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Is it possible to buy a new phone first and then iPhone a few days later?

T

tuna9720

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 17, 2008
191
47
i am eligible for a phone upgrade on ATT.. So my question is , what if i get an upgrade phone first and on 11th or later i wanna get an iPhone..

Is it possible to do it without paying any fee? Is there any clear answer to this , or any experience?
 
tuna9720 said:
i am eligible for a phone upgrade on ATT.. So my question is , what if i get an upgrade phone first and on 11th or later i wanna get an iPhone...Is it possible to do it without paying any fee? Is there any clear answer to this , or any experience?
Click to expand...

I believe AT&T has a 30 day return period: "30-day trial period AT&T is allowing iPhone 3G hopefuls a 30-day trial period. Anytime within the first 30-days of the iPhone 3G's activation, the customer can return the handset and have their service immediately terminated. Contract termination within 30 days will not incur an ETF (Early Termination Fee), but after day 30, you'll be paying a large amount of money to cancel your iPhone plan.

If you cancel on or before the 30th day of iPhone 3G activation, you must return the iPhone 3G handset. If you cancel after that magical 30-day mark, you'll be allowed to keep the iPhone 3G handset, but keep in mind that you'll be paying a hefty ETF.

From the AT&T memo:

To cancel service within the first 30 days, the customer must return their equipment to the place of purchase (no exceptions). If the customer cancels service after 30 days, they will be charged the ETF. The customer is not required to return the device to cancel after 30 days."
 
thanks for the replies..

Actually what i wanna do here is , since i am eligible for an upgrade, i would like to get a free phone like nokia or something else.. Then when iPhone comes out i wanna get the iPhone as well.

What i've heard , but not sure of course, when you have a contract lets say , until december, and if you want an iPhone, they extend your contract (2 years starting the day you purchased your iPhone)no matter what day it ends.. So this is kind of a special thing for iPhone..

But again, i am not sure about this, and that is why i started this thread whether anyone out there did this before or not..

Thanks..
 
I've been with Pacific Bell/Cingular/AT&T forever now and lemme tell you if you get any phone "upgrade" (even a free one) you will be signing a new 2 year agreement. You're better off waiting for the iPhone. Your other bet would be to open a new line at $10 a line and use the iPhone on that.
 
SDAVE said:
I've been with Pacific Bell/Cingular/AT&T forever now and lemme tell you if you get any phone "upgrade" (even a free one) you will be signing a new 2 year agreement. You're better off waiting for the iPhone. Your other bet would be to open a new line at $10 a line and use the iPhone on that.
Click to expand...

I concur, b/c I can't remember the last time I received one of those "free" upgrades, but having been with Sprint for over 10 years, that's the only reason I remained with Sprint for that long was b/c the cheap phones would always break within the first 6 months and out of warranty, causing us to go with the cheap or free upgrade, thereby extending our contract another 2-years. Finally, made the move to AT&T and bought razors for the entire family, and that was over four years ago. :cool:
 
unfortunately, you can't do that since you have to be upgrade eligible. BUT, you could get a new phone, borrow a friends old iphone and activate it, replacing your new contract, and your iphone contract makes you upgrade eligible for the 3g iphone. makes sense? but i'm pretty sure i know what you want to do
 
tuna9720 said:
thanks for the replies..

Actually what i wanna do here is , since i am eligible for an upgrade, i would like to get a free phone like nokia or something else.. Then when iPhone comes out i wanna get the iPhone as well.

What i've heard , but not sure of course, when you have a contract lets say , until december, and if you want an iPhone, they extend your contract (2 years starting the day you purchased your iPhone)no matter what day it ends.. So this is kind of a special thing for iPhone..

But again, i am not sure about this, and that is why i started this thread whether anyone out there did this before or not..

Thanks..
Click to expand...

The thing is, we don't know exactly how things work yet. There's a rumor there could be new info out today.

I think no matter what, you are allowed to buy the iPhone any time, and the 2 years start from that day, no matter what was left in your last contract.

The thing in question is, if you use your upgrade discount on the Noki to get it free, ATT might charge you a higher, undisclosed amount for the iPhone.

So the $199-$299 price could jump to $399-$599 or higher. But who knows, come the 11th and the $199-$299 is the same no matter what, and you'd make out with a free Nokia. But I wouldn't chance it unless you don't mind the higher price, if that does happen. And I think someone said, you always have the return option if things go wrong.
 
tuna9720 said:
thanks for the replies..

Actually what i wanna do here is , since i am eligible for an upgrade, i would like to get a free phone like nokia or something else.. Then when iPhone comes out i wanna get the iPhone as well.

What i've heard , but not sure of course, when you have a contract lets say , until december, and if you want an iPhone, they extend your contract (2 years starting the day you purchased your iPhone)no matter what day it ends.. So this is kind of a special thing for iPhone..

But again, i am not sure about this, and that is why i started this thread whether anyone out there did this before or not..

Thanks..
Click to expand...

Haha, I was wondering how many other people thought of this. I did this with the 2.5G iPhone, got a cheapy for free (after mail in rebate of course) as a backup then got the iPhone. I actually did it the same day and made sure with the AT&T rep that I could do it. Unfortunately since the new iPhone is subsidized, chances are you won't be able to do it anymore.
 
AT&T gave me a loaner phone to use until the Iphone comes out because I NEEDED a phone now. They also said I could have used a pre-owned phone from someone on AT&T or I could have bought one and returned it.

Also I did not have to sign a 2 year agreement joining on my dads plan as an add a line, I won't have to sign that until I get the Iphone. A lot of misinformation here.

You can get activated and not sign an agreement (I think only if it is an add a line) and then just sign when you get the Iphone.
 
Ferris23 said:
AT&T gave me a loaner phone to use until the Iphone comes out because I NEEDED a phone now. They also said I could have used a pre-owned phone from someone on AT&T or I could have bought one and returned it.

Also I did not have to sign a 2 year agreement joining on my dads plan as an add a line, I won't have to sign that until I get the Iphone. A lot of misinformation here.

You can get activated and not sign an agreement (I think only if it is an add a line) and then just sign when you get the Iphone.
Click to expand...

Incorrect. They were nice to give you a loaner...

If you ever "upgrade" to a new phone (aka subsidized, which means the carrier gives you a phone cheaper if you sign a new 2 year agreement) you will be stuck with a contract.

Yes you can buy any AT&T to Go phone and switch the SIM cards and talk temporarly, now that doesn't require any contracts. AT&T doesn't care what phone you use, you can use a 8 year old GSM phone if you want.
 
TimothyB said:
The thing is, we don't know exactly how things work yet. There's a rumor there could be new info out today.

I think no matter what, you are allowed to buy the iPhone any time, and the 2 years start from that day, no matter what was left in your last contract.

The thing in question is, if you use your upgrade discount on the Noki to get it free, ATT might charge you a higher, undisclosed amount for the iPhone.

So the $199-$299 price could jump to $399-$599 or higher. But who knows, come the 11th and the $199-$299 is the same no matter what, and you'd make out with a free Nokia. But I wouldn't chance it unless you don't mind the higher price, if that does happen. And I think someone said, you always have the return option if things go wrong.
Click to expand...

I think you are right, since we have no info about howmuch it is going to cost people who still have contract, it is better to wait..

The phone i was planning to get was not a big deal , i wanted to get the w580i sony ericsson , just for a backup phone maybe..

I talked few days ago to a rep from ATT, first he said , of course I could get the upgrade and whenever Iphone comes out , you can get that one too for the price of $199. He sounded sooo sure , but then just right about hanging up , he said that he read somewhere and if you wanna get the $199 price , you need to be eligible for the upgrade..

It is funny because this is ATT rep , and he is the one who has to know about these things, and he wasnt sure either..

But also , he said that , you always have the right to return your phone anytime in the first 30 days with no question asked..

Anyways, i dont wanna gamble on that.. Lets see what's gonna happen..
 
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