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Lost my iPhone 4at a party. What are my options?
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Not likely since you'd be purchasing a new phone as its not an upgrade or a repair/replacement. AT&T would also require another 2 year contract if you want the $200 option.
Do you have Find My iPhone option enabled? If so, this can greatly enhance your chances of finding your phone. If not, ask the host of the party if its been turned in. Sometimes, people will do the right thing and turn it in. Sadly though, many people think they're 6 years old and its finders keepers.
If you can't find it, I'd suggest a cheap Go phone for 1 month or so and wait for the next iPhone to come out.
Do you have Find My iPhone option enabled? If so, this can greatly enhance your chances of finding your phone. If not, ask the host of the party if its been turned in. Sometimes, people will do the right thing and turn it in. Sadly though, many people think they're 6 years old and its finders keepers.
If you can't find it, I'd suggest a cheap Go phone for 1 month or so and wait for the next iPhone to come out.
This is what I mean by people thinking that if you lost it, it gives someone the right to steal it.
I disagree. We've all made mistakes and done dumb things. But that doesn't give someone the right to steal.
Its attitudes like this that make our world worse to live in.
So if you ever lose your bank card.. and someone finds it and uses it they deserve to use it and you no longer deserve to have the card? using your logic
COOL!
Tell that to the guys that got arrested for finding the prototype iphone4. Since the owner of a phone can easily be found, it is illegal to not report, regardless of your lack of ethics. If you find $500 lying on the ground, "finders keepers" applies since there's no reasonable way to find the owner, but if you find $500 in a wallet with ID it is illegal. The charges may not be theft, but you can be charged if you do not return it or turn it in to the cops.
For the OP, the first thing to do is if you have "Find my iPhone" then use it, if not file a report with the police, they will likely need information such as the serial number and such. Then file a report with your carrier. Unfortunately I hear AT&T does not blacklist stolen/lost phones.
Apple won't sell you the phone contract free for $200. The only way you could get that price is if you signed a new contract. If you want, you could buy a used iPhone from somewhere, or just go with a cheap Gophone for the time being.
Next time you should try using Mobileme. It's not guaranteed to work in every case, but there have been some great stories.
quick question
Say you are grandfathered in and lose your iPhone and buy a Go phone, or any other phone, to get you through until the iPhone 5 comes out. Will you still be grandfathered with ATT?
Say you are grandfathered in and lose your iPhone and buy a Go phone, or any other phone, to get you through until the iPhone 5 comes out. Will you still be grandfathered with ATT?
You'll lose it because the unlimited 30$ plan doesn't work on non smartphones. if you want to keep it, you need a blackberry, iPhone, android, Windows phone 7, HP phone, etc
Actually... this isn't correct (at least not for me)...
- My old IP3G died several weeks ago...
- I purchased a $50 ATT Go Phone* from ATT to use until the IP5 comes out
*(PANTECH P7040P) - Cheapest with BT & 3G
- No contract changes... Unlimited Data, remains intact
Just an FYI
Okay, well then.
I thought AT&T would drop you to the basic data plan and then when you went back to a smartphone, they would put you back on the new data plans for smartphones, not the old unlimited one. Atleast, that's what I remember happening.
This is the rumor... and what I thought as well.
Before getting the Go Phone... I asked the folks at ATT about this specifically & they assured me that swapping my SIM into a Go Phone wouldn't change my contract.
I trusted them... got the Go Phone... and can verify that nothing has changed. According to both the the ATT Customer Service and the Website, my contract remains unchanged & my eligibility for upgrade is also unchanged.
While I'm not thrilled with the local service strength I get from ATT... every time I think they are going to screw me - I'm surprised that they don't.
Perhaps my cynicism is wasted on ATT (well, all phone companies), they've never doinked me after all... but, for some reason, I'm still wary.
In your world it's "finders keepers".
In the world where folks have some ethical standards, it' "try to find the owner." Getting away with something does not make any less unethical.
And if I lose my glasses, I don't deserve to have them??
try refurbished
if you can't go without a phone try the refurbished iPhone's on the ATT web page. they require a 2 year contract extension, but you don't have to be finished with your first one to qualify -the price will be much better than buying a new phone.
if you can't go without a phone try the refurbished iPhone's on the ATT web page. they require a 2 year contract extension, but you don't have to be finished with your first one to qualify -the price will be much better than buying a new phone.
I decided to just buy a new iphone. I went to best buy first and was looking at a couple android phones. I was told by the sales rep that if I got anything besides an iphone that I would lose my grandfathered in unlimited data. Then I went to the apple store and bought the iphone there. I mentioned the new iphones that are sure to come out pretty soon, and the guy told me that if apple announces a new phone in the next 30 days, I should just return this phone and my upgrade status would be restored so I can get the new phone.
Have you tried calling it yet?
In my opinion, finders keepers does not apply to phones because it's like stealing someone's identity, at least not when it's a recent model. You can answer their text messages, their e-mails, and have passwords reset. It's a lot different to finding a Gameboy, $1,000 camera, or $100 calculator left behind that are still sitting on a shelf one month later.
And I only say that because if a kid leaves a Gameboy and it sits there for six months, he probably moved on from it. Even if it has their name, you're not going to go give it back, just for them to put it back in a shelf at their house. And by that time, the parents probably had replaced it anyway.
Anything left there for six months onward is pretty much okay to take in my book though.
In my opinion, finders keepers does not apply to phones because it's like stealing someone's identity, at least not when it's a recent model. You can answer their text messages, their e-mails, and have passwords reset. It's a lot different to finding a Gameboy, $1,000 camera, or $100 calculator left behind that are still sitting on a shelf one month later.
And I only say that because if a kid leaves a Gameboy and it sits there for six months, he probably moved on from it. Even if it has their name, you're not going to go give it back, just for them to put it back in a shelf at their house. And by that time, the parents probably had replaced it anyway.
Anything left there for six months onward is pretty much okay to take in my book though.
Doesn't shock me. There are a lot of members who have no problem taking lost property..... Just look at the Gizmodo iPhone 4 saga. A lot of people say that it wasn't stolen and the guy should have been more careful than to lose it.
Considering warranty fraud, contract breaking, and ethically shady ways to steal from carriers are all openly discussed on these boards, I'm not really that surprised to see it.
This is one of the dumbest comments I've read on MacRumors. You should be banned just for your stupidity.
a bit sad, since i would positively return the phone, and though I would hope to get it back, I don't expect to recover a lost iPhone.
just a side story: I was recently on vacation (CIL LG NY) and at 4am I went to the lounge and found a macbook on the couch and did what I was supposed to, leaving it where it i found it until a lady came into the lounge and I handed it to her (that's another story)