My new iPhone will cost how much? Thanks a lot, AT&T

July 1, 2008 | Anthony Ha

Updated

Man, I’m pretty steamed about the just-revealed details of the iPhone 3G price plan — and if you’re an existing AT&T customer, you should be too. After all the fuss about the $199 iPhone, it turns that those of us already on AT&T plans are going to have to pay twice as much — namely, the existing iPhone price of $399.

Not surprisingly, I’m less-than-thrilled about this news. It’s starting to feel like everything after the announcement of the iPhone 3G at WWDC has been a string of “Wait, but there’s a catch …” First, AT&T said it’s increasing the price of iPhone’s data plan by $10 a month. Next, MG Siegler noticed the real ripoff: You’ll need to pay extra for text messaging.

Still, those announcements fell under the heading of “annoying but fair.” Basically, they seemed like AT&T’s way to recoup its iPhone subsidy by charging its customers extra rates. This news, however, means that people like me — AT&T customers who haven’t bought an iPhone yet — get the worst of both worlds; we lose out on the discount, and we get to pay the increased rates. It’s like I’ll be subsidizing AT&T’s efforts to bring customers over from other carriers. Um, thanks?

So you’re probably thinking, “If you don’t like it, why are you buying an iPhone?” Good point. In fact, I’m so peeved about this, that I’m going to boycott the iPhone. For a day.

It’ll hurt, but I’m totally going hold off on my purchase until July 12. Take that, AT&T!

Update: As several commenters pointed out, I should have mentioned that if you’re eligible for a phone upgrade, you can still pay the lower iPhone prices. Sadly, I’m not eligible for such an upgrade, so my boycott plans proceed apace.

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About the Author, Anthony Ha

Anthony Ha writes about enterprise technology, cloud computing, tech policy, and random cool startups. Before joining VentureBeat in January 2008, he worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. Anthony attended Stanford University from 2001 to 2006, and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com.

  • Chris
    If you're eligible for a phone upgrade on your account you will get the discounted price.
  • Yeah, I'm updating to note that. Should have been in my initial post, sorry. I'm pretty sure I'm not eligible, though.
  • I'm interested in the $599 and $699 options that don't require a contract *if* I can keep my current $15/month unlimited MediaNet data plan instead of having to sign up for the $30/month iPhone data plan. That will save me $180/year for the same unlimited data. Unless the iPhone data is somehow special, like the bits are encapsulated in trendy black turtlenecks as they stream down the wire.
  • That's a shame, I'm still thinking apple is making a huge mistake, but I think it wont discourage people buying the phone with this incredibly expensive moth contract...
  • Kenneth
    The iPhone 3G is completely different from the original iPhone when it comes down to business.
    It looks like AT&T takes the majority portion of the whole deal and Apple is just selling phones like other phone makers.

    7.11, I will be an iPhone 3G user. Sadly, AT&T only lets people to buy 1 per customer.

    Not all existing at&t customers have to pay $200 more for the iPhone 3G.
  • Damien
    I'm using the "Patience is a virtue" approach. The iPhone is a good phone, but with ANdroid phones right around the corner (a few months) and my lack of NEED for a new phone, I'll be waiting to see how the two stack up. Something tells me that the open source nature of the Android platform may draw me away from my iPhone aspirations.
  • If you are not eligible for phone upgrade, that means you have not paid off the subsidies of your previous phone yet. So thats why this scenario I guess.
  • pwb
    "AT&T customers who haven’t bought an iPhone yet" can be eligible for the $199/$299 prices.
  • Pat
    Hey if you are going to be stupid then at least have the decency to not cry about it :-P
  • Don't you know better than to try reasoning with a stupid person? Especially a stupid person who's crying?
  • Ben
    I switched to AT&T from Sprint back in late March when my contract with Sprint had expired. I had every intent to purchase an iphone back in March but was advised to hold off and simply get a cheap phone and wait for the new iphones to come out later this year by my sales person at a local AT&T retail store in St. Louis, MO. I was a little skeptical of this so I made a call to AT&T's customer service to see what they had to say on the matter. They told me that yes, a new version of the iphone would be coming out in only a few months and that if I switched to AT&T now I would have no problem getting the iphone when it came out. But in fact, it would be easier to get the iphone because I wouldn't have to worry about porting my number when the new iphone came out I would just simply switch devices. With the recent news that I will now be paying $399 for my iphone instead of the $199 simply because I listened to my AT&T sales person and the customer services representative—you can understand how I am more then just a little upset. I spoke to an AT&T representative yesterday who was less than helpful on the situation. Essentially AT&T is telling me that no we didn't want your business for the last 3 months and because you switched to AT&T early as recommended by your employees we are no penalizing you for doing so with a $200 surcharge. So, needless to say I will not be getting the new iphone and will finish out my contract on their lowest plan of $39.99 as opposed to the $69.99 + text messaging of $15.00 = $84.99 per month with the iphone. That is a difference of $45 per month or $1,080 over the life of my contract. Seems pretty silly for $200 don't you think?
  • this is totally bogus. I was going to buy an I phone but not any more. I cant even believe it
  • Why don't you just join my one-day boycott?
  • Rob Kral
    Absolutely UNBELIEVABLE!!!

    I think it's outrageous that existing ATT customers get PENALIZED BIG TIME like this. Makes the keynote and $199 a joke, a really bad one.
  • E!!
    Hmm... the NEW iphone data plan for consumers is going to be $30 for UNLIMITED DATA... pretty comparable to other data plans (with AT&T or VZ) only you will get an AMAZING tool for personal or business use. It is not a bad deal at all.

    Also, iPhone users use more data than BB and PDA users combined. One piece of advise, check ahead of time with the carrier to see if you're eligible for an upgrade so you'll know how much the phone will cost you. Even at the non-upgrade price the iPhone is a gem and if you get one, you will love it.
  • ck02623
    Good article, my thoughts exactly.