Don’t forget that you don’t have to buy iPhones through your cell provider. You can just as easily buy them through Apple as you can from AT&T, Sprint, or Verizon, and sometimes it’s even easier.
Tonight we were trying to get a new iPhone for my husband, as his old cell phone, that is almost two years past its original upgrade eligibility, has finally whimpered through its final text. There is no reviving it any more. It’s in need of a proper burial.
We went through the AT&T site on my iPad to upgrade, and contacted support to ask why we had to get another data plan when we already had an unlimited family data plan. They assured us it was because he was switching to a smartphone. And really, if you’ve shopped for a new phone lately, what phone isn’t a smartphone? It’s like they get you coming and going.
On the confirmation screen, the whole process froze up. It looked like maybe it was a Flash situation. We weren’t sure whether the order went through or not. After a lengthy phone call to AT&T, it turned out it had, and she was sending us a link to finish it. But what she sent was a link on starting an upgrade, and checking the cart, it was empty.
We went through the process again, and once again it froze. I tried to redo it on my MacBook, and once again the process froze up. My husband then tried himself, both on his work laptop, and his personal laptop. He could not get it to go through. Frustrated, he decided he didn’t ever need to use a phone again and would just go without.
I, somewhat calmer than him, went back to the iPad and accessed the store at apple.com. I bought the same older model iPhone (3GS) for $0.00, and they connected back to AT&T to find out what we needed as far as our rate plan and eligibility. We got signed up for the same additional data plan at the same price.
All of this was completed in less than five minutes, while we spent hours trying to get the same thing to work on the AT&T site. Save the frustrations, and just order straight from Apple!!
