the ATT stores will be a waste of time. If I were you, I'd try to get someone on the hook that knows what they are doing so you can get on the order list.
Click to expand...
I am sure there's way to go around it. Has she tried Apple store?
 
techiegrrl said:
It has been confirmed several times on the forum now that ATT are not selling to walk in customers and are only fulfilling orders at this point, so going into the ATT stores will be a waste of time.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure this is true (and I hope it's not). I was at an AT&T store (in Atlanta) on Sunday and was told that any deliveries this week would be sold first come, first served to walk-in customers. They weren't even taking DF orders.
 
Dang this kinda sucks....so ATT is not doing DF orders now? That means they are not going to be getting any good kinda stock.

Its the apple store for me then...i will check the inventory every night after 9pm and hit up the store the next day.

I figured monday would and will be the worst day...since they sold out on sunday most apple stores.

The best day will be wensday or thursday.
 
"1) check apple's website after 9PM, if they say they have phones in stock, get there early before opening and wait and hope i am early enough (i was thinking an hour before opening at Providence Place?)."

The Apple Store near me wasn't supposed to have the 16GB models in stock, but they did from when they opened and they got extra shipments throughout the day. I wouldn't trust what Apple posts on the availability site. Past the first few weeks they don't need it anyway.
 
I went to my apple store today hoping they'd get a shipment in sometime after opening and before lunch. At 10am, they told me nothing had come in, and they didn't know anything. I left, thinking I'd check again at noon. Stupid me, I called in at noon, they had gotten a shipment, but claimed to have sold them all already. So tomorrow, I'm planning on going in around 10am and hovering until lunch time.
 
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