Buying A New Iphone From True

[cowman1]

Hi,

I am thinking about caving in and buying an iphone.

I looked on the website and it says I can have (interest free) payments of around 2327 a month x 10 months, if I am a true visions subscriber (which I am). Also, I saw there was another figure of around 599bht (is this a subscription you have to pay or something?

Anyway, can someone confirm how much it costs if you just want the phone, without a true sim / contract.

Also, is it easy to get the 10 month credit if i am a foreigner? I have w. permit, but no credit cards.

Thanks if anyone can help!

[nikster]

You can pay full price. Though at this point, I'd wait for the new 3GS iphone. It's better, and the current "3G" iPhone will get cheaper.

[MKAsok]

Don't buy them here. The price is ridiculous. You can buy them (3G 16gb) new off ebay for $450 or used (generally mint condition) for $350. Unlocking is no longer an issue since the release of ultrasn0w.

[rgw]

Don't buy them here. The price is ridiculous. You can buy them (3G 16gb) new off ebay for $450 or used (generally mint condition) for $350. Unlocking is no longer an issue since the release of ultrasn0w.

indeed correct, but if you pay a bit more, and get an original one with full warranty, without simlock, things can be a lot easier.

I bought one 1 month ago, totally happy, using AIS not TRUE.

Shitty thing now is that my home button stops reacting, so i need to go back to TRUE, and ask for repair or replace.

That would be more of a problem with an Ebay Iphone i assume.

Just my 2 cents....

Furthermore the offer from True Visions is OK, and you get billed separately, no need for credit card, as you have shown already to be a loyal customer over the past year.

The 599 is for the complete post-pay package, unlimited WIFI and EDGE/GPRS and 300 minutes free.

Pitty that TRUE reception is crap in my Moo Baan.

Main problem for me was that the True Vision is in the wife's name, and I needed the bill on my name, so the company I work for would pay for it.

This couldn't be done, so no TRUE for me, but only for the missus.

Wifi is OK in town and at starbucks, but not great. Autoconnect based on MAC address

(need to find a way to change my MAC address :-)

[nikster]

I would buy it from True direct without contract. Sure it may be $100 more than an ebay device, but that's more than compensated by the fact that I can upgrade my software whenever without the phone locking, and the 1 year warranty.

BTW last I checked unlocked iPhones were much more than $450, more like $550 - $700 on ebay, so if you wouldn't mind please provide a link to the $450 price.

[MKAsok]

I would buy it from True direct without contract. Sure it may be $100 more than an ebay device, but that's more than compensated by the fact that I can upgrade my software whenever without the phone locking, and the 1 year warranty.

BTW last I checked unlocked iPhones were much more than $450, more like $550 - $700 on ebay, so if you wouldn't mind please provide a link to the $450 price.

True are quoting 28,500bht for the 3G 16GB Handset. A quick conversion on XE reveals: 28,000THB = 833.63USD. So I fail to see how this is '$100 more than an ebay device.' I also don't understand your comment about warranties. Why would you suppose a brand new phone from ebay wouldn't have exactly the same warranty? As for your comment about being 'more than compensated by the fact that I can upgrade my software without the phone locking,' if you're willing to pay $350 - $400 more for this 'privilage' then good luck to you. The fact is, as I suspect you already know very well, any new firmware will be pretty much unlockable in a matter of days after its release.

Here's the link to the average price for this handset on ebay. You'll notice the average price (top right hand corner) now reads: Average new price $500.06 - Average used price $343.46, so the new price has gone up slightly and the used price has gone down slightly from 2 days ago when it read: Average new price $450 - Average used price $350, which is indeed exactly what I paid.

Edit: I just looked at this listings under this category and this is the first one I saw: Unlocked Apple iPhone 3G 16GB Brand New! - New, Never Opened - US $379.99.

Edited June 25, 2009 by MKAsok

[nikster]

MKAsok you're right they are now much cheaper, but that's because they are the old 3G iPhones, not the new 3GS version (for which there's no unlock yet).

Once the 3GS will be released in Thailand True will probably officially sell then for the same price as the old one, $833. And the 3G will drop in price.

So it looks like the ebay option for a Hong Kong phone will still be cheaper by probably $200 or more. So it's definitely an option - I would never buy a hand-unliocked iPhone again - I have such a device, and I'd much rather be able to upgrade from within iTunes without going through all the hoops an unlock pertains. Maybe I am just too rich and lazy?

A HK iPhone is a different proposition - that one's officially unlocked and will never relock, guaranteed by Apple. That's a deal.

I am not sure about the warranty now but it used to be that hand-unlocked phones were not warrantied. I guess it would be pretty easy to re-lock your phone if you had to return it though. I am not sure the warranty is international.

Let's compare prices once the 3GS is available in Thailand. The current ebay price for an unlocked 3GS is $1200 (!) so... http://cgi.ebay.com/APPLE-iPHONE-3GS-3-GS-...%3A1%7C294%3A50

Edited June 25, 2009 by nikster

[MKAsok]

Let's compare prices once the 3GS is available in Thailand. The current ebay price for an unlocked 3GS is $1200 (!) so... http://cgi.ebay.com/APPLE-iPHONE-3GS-3-GS-...%3A1%7C294%3A50

Yeah, they (the 3GSs) are going for stupid money. And you're right of course, the drop in price of the 3G is definitely down to the release of the 3GS. I've wanted an iphone for a while, but I decided to wait until the 3GS was released for this very reason. Will be interesting to see if True do offer the 3GS for the current price of the 3G. I've got to say, I expect it will be significantly more, but this is obviously a guess. Incidentally, it looks like a jailbreak solution for the 3GS is not far off (this will be able to use ultrasn0w and also unlock the phone). See here for more details.

[sniffdog]

I wanted to buy a 3G 16Gb from True (30,000 quoted) but it isn't available at all. Asked multiple Istudio and Copperwired Apple stores. None of them have a 16Gb in stock.

I wonder if they can't fulfill the 3G 16GB, how many 3GS devices will be available soon ...