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I went to the Verizon store this evening. The guy there was very helpful. He started out by saying they don't have any iPhones in stock, and the only place to get them now would be at an Apple Store.

Again, this doesn't sound right. Did you go to a corp store or an agent? Agents don't have the iPhone, only VZW Corp stores. All the corp stores around me have plenty in stock and if they didn't they could still ship you one from the warehouse.
 
Verizon is giving me the run around. I called the 1-800 number which ended up being a sales line. A guy named David took my call and when I mentioned the social security issue he said that I would have to finish the purchase through a storefront and promptly hung up on me. I tried calling the number again and ended up getting the same guy, who was really pissed that I called back.

AT&T it is. Hopefully I don't go over 2gb. Thanks for the help everyone.

Hey, if you are a good negotiator (I'm not), maybe you can convince them to give you unlimited (I mean apparently they are letting some people talk them into it who had it before and lost it. Maybe you can convince them it would be a good idea to get your business over verizon getting it. Of course, you couldn't let them know you couldn't get the phone through Verizon).

Or maybe the rumor I heard is true about them upping the tethering plan. Which would mean if you wanted to spend 45 dollars you could at least get double the GB and be allowed to tether (or you could just use it for the phone). More expensive but if you really need the GB, at least it's an option.

And if it makes you feel better, I've always had good experiences with AT&T/Cingular but I don't usually have much issues so I haven't had too many (did have an occasional one and they've always been helpful).
 
No credit is worse than bad credit in this world. I'm 22, I've never had any problem getting approved by a cell providor (I've had, at one time or another, AT&T twice, Verizon twice and Sprint once).

It sounds like you just need to get with it. My feedback to you? Just do what they ask. It's not that big of a deal.
 
Again, this doesn't sound right. Did you go to a corp store or an agent? Agents don't have the iPhone, only VZW Corp stores. All the corp stores around me have plenty in stock and if they didn't they could still ship you one from the warehouse.

I have to agree on this, I find it kind of hard to believe that some Verizon stores would be out of stock on the iphones already since they had such short lines the last two days of the launch and even if they were out of stock they could have placed an order right at the store. Seems theres a bit more to this than we all know.
 
If Verizon wanted his money, they should be telling their CS's not to give short/curt replies and hang up before seeing if the customer had any more questions.

And I can understand being frustrated about being refused a phone at age 23 being told cause you are too young (23 too young, really?!). I didn't have much credit at 23 cause I avoided credit cards like the plague. It's probably a much better mentality not to be relying on credit cards. He's put himself in a better position than a lot of young kids who got credit, didn't know how to use it, and put themselves in a lot of debt. That to me is a lot more responsible right there.

And not everyone can get a job that can reasonably afford a house at 23! Sure, some were tricked into thinking they could... that's how we ended up with the mortgage crisis with a ton of people who actually couldn't afford what they bought. It's called he's living within his means. More people should have learned how to do that.

Not to mention OP is handling the antagonistic posts here with a lot more maturity than some of the people responding to him...
 
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As you're signing up with AT&T, push for unlimited data. They should be able to put you on that plan.

Good luck.

Think so? I was thinking about trying this but it sounds like a long shot. I heard that they were offering unlimited data to current iPhone owners, but that not everyone was qualified.

Maybe in a week or two, AT&T might bring back the unlimited plan to compete better against Verizon. I can hold out a bit longer.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-gb) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

cowbellallen said:
As you're signing up with AT&T, push for unlimited data. They should be able to put you on that plan.

Good luck.

Think so? I was thinking about trying this but it sounds like a long shot. I heard that they were offering unlimited data to current iPhone owners, but that not everyone was qualified.

Maybe in a week or two, AT&T might bring back the unlimited plan to compete better against Verizon. I can hold out a bit longer.

Just tell them you want unlimited data or else you'd go for verizon. :)
 
Maybe Verizon is different, but my friend switched over to AT&T late last year and was able to set up his own contract (he's 19), he just needed to put down a deposit.
 
And I can understand being frustrated about being refused a phone at age 23 being told cause you are too young (23 too young, really?!). I didn't have much credit at 23 cause I avoided credit cards like the plague. It's probably a much better mentality not to be relying on credit cards. He's put himself in a better position than a lot of young kids who got credit, didn't know how to use it, and put themselves in a lot of debt. That to me is a lot more responsible right there.
23 is not a "young kid"...it's a mature adult age and a total embarrassment to be living with parents at that age. Besides, who said anything about credit cards. I had/have an excellent credit rating because I was able to pay a large deposit in my house and keep up the payments on it. I have a credit card now that I use for my business expenses and that is paid off each and every month, so I fail to see your point.

Maybe in a week or two he will have made up his mind...or not...
 
Here's an update. I called a Verizon store in Plano off 75 and spoke with an extremely nice woman named Natalia. I told her about what's been going on, and she was more than helpful. She took my number down, made several calls, and got back to me within about 15 minutes.

No social security card needed! They said all they want is a utilities bill or monthly bank statement, and I'm good to go.

She has set aside an iPhone for me because she thinks they'll be sold out by the time I get out of work tonight. No deposit needed.:cool:
 
23 is not a "young kid"...it's a mature adult age and a total embarrassment to be living with parents at that age. Besides, who said anything about credit cards. I had/have an excellent credit rating because I was able to pay a large deposit in my house and keep up the payments on it. I have a credit card now that I use for my business expenses and that is paid off each and every month, so I fail to see your point.

Maybe in a week or two he will have made up his mind...or not...

I didn't say it is. THat's why I think it's ridiculous they are saying he's too young to get a cellphone plan. The house thing was some one saying he should have bought a house to get credit.

But, honestly, who are you to judge some one else's position? You have no idea what his living situation is. And even at my first job (The good one I had before I quit it) I didn't make enough to actually buy a house. You have a house, good for you. Not everyone has that good of a job when they first start out. My roommate who is an aerospace engineer didn't have enough to get a house til he was 30 (he also was doing the responsible thing and saving his money for a good deposit down on the house and also waiting for his job to be stable as his employer had a huge layoff time right when he first was ready to buy).

You assume a lot about some one's life just by what little he writes here. I wonder what your life is like if you feel you must belittle some one on some internet cause you "did better".
 
Woohoo! Jose at the Verizon store on Preston totally worked his magic for me. I brought in a bank statement, and was out of the store within 30 minutes. I'm completely setup, didn't need to fax then a Social Security Card, and didn't need to fork over a deposit.

I have an original iPod Touch, and I'm blown away by how fast this iPhone is compared to it. Even 3g works amazingly. I totally love it.

Thanks for the help everyone! Appreciate you much, tigress!
 
Glad it all worked out. I was beginning to doubt your story, seeing as how a deposit is usually always the answer to poor credit (whether it be a $500 deposit).
 
Woohoo! Jose at the Verizon store on Preston totally worked his magic for me. I brought in a bank statement, and was out of the store within 30 minutes. I'm completely setup, didn't need to fax then a Social Security Card, and didn't need to fork over a deposit.

I have an original iPod Touch, and I'm blown away by how fast this iPhone is compared to it. Even 3g works amazingly. I totally love it.

Thanks for the help everyone! Appreciate you much, tigress!

Congrats on finally getting an iphone 4.
 
I don't get why they even have to check your credit card history in the first place... I mean, if you don't pay your bill for a month they shut off your service. End of story. Sorry OP

Because they're giving you a substantial discount on the phone, they want to make sure you'll pay back that subsidy over the course of a 2 year contract. Same reason they have ETFs. If they shut off your phone, they're still out 500 bucks or whatever the retail cost of an iPhone is.

They also want to make sure you can pay any overages/long distance/roaming charges you rack up in addition to the monthly bill.

It's nice to see that there is actually another responsible spender in this country!:p

I thought I was alone.......;)

Hey, I'm a responsible spender! I wait and save my money to buy expensive crap I don't really need, I don't finance it! :p

My dad was able to pass the credit check. Our house was THIS close to getting foreclosure 4 times in the last TWO years. We filed for bankruptcy a few years ago too, we hardly EVER pay our bills on time. We can hardly pay our car bill. Yes, it does depend on insurance rates/etc, but the fact is that we HAVE a house, and we HAVE a car. This guy may have a job, but that is the only thing he DOES have if not a car. Sure, they could take the phone back, but at that point it may have lost value and it's not a real lost to the person.

Why in gods name do you have an iPhone if you're in that situation?
 
23 is not a "young kid"...it's a mature adult age and a total embarrassment to be living with parents at that age. Besides, who said anything about credit cards. I had/have an excellent credit rating because I was able to pay a large deposit in my house and keep up the payments on it. I have a credit card now that I use for my business expenses and that is paid off each and every month, so I fail to see your point.

Maybe in a week or two he will have made up his mind...or not...

Someone's trolling.

Anyway OP, good stuff. I don't understand credit cards and all that (not an American, credit cards are the devil over here), but it's awful the way phone companies need to know about your credit history. I don't have one thankfully.
 
Why in gods name do you have an iPhone if you're in that situation?

Eh, I can see a need for a cell phone with a data plan even in dire circumstances. And it's not like an iPhone is that much more expensive in that context. The plan itself is most of the expense.
 
Someone's trolling.

Anyway OP, good stuff. I don't understand credit cards and all that (not an American, credit cards are the devil over here), but it's awful the way phone companies need to know about your credit history. I don't have one thankfully.

To get a basic understanding as to why a phone company would need to know your credit history, read yg17's post above (#146).
 
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