Getting the iPhone when you're already a cingular customer...

[AlexGFX88]

So, will I just be able to go to the store and grab one of these and put my SIM card in it? I'm not sure when I'm due for an upgrade but would this affect the purchase of one of these bad boys?

Is 499 - 599 with a NEW contract?

Cheers,
Alex

 

[aricher]

It's only a guess but knowing Cingular I am assuming that it will be $499-599 with a NEW contract.

In order to get a $400 Nokia and a $200 Razr each for .01¢ from Cingular via Amazon my wife & I cancelled our contract-less Cingular account, got new numbers and a 2 year contract. When talking to a Cingular rep they said the phones would have been the full purchase price if we maintained our old phone numbers as the new phones would have been considered an "upgrade." Their "free" upgrade phones suck so we did the cancel/resubscribe thing to get fancy phones for next to nothing. It's ridiculous that Cingular doesn't treat long term customers with more respect than that. My guess is that they won't have any upgrade plan set up for current customers. Then again, many people on this site seem to think that "Steve will make Cingular take care of their current customers." We'll see.

 

[feelthefire]

actually, as I understand it, you cannot purchase the phone without a new contract, probably because any current plans won't really be able to utilize a lot of the iPhone's features. So, the $499-$599 price thing is with a new contract, but you won't be able to get one any other way.

Counting the termination fee on your current contract, and the activation fee on a new one, that's a whole lotta dollars.

 

[aricher]

They're going to HAVE to have a current user upgrade policy - I guess time will tell.

 

[xfiftyfour]

I think we'll all just have to wait and see. There are so many rumors out there floating around regarding whether Cingular will have special iPhone plans, kick backs, discounts... really, no one knows yet.

I do think feelthefire is wrong, though - why wouldn't Cingular let current customers give them $600 plus upgrade their plans? That'd be silly.