iPhone from Apple

[Sgt PSN]

no doubt.  i'm not really trying to get over on them or anything.  it's not like i want them to give me a phone for free.  but at the same time, i'm not happy with my current phone and want to buy another one and can only purchase one from att at full price instead of the discounted rate they give you when you sign a 2 year contract or renew your 2 year contract. 

i guess the part i don't understand is why they don't let customers buy new phones whenever they want, and just give them a new 2 year contract upon activating a new phone.  by "locking" me into my phone for 2 years, they are basically telling me that they don't want my business for 24 months. 

all i'm really wanting to do is be able to buy a refurbished phone through them at the refurbished price but if they don't go for that, then i'll see if they will let me buy a new phone at the discounted rate and just adjust my 2 yr contract accordingly. 

[QB Eagles]

i guess the part i don't understand is why they don't let customers buy new phones whenever they want, and just give them a new 2 year contract upon activating a new phone.  by "locking" me into my phone for 2 years, they are basically telling me that they don't want my business for 24 months.

They significantly subsidize the cost of your phone. They'd be losing money if they let you upgrade at the subsidized price every time a new phone comes out. Hence the two year wait.

[PhillyPhreak54]

I don't know about all companies, but I know the crooks at Sprint extend your contract even when you change calling plans. When I moved to Texas I kept my PA number and old Sprint phone. I added a larger plan before my company gave me my BlackBerry and when I did that, they automatically extended my contract. They would not switch my plan without extending the deal.

They get ya by the short hairs and yank hard

[Sgt PSN]

i remember that from my time with sprint.  they should tell you about that whenever you change your plan or phone.  i was with sprint for about 4 or 5 years before switching to att and i think i changed my plan and/or phone a total of 3 times and each time, the confirmed with me that i was aware of the contract extension.  if they didn't do it with you, then that's shady.  but to me, policy seems more practical than locking you into a phone for 2 years.

however.....

i guess the part i don't understand is why they don't let customers buy new phones whenever they want, and just give them a new 2 year contract upon activating a new phone.  by "locking" me into my phone for 2 years, they are basically telling me that they don't want my business for 24 months.

They significantly subsidize the cost of your phone. They'd be losing money if they let you upgrade at the subsidized price every time a new phone comes out. Hence the two year wait.

define significantly.  my mom and g/f split the cost of upgrading my phone for a xmas present and it cost them a total of $400, which was $100 less than the full retail price of the phone.  even at $400, i seriously doubt that att is losing money on that.  there must be something more to this that i don't understand.  i called att a little while ago and got no clear answers from the customer service rep.  she just kept telling me "that's att policy" but couldn't give any explanation as to why.  i probably should have asked to speak to a supervisor but i doubt that would have done anything for me either. 

she did tell me that my dad is eligible for an upgrade though so i might see if he'll upgrade to the iphone and then just send it to me.  either that or i'll take the one with the broken screen from my buddy and then buy a new screen for it. 

in any case, stay the farg away from blackberry.  pure garbage. 

[SunMo]

my blackberry is working great and i've had nothing but success with it for the past year.  my sprint service has been great.  thanks for that super advice though.

[PhillyPhreak54]

What's your beef with the BlackBerry, Sarge?

Mine is the Curve through AT&T and it works great. My only beef with it, and I didn't really have this problem until I messed around with my boys new iPhone, is that the internet is not as good and user friendly as the iPhone.

[Sgt PSN]

- bad service - blackberry network (at least with att) goes out several times a day.  i'll have full signal and can't make or recieve calls.
- trackball keeps getting stuck
- back cover randomly pops off
- phone will randomly "reset" to it's out of the box settings and i have to pop the battery out and then restart it. 
- their software sucks with vista (although vista kind of sucks too) and keeps freezing.  after about 3 weeks of this i uninstalled their desktop software. 
- i don't particularly care for the blackberry set up either......just the way you go about using the phone, all of it's functions and settings. 

the only things i actually like about the phone is that the speaker phone is loud and clear, along with the external volume for the alarm and listening to music.  i also like playing brickbreaker and texas hold 'em.  that's pretty much it. 

funny thing about blackberry is that i have quite a few friends who have them, and they all have basically the same complaints i do, yet they absolutely love the farging thing. 

[QB Eagles]

define significantly.

I don't know much much AT&T pays RIM for the Blackberries, but last year there was a report out saying that AT&T pays Apple $325 for every iPhone sold, and $425 if the phone is sold through the Apple Store.

