One of the major obstacles for potential iPhone buyers is that the iPhone is offered exclusively via select carriers. Even if users are willing to switch carriers, they may not be willing to eat the often multi-hundred dollar early-termination fee that they would incur.

Several websites are now available to help users avoid various cell carrier fees. Cellswapper.com and Celltradeusa.com both are geared towards helping users seeking to end their contracts early avoid early termination fees, while helping new customers avoid activation fees.

Both sites work on a similar principle in that service providers will typically allow the transfer of contracts without termination or activation fees. The sites therefore act as a meeting place for users to find each other.

Note that the service is not without any cost, as the sites do charge a fee for matchmaking, however the end result should be considerably less than termination and activation fees.

via http://www.macrumors.com/iphone/2007/11/29/getting-out-of-your-contract-without-a-termination-fee/

Posted on November 30th, 2007 by admin
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A while back AT&T enabled iPhone owners to edit their iphone service plans online to exclude EDGE data service from their plans, carving out a good $20 from their monthly fees. Unfortunately, AT&T recently removed their online editing of service plans for iPhone customers.

While it looks like no more customers will be able to remove EDGE from their wireless plans, it is unknown what AT&T will decide to do for those who have already removed the EDGE from their iPhone plans.

One reader of TUAW claims that this is not AT&T removing the feature, but a normal downtime screen. Have you tried to remove EDGE from your iPhone plan? If you try it out, let us know the results.

Posted on November 30th, 2007 by admin
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Sick of paying $20 a month for EDGE? Want to save $240/year? TUAW reader Josh tipped us off to his iPhone News post that reveals that you can now remove it from your iphone plan. If you rarely use EDGE and live around ubiquitous WiFi (like I do), this is a great way to save some money.

I gave this a try myself but my GoPhone account didn’t have the on-web option shown here. So I gave AT&T a call. It was, as always, an adventure and although I was told that you had to do this over their IBR IVR voice recognition system, I did find a service agent who was able to help me in person. (The IBR kept putting me in Spanish mode for some reason. Go figure.)

So as of my next billing cycle, my iPhone will now drop its EDGE/Data plan. This means I’m losing visual voicemail and EDGE access. Neither is a big deal for me. I can still check my voicemail by calling my iPhone on a landline, typing star (*) and entering my passcode. It also drops my monthly cost to $29.99/month–more than I want to be paying but not quite so much as before. I keep my AT&T account and, presumably, some level of Apple support and warranty service.

This option won’t be of interest to those of you who pull down the big megabytes over EDGE but for us WiFi folks, it’s fab.

Update: You may want to install Services.app, a program that allows you to disable EDGE while retaining calls and WiFi service.

via http://www.tuaw.com/2007/11/16/drop-your-iphone-data-plan-keep-voice/

Posted on November 19th, 2007 by admin
Filed under: iPhone News, iPhone Plan, iPhone Tips | No Comments »

Apple on Tuesday said that iphone battery life was the main reason for the delay behind a faster 3G version of the iPhone and that it is not expected to be released in near future. Following the announcement of theUK iPhone deal with O2, Apple chief Steve Jobs and a representative of UK cellular carrier O2 agreed to a Q&A session during Apple’s special event at the Regent Street store in London. Jobs said the faster third-generation (”3G”) wireless technology will come to iPhone once the company can maintain at least five or more hours of battery life, countering recent claims by analysts, The industry has been waiting for faster mobile connectivity, as many have lamented the speeds of the woefully slow AT&T EDGE network.

Jobs said that limited battery of the 3G chip sets would severely restrict use of the phone and that Apple’s 8-hour battery life was designed to allow users the freedom to use their phone’s internet and music services without thinking of battery life.

“The 3G chipsets that are available to semiconductors work reasonably well except for power. They are real power hogs,” he told the audience. “So as you know, the handset battery life used to be 5-6 hours for GSM, but when we got to 3G they got cut in half. Most 3G phones have battery lives of 2-3 hours [of talk time].”

While Jobs believes that the battery life will increase to th, he said that users may not see that until “late next year.”

In addition, the Q&A revealed that the bundled WiFi service for UK/O2 customers will be powered by Cloud.

Apple’s boss also suggested that the iTunes-Starbucks deal could migrate overseas but that the decision rests in the hands of the coffee company.

Interestingly, the session also revealed that contract length and usage limits in the UK will stand at 18 month contracts with a limit of 1,400 pages per day. Confirming earlier reports, O2 is investing in EDGE technology and currently has 30 percent coverage, according to SlashGear.

Jobs also admitted that Apple is already working on the next two versions of the iPhone, and says he hasn’t planned any more iPhone price cuts — after the recent controversy over the $200 price drop that some believed was staged — but warned that it’s technology, reaffirming statements made in his apology letter to early adopters.

Posted on September 19th, 2007 by admin
Filed under: iPhone Videos, iPhone Plan, iPhone Bug | No Comments »

At the special press event in London, Apple CEO Steve Jobs early Tuesday announced that mobile carrier O2 would begin selling the immensely popular iPhone in the UK starting November 9th, confirming circulating reports about signed Europe deals. The device will be available for £269 without any rebates or subsidy and will be offered with three separate plans: £35, £45 and £55 per month. Each of the three iphone plans will offer free data traffic along with access to a network of 7,500 WiFi hotspots, while users will billed for their calls and messages. “We are coming to the UK and wanted to pick the best carrier and that is O2,” Apple’s Jobs said at the news conference. Other reports indicate that T-mobile will sell the device in Germany and Orange will sell the device in France.

O2’s iphone page is online.

