Smart Phones

[Nick Randall]

I have a question about smart phone purchasing.

What is the advantage to buying an iPhone at the Apple Store, as opposed to buying one through a carrier store (e.g. ATT, Verizon) for a lot less and signing up for their plan? I mean, you need a wireless plan anyway, right?

Basically, I'm trying to decide what the advantage to buying a full price iPhone at the Apple Store is, over a $249 phone from a carrier store where I already have a plan.

[m18]

I just went through this the other day. Its much easier to go through the Apple Store... better customer service, faster in and out of the store, and they have them in stock. With the AT&T store (my carrier, it may be different with Sprint of Verizon), I would have been put on a few week long waiting list to get the phone as they do not stock them. Also, I wasn't eligible for an upgrade yet so my options were to either renew my contract and pay a $150 early upgrade fee plus the cost of the iPhone, renew my contract and wait till I could get the free upgrade in April, or to let this contract die and just start a new one... I went the latter route. I walked in to the Apple Store, and $200 and 15 min later I walked out with a new iPhone and a new AT&T contract.

[bdoc]

I had a much different experience at Verizon. It was time to renew my contract, thus I upgraded to an i-phone. They set it up, transferred my contacts, explained how it worked, etc. Fairly easy, probably depends on the store and carrier.

B

[SPQR476]

I went iPhone over the phone with verizon. I was at the end of my 2 years, plus I am still on the "new every 2" deal, so got an extra $50 off. 15 minutes on the phone, FedEx delivered the phone the next day, all my contacts transferred over the web, no sales tax, and I'm happy.

[Nick Randall]

Did you guys go with the 4 or the 4S?

[pangloss]

Check out the Newegg.com phone deals. It seems too good to be true, but I bought a Samsung Captivate from them over a year ago and everything has worked out fine. With a new AT&T contract (my old AT&T contract had expired), I only had to pay shipping on the phone when I got it through Newegg. I have no regrets.

[m18]

Did you guys go with the 4 or the 4S?

4S. Actually didn't even consider getting the 4, I just walked in and said "sell me an iPhone" and they just asked if I wanted black or white and what size.

[KaiserJeep]

In actual fact, you need a phone and a plan only if you want people to have your number and call you.

It is perfectly possible to sit in a coffee shop WiFi hotspot and use Skype on an Android tablet with Bluetooth headset and make anonymous outgoing calls for zero cost. It is perfectly possible to use a cheap disposable cellphone for those few occasions when you need incoming telephone service.

I suggest that everybody analyze their needs carefully. It remains true that anyone walking around with a modern (dumb or smart) cellphone is carrying around a GPS receiver that is continuously recording and periodly broadcasting their position. Even greater compromises to your privacy are possible to LEO's with warrants.

The information you need to keep your business private is freely available on the Web. I don't give out any advice other than this: Make yourself an educated consumer of cellphone technology.