@WizardlyLou: Yeah, they'll look in the system, see that you're not eligible for an upgrade, and hit you with the full price.

Dropping names of people who "may or may not have" told you otherwise doesn't seem to work with customer service. The most they might do is give you a partial credit on a new activation (at least from what I've seen).

TendoMentis

So i decided to call AT&T to find out what my ETF would be. Customer Rep. looks up the account, pauses for a few seconds, and says... you're contract expired as of March 2008. Proceeds to explain that there is no ETF since my contract expired. Struck me completely off guard, as I def. upgraded in March to a Pantech Duo, activated it, and subsequently sold it. SOOOO technically, I thought my contract BEGAN in March 2008. Then I go on my ATT account and it says im not eligible for an upgrade till July 2009. So I have decided to keep my mouth shut until I go get my iPhone and tell them Im ready for my upgrade. Lol. I took names down of ttwo people once I was told my contract expired. Anyone have a take on this??

WizardlyLou

Last year there was a huge line at the Apple store near my house so I went to an ATT store. I was about #20 in line and they would not tell us how many the store had. When they opened the door, they let two or three people in at a time. About 10 minutes later the first people left with their phones. The let a few more people in. Then the ATT lady came out and said that they only had a few left and that we could come inside and buy one there online and get it in the mail soon.

I stopped by another ATT store and there was a larger line. They had some corporate types from ATT there and they were saying they should have a few of the 4gb left. But weren't sure. Which is insane since they knew exactly how many they received and how many they sold.

I decided to go home, but since the Apple store was on the way, I wanted to see how the insane line was going. I drove up and there was no longer any line. And there was a parking place right in front of the store. So at 7:05 pm I went in, got an iPhone and left within 5 minutes. Five minutes later I was activating it at home.

I won't be going to an ATT store. They were too swarmy on launch day and the Apple experience was 1000x better. I have a feeling it will be the same for the 3G phone. The only reason I'm an ATT customer is the iPhone. They had a chance to delight me on launch day and blew it.

kirktastic

All other things aside, I wonder why they are offering it with Exchange support, yet still requiring iTunes to sync? You'd think they would have a separate application (i.e. ActiveSync or BB Desktop Manager), and not force people to use an app that take up so many resources.

Norcross

if any one wants to buy my old iPhone wait for me outside of the Glendale (ca) store at 7:59am on 7/11
bring $200 American and we will have a deal.

tiger66

@Kaiser-Machead's Chips Ahoy!: But what about whacky waving inflatable arm-flailing tubemen? Surely you can't find those at Darth Harrington's Proton-Powered Electrical-Tentacled Advertising Droid Emporium??

mcdonnr

Does anyone know if AT&T is going to honor corporate discounts on individual iPhone plans? I know for a fact that they haven't been doing it up until now for the first-gen iPhone.

djkibblesnbits

@TendoMentis: You make a valid point, I do know that the IT department was totally against it when iPhone 1 came out and there was no actual business support.

fusedinertia

@robotleawesome: Any idea what our plan options will be if we buy a used iPhone 1.0 and are new ATT customers?

Anybody?

Enrique

Any idea how many each At&t store will have at launch? I don't have any Apple stores around so that's my only option.

highfloydelity

Where? About 2 months into the future when they drop the price and all the idiot first adopters pee themselves bitching about it.

ColonelDebugger

A apple Store would be the best choice my opinion, AT&T got nothing but Morons working with them, besides Apple store have more stock anyway, i just apple still handles iphone support cause Dude talking to AT&T support team is like talking to a 3rd grade kid

snitch29

I checked on the ATT site if my phone number is eligible to be transferred from Verizon to ATT. It said it wasn't! I'm pissed! I want an iphone, I want the same number, and I don't want to jailbreak it. I'm too risk averse to do that.

johnsofats

@shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog: Yeah, I have the same thing at my company, but I got a Moto Q9 Global (great discount almost made it free and a lot of my monthly bill lopped off with a discount).

@fusedinertia: Your company has got to be one of the few. Your IT director must be a Mac fanboi (not tring to hate, but I can't honestly imagine why an IT director NOT a fanboi would choose the iPhone over the less expensive Blackberry and WM options available).

