AT&T says Apple won't sell me a phone

[yamatoman]

According to AT&T, Apple will not allow orders to be placed for people not eligible for an upgrade. I'm more than willing to pay the extra $200 for the phone since I need a new PDA phone anyway and the iPhone is the low end of the price range for PDA phones.

When I went to the AT&T store, they said that policy was that only new accounts and eligible upgrades could order. When I contacted AT&T corporate accounts to complain that I didn't feel valued after 14 years of using their service, they informed me it was an Apple policy. Absolutely asinine.

Now, it appears my options are
1. Add a line to my account, pay $40 for 30 days of service, ETF the line, pay $175.00, and swap sims.

2. Wait 6 months or so for them to get their supply chain in order.

Sigh.

Anyone have another suggestion?

 

[Jeremy]

You pretty much listed your only options at this. Sorry.

 

[BrianTuneUp]

That sucks. Well at least you didnt get owned like I did with tmobile. My contract ends in March and I cant get a phone upgrade until august 09!

 

[shwy]

You can get an early upgrade. My contract isn't up until February 2009, I love my iPhone 3G that I got yesterday.

 

[megscd]

I just talked to an Apple Store employee 2 days ago who said anyone can pay the extra $200 for a phone if their current contract is not up. Best Buy and AT&T have different stories depending on the employee you talk to. Frustrating.

 

[legendofdon]

What's a bummer for me is that if you are not eligible for an upgrade you would have to pay $399 for an 8GB instead of $199 and you STILL have to extend your contract for 2 more years. That's not something I would do, purely out of principle. If I'm gonna pay an unsubsidized price, there's no way I'm gonna get locked into a contract.