iPhone and AT&T

How does the Apple store sell an iPhone? Do I have to sign a contract with AT&T in the Apple store? I am not US citizen, can I buy an iPhone?

You hand them a charge card (seriously, cash isn't accepted) and they hand you the iPhone. What you do with it is up to you.

Unlike other phones, you activate the iPhone through iTunes. So when you want to buy an iPhone, you simply get the phone itself. There's no contract to sign or plan to activate at the store.

If you are not a US citizen, are you a US resident? If not, and if you are not from a country that presently has an iPhone approved network, getting the phone may not be of much value to you, unless you are planning to "unlock" it, which is not legal. You may be out of luck...

mac57, unlocking the iPhone is perfectly legal. It's just a violation of the Apple EULA. So if you unlock it, you only lose out on warranty coverage.

Pardon my legal-ese Kash. If you violate the EULA, isn't that illegal? At the very best, it is unethical.

mac57 said:

Pardon my legal-ese Kash. If you violate the EULA, isn't that illegal? At the very best, it is unethical.

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Not quite. I can't quote you exact details of the exception, but here's the short of it. US Supreme Court passed an exemption to the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) for the short-foreseeable future that allows breaking terms of an EULA SOLELY for the purpose of unlocking cellular telephones for use on other networks.

Due to this exception, breaking the EULA is in actuality only breaking Apple's rules, not the law.

The only thing sacrificed by "unlocking" your iPhone is technical support and warranty service from Apple themselves.

Violating an EULA doesn't constitute illegality. There has yet to be a case that shows that violating an EULA breaks some sort of law.

Did some research, and the exemption I spoke of earlier also allows for reverse engineering of the software that powers said-unlockable phone, which is the reason for Apple issuing so many warnings about installing their 'official' upgrades on a reverse-engineered phone. The official code and the 'unlocked' code (to dumb it down a bit) were conflicting with each other and rendering the phone's radio inoperable.

How is AT&T in the NYC metro/North NJ area?

AT&T service generally isn't that good and that is what is holding me back from getting an iPhone.

I live in central Jersey and am often in the city and service is great, but then again, I've never actually had any trouble with AT&T since I got it all those years ago.

Kash said:

I live in central Jersey and am often in the city and service is great, but then again, I've never actually had any trouble with AT&T since I got it all those years ago.

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Have you travelled outside of metro NYC?

How's AT&T down south? And in the midwest, no farther than Kansas City?

If you're comparing AT&T to other providers- Verizon has, by far, the best service. Though if the majority of people you're calling have AT&T it doesn't really make sense to go with verizon.

Kash said:

Violating an EULA doesn't constitute illegality. There has yet to be a case that shows that violating an EULA breaks some sort of law.

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Discussing it is against the forum rules though, so please brush up on those m'kay?

MacNNJ said:

Have you travelled outside of metro NYC?

How's AT&T down south? And in the midwest, no farther than Kansas City?

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I've travelled to Las Vegas with my iPhone and call service is great, EDGE not so much. Salt Lake City has some decent EDGE coverage, but you can forget about it in Wisconsin. I've been to the south before I got my iPhone, and AT&T service has been great in every state along the east coast, along with those bordering the Gulf, all the way over to Houston, TX. Haven't really tried AT&T phones anywhere else ;P

Aptmunich said:

Discussing it is against the forum rules though, so please brush up on those m'kay?

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Yes, I am well aware...

airwalk331 said:

If you're comparing AT&T to other providers- Verizon has, by far, the best service. Though if the majority of people you're calling have AT&T it doesn't really make sense to go with verizon.

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I currently have Verizon with a Motorola Q. Most of my friends also have Verizon, but being that I have a Mac and I like the iPhone, I was thinking about switching.

Kash said:

I've travelled to Las Vegas with my iPhone and call service is great, EDGE not so much. Salt Lake City has some decent EDGE coverage, but you can forget about it in Wisconsin. I've been to the south before I got my iPhone, and AT&T service has been great in every state along the east coast, along with those bordering the Gulf, all the way over to Houston, TX. Haven't really tried AT&T phones anywhere else ;P

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I like to have ability to use EDGE and make calls. I mostly travel on the East Coast.

Another question, do you know if I could buy an iPhone and try it out, and if I like it, have my Verizon phone number transferred and my AT&T number canceled? That way if I don't like the service, I can return the phone and just pay for service used, and still have my Verizon phone, service, and retain my new every two.

MacNNJ said:

I currently have Verizon with a Motorola Q. Most of my friends also have Verizon, but being that I have a Mac and I like the iPhone, I was thinking about switching.

I like to have ability to use EDGE and make calls. I mostly travel on the East Coast.

Another question, do you know if I could buy an iPhone and try it out, and if I like it, have my Verizon phone number transferred and my AT&T number canceled? That way if I don't like the service, I can return the phone and just pay for service used, and still have my Verizon phone, service, and retain my new every two.

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Can anyone PLEASE help me out here?

Thanks in advance!

MacNNJ said:

Can anyone PLEASE help me out here?

Thanks in advance!

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I know that you can definitely keep your cell phone number when you switch from verizon to AT&T when you do a full switch (not keep verizon). So I'd guess that you could cancel your verizon contract later and then transfer that number to an existing iPhone (one with a different number previously).

Your best bet is to go to an AT&T or an Apple store and ask one of them.

Has anyone bought or tried the Griffin Clear Boost iPhone antenna booster?

It is ugly, but according to Griffin, it can help if you have 2 or 3 bars by bringing up to 4 or 5 bars. It will not work if you have 0 bars.