TendoMentis

Shouldn't "eBay, because you don't even get 3G in your area, and some douche will be selling his 1st Gen $50 so he can buy more indie music on iTunes" be an option?

Catalyst

@TendoMentis: 6,000 people will be issued an iPhone 3G where I work, once exchange support was established, the IT department was all up for it...

fusedinertia

i'm hoping everyone will want to go to the posh Apple store so i can sneak into AT&T

tucker

@TendoMentis: Well, our IT department doesn't issue these, but we do have a really awesome company plan with AT&T. Basically, we choose what we want, give AT&T our Company name, and we're set. Some people choose to have the company reimburse them, and those that use theirs less often for work will pay for it on their own. Still a great deal though.

shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog

If you live in a state without an Apple store, I imagine that you can order it online through Apple.com and avoid sales tax. I think it is much less likely to find a state that doesn't have an AT&T store or kiosk.

AT203

I'll be buying the iPhone 1.0 from someone who will sell it to me for $225

please? :D

robotleawesome

I really have to wonder what IT departments will be issuing these (besides Apple of course). Why would any serious company issue their employees an entertainment device that oh-yeah-also-can-work-with-our-company-email, when a blackberry costs less upfront and per month?

TendoMentis

@sideshowralphwiggum: That's B.S. cause I bought both of our iPhones at the local AT&T store but they both had to be replaced and I went to the apple store to do it. Replaced on the spot.

AND it says that online - you can get any warranty service through the store or mail.

ramman345

I'm thinking AT&T. At the apple store last year the line was several blocks long while the AT&T stores lines were just barely out the door. Most people didn't even line up until 4-5pm at the AT&T stores.

ramman345

I'll be choosing the Apple Store. Not for any advantage at set-up, but to make warranty issues and other service issues easier to deal with.

When my iPhone stopped working last fall, I was able to take it into an Apple Store and they immediately replaced it on the spot. However, before they did, they made sure I bought it from an Apple Store. They told me I'd be out of luck if I hadn't. I would have had to send it though the mail to Apple.

That's reason enough to deal with the Apple Store for me. Though, if all things were equal, I'd prefer AT&T, since there are many, many more locations to choose from.

sideshowralphwiggum

@iModo: You should've said Flatbush. I would've gone for that.

Kaiser-Machead's Chips Ahoy!

Dear IT,

I dropped my phone on the freeway again, woops!

Thanks

shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog

I'll try my luck at the AT&T stores, since there are like 5 of them within a mile of each other here

soopafly

Screw the lines, ill be picking mine up after the crazy shit...

Bantam

I suspect that Apple Stores will have MORE phones. At least that's the case in what I've seen.

Aloof

Unfortunately, I totally buy into the extra pretentiousness.

If I have X amount of time in a day and only one way to spend it, I'm sure as hell not going to force myself to endure the rigmarole that is AT&T and its employees.

It's bad enough we're locked into their garbage anyway.

Gilbert

If the demand is like it was a year ago, I'll be buying mine over-priced from some Asian guy down at my local Starbucks.

iModo

Buy them from me, I have a van. I'll be in the mall parking lot at 3:00 AM. Bring cash.

dry-roasted-peanuts

I'd go wherever they sell proton electrical tentacled advertising droids.

Kaiser-Machead's Chips Ahoy!

Yeah ATT employees can be so rude, go to Apple! Seriously if you are going to buy the hippest product ever you need to do it from the hippest people ever!!

I'll see anyone who doesn't feel that way in my shorter, albeit less cool, ATT line in Houston...

Jackson

I was leaning toward the AT&T store since their return policy is 30 days and there is no restocking fee if I need to return it.

OGHowie

First, I have to get my price change notification from T-Mobile. Then I have to harass them into waiving the ETF based on the increase. Otherwise, whichever has the smaller line.

I'm probably not going to get it from the 5th Avenue Apple Store, as I expect to lodge my dead iPod classic into the skull of an Apple Genius. Nine months old and the battery stopped charging two days ago.

OMG! Ponies!

