MacMost Now 101: Upgrading To the iPhone 3G

Gary Rosenzweig takes a look at how to upgrade your iPhone to the iPhone 3G on July 11: The extra costs of the new AT&T plans, the upgrade cost, upgrading from another AT&T phone and what you can do to get ready.

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Video Transcript: Hi. This is Gary with MacMost Now. With iPhone day number 2 just around the corner let's take a look at how to upgrade your old iPhone to the new iPhone 3G.
First, let's take a look at how the AT&T iPhone plans are going to change in the US. Now when you upgrade to a 3G iPhone you're going to have to renew your plan and this means that you're going to have a slightly different plan. It's going to cost you more. The new cost for unlimited data is going to be $30 per month up from $20 in the previous version of the plan. Now this they say is to pay for all the extra bandwidth we're going to use once we have the 3G capabilities. The other change is the standard plan isn't going to include any sms messages at all. The old plan included 200 sms messages per month. Now if you want that in the new plan you're going to have to go and pay an extra five bucks. If you don't do that then your option is basically to get sms messages at the cost of twenty cents per message. For me the 200 sms messages you get by default were ideal for someone like me who doesn't really use text messaging but every once in a while has to verify an account or get an alert for something 200 is plenty to cover this minimal usage. Now I have to pay twenty cents a message for it or fork over the $5.
Now the cost of getting a new iPhone is going to be $200 for the 8gig version and $300 for the 16gig version. But this assumes you're going to go with the AT&T two year plan here in the United States. Now if you already have AT&T plan with an iPhone you could upgrade and get the iPhones for the same price. You're just going to have to pay $18 upgrade charge. Now at this point you probably have an old iPhone. It's not completely useless. You can actually get a new account for it by going to an AT&T store and getting a new sim card and starting a new account. You can give it to a friend or your spouse or resell it. Now if you have an existing AT&T account you might be able to upgrade at the same price as the iPhone users do. You can go ahead and go to the AT&T site and check to see if you're eligible for that and then you get the $18 upgrade fee and the $200 or $300 price for the iPhone. Now if you don't qualify that means you're going to have to pay a much higher price for your iPhone.  It's probably the equivalent to actually cancelling your old AT&T plan and starting a fresh new plan with AT&T for a new iPhone.
If you are new to AT&T and the iPhone then the prices for the iPhone are the same and you pay a slightly higher $36 new customer fee. Now there are tons of other options. You can go ahead and get more sms messages. You can get family plans for two iPhones, for instance. Go and check the AT&T site. All that information is up there now about what the new 3G iPhone plans are going to be.
Here's some quick tips if you're updating. First thing you should do before you go to the store is make sure you sync your iPhone with your computer so all your contacts and calendar events and all that are in perfect synchronicity with your Mac or PC and your iPhone. Then don't update anything. Also, take all of your original voice mail, because that stuff may go away when you upgrade. Then bring your old iPhone in. Let Apple or AT&T do the swap and then come immediately back to your computer and sync up again. This should make your new iPhone work just like your old one and you won't miss a beat.
If you're a new AT&T customer you may want to go to the store right now and have them run a credit check on you in advance so that when you come in on July 11 you can get your phone quicker. Another thing you may want to do is bring a phone bill from your old mobile phone carrier with you to the AT&T store. This may help in having them transport your old number over to your new iPhone. 
One thing that's still a little uncertain is exactly what time the new iPhone is going to go on sale on July 11. Reports are that AT&T is going to have them first thing in the morning. No official word about the Apple stores yet. Whatever the time, MacMost will be there with a full set of reports that day.
Until next time this is Gary Rosenzweig with MacMost Now.

Comments: One Response to “MacMost Now 101: Upgrading To the iPhone 3G”

Daniel

16 years ago

Very useful and informative show for new iPhone & 3G buyers!!
I plan to load this on my iPhone and play it to all my co-workers who keep asking me questions about the new 3G phone.... like I would know.

Good job Gary, I know this will help a lot of new comers to iPhone.

Comments Closed.

MacMost Now 101: Upgrading To the iPhone 3G

Comments: One Response to “MacMost Now 101: Upgrading To the iPhone 3G”

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