No iPhone 5's for you. At all

[gabester]

Trouble wrote:
I'm not sure what I will do with them. I may install WebOS on them or maybe even Windows Mango.

After you get bored with them...

FREE ITEM MONDAY!
g=

[Chakravartin]

rgG wrote:
I would pay the full retail ONLY if I could activate it on the prepaid plan of my choice. I would save the $400 in less than a year.

That's your prerogative, but I think you'll be waiting awhile for that opportunity and I wonder whether you've considered the opportunity costs in your scenario.

The iPhone 4 was out for a year before Apple offered an unlocked version (starting at $650).

It'll probably be a year before an unlocked iPhone 5 is available in the U.S. (IMHO.) Apple has a tradition of not manufacturing enough devices to meet demand for the first year. AT&T, Verizon and Sprint will have asked for some exclusivity for their cartel when they negotiated their deals and there's no downside (to Apple) from placating them in this respect. They'll sell every handset they can manufacture whether locked or unlocked.

So, you may lose a year waiting for your dream-phone... and you'll get it just in time for the iPhone 6 to come out.

On top of that, there's the extra angst and the service-problems that you're likely to endure when you finally have your unlocked iPhone 5.

If you do go with an local indie cellular provider, you lose the benefits of 3G service. (And if the iPhone 5 does 4G you'll lose both 3G and 4G.)

If you don't go with an indie cellular provider for your service, you'll have the uncertainty that your carrier may discover that you're using an iPhone with a non-iPhone data plan. Neither AT&T nor Verizon authorizes such use. They could cut you off or automatically kick you up to an expensive data plan at any time.

'Seems like a lot of trouble to go through over a cell phone.

[Article Accelerator]

Trouble wrote: I'm not sure what I will do with them. I may install WebOS on them or maybe even Windows Mango.

Instead of Mandingo or webOS, why not install Pineapple Upside-Down Wacky Cake OS? (That's the one that comes after Ice Cream Sammich.)

[silvarios]

Chakravartin wrote: If you do go with an local indie cellular provider, you lose the benefits of 3G service. (And if the iPhone 5 does 4G you'll lose both 3G and 4G.)

Why? Do you mean T-Mobile or a T-Mobile MVNO? Otherwise, the 3G should work. Yes, the GSM market in the USA is a joke, it may as well not exist. The two biggest GSM providers don't share 3G frequencies. The concept of unlocked phones doesn't really work here anymore. The pentaband phones are nice, but besides Nokia Symbian models, what phones ship with pentaband support? When Cingular, AT&T, T-Mobile, and a bunch of other GSM locals existed, the marketplace was much more GSM friendly. Oh well.

Not sure what you mean by 4G. Wouldn't Apple have to sell two different LTE models? I thought Verizon and AT&T had different frequencies for LTE? I wouldn't think Apple could have a single phone for the USA market if it required CDMA, GSM, and different LTE frequencies. Did you mean WiMAX (I think Sprint is the only WiMAX provider that sells phones)? Did you mean the faster HSPA+ that T-Mobile and AT&T call 4G?

The T-Mobile/Walmart announcement for $30 "unlimited" data (5GB of "4G"/3G and then EDGE speeds thereafter), unlimited messaging, and 100 talk minutes is interesting. Assuming the new iPhone isn't a pentaband model, unlimited 2G data and messaging with 100 minutes calling for $30 seems reasonable. If the cheapest iPhone plan is $55, that makes for a nice savings in the first year alone. EDGE is fast enough for AGPS, MMS, email, and light web browsing. Even downloading content isn't bad (movies generally take too long to download over EDGE and forget about streaming video, but audio download/streams should work).

[rgG]

Chakravartin wrote:
[quote=rgG]
I would pay the full retail ONLY if I could activate it on the prepaid plan of my choice. I would save the $400 in less than a year.

That's your prerogative, but I think you'll be waiting awhile for that opportunity and I wonder whether you've considered the opportunity costs in your scenario.

The iPhone 4 was out for a year before Apple offered an unlocked version (starting at $650).

It'll probably be a year before an unlocked iPhone 5 is available in the U.S. (IMHO.) Apple has a tradition of not manufacturing enough devices to meet demand for the first year. AT&T, Verizon and Sprint will have asked for some exclusivity for their cartel when they negotiated their deals and there's no downside (to Apple) from placating them in this respect. They'll sell every handset they can manufacture whether locked or unlocked.

So, you may lose a year waiting for your dream-phone... and you'll get it just in time for the iPhone 6 to come out.

On top of that, there's the extra angst and the service-problems that you're likely to endure when you finally have your unlocked iPhone 5.

If you do go with an local indie cellular provider, you lose the benefits of 3G service. (And if the iPhone 5 does 4G you'll lose both 3G and 4G.)

If you don't go with an indie cellular provider for your service, you'll have the uncertainty that your carrier may discover that you're using an iPhone with a non-iPhone data plan. Neither AT&T nor Verizon authorizes such use. They could cut you off or automatically kick you up to an expensive data plan at any time.

'Seems like a lot of trouble to go through over a cell phone.
I do not want an iPhone. It would be for my daughter, and since I do not know where she will even be living in a year, I can't/won't sign up for a 2-year contract. I told her the only way I will get her one, is if there is a no-contract option for prepaid. So, unless T-Mobile gets the iPhone, and allows it to be used on prepaid, like they do their other smartphones, then it looks like she is stuck with her Optimus T.

I am happy with my Pixi Plus, running on Verizon's network, with 100MB of 3G data for less than $30 a month, thanks to Page Plus.

[Chakravartin]

silvarios wrote:
Not sure what you mean by 4G.

Either HSPA+ or LTE.

(I've given up telling people that HSPA+ is a 3G technology.)

silvarios wrote:
I wouldn't think Apple could have a single phone for the USA market if it required CDMA, GSM, and different LTE frequencies.

While the phone is CDMA-only, the Verizon iPhone uses a dual-mode GSM/CDMA chip. That's precedent for the iPhone 4S/5 to have a dual-mode chip.

That's one reason why the rumor that Sprint got an exclusive on the iPhone 5 is odd. There's no particular reason to limit the phone to a CDMA network except of course for lots and lots of money.

[decay]

technically, there's still no true 4G network in the USA.

it's more like 3.75G...

[Trouble]

Thought I was kidding, didn't you? Muahahahahahahahahahahaha. Muahahahahahahahaha.