There Oughta Be A Law Against This
Last weekend, I seriously flirted with the idea of getting an iPhone 3GS. Serious enough that I actually went into an AT&T Store, played with one for a few minute, and actually tried to buy one. But I couldn’t pull the trigger. Not that I didn’t want to, but AT&T did not allow me to.
Let me explain. In AT&T jargon, I am what you call a Corporate Responsibility User. In short, my employer pays the bill directly. Good thing, too, because my bill isn’t exactly cheap with the voice, data, and international calling/roaming addons that I have. The downside to this arrangement is that I am unable to purchase a phone from directly from an AT&T store, even if I pay with my own money.
The reason? Pretty much any phone I buy will involve a change of some sort to my account. As a CRU, I am not allowed to make any changes to my account. Heck, I can’t even call AT&T and complain about service issues as I can’t even get past the initial account check since I don’t have the “secret” information.
In the case of an iPhone purchase, the changes needed to my account would not affect the monthly rate. I have an unlimited data plan already. It would, however, add a contract, which is something I haven’t had on my line in a while. Working for Nokia does have some advantages, since I could get much better phones than AT&T was offering.
Even if I wanted to pay full price for the handset either directly from Apple or from AT&T, because pretty much any handset requires an account change of some sort, I am screwed. I cannot buy it from Apple or AT&T directly. I have to go through my employer, which I plan on doing for the iPhone 3GS within the next few days.
Can someone please explain why AT&T–or any operator for that matter–has to know what kind of handset I have? Shouldn’t handsets conform to the relevant standards and that be enough for the operators? How come this tying of phones to service provider isn’t illegal everywhere?
If an operator tried to tie a phone to a specific landline network, it would be illegal in the United States, thanks to the Carterfone ruling. How come when we add a wireless radio to the phone, that rule suddenly doesn’t apply?
I’m not saying that carriers can’t sell subsidized phones in exchange for a contract commitment. That’s their choice. But making it so I cannot buy a phone outright because it is inexorably tied to my service? It should be illegal.
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Tags: apple, at&t, carterfone, iphone Fnord
Comment by Jason
Wait. You work for Nokia and you have/want an iPhone? Does not compute.
Comment by Sharon
Can you buy the full priced phone – no obligation, no plan and then use your existing SIM card?
–Sharon
Comment by PhoneBoy
I officially stopped working for Nokia in April when my division of Nokia was acquired by Check Point Software. No need to worry about NOT having a Nokia phone anymore.
Comment by PhoneBoy
I was not going to buy the phone no-obligation since I have no desire to pay $700 for a phone. Even if you do, you still have to go through some sort of activation process to use the phone. That process involves a carrier–in this case AT&T–making some changes on their end so the phone can be activated for use. Changes I can’t make because I am a CRU. Even if they did let me walk out of the store with the phone in-hand, it would be a nice, shiny brick.
Comment by Marc
I’m re-reading this and trying to get my head around your dilemma. My initial (albeit not complete) scattered thoughts on the matter – finding a relative who has AT&T service and have the iPhone added to their account initially…or perhaps getting a AT&T 3G-capable handset and swapping its SIM card with that of the iPhone…hmmmm.
Once the phone is purchased (by whomever under a 2 yr agreement) after 30 days, you can break contract for 175.00 ETF.
Heck, if the person who purchases it via the AT&T website is a new customer, by using the BING-assisted 35% off deal, (see TechCrunch post) you could save about 104.00 on the 3GS 32gb (and get Cashback after 60 days from purchase date) then cancel. The ETF is lowered 5.00 for every month that is completed.
Ok, so numbers-wise, here goes:
iPhone 3GS would then cost 300.00+ to purchase…plus 2 months service(140+ minimum)…then BING Cashback of 100.00+ (after 60 days)…then 165.00 ETF (after 2 months passed)…and you own the iPhone 3GS 32gb for about 515.00 invested when the dust settles.
Once you then ‘own’ the phone out of contract, you could jailbreak it (if option to do so is ready and go to T-Mobile)
or you could take a AT&T 3G sim from a handset that your company pays for and place it in the iPhone, no?
Sorry if so scattered here, just wanted to help somehow.
Comment by PhoneBoy
My entire point is that one should not have to go through all this trouble just to acquire the device. You should just be able to walk into a store, present your cash/check/credit card, and walk out with the device of your choice. This kind of transaction should not be complicated.
Comment by Marc
100% Agree. I especially don’t like handing over my SS# for the credit check, as I’ve been told there are other ways to perform said check.
