What happens if I lose my iphone?

[platon20]

If I lose the 3G, can I just pay $199 to get another one, or will AT&T force me to pay an extra penalty on top of that?

My wife has an iphone 3g and I want one but I'm not allowed to upgrade yet. Could my wife tell AT&T that she lost her iphone, pay $199, and then give me her old iphone so I can put my sim card in there and activate with AT&T? That way I could get an iphone without having to pay the extra $200 to upgrade early.

[shutter13]

No, if you lose it your screwed, for just that very reason. AT&T won't help you at all, if it's catastophically broken, apple may sell you another one for the discounted price, but AT&T won't.

If you want one that bad....pay the extra 200 bucks or get another line get the iPhone for 199 and use it with your sim card.

[MrEous]

If you say she 'lost' her iphone then they could red flag it...of course when you try to use the iphone on your account they will know you're using an iphone and ask for the IMEI/serial.

You can try circumventing the system but in the end the only smart way to do it is legally upgrading.

[atldvd]

This may not apply to you, but if you have a family plan and ANY phone on the plan is elgible for an upgrade, you can upgrade ANY phone on the plan. I recently did this in order to get my daughter an iPhone. Her phone was not elgible but my wife's was. Voila, daughter now has iPhone 3G, and my wife's phone will now be elgible whenever my daughter's old phone would have been. You'll probably have to go to the ATT store to accomplish it, but it can be done.

[Europa]

No, because if you lose (or break) your phone you have to pay the full unsubsidized price ($400 or $500) for a replacement. If you're not eligible to upgrade, you'll have to pay full price.