To buy an iPhone without an at&t contract

[anonymoustache]

I don't live in America, I live in Japan. I have a friend in America at the moment who is coming to Japan in a few days. I asked him to buy an iPhone for me before he leaves. Because I'm in Japan I won't be using an iPhone as a phone, only an iPod. I don't want an at&t account.

My friend in America tells me that he went to an at&t store and two Apple stores and all of them said that he can't buy an iPhone without signing up for a 2 year at&t contract at the same time.

I specifically told him to tell any sales people that he would sign up for an at&t account using iTunes and that he doesn't want to sign up for an at&t account in the store at the time of purchasing the phone. My friend says that they wouldn't allow him to do that and that his only option was to sign up for an at&t account at the same time as buying the iPhone.

From everything I've read over the months about people buying an iPhone it sounds like these sales people are just lying to him to try to get him to get an at&t account.

Has anybody else experienced this or does anybody know of a way to get the staff to allow you to buy a phone and get the at&t account later? Have the rules changed? Why does iTunes have an option for online at&t activation if it can't be used (except perhaps for iPhones bought through the online store)?

Another thing that surprised me is that two of the Seattle Apple stores said that they don't stock iPhones and that he would need to go to an at&t store to buy an iPhone. I thought that all Apple stores stocked iPhones. Am I wrong?

[uPhone559]

you dont have to sign up with at&t when you buy the phones, i ordered 3 over the phone not signing up for any contracts

[N818]

dude ur friends a liar

[Sol Munition]

They try to make you sign up there, in store. When the 4Gig had the price drop - I went to go buy mine. The AT&T salesperson tried to tell me