Eligible for 3 upgrades. Buy 3 Iphone 4Gs and profit?

[tesilential]

Sorry about another Iphone get-rich-quick scheme, but I think mine is substantially different than most since I don't need to cancel contracts and have upgrades waiting.


Background:

Hey everyone, I am a dumb phone user who has been anxious to upgrade to an Iphone. I plan on getting the 4g when it comes out since my line is upgrade eligible.

Now 2 other family members are upgrade eligible. They don't particularly want an Iphone or the $30/month extra they'd have to pay in order to operate one.


Heres my plan:

1) Upgrade all 3 lines to new Iphones. Everyone happily uses Iphone for 1 month.

2) Sell other 2 Iphone 4gs for $$$

3) Buy cheap texting phones for other 2 family members.

4) We all live happily ever after!


I will most likely end up paying $400 for the 2 extra iphones, plus 1 month data for each @ $30/month. So $460+tax total. Then I either buy them cheap "qwerty" texting phones or they can use the ones they have, which honestly work well enough.

We've been AT&T since our first phones, so no one is opposed to having another 2yr contract.


Does anyone see anything wrong with my plan?

How much would a non contract Iphone 4g potentially go for? I'm hoping at that point maybe they still won't have made them available for purchase without a contract.

 

[GoCubsGo]

This is a lot of work if you ask me. Are you under the old ETF or new? If it's the new then it's not worth it at all.

 

[uneek1]

Might want to do some research on ebay. But I would say don't even open the new ones, and sell right when you get them. I haven't done any research myself, but it might be the difference in 50-100USD each?

 

[elephunkman]

Or how about 1 to use and 1 to sell? Then, if worst case scenario you can't upgrade next year, use the remaining one.

 

[elephunkman]

FYI, there has never been an iPhone sold without a contract. Anyone can buy them unsubsidized if they don't qualify. So you're in luck because the T-Mobile users can't buy them either way, only from you

 

[beamer8912]

I recommend not upgrading at least 1 line. That way when next year comes around you're guaranteed a fully eligible upgrade.

Otherwise it sounds good. The new iPhone might go for quite a bit more this year because of the new high ETF. No one will be able to make a profit from $600 on eBay since it'll cost almost that to buy the phone and cancel the contract. So, I'd expect a lot less competition this year to sell the phone, and a higher price when you sell it ($700+)

 

[tesilential]

This is a lot of work if you ask me. Are you under the old ETF or new? If it's the new then it's not worth it at all.

Had you read the post you'd know the ETF doesn't apply.

Might want to do some research on ebay. But I would say don't even open the new ones, and sell right when you get them. I haven't done any research myself, but it might be the difference in 50-100USD each?

From what I've read here they make you open them and activate upon purchase when you get a subsidized phone. I am not sure though.

Or how about 1 to use and 1 to sell? Then, if worst case scenario you can't upgrade next year, use the remaining one.

I will probably end up getting 2 and then the other after I sell the first one.



It seems like the Ideal buy Iphone sell Iphone situation. Most people have to cancel lines but that won't be necessay. Actually all 3 lines have been upgrade eligible for a year already.

 

[elephunkman]

I recommend not upgrading at least 1 line. That way when next year comes around you're guaranteed a fully eligible upgrade.

Otherwise it sounds good. The new iPhone might go for quite a bit more this year because of the new high ETF. No one will be able to make a profit from $600 on eBay since it'll cost almost that to buy the phone and cancel the contract. So, I'd expect a lot less competition this year to sell then phone, and a higher price when you sell it ($700+)

No offense, but your username makes me sing the song, "Beamer, Benz, or Bentley" in my head every time I read your name haha

 

[tesilential]

I recommend not upgrading at least 1 line. That way when next year comes around you're guaranteed a fully eligible upgrade.

Otherwise it sounds good. The new iPhone might go for quite a bit more this year because of the new high ETF. No one will be able to make a profit from $600 on eBay since it'll cost almost that to buy the phone and cancel the contract. So, I'd expect a lot less competition this year to sell then phone, and a higher price when you sell it ($700+)

This is what i wanted to hear! Sweet, I may keep a line open so I can upgrade next year, but 1 or 2 of the other lines are gonna be ready for an upgrade next year...


Sweet!

Thanks everyone

 

[hushmartin]

You're forgetting one thing- are all the other people who are going to be stuck with the dumb phones okay with this plan? Because seriously, what if they wanted to use the upgrade in the next couple of years?

