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Cell phones: On the verge of getting an iphone - but have questions!

by PhGirl - 10/28/09 11:15 AM

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On the verge of getting an iphone - but have questions!

by PhGirl - 10/28/09 11:15 AM

Hi,

I am seriously considering getting an iphone but before I sign away $1440.00 ($60 x 24 months) I have questions which I hope you will excuse my slow grasp with the whole "smart phone" business!!!

1. I have found out that I can purchase this through AT&T premier store due to my work organization. It makes the data plan a little cheaper, but it is telling me that I can either pay $25.00 for personal web use, gmail, yahoo, msn etc..but if that I want to access my organizations webmail exchange that I have to pay a more expensive data plan of $38.00 (usually $45). Is this true? If I purchased the iphone without the organization's discounts (through AT&T's regular website or store) would this still be true? The iphone is expensive enough and I would rather pay the $25 to the $38 for the data plan

2. What does unlocking mean? Is it worthwhile paying out the contract early to do this? Is it possible to buy a sim card to use in this after unlocking?

2. I travel internationally once a year to Australia / Asia. If I have the phone unlocked (I'm told by AT&T that they can do this but only if in contract?) and I purchase a sim card for calls when I am there - how do I access the web? I guess my question is, when in another country can I use their sim card and have web access as well? Or can I use the sim card and still have AT&T global web access?

Thanks for any information / advice you can shed!

PhGirl

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Post 2 of 3

My situation is similar

by Pepe7 - 10/28/09 12:55 PM In reply to: On the verge of getting an iphone - but have questions! by PhGirl

I get a discount through my employer, which also provides a data plan discount. You have to prorate vs what the market rate would be basically. I'd have to know more specifics about what corporate email requirements you are referring to. It sounds like they may be adding a messaging plan on your account in addition to the unlimited data plan. It's true- on your own w/o the FAN discount you would be paying at least the $30 plus the cost of whatever other features they quoted.

Regarding unlocking, ATT will not unlock the iPhone. You could however purchase a legitimate unlocked version for a much higher price (~$1K). You would be hard pressed to recoup the extra costs though for a once a year trip. For a trip like that I'd add the international package at that point, which likely won't amount to as much as the $6-700 price difference between the official ATT 'locked' version and the unlocked version. (The benefit of using an unlocked phone is you can choose a prepaid SIM/provider of your choice when travelling. Reduces your overall calling costs vs roaming on ATT's service with a foreign partner & the associated tariffs.)

There are other options for you for smartphones, esp. if you would consider an unlocked version which would not require the data plan. The employer discount is sometimes hard to pass up though .