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Well,  after I blasted AT&T yesterday about customer loyalty it seems I have to give them a reprieve on that.  Once I finally got into the store this morning at 8:25am (got in line at 6:30am) to pickup my iPhone 3G I learned that if you have an iPhone currently you did get the nice pricing of $199 or $299 for the 8gb or 16 gb models respectively .  That actually made my day after thinking I was going to get raped for $500.  I was pretty much in and out of the store in about 20 minutes but heard some unsettling news upon leaving.  Apparently, they only got about 40 iPhone 3G’s in that particular AT&T store.  They had only 2 – 16GB models left and about 13 – 8GB models.  That means only about half of the remaining line was going to be walking away with an iPhone today.  To completely top that off I also have heard that around 9:30am the iPhone activation servers basically stalled out due to the amount of activations occurring.  This left people waiting in lines for even longer peirods of time.  Some stores did decided to sell the phones unactivated and allow people to go activate them at home with Itunes.  I am sure those people didn’t make it out of there without the fabulous 2 year contract though.  All in all I am impressed with the 3G.  Coverage in the Charlotte area seems pretty decent so far and the GPS is neat.  The biggest improvement to either iPhone however is the APP store.  There are some really neat applications out there for free and even cooler ones that may cost you a little bit.  If you don’t have an iPhone and think you may want one I would have to say that now is the time to get it.  The prices are right and the new software / hardware features are well worth it.

The new iPhone 3G is going to be released upon the world in T Minus 17 hours and counting. Are you iReady? AT&T in there infinite wisdom released info late last week to help get new and current customers “iReady” for the new iPhone 3G.  It appears that if you are a current AT&T customer you are basically going to get screwed on the new iPhones cost, $399 for 8GB version and $499 for the 16GB version.  If you are a new customer you do however get the nice advertised prices of $199 for the 8GB and $299 for the 16GB version.  I have also noticed on my own account that I had a discount upgrade for new phones of $100 off and no $18 upgrade that has now been changed to specify that this doesn’t include iPhone.  What a bunch of bullshit AT&T!!!  I don’t think that AT&T has heard of giving out customer loyalty benefits at all.  If not that then they must know they have any existing customer who wants a new iPhone 3G over a barrel and are going to take full advantage (anyone in the mood to be raped in the ass).  Of course even though I am bitching I will be in line by 7 AM tomorrow ready for my raping.  If you are considering becoming an AT&T customer and wanting and iPhone 3G make sure to check out the iReady link.  You will also want to check out the 3G coverage maps just to make sure you know what you are getting in your area.  It looks as if the 3G areas have been expanded a little since last I looked.  I noticed Fayetteville, NC and Hope Mills, NC actually look to be 3G covered now.  What do think about all this iPhone 3G hype and your dealings with AT&T?

There has been some general information released from AT&T about the cost of the unlimited 3G data package for the new iPhone.  The rate looks to increase from the starting $20 of the iPhone 1.0 to $30 dollars for the new 3G version.  If I had to guess they will probably tier this plan up by $10 for each step in the text messaging addon just like they did with the previous iPhone.  That means basically just add $10 bucks to what you are paying now and you should have a pretty close guess as to the cost increase for which ever plan you are currently on.  Before running out and purchasing the 3G iPhone howerver I would suggest taking a look at the 3G network map on AT&T’s website.  It looks as if many cities that have current EDGE coverage do not as of yet have 3G coverage.

Well the long wait and all the speculation is finally over with. Apple has announced its 3G iPhone today with shocking prices. The 8 gb model will sell for $199 and the 16 gb model will sell for $299 with a release day of Friday, July 11th, 2008. The new iPhone will now of course be able to use AT&T’s 3G network as well as have a built in GPS.  Apple also talked about the new iPhone firmware 2.0 due to release around the same time if not same day as the iPhone 3G.  This will now give the iPhone many new feature via download on the iphone store.  More to come as it is released.