Pre Purchase Questions (On The Border for Buying a 3GS)

[eradicator2010]

Let's start this off by stating that this will be my first iPhone (if I purchase this) and therefore I have a few questions:
1) My carrier is ATT and I signed a 2 year contract on May 17 (2009). Can I renew my contract and get the iPhone 3GS for $199? Or am I stuck paying $399?
2) Unlimited Data Plan question: It's to my understanding that ATT charges $30/month for "unlimited data." Does this really mean unlimited or is there a cap somewhere (wondering because I am going to purchase XM and plan on listening to it on the way to school etc)
3) Is the iPhone worth going through a jailbreak? I am new to iPhones (and most Apple products except for my old 2nd gen iPod nano) and am wondering that if I just follow the directions for installing blacksn0w that I would be ok?

Any answers or tips related to the first buying experience are greatly appreciated :ok:ok

[juls1585]

Hi welcome! Good choice on the 3gs.

First off you are going to have to purchase the phone for full price. Another suggestion is maybe looking on craigslist or ebay. You may be able to find one for less than what they are asking you to pay at AT&T.

Secondly unlimited is unlimited from what I know of. You should be fine with xm purchase. We all here at EIC use our phones heavily and I have not heard of anyone ever getting charged extra.

Jailbreak is really easy with Blackra1n. Its very quick as well. I fought with mine the first time I jailbroke. This is the easiest jailbreak ever. Blacksn0w is an unlocking program. It unlocks the phone so you can use different carriers simcards in the phone. You being with AT&T dont need the unlock, but its nice to have the option.

Good luck!

[eradicator2010]

Thanks for the speedy reply! Very informative!
So, just for clarification, ATT would charge me to $399?
And the program that I need (if I bought this) would be blackra1n not blacksn0w?
And by the way thanks for the info on the data plan. I heard somewhere that caps where in play and that if you go over x amount of data in a month, overages would be accessed.

[juls1585]

to be sure on how much they would charge you go to the at&t website and sign in. click on upgrade and then click upgrade to an iphone. it will give you all the iphone options and their prices of what it would cost you today if you wanted to upgrade.

blackra1n and blacksn0w come bundled together in the current download. you would have to run blacksn0w as a seperate install if you wanted to.

[eradicator2010]

OK I totally understand now :). Thank you so much!

[juls1585]

youre welcome :)

[naviwilliams]

2. the limit is 5GB. But, to be honest I'd never heard of someone reaching it. I had to ask AT&T that same question one day...

3. Jailbraking to me is a personal preference, mainly if you want specific tones for sms\text, and themes, that sort of thing. But, apparently it's rather easy to do. The one thing I'm not 100% on, is if iTunes updates (as it often does), does one have to re-jailbrake...

[juls1585]

2. the limit is 5GB. But, to be honest I'd never heard of someone reaching it. I had to ask AT&T that same question one day...

3. Jailbraking to me is a personal preference, mainly if you want specific tones for sms\text, and themes, that sort of thing. But, apparently it's rather easy to do. The one thing I'm not 100% on, is if iTunes updates (as it often does), does one have to re-jailbrake...

itunes updates have not effected it so far from what i know of. its the iphone updates and the carrier updates that may effect it.

[eradicator2010]

OK, so the limit is 5GB? This is bad for XM then because im sure they stream at around 128kbps..which can EASILY topple over a GB every other day or so if listened to for more than 30 min.

[Krunk83]

Thanks for the speedy reply! Very informative!
So, just for clarification, ATT would charge me to $399?
And the program that I need (if I bought this) would be blackra1n not blacksn0w?
And by the way thanks for the info on the data plan. I heard somewhere that caps where in play and that if you go over x amount of data in a month, overages would be accessed.

I think that the iPhone at your price is actually $499. I think $399 is if you've been with att for a year. Also, you would not need to install blacksn0w once you have made it ra1n since that unlocks your phone to use with another carrier. You won't need to use that.

[naviwilliams]

Brilliant, thanks for the info. I might finally take the plunge and jailbreak ;)

itunes updates have not effected it so far from what i know of. its the iphone updates and the carrier updates that may effect it.