@simplogic: I have that same question too, couldnt find anywhere that says a individual plan will not be able to use Exchange. I use 4smartphone.net at work. My job will not pay for some newfangled device they call the iPhone so I'm getting it myself but I want to access my works email/contacts and etc on it without paying extra.

pdditty

@dry-roasted-peanuts: you should have said:
"selling iphones out of dark alley after midnight, meet me near the meat packing district. come alone with no way of contacting anyone,and at least 500 dollars in cash."

now that would have sold it for me. bummer. guess i'll jus go to the apple store like the other squares.

zanzibarlegend

Hey guys, can anyone shed a little more light onto the whole Enterprise vs. Consumer plans? I see the AT&T site lists the enterprise plan as being able to access corporate email and intranets, but why wouldn't the regular plan allow for this/how could they prevent this?

simplogic

Yea, if they find that I'm not eligible, I'm just going to cancel my contract and save a few bucks... but I'll surely use it as a threat to leave the service. As a loyal, and ON TIME PAYING subscriber, I'm hoping they'll rethink charging me the extra 200... Right now Im not sure where to go though. If i go to an apple store, it's more likely they wont be able to catch any errors, at least in my opinion, but then if they do catch it, its even less likely for me to get a discount. At the AT&T store, they are more likely to catch this error, but are more likely to work with me. I don't know, if they say it's an error, I def. will call customer service on the spot to see if tehy confirm that my contract expired. I don't see how the store can say im not eligible and customer service says I am eligible and I not get some sort of compensation for ATT being idiots. crossing fingers!

WizardlyLou

ATT employees are the worst, but last year there were 200+ people in line at the Apple store, and I was the 42nd person in line at the ATT store after driving from the Apple store. What's it worth to you?

vsidart

Avoid ATT. They will lie to you if you're an existing customer looking to upgrade. They'll tell you they are out of stock until you come in from a different provider such as Verizon or Sprint...then they will magically have one in stock.

They did this to me last time around, "sorry sir, we're all out of iPhones," except I lingered in the store and some lady came in wanting to switch off her Verizon...then POOF! Here comes a shiny new 8GB iPhone out of the store room. I confronted the salesman and he knew the deal, knew I knew the deal, and basically couldn't do shit for me. That was their 'internal' policy. That kind of shoddy business practice is disgusting and I won't buy anything there again. Fuckers.

virtualmatt

Can anyone answer my question? I can't figure it out. If I currently have an iPhone from ATT, am I eligible for the cheaper upgrade? thanks

GiantEnemyCrab

I'm thinking I'll go to the AT&T store. I'm planning to beg them to give me a discount since I'm not eligible for the lower price. I figure the Apple "geniuses" won't be able to swing the discount, while you can probably talk a retarded AT&T salesboy into anything.

(My apologies to the mentally handicapped.)

dgstan

@AT203: You probably will be able to one day, unfortunately they have already announced that the iPhone 3G will not be able for purchase online at launch.

dink23

@GiantEnemyCrab: maybe. log into your account on at&t's website and click "Phone/Device". It tells you right there whether or not you're eligible.

simplogic

@Gilbert:

I agree, as fake and forced as it is, Apple employees are always either chipper as hell, or really cool. The workers I always run into at the AT&T stores are boring, uninterested, 20 year olds with associates degrees in liberal arts.

michaelwiggins

Our business actually has it set up to where the paper work will be taken care of, and we will be phoned on the 11th to come pick up our phones. Painless.

dorylomorphs

@michaelwiggins: You give them much credit in the way of a college degree, even if it is only two years.

Gilbert

@Jackson: Actually, they're not too bad at the Apple Store.

My iPod is still broken, but I'm going to get a box in a few days. Not a new iPod, but a new box. And, in a couple of weeks, I'm going to get a repaired iPod. Not a new iPod, but a repaired iPod. And they were only 30 minutes late in getting to me.

Doesn't really make up for the nine month-old iPod going bad, but at least Mitch didn't make me lose my sh*t. And that is why my iPod is not in his rectum.

OMG! Ponies!