Comment by Juergen
Actually, the reason is quite simple, at least to me who frequently gets asked “Why can’t I buy $foo-phone, who cares what the corporate standard is”: If anybody was able to buy what he likes, then you’d see a race start… A gets a shiny new Nokia, now B wants to have something better and gets a Sony, C thinks “I’m geekier, I want a G1″, D gets an iPhone 3G, E gets the 3GS 16GB just to show that he can, now A thinks “Hey, my phone is lame, I want the 3GS 32GB NOW!!!1!1eleven!”…
Comment by spg
it has been way too long that carterfone has not yet been implemented for cell phones. countries that have always sold service and phones seperately tend to have per minute rates at a small fraction of those that do the 2 year contract/sub. phone thing.
but i believe the reality has as much to do with the american consumer accepting the practices of the operators as much as the actions of the oiperators themselves.
you can save a ton of money going with the smaller unknown preapid MVNO’s(such as pageplus or STI mobile) and using second hand unlocked phones. however in the USA almost no one would have a clue what you are talking about if you suggest they do so. in europe it is the small prepaid MVNO that have driven down prices for everyone. but over there the consumer has had a lot of interest in using them to save money.
Comment by PhoneBoy
For the prepaid thing to work, you have to know what your usage patterns are so you know how frequently to top up and whether or not you’re getting a good deal. I guarantee you most people have no clue how many minutes they use in a month.
And, of course, you have to only want voice minutes. It is damn near impossible to get prepaid data at anything resembling a good price, not withstanding some of the tricks you’ve pointed out earlier that MAY or MAY NOT work
Comment by Sharon
Another option that worked for me when I tested the iphone (eventually I decided to hold my old BB) was to “get” an iphone and switch the SIM. No extra cost. No account modification.
See also http://securitypie.com/unfortunately-i-cant-use-an-iphone/
–Sharon
Comment by spg
my suggestion for thoose who do not know how much they use but think they may save on prepaid. switch to prepaid when the contract ends, than on the first month that they would be better of bundled switch back. many people will never get to that month, particularly if they go with an opoerator like pageplus. even if they definatly want a bundled package page plus now offers 1500 minutes plus 1500 texts per month for $39.99 this is much cheaper than the big players. also vigin mobile and boost both have unlimited nationwide plans for $49.99 per month. the only great data deal that i know of is STI mobile which i have personally on an unlocked formerally verizon smart phone and works great; it is even possible to tether.
Comment by PhoneBoy
Verizon phones are “unlocked” from what I understand anyway.
STI Mobile is a Sprint MVNO, Pageplus is a Verizon one. It might be worthwhile to get a cheap PagePlus phone for emergencies.
Comment by tco
Back in the day @ CHKP this was not the case. The corporate account has been locked down. This is the choice of the company. Not really an AT&T thing.
Comment by PhoneBoy
To some extent, that is the choice of the corporate sponsor (in this case, CHKP), but changing a device should involve changing the account in any way. The service (and device) are separate things. Can you imagine calling your local exchange carrier every time you changed the telephone handset in your house?
Comment by spg
the verizon phone i use was actually never locked; but i did have to modify the PRL(primary roaming list) to match sprints and make a number of other ‘flash’ changes for the data to work properly. also since STI does not offically support phones not purchased through them(pageplus does though; they will assist with getting any CDMA phone working) it was neccasary to buy an sti mobile phone activate it and than move all the connection data including the ESN, ESID and MSID to my other phone. as far as STI is concerned i am still using the phone i purchased from them. i pay 0.19 cents per day for unlimited data.
if you have any verizon phone lying around you can call page plus at any time to instantly activate it, there is no charge for activation and you get $2.00 in free airtime.
Comment by PhoneBoy
You have just described, in a nutshell, everything that is wrong with the way phones are sold in this country. To make a phone purchased for one carrier work on another should not involve major surgery. You should be able to plug in a SIM card and go.
Comment by spg
even in most of europe(italy is an exception – all sales of locked phones are banned) if you buy a carrier subsdiesed phone it is also locked to the carrier you bought it from. the big difference is that lots of people unlock the locked phones(there are plenty of shops both here and there that can do it in minutes or sometimes seconds for a small fee)as well as pay the full price to get one that was never locked or associated with any carrier.
the main reason to do this is to use a bargin MVNO or even a major carrier that offering much cheaper pricing if you do not take a subsidiesed phone. this largly comes out of an old practice in europe where phone shops would often ‘buy back’ the phone when a customer signed a new 2 year contract esentially filling the customers pocket with cash. at one time this was very popular and largely something that drove the carriers to offer the cheaper plans for ‘bring you own phone’ customers. i have asked a couple times in phone shops here in the US if they would buy back my phone if i signed a two year contract thast included a free phnes and they locked at me like i was absolutely crazy. if enough people asked this question thing may start to change; i am sure the carriers would much rather offer device nuetral plans that are cheaper than to have store manager kicking cash back to customers who keep using there old phone.