[PhillyPhreak54]

- bad service - blackberry network (at least with att) goes out several times a day.  i'll have full signal and can't make or recieve calls.
- trackball keeps getting stuck
- back cover randomly pops off
- phone will randomly "reset" to it's out of the box settings and i have to pop the battery out and then restart it. 
- their software sucks with vista (although vista kind of sucks too) and keeps freezing.  after about 3 weeks of this i uninstalled their desktop software. 
- i don't particularly care for the blackberry set up either......just the way you go about using the phone, all of it's functions and settings. 

the only things i actually like about the phone is that the speaker phone is loud and clear, along with the external volume for the alarm and listening to music.  i also like playing brickbreaker and texas hold 'em.  that's pretty much it. 

funny thing about blackberry is that i have quite a few friends who have them, and they all have basically the same complaints i do, yet they absolutely love the farging thing. 

1. Is it your service area? You said you pretty much live in BFE, right? You may have issues regardless of what phone you have if the service area sucks.

2. Mine gets stuck every now and then too. A quick shot of compressed air or wiping it with windex takes care if it really quick.

3. Never had the problem

4. Never had the problem

5. Can't comment on it since I don't use it with my computer, well I do but it's only linked to my work Outlook.

6. I can see this...hell, I don't even use half of the shtein on the phone. I have a lot of hidden items on my desk top

Maybe the phone is defective? When we had the zesty ass Nextel BalckBerry's I had to have mine replaced thrice!

[Sgt PSN]

ok.....so let's go with $325 since i would purchase from att and not the apple store and it's probably safe to assume that att has a similar deal in place with rim.  

i believe that if i were eligible for an upgrade and walked into the att store today and wanted to buy a new iphone, they would sell it to me for a "discounted" price of $500.  so that's still $175 profit.  but since i haven't had my current phone for 2 years, they will only sell to me at the full price which is like $600-700.  

6 months ago they made a little profit off me when i bought the blackberry and now i want to buy an iphone that would turn them another profit.  but since they won't offer me a new iphone at the discounted rate, i can buy from a third party and put money in someone else's pocket instead of theirs.  it just doesn't seem to make good business sense to me.  the only thing i can come up with is that there are more than enough morons and idiots out there who are willing to pay full price for an iphone that changing the policy would take a big chunk out of the profits.  

it's basically big business knowing they have something i want and could give a crap if i'm satisfied with their service/policies.  

[PhillyPhreak54]

Tell the iceholes your story and then tell them you'd be willing to pay to get out of your contract and move to another company if they don't help you.

[Sgt PSN]

1. Is it your service area? You said you pretty much live in BFE, right? You may have issues regardless of what phone you have if the service area sucks.

Maybe the phone is defective? When we had the zesty ass Nextel BalckBerry's I had to have mine replaced thrice!

nah, it's not the area.  the phone i had when i moved out here (samsung something or other.....just a basic phone) worked great.  there's a lot of dead zones out here but i never had a problem making or recieving calls when i had full signal.  

with the blackberry, i'll have full signal with the little 3g icon and i'll try and make a call and will keep getting "call failed" on my screen.  i've had this happen to me in la, san diego and san fran as well as out in the middle of the desert.  

i'm sure that some of the problems are defects that can be rectified with a new phone.....like the back cover always falling off.  but i've just had so many problems with it along with just not liking the phones functions that i'm ready to move on and become an iphone toting douchebag who slaps phones with other iphone users to transfer photos and contact info.  

[PhillyPhreak54]

i'm sure that some of the problems are defects that can be rectified with a new phone.....like the back cover always falling off.  but i've just had so many problems with it along with just not liking the phones functions that i'm ready to move on and become an iphone toting douchebag who slaps phones with other iphone users to transfer photos and contact info. 

[Sgt PSN]

Tell the iceholes your story and then tell them you'd be willing to pay to get out of your contract and move to another company if they don't help you.

thought about that but it's not like any other company is going to care about me as a customer.  not to mention that i'm on the family plan and am enjoying the reduced rates.  overall, i've been very satisfied with att, especially when it comes to coverage area.  i just don't like being committed to a particular phone for 2 farging years.  

[reese125]

Sarge-I have the Curve and it works fantastic. Has been for 2 years now

I had the trackball issue as well and got a new trackball. It costs like $7. Go to crackberry.com and get one. Its  very easy to take off and pop back on.

The "call failed" happens to every provider-yes its annoying, but it doesn't last long. Dont think the grass is greener.

There's no reason your back cover should be popping off if you have a rubber protective case or any other shield cover.

Also keep in mind its good to do a boot down reset to your phone as some functionalities will jam here and there. Its no different than your rebooting of your pc at home to fix the isue.

Bottom line is it sounds like its a user friendly thing more than anything with you. If you're still having trouble navigating the phone this long I suggest you roll, then buy the 5lb Nokia with the pull up antenna and get back to basics.