Also, Where are you going to get cheap texting phones for them to use? Your best option is a Go phone, but most of them are total pieces of crap. Buying off craigslist or ebay is usually more expensive than you'd expect, even for a dumb phone.

I guess go for it, but it really seems like more trouble than it's worth. It also seems like it could turn out to not be terribly profitable in the long haul.

 

[farmermac]

I'd hold off on that. Not sure how the unlocking will work since the new iPhone will have microsim and tmobile doesn't have those. So there goes Your USA buyers.

 

[Irish Rose]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7E18 Safari/528.16)

This is a lot of work if you ask me. Are you under the old ETF or new? If it's the new then it's not worth it at all.

It would still be the old ETF, as the new fee doesn't start till June 6'th……

 

[ucfgrad93]

It would still be the old ETF, as the new fee doesn't start till June 6'th……

According to Boy Genius Report, the new ETF starts June 1, 2010.

http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2010/05/22/atts-open-letter-to-customers-explains-etfs/

 

[nickspohn]

I can see the next iPhone going for over $1000 easily on eBay the day of the launch. Mainly if the person is buying it from out of this country.

 

[rkswat]

Why do you feel the need to come in and ask this kind of question on a forum? Do you go to other forums for other items you may purchase and ask the same?

Seeing as you asked the question, upgrade all, sell and make $$.

 

[Jeffrosproto]

I'd hold off on that. Not sure how the unlocking will work since the new iPhone will have microsim and tmobile doesn't have those. So there goes Your USA buyers.

Full sized SIMs are fully compatible with microsims, all you have to do is trim them to fit.

 

[UngratefulNinja]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7E18 Safari/528.16)



It would still be the old ETF, as the new fee doesn't start till June 6'th……

According to Boy Genius Report, the new ETF starts June 1, 2010.

http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2010/05/22/atts-open-letter-to-customers-explains-etfs/

There wouldn't be any ETF at all because he's not canceling any lines.

 

[zunairryk]

It's only a matter of time when ATT will force everyone to pay $30 for data even if you are not using an iphone. And if you want to cancel the data plan, you would have to pay $100-200, just like here in Canada.

People are bitching about the increase in ETF, that is exactly the reason why. When ATT sells you a $599 phone for $199, they expect you to pay $70 per month for next 2 years so they can recoup their investment + make profit, but if you are only gonna pay like $40 or so, they will not make much profit or probably will loose money. Then they will make some policy that you have to pay ETF for data plan or something like that.

 

[tesilential]

You're forgetting one thing- are all the other people who are going to be stuck with the dumb phones okay with this plan? Because seriously, what if they wanted to use the upgrade in the next couple of years?

Also, Where are you going to get cheap texting phones for them to use? Your best option is a Go phone, but most of them are total pieces of crap. Buying off craigslist or ebay is usually more expensive than you'd expect, even for a dumb phone.

I guess go for it, but it really seems like more trouble than it's worth. It also seems like it could turn out to not be terribly profitable in the long haul.

1 of the users may opt to keep the Iphone. The other doesn't care and really fine with the phone they have now, if not I will either get a go phone with qwerty keyboard or craigslist a phone.

 

[Irish Rose]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7E18 Safari/528.16)

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7E18 Safari/528.16)



It would still be the old ETF, as the new fee doesn't start till June 6'th……

According to Boy Genius Report, the new ETF starts June 1, 2010.

http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2010/05/22/atts-open-letter-to-customers-explains-etfs/

There wouldn't be any ETF at all because he's not canceling any lines.

I never said that there was going to be an ETF involved. I was simply replying to a post that was made above, about when the ETF was going to start.

 

[Irish Rose]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7E18 Safari/528.16)

It would still be the old ETF, as the new fee doesn't start till June 6'th……

According to Boy Genius Report, the new ETF starts June 1, 2010.

http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2010/05/22/atts-open-letter-to-customers-explains-etfs/

Thanks, my bad, I got my dates mixed up, as I think June 6'th is when the iPhone insurance is going to start. There are so may new things going on that it's hard to keep track of all the dates.

 

[elephunkman]

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Thanks, my bad, I got my dates mixed up, as I think June 6'th is when the iPhone insurance is going to start. There are so may new things going on that it's hard to keep track of all the dates.

Just remember the ETF is for those that open contracts after that date. Existing customers don't apply.