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Advice before buying my 1st Iphone

G

golfergirl13

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 5, 2009
65
0
I hope this is the correct forum. I'm thinking about buying the iphone 3G 8gb on ebay. Since I never owned an iphone and never really even thought about owning one, what should I look for when buying an iphone over at ebay? What is the latest firmware I should get? What other things should I look for? Do I get one that says "jailbreak"?

I will be replacing my samsung blackjack to the iphone. Therefore, I thought I could just switch the sim card from my blackjack to the iphone. However, I spoke with a tech at AT&T and he said iphone don't use sim cards. I thought all AT&T phone use sim cards.

I have unlimited data plan for my blackjack. Can I still use the unlimited data plan for my iphone or do I have to get the iphone data plan?

By the way, when I did a search, when I would click the back button to go back to my searches, it gave me a "warning page expired" Anyways, any suggestion/advice is appreciated
 
Its funny they would claim that since they give you a SIM paper clip in the box.

IMO you are better off just buying one new for $199 unless you are going to not use AT&T.

Btw I would not jail break or use a jail broken phone if you dont know what you are doing. You can brick your phone.
 
golfergirl13 said:
I hope this is the correct forum. I'm thinking about buying the iphone 3G 8gb on ebay. Since I never owned an iphone and never really even thought about owning one, what should I look for when buying an iphone over at ebay? What is the latest firmware I should get? What other things should I look for? Do I get one that says "jailbreak"?

I will be replacing my samsung blackjack to the iphone. Therefore, I thought I could just switch the sim card from my blackjack to the iphone. However, I spoke with a tech at AT&T and he said iphone don't use sim cards. I thought all AT&T phone use sim cards.

I have unlimited data plan for my blackjack. Can I still use the unlimited data plan for my iphone or do I have to get the iphone data plan?

By the way, when I did a search, when I would click the back button to go back to my searches, it gave me a "warning page expired" Anyways, any suggestion/advice is appreciated
Click to expand...

1. First off make sure the auction is legit and the seller has good feedback.
2. firmware, depends if you want it unlocked or not. 2.2 is unlockable but 2.2.1 is not from my understanding.
3. as for jailbreak, it doesn't matter on this one cause you can do it urself.
4. yes iPhones have sim cards. that dude must have been a quack. He must not have a sim card in his head. LOL!!
5. Don't know if that unlimited data plan will work or not. I know people use the BB unlimited data plan with it. But at&t will soon find out that you have the iPhone. If your going to get it from ebay just call at&t and have them change it over to th iPhone data plan. You shouldn't need a contract to do that.
6. have no idea what the last thing is.

I hope this helps some. :D
 
If there is nothing wrong with your phone why don't you wait a couple of months and buy the next generation iphone coming out this summer. If your going to stay with AT&T just buy from them. There are a lot of scams on used iphones these days. In the mean time bone up on all the information you can on the iphone. I think you'll be happy you waited.
 
buy new. I dislike ebay... it is full of scammers. not worth the headache to save a few bucks.

plus, i don't like used items that are things that people put near their face, mouth, and touch a lot. Perhaps the person selling the iphone is a smoker. Gross.
 
Oh and if you want a used phone because you want to save money, just get a refurb from apple or BB. You will have better luck.
 
davelanger said:
Oh and if you want a used phone because you want to save money, just get a refurb from apple or BB. You will have better luck.
Click to expand...

Agreed.

The only reason to go the E-Bay route is if you have very specific needs in regards to firmware for jail-breaking purposes.

If you know what you need for that, great. But if you're just going to use it regular-style then E-Bay is more trouble than it's worth.
 
I'm glad I decided to register here. Thanks for all the help. :)

davelanger said:
IMO you are better off just buying one new for $199 unless you are going to not use AT&T.
Click to expand...

I just switched over to AT&T a little over a month. The same tech that I spoke with at AT&T said I could do the early upgrade for $399. That's why I started looking at the iphone at ebay for a little bit cheaper price.

Tate said:
3. as for jailbreak, it doesn't matter on this one cause you can do it urself.
Click to expand...

How is this done?

bigchief said:
If there is nothing wrong with your phone why don't you wait a couple of months and buy the next generation iphone coming out this summer. If your going to stay with AT&T just buy from them. There are a lot of scams on used iphones these days. In the mean time bone up on all the information you can on the iphone. I think you'll be happy you waited.
Click to expand...

I heard its not yet certain when Apple will be releasing or even when. Will it be June, July or August? Who knows? Maybe it could be released later in the year. Does anyone know exactly when? By the way, what will the new iphone have compared to the 3g iphone now?

Oh yea, what about phone insurance? Is that a good idea?
 
 
Doesn't matter the firmware because you can just update it to whatever you want... jailbroken phones I think cost more but you can just do it yourself if you so choose...
 
I just called Best Buy and the tech said it would cost $549 to get a refurbished iphone. Also, he said that I am not entitled to an early upgrade until my 2 year contract ends. However, when I spoke with an AT&T tech, he said I could do an early upgrade of $399. So now I am confused.
 
I don't know if I can make your decision making any easier but I will tell you why I bought NEW iPhone 3G from ebay.

As soon as I read MMS and search features are available on 3.0 Beta 2, I ordered NEW iPhone 3G 8GB from ebay for around $420 after live.com cashback discounts.

I didn't want to get from Apple or AT&T as I was not sure if I will like the iPhone after couple of months as I am very used to the convenience of Smart Dialing, T9 Texting, MMS, multi-media functions on phone. I thought if I start to like the iPhone I can always grab the new model that is rumored to be coming out in Summer as I am hoping it will improve on camera/video capabilities. I will be willing to get stuck on a $30 data-plan for two years only if I LOVE the iPhone. Else, I will sell my iPhone and get a phone that meets my needs and doesn't get forced to a 2 year $30 data-plan on AT&T.
 
kits said:
I don't know if I can make your decision making any easier but I will tell you why I bought NEW iPhone 3G from ebay.

As soon as I read MMS and search features are available on 3.0 Beta 2, I ordered NEW iPhone 3G 8GB from ebay for around $420 after live.com cashback discounts.

I didn't want to get from Apple or AT&T as I was not sure if I will like the iPhone after couple of months as I am very used to the convenience of Smart Dialing, T9 Texting, MMS, multi-media functions on phone. I thought if I start to like the iPhone I can always grab the new model that is rumored to be coming out in Summer as I am hoping it will improve on camera/video capabilities. I will be willing to get stuck on a $30 data-plan for two years only if I LOVE the iPhone. Else, I will sell my iPhone and get a phone that meets my needs and doesn't get forced to a 2 year $30 data-plan on AT&T.
Click to expand...

yeah but that's pretty rare to find a new iphone for $420. Most "new" iphones are either refurbished, used, not working, as is, etc

If you are going to stick with AT&T I would wait a bit for the new iphone, and then just buy it from apple

I you cannot wait, I would just buy the iPhone from AT&T, there are waaay to many shady iPhones on ebay/craigslist.
 
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