That's a good point that you raise here. I typically don't listen to the radio that often, if ever. But, with AT&T I do believe it's a 'gentleman's agreement' about the unlimited data. Maybe confirm with them when you go to buy your iPhone; you know you want one now :)

OK, so the limit is 5GB? This is bad for XM then because im sure they stream at around 128kbps..which can EASILY topple over a GB every other day or so if listened to for more than 30 min.

[juls1585]

Brilliant, thanks for the info. I might finally take the plunge and jailbreak ;)

if anything i would check here before you update your itunes. people will test it and mention if it has effected their jailbreak at all. i havent seen anyone say it has yet. :ok:ok

[eradicator2010]

OK thanks for the info on the blakra1n krunk :D.
And, it turns out that (I logged onto ATT's site) I would have to pay $399. I may look around eBay for a while and see if anything pops up.
The only concern I have now is that I have one person saying that there is a 5GB/month cap and another saying that it's truly unlimited. Any more light on that? Or should I just call them up and ask as you suggested?

[juls1585]

OK thanks for the info on the blakra1n krunk :D.
And, it turns out that (I logged onto ATT's site) I would have to pay $399. I may look around eBay for a while and see if anything pops up.
The only concern I have now is that I have one person saying that there is a 5GB/month cap and another saying that it's truly unlimited. Any more light on that? Or should I just call them up and ask as you suggested?

i think ive seen the 5gb cap somewhere. i thought it was about that, but i wasnt 100% sure. i cannot imagine using 5gb though.

another thing to think about is maybe getting a 3g for the time being i believe upgrades come at 18 months, so you will be hitting 18 months just after the next generation iphone comes out next year. then you would be able to get that phone for $199. 3g is going to be much less to buy from someone on craigslist if you find the right deal.

[Krunk83]

OK, so the limit is 5GB? This is bad for XM then because im sure they stream at around 128kbps..which can EASILY topple over a GB every other day or so if listened to for more than 30 min.

I use the ESPNRadio app for about an hour per day 5 days a week and I don't go over.

[Krunk83]

Juls, aren't you selling your 3g? I'm selling mine too.

[juls1585]

Juls, aren't you selling your 3g? I'm selling mine too.

why yes i am. lol

[Krunk83]

why yes i am. lol

Hmmm...what a coincidence. I am selling mine too. I wonder what price he is looking for?

[eradicator2010]

He as in me :D
I really don't mind forking over $399 to ATT for the newest one. Then, according to what Julia said, I could upgrade next year (plus a few months..like Jan 2011) for $200 to whatever is next. I'm thinking about just going straight for the goods :). I'm also buying a laptop and I can make up for this more expensive phone upgrade by saying NO to the Blu-Ray on it :D

[juls1585]

if youve got the money go for it!

[MAD 69]

You should just wait and get the new 4g which should be coming out soon, not sure why they didn't just go from 3g to 4g...

[Krunk83]

Who said anything about an apple 4g? Please post a website where you read about this. The next phone won't be out until at least July which, to me, is not soon.

[eradicator2010]

I havent heard of a 4G either. Please list a source so I may investigate :D

[ki4ppg]

2. the limit is 5GB. But, to be honest I'd never heard of someone reaching it. I had to ask AT&T that same question one day...

3. Jailbraking to me is a personal preference, mainly if you want specific tones for sms\text, and themes, that sort of thing. But, apparently it's rather easy to do. The one thing I'm not 100% on, is if iTunes updates (as it often does), does one have to re-jailbrake...


i break the 5 gb every month and im sure lots do and most of mine is tethering also

[YvilKittyInSpace]

OK, so the limit is 5GB? This is bad for XM then because im sure they stream at around 128kbps..which can EASILY topple over a GB every other day or so if listened to for more than 30 min.
There is no 5GB limit for the iPhone. It is truly unlimited.

People are confusing the 5GB cap for broadband data cards and tethering plans on other phones. Since the iPhone doesn't support tethering, there is no 5Gb limit.

I listen to XM dailey on my iPhone and use up 100MB in one hour easily doing this. I've done it for months. I go well over 5GB a month by doing this.

[dread]

why not get the xm dock, that way you won't use any data