I am a T-Mobile customer, and have a line on my account that would like to get a iphone to use. As I do not wish to pay $599 for the phone, and AT&T coverage is not reliable in my ares. I was wondering if I could do the following. Forgive me if this has been discussed previously:
A)Open a new AT&T account and buy iphone 4 with subsidy. Get $39.99 voice plan and $15 basic data 200mb plan.
B)Wait 30 days (California market), after 31 days go down to AT&T store and “upgrade” to cheapest dumbphone (nokia, Samsung..ect) and extend another 2 years.
C)Day 32, confirm dumbphone is on account and removing required data plan.
D)Day 33, go back to AT&T corporate, cancel and pay the $150 dumbphone ETF
E)Flip dumbphone on ebay, and pay remaining balance on account (~$100 for remaining activation fees, and usage)
Seems like this would still work out to be less than $600 for the phone or $300 ETF fee. This would only work if the system shows the dumbphone as the most recent phone, thus purging smartphone status from account. Would this work?
I am a T-Mobile customer, and have a line on my account that would like to get a iphone to use. As I do not wish to pay $599 for the phone, and AT&T coverage is not reliable in my ares. I was wondering if I could do the following. Forgive me if this has been discussed previously:
A)Open a new AT&T account and buy iphone 4 with subsidy. Get $39.99 voice plan and $15 basic data 200mb plan.
B)Wait 30 days (California market), after 31 days go down to AT&T store and “upgrade” to cheapest dumbphone (nokia, Samsung..ect) and extend another 2 years.
If you just got a subsidized iPhone, you won't be eligible for another subsidy for at least 12 months, in your case more like 21 months. So you can't "upgrade" on day 31.
C)Day 32, confirm dumbphone is on account and removing required data plan.
D)Day 33, go back to AT&T corporate, cancel and pay the $150 dumbphone ETF
The ETF is not based on what kind of phone is active on your line of service, but rather on what kind of phone you obtained with your subsidy. In your case you'd be liable for a $325 ETF because your contract and subsidy were done with an iPhone 4.
E)Flip dumbphone on ebay, and pay remaining balance on account (~$100 for remaining activation fees, and usage)
Seems like this would still work out to be less than $600 for the phone or $300 ETF fee. This would only work if the system shows the dumbphone as the most recent phone, thus purging smartphone status from account. Would this work?
Sorry, but there are no shortcuts here. Why do you think you're entitled to something for less than everybody else. iPhone 4 costs $199 with a new 2-year contract or $599 without one. Take your pick.
I am a little confused. My Verizon phone was able to roam on GSM because they used TDMA. Tell it was shutdown. The phone recognizes it as Analog. If PCS has TDMA, It could be technically be used on GSM.
Originally Posted by Tabla
Y'know, I'm used to hysterical 14-year-old ******** on the internet, but this is exceptional. Never before in human history have so many nerds hyperventilated so publicly over so little.
If you just got a subsidized iPhone, you won't be eligible for another subsidy for at least 12 months, in your case more like 21 months. So you can't "upgrade" on day 31.
The ETF is not based on what kind of phone is active on your line of service, but rather on what kind of phone you obtained with your subsidy. In your case you'd be liable for a $325 ETF because your contract and subsidy were done with an iPhone 4.
Sorry, but there are no shortcuts here. Why do you think you're entitled to something for less than everybody else. iPhone 4 costs $199 with a new 2-year contract or $599 without one. Take your pick.
I thought ETF is based off which phone you renew with (and obtain subsidy). What would happen in the case of an iphone user that looses or damages phone after a couple of months (and no insurance). Are you just stuck without a phone? Even cheap phones such as the Nokia 2330 (bar dumbphone) is $150 no-contract price....surely there must be "partial upgrade" pricing if you extend another 2 years.
I thought ETF is based off which phone you renew with (and obtain subsidy). What would happen in the case of an iphone user that looses or damages phone after a couple of months (and no insurance). Are you just stuck without a phone? Even cheap phones such as the Nokia 2330 (bar dumbphone) is $150 no-contract price....surely there must be "partial upgrade" pricing if you extend another 2 years.
It's called eBay. Before, people would just get a prepaid phone, but AT&T caught onto that (not sure if it's completely shut off).
If you've been on your contract long enough, you can do an early upgrade. In this case, that's not gonna work.
I have no problems paying $600 for a phone, but since the phone is only tied to AT&T and must be hacked "jailbroken" to be used on my network (2g or 3g), I dont have a problem in this case. Normally when you buy a phone without subsidy you can use it on any GSM network, not so with iphone.
I have no problems paying $600 for a phone, but since the phone is only tied to AT&T and must be hacked "jailbroken" to be used on my network (2g or 3g), I dont have a problem in this case. Normally when you buy a phone without subsidy you can use it on any GSM network, not so with iphone.
I agree with you on that! It's BS that you still get a locked phone if you pay full retail without subsidy. Solution: get a factory-unlocked import from the UK or Canada.
I agree with you on that! It's BS that you still get a locked phone if you pay full retail without subsidy. Solution: get a factory-unlocked import from the UK or Canada.
Hear hear! If you pay full retail, it oughta be factory unlocked!
Just go in there and sign like 2 contracts to get the phone for free, no, wait.. 4 contracts so that you can sell the other free iphone on ebay to pay the ETF on both phones.
And Knowing is Half the Battle
-----------------------------
ChumleyEX
gosh.....some1 deleted my post in here....care to explain??
You mean Chumley's?
It can work, provided you can make enough off the extra phones. Say you open 4 lines with ip4s. That's $199 x 4, or about $800. Plus, another $325 x 4 for the ETFs totalling $1300. Total outlay is $2100. If you can sell 3 of the ip4s for $700 each, you come out with a free phone essentially. If only $600 each, you're still doing alright. You can try it with 5 lines too. You can also just pay the $10/mo for the secondary lines instead of an ETF to save a bit more.
That's an incredible amount of hassle for just one phone, plus, since the phones wouldn't be unlocked or anything, I'm not sure how much you could really get for them.
Main: Black iPhone 4 32gb, Back-up: Black iPhone 3G 8gb
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$200 + tax for 16gb i4
$36 activation fee
$65 + taxes for 450 min \ 2gb
$325 etf
$626 + taxes + time dealing with ATT is the cheapest you'll get, no matter what phone you switch to on the actual account. Just go buy a contract free i4 for $599
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Originally Posted by Antenna
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