Posted on September 19th, 2007 by admin
Filed under: iPhone News, iPhone Plan | No Comments »

Only three weeks after Apple’s first software update for the iPhone, update 1.0.2 has hit the streets through iTunes. So far, any meaningful description of the update has not shown up on Apple’s website like it did last time, but we’ll be sure to update you if and when that changes.

Instead, you get “iPhone Bug fixes.” No, this is not the massive software update that everyone has been hoping for, although it could contain a few hidden fixes like the last update did with the addition of the BCC field in e-mail and whatnot.

I’m told that the update weighs in at a hefty 92MB, so there’s gotta be some interesting gems buried in there. We’ll be sure to update with more info as it becomes available.

Update: We are hearing through various sources (namely Gizmodo and MacRumors forums) that users are reporting improvements to WiFi reception and that a number of hacks still work fine after installing the update (unlike last time). Also, other users are reporting that their updates are a mere 3.7MB instead of 92MB.

Posted on August 24th, 2007 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized, iPhone Plan, How to convert DVD to iPhone | No Comments »

I just got off the phone with an AT&T rep confirming information about the launch next week. He explained a few things to me about AT&T’s  iphone plans that I didn’t know, and also stated that he expects the plans to be their standard data plans starting at $34.95 and climbing all the way up to $99.99 a month.

AT&T offers what they call a “smart phone plan” for internet useage…but it doesn’t actually work with most of what we would consider “smart phones”. For example, you can’t use it with a Palm Treo or a Blackjack. The “smart phone” plan is $19.95 a month, and only works with phones that have limited access to the Internet. PDA-like phones have to go the Data Plan route.

The iPhone Data Plans include:

PDA Personal 20 Mb for $34.95 a month

Personal Max w/ 1500 Messages for $44.95 a month

PDA Personal Max with 1500 Messages w/UNLIMITED M2M Messaging for $49.95 a month

Data Connect (Unlimited) for $79.95 a month

Data Connect (Unlimited) w/ Wi-Fi for $99.95 a month

You can read about the Date Plans on AT&Ts official site.

Now AT&T Reps have already gone on the record as saying the plans for the iPhone will be “nothing exotic”, so I think the dreams of heavily discounted data plans for iPhone customers are just that…dreams.

Regardless of how well the device works, or how revolutionary it may or may not be (and I tend to fall on the “may” side of that argument), the rates that AT&T charge, and whether or not the phone will have Wi-Fi access without a data plan are two factors that are going to make or break this phone.

From everything we’ve seen of the iPhone so far, the device looks like a home run, but AT&T’s role in this, cost wise, has yet to really be revealed. If the information I got today is correct, and these standard rates are going to apply…do you still want an iPhone?

If the Wi-Fi is inactive without an AT&T Data plan (which has been rumored, but not confirmed) do you still want an iPhone?

Posted on June 25th, 2007 by admin
Filed under: iPhone Plan, AT&T iPhone | No Comments »

Earlier this afternoon Apple posted their 4th iPhone ad, titled “Watered Down“. There was no mysterious 12th icon to report on, but there was one new morsel to speculate upon, and that is the omission of the infamous “Use requires 2 year activation plan” disclaimer at the end of the video. In fact, in going back to the previous videos, many Macenstein readers noticed that tag line has now been removed from the previous 3 videos as well!

Does this mean a long term iPhone contract is no longer required, or simply that Apple marketing figured, “Why scare off potential customers before they get to hold one in their hand”?

Who knows? But internet speculation is what the iPhone has always been about (even since before it was announced), so let’s keep the party going.

Above: The latest set of ads from Apple remove the disclaimer at the end mentioning customers need to agree to a 2-year service contract in order to prchase an iPhone. (Oh yeah, and the tag line and AT&T logo are smaller too, for those REALLY looking to nitpick)

Posted on June 7th, 2007 by admin
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Today, much of the tech press is interested in speculating on the iPhone’s data plan. Here’s something new to add to the conversation.

Last week, when a Cingular business sales rep told me that the date for release was June 11th, she also told me that the data plan would be $30 bucks. I have less reason to believe the date, but the pricing seems like something she knew as a fact. $30. Such an exact number.

I told her that I thought it was a bit high, since the phone doesn’t have 3G. She said that they had the best data network in the country, so the phone would download fast, so again, take this with a grain of salt. This is a sales person, not an engineer. Maybe it includes Wi-Fi. Maybe you can’t just get the EDGE access. That would make me a bit upset if you couldn’t split the two up.

Because I can stomach the monthly fee for minutes and txt, and I can stomach the iPhone’s $599 price tag, but I’m not sure I want to pay another $30 for EDGE data plus Wi-Fi. That’s maybe more than I can swallow.

This is all speculation, of course. Brian Lam

From gizmodo.com

Posted on May 30th, 2007 by admin
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 From Engadget

There are carrier exclusivity agreements, and there are carrier exclusivity agreements — and Apple’s iPhone deal must have been pretty sweet for Cupertino to guarantee their new hotness to AT&T and AT&T alone for five friggin years. USA Today reports the supposed half-decade deal precludes Apple from developing a CDMA handset in that time (duh), meaning that if you live in the US and don’t want to move to AT&T, it’s going to be 2012 before you even have a chance at an iPhone. Better still, Today reports that Cingular’s arch-nemesis Verizon is claiming to have an iPhone-killer in the wings. According to Denny Strigl, Verizon CEO, “We do have a very good response in the mill. You’ll see that from us in the late summer.” It’s war, people, make no mistake about it.

Posted on May 23rd, 2007 by admin
Filed under: iPhone Plan | No Comments »