AT&T and Apple Tightening Policies to Reduce iPhone Unlocking

[137489]

"Additionally, Reuters reports that AT&T has said that purchasers who do not activate their iPhones within 30 days will be subject to penalties. No details on these proposed penalties have been made public."

First it's reported that they must be activated in-store. If there are penalties for not activating within 30 days, this has to be assuming that the phone is purchased, and then activated at a later date (a.k.a. not activated right at purcase, in the store)... right? What's going on here, which is it???

I think waht is going on here, is since AT&T is subsidizing the phone. they may be taking the stance that if you do not activate your phone, you will be automatically charged (and taken to collections) for the price of the full phone, and then they may put a block on the FCC CAP# preventing it from being able to be activated anywhere else. But if you do want it activated through AT&T, they will not let you until the penalty is paid.

kinda like what Sprint does, if your payment lapses or you cancel your contract you are charged an early termination fee. then you cannot re-activate your phone without paying the fee and a re-connection charge.

This may not be apple's doing ,but may be AT&T's.

 

[Cougarcat]

there'll be some slimy o2 salesman opening my stuff and touching it. yuck!

Just politely ask to unbox the iPhone yourself. Do it slowly and carefully. Bring a camera to take large number of pictures at every step. Enjoy the look on the salesman's face!

 

[Tosser]

I think waht is going on here, is since AT&T is subsidizing the phone. they may be taking the stance that if you do not activate your phone, you will be automatically charged (and taken to collections) for the price of the full phone, and then they may put a block on the FCC CAP# preventing it from being able to be activated anywhere else. But if you do want it activated through AT&T, they will not let you until the penalty is paid.

kinda like what Sprint does, if your payment lapses or you cancel your contract you are charged an early termination fee. then you cannot re-activate your phone without paying the fee and a re-connection charge.

This may not be apple's doing ,but may be AT&T's.

Oh, ****! I'm glad I don't live in the US - what the hell happened to consumer rights?

 

[iElSayed]

Can't I just cancel the contract with AT&T after I get it. That's what I did with my first iPhone then, I don't have to pay for cancellation since my purchase is still within the 30-days unless this changed...

 

[javaGuru]

We have the unauthorized unlockers on iPhone 1.0 to thank for this change in activation process. Not Apple and not AT&T. It doesn't take a genius to figure out this is what would happen. I am surprised this in-store contact/activation did not happen sooner.

I couldn't agree with this statement any more.

 

[maceleven]

they will only activate a temporary number

In-store activation will kind of ruin the traditional unboxing ceremonies.

 

[Antares]

So, if you want to get an iPhone for someone as a gift, you either have to activate it before you give it to them or hope they can get to a store within 30 days of you actually buying a phone. That would make it a challenge around the holidays....

 

[javaGuru]

I am just hoping we will be able to activate it at the Apple store. I would much prefer to buy this phone at the Apple store than an AT&T store.

 

[maceleven]

Can't I just cancel the contract with AT&T after I get it. That's what I did with my first iPhone then, I don't have to pay for cancellation since my purchase is still within the 30-days unless this changed...

But they will say before you buy if,if you cancel the contract you must return the equipment ,if opened a 10% restock fee ,and if must return within 14 days
and if you dont you must keep the equipment and still pay an early termination fee

 

[Ironduke]

I couldn't agree with this statement any more.

bollix u have apples greed to thank for it you can buy htc phones unlocked which have superior tech to the iPhone, You should be able to buy the iPhone unlocked of the apple website.

Greed, Greed, Greed

 

[JML42691]

In-store activation will kind of ruin the traditional unboxing ceremonies.

Not necessarily, all that they may have to do is input the serial number (which is on the back of the box) and plug it into a computer (and possibly sync it to an iTunes account), all of which can be done in store without requiring the box to be opened. I am sure that they will find a way, after all, I am sure that Apple doesn't want be the same as other cell companies. At least, these are my guesses. Maybe a kind of mixed in-store and at-home activation process.

 

[gkarris]

But they will say before you buy if,if you cancel the contract you must return the equipment ,if opened a 10% restock fee ,and if must return within 14 days
and if you dont you must keep the equipment and still pay an early termination fee

Plus the $50 activation fee is non-refundable...

 

[RidleyGriff]

I really don't understand why people get so personally offended when others want to unlock their own personal product...

When the ramifications of a small group of users "not playing by the rules" is that ALL users get features/convenience taken away, as is true in this case, there is reason for people to be annoyed.

Is this AT&T's fault and are they to blame? Yes. Would this have happened had there not been such a lively black market out there? No.

Bottom line? To get an iPhone, we have to go to the hassle of dealing with AT&T brick and mortar stores, cell phone employees, and all the hassle and inconvenience that comes with that. Is it enough to encourage me to not upgrade my phone?

