I was going to splurge this Christmas and buy myself a ‘jailbreaked’ iphone on eBay. I had it all planned, get the phone, make sure it works ok and then call Sprint and find the lowest cost plan I can possibly get and presto! A new cool iphone, no more cell phone bills and I’m a happy camper. But wait, did I hear AT &T announce last week that they are going to start selling a new, faster iPhone (3G) beginning early next year? Well, that kinda makes the iphone I planned on buying (and I’m sure about another million or so people planned on as well for gifts) already outdated. And I’m sure Apple or AT & T won’t offer an upgrade option.
The fact that the CEO of A T & T who has a 5 yr. ‘exclusive’ arrangement to sell iphones made this announcement within one month of Christmas this year was remarkable. Was this by accident he announced this right before Christmas? No, it was no accident – it was done on purpose to ‘kill’ a heck of a lot of iphone sales. But why would A T & T shoot itself in the foot like this?
Well, here’s one guess: A T & T thought that they had and exclusive from other carriers and, in fact they did under the terms of their agreement, however, they don’t have an exclusive from a yet ‘unnamed’ carrier or what could be a ‘new’ carrier IF Google wins the 700 Mghz spectrum auction bid. So, I think A T & T knows that Google and Apple might team up together and bid on this new spectrum to supply to consumers their own network and cell phones. Therefore, A T & T must now contemplate competing and biding on that auction (or teaming up with someone) to bid to keep everything in ‘check’. How awesome would a new mobile network be with Google owning the network and Apple suppling the phones? Its been speculated that the reason why Apple has been slow to allow VOIP application on the iphone is because they want to be the first company to announce something like this. An announcement to consumers that they can soon make free calls on their iphone using VOIP in exchange for seeing some ads would take a big chunk of the cell phone market away from the mobile carriers. So, why buy an outdated iphone for Christmas? Just wait until the newer, faster model arrives. That’s my plan.
It’s a good thing you didn’t buy the iPhone. Locking or unlocking, 3G or EDGE, the phone WILL NOT work on the Sprint network. The iPhone is a GSM phone, which means, in the US, AT&T or TMobile. Sprint and Verizon are CDMA-based. It’s like trying to run your diesel engine on gasoline.
Seth-
Not so, my friends iphone works just fine. He uses his same sprint number (that’s how I call him ) and he uses whatever wi-fi access he can to place calls. So far, I have always been able to reach him. Read my Nov. 10th post here. ~b.
No, you can not use iPhone with Sprint. Sprint is CDMA and Cingular/ATT is GSM, 2 different systems. Sprint sucks so why would you want to use them anyway? It is the worst phone service I ever had, and I have tried all the major companies.
Dandrum-
Sorry, but I beg to differ. I have been calling my friend now for over 1 month with no issues. He bought a ‘jailbreaked’ iPhone and I reach him using his Sprint cell number. Now, you could be technically correct, however, his iphone works fine using wi-fi and he uses no minutes when he makes calls or receives them. So, my guess is that his use is cdma or gsm agnostic – as he uses any open wi-fi signal he can find. ~b.
Hi William
I tried to post a comment on your Tex Avery post. I am not sure if it made it through.
Thanks for the nice article.
John