On June 29, 2007, my local AT&T store in the mall had a total of 80 iPhones, 4GB and 8GB flavors. The Apple store across the hall had in excess of 800. They never sold out that night, and the AT&T store was sold out in about 90 minutes, making them look bored and tired for the rest of the night, staring across at the still packed Apple store.

beyondthetech

Anyone happen to know if it will be any easier to search for specific available numbers for new ATT customers at the Apple store?

deilin

@OGHowie:

Actually, the AT&T store in Charlottesville has been charging a FIFTEEN PERCENT return fee if the iPhone packaging is opened. Utter bullshit.

They sold this elderly couple two iPhones on unlimited plans after promising them it would work at their house. I got ahold of the account and it showed the store address as their billing address. The couple actually lived 20 miles from the nearest AT&T reception. I locked up my store, went with them to return it, and refused to leave until the manager of the store gave them a full refund on the phone and the accessories, and waived all fees. Then they came back to my store and got Katana DLX's for (gasp!) Sprint.

Long story short, our local AT&T store is crooked. I'm going to Short Pump's Apple store and bringing my Sheetz coffee with me.

philbert

@deilin: That sounds like a phone provider-type service that would better be done at the AT&T store.

You won't get the little white plastic bag that says Apple Store on it though, so if that's the dealbreaker...

OMG! Ponies!

I don't understand, Didn't I read before that at first the only way to purchase the Iphone was either on the Apple store or the AT&T Store, and it wasn't going to be online. (at least in the beginning). Most Corporate users use the Premier Site for business purchases, and believe me, the moment that it shows up in there I will be all over it, but I doubt that corporate users go to the stores and get like 1000 of iphones for business use.

yorch

The obvious answer is head to the Apple store. Its far better dealing with a reasonably well trained Apple employee rather than a slimy wireless phone representative.

ianmac47

@johnsofats: Even if you jailbreaked it, Verizon is CDMA, you can't put your number on the iPhone unless you can port it over to another GSM based carrier then jailbreak it. Dude don't waste your money on this over priced toy.

coolkiwilivin

@OMG! Ponies!: Yeah they aren't too bad, I am just making fun of all the people who get all randy over the idea of someone with tattoos selling them something.

Jackson

Are people in the Apple Store able to do phone number transfers? I'm on Verizon and currently eligible to transfer the number, according to the AT&T site.

Am I limited in only going to an AT&T store, since I'm doing a transfer?

MrAdventure

The apple stores are all in malls that don't open till 10AM and ATT says 8AM, I have yet to hear how this will work with apple. I do not want to wait outside a mall and then start the running of the bulls through the mall to the apple store...

But the att employees are stupid, waaaaay crooked, and probably the ones who will be selling them on ebay for twice as much, while the stores have 10 in stock...

So it would be nice with a shorter line to go to att, but you are taking a big risk with shadiness...

I hope apple sets up a clear line at the mall entrances to avoid confusion if they are opening early...Announcements Apple?

moonmen

Apple. The goofy sales staff is entertaining (on my last visit one listened to me (briefly) reminisce about programming FORTRAN and assembler on a Control Data 7600 - and seemed to find it interesting). Entertainment level is 0.0 at AT&T - unless a customer acts up.

If you're buying in SF, be aware that there is an AT&T store on Market pretty close to the Apple store - an option if the scene at the Apple store is just too desperate.

propertius

@MrAdventure:

I have the same question. While its 100% clear to me that the Apple store has more competent and helpful employees (I was with my friend who needed to do something at the AT&T store and I thought I would do a credit check there just in case I decided to get it there and they said they can't do it until the iPhone comes out as they handed me a price sheet that suggested getting an advanced credit check) I am not sure that they are going to be as familiar with the complicated procedures of setting up a cell phone plan/porting numbers/transferring contacts which might mean I will have to go to an AT&T store.

Although maybe its not really that complicated and the idiots who work at AT&T just make it seem that way.

chasgoose

Since there aren't any Apple Stores in Philadelphia (yep, 0 stores compared to NYC's 3...) I guess I'll have to go to an ATT store.

Enrique

Last year, I was ~450 in line at Soho Apple store. I was in the store by 645PM and out within minutes. My friend at midtown ATT store was within the first 20 people. His line didn't even move by the time I was ready to enter store. My only decision is Soho or 5th Ave.

EvilJesus