Strangely, yes. This is perhaps the most disappointing development in the iPhone up to this point.

 

[iElSayed]

But they will say before you buy if,if you cancel the contract you must return the equipment ,if opened a 10% restock fee ,and if must return within 14 days
and if you dont you must keep the equipment and still pay an early termination fee

Wow, this simply sucks . What about GoPhone? Any ideas?

 

[bigjohn]

wow, so i might actually be able to buy one the first weekend then... i don't mind activating in the store because i won't be reselling it on ebay

 

[Eric Lewis]

buy an iPhone for $199 activate on At&t

pay 175 to cancel

boom..you have an iPhone thats $375 ..thats activated without sim

 

[Ironduke]

France will be our saviour they will slap jobseys plans hard giving us unlockers a window

 

[gugy]

I doubt Apple will deal with iPhone activation at their stores. They probably will just sell it and issue some sort of code or activation number so you can take it home and do the activation yourself.

The last thing Steve wants is a Apple store full of angry people and the hassle of cell phone activation happening. Sometimes is a pain to go to the Apple store and see all the folks with computer and iPhones and iPods problems at the Genius counter.

Mark my words.

 

[TPALTony]

Quick in store activation?

Without getting into the reasons WHY in store activation is now required (at least in the US it would seem) I can honestly say that I HIGHLY DOUBT that Apple would make it as tortuous as it is for other phones.

All they have to do is a custom version of iTunes that can do the uber quick activation without actually pairing it to the computer. Stick the phone in, get the details from the user and activate it. They have tons of computers lying around to do that in an apple store, and it isn't hard to add it to the computers in AT&T stores.

Of course, they might do it differently, but I would expect they will make it quick and painless... I just don't see Apple letting it be miserable for everyone (including them, as people give up waiting!)

be well

t

 

[Tosser]

When the ramifications of a small group of users "not playing by the rules" is that ALL users get features/convenience taken away, as is true in this case, there is reason for people to be annoyed.

Is this AT&T's fault and are they to blame? Yes. Would this have happened had there not been such a lively black market out there? No.

Bottom line? To get an iPhone, we have to go to the hassle of dealing with AT&T brick and mortar stores, cell phone employees, and all the hassle and inconvenience that comes with that. Is it enough to encourage me to not upgrade my phone?

Strangely, yes. This is perhaps the most disappointing development in the iPhone up to this point.

Yes, because you guys knows or a fact this isn't merely about greed and poor conusmer rights n the US

Next you'll tell me it's because of the idjits that actually used their iPods as a place to put documents that they nixed Disk Mode. Damn HD-users!

Seriously, you guys simply come up with the most idiotic responses all in an effort to defend questionable business practices. In fact, they're so questionable that I can't even think of one country in the EU where anything close to that behaviour would be tolerated. Yet, you accuse the customers (who actually bought phones from Apple) to be the reason for that crap.

Nice going

 

[!¡ V ¡!]

Unless you buy the iPhone 3G in Canada or Europe it might still be possible.

 

[ddTaylor]

When the ramifications of a small group of users "not playing by the rules" is that ALL users get features/convenience taken away, as is true in this case, there is reason for people to be annoyed.

Is this AT&T's fault and are they to blame? Yes. Would this have happened had there not been such a lively black market out there? No.

Bottom line? To get an iPhone, we have to go to the hassle of dealing with AT&T brick and mortar stores, cell phone employees, and all the hassle and inconvenience that comes with that. Is it enough to encourage me to not upgrade my phone?

Strangely, yes. This is perhaps the most disappointing development in the iPhone up to this point.

If the original iPhone was not subsidized why would Apple give a thought to what you did with the phone? It was not subsidized by AT&T but Apple did loose on a monthly kick-back. It is bad news for me as a Go Phone sub. I can get a contract (and had one with Verizon for 10-years) but I do not want one and it looks as though I will not be getting a new iPhone, then.

Oh well - I still have version 1.0.

D

 

[bogman12]

AHAHAHA hilarious!

People are going to pay for a fortune for the privilege of being ruled by the iPhone Nazi that is ATT and Apple..

Go Fabois Go!

 

[MacNutCase]

Time is moneyi

The best hand held computing platform just got better. I use my iPhone all day long. $10 more a month is chicken feed to what I can do with the time I will save downloading and reading email, reviewing pdf documents, access my company's web based database, and a host of other stuff on my iPhone.

I have had no problems with AT&T, just Edge being slower than I'd like, but the joy my iPhone has given me is without bounds. It's like having a Mac in my pocket. I cant want for push, sync, and web apps.

AWESOME!!!!! Go Apple.

 

[bigjohn]

It's just the first day, there's well over a month for them to change their tunes... also odd is how AT&T said no employee vacays from 6/15 to 7/15, it'd be hilarious if all the employees scheduled vacations starting 7/16 - 5 days after release.