Limit to purchases of iPhone at 499 price and/or EbAy

B

billy9

macrumors newbie
Long time lurker, but never made a user name to post... so here we go!

I have an interesting question and I can not find an exact answer through any amount of searching in these forums.

So you are limited to one purchase of an iPhone 3G at a subsidized price of 199 or 299 (assuming you are eligible).

What were to happen if you just went back into the store and wanted to buy another one? Couldn't you just buy another one on the same cell line and pay the unsubsidized price of $499? Doesn't it just reset your contract - ie: a few days after resetting your contract with a iPhone 3G you then reset it AGAIN with this new unsubsidized phone.

Otherwise, how else would you be able to replace a broken iPhone on the same line?

And finally, doesn't this just show that anyone can repeat the process and buy 10+ for resale on ebay with their single line, simply extending their contract each time (because they are paying the full "early upgrade" price)? Would att/apple allow you to just keep doing it?

Maybe I am entirely wrong, but wouldn't this explain the mass of ebay sales? I have no urge to do this myself, so I figured I would ask.
 
I was wondering the same thing. How can they keep track of people who broke their phone and allow them to upgrade, but stop others from just purchasing more.
 
You can definitely buy more phones at the 399/499 price if you tell them you lost or broke your first one. I am not sure of any limits, but I dont think any store will give you more then one a day per line.
 
Or what if you legitimately wanted a 2nd iPhone for another family member. And lets say the 2 lines, one was eligible, one was not. So you buy the $199 iphone on the eligible line, signing for two years. But skip the 2nd line for now.

Then later, buy another iPhone at $399 on the first line (say you gave it away as a gift and want a new one). Would you then be able to take that first iPhone 3G to the other line, and wouldn't it then be no commitment, you go do a regular plan?

So in the end, two iPhone 8gb for $600 ($200+$400), one of them contract free, and eligibility of one line is not reset since you didn't subsidize it or did an early upgrade by using the extra 3G iPhone.

I mean, if they are going to start doing the no-commitment pricing soon, what will prevent 3G hand me downs from not being contract free too? It's not like the original iPhone where you have to do a 2 year contract through iTunes.
 
I doubt they will sell you a second iPhone 3G if you already have an iPhone 3G on a given line. You'd have to add a line to your plan, meaning you'll incur a monthly fee of $9.99/mo (once you cancel the data-plan). Over the course of 2 years thats $240. So $199/$299 + $240. Still not a bad price, but there is a limite of 3 additional lines per plan. After that you'd have to start a brand new plan for every 4 iPhones you want.
 
Well, if you have a premier account, you're allowed 5 iPhones to purchase at one time. I ordered one through ATT enterprise, 1 16gb black and 1 16gb white. First phone,was subsidized, 2nd phone I paid $499.
 
Sleepyyet said:
Well, if you have a premier account, you're allowed 5 iPhones to purchase at one time. I ordered one through ATT enterprise, 1 16gb black and 1 16gb white. First phone,was subsidized, 2nd phone I paid $499.
Click to expand...

So you have two plans and only one contracted line? Interesting. I guess you could buy three more iPhones at the $399/$499 price and ebay them then. How much does the Premier account add per month vs. the normal non-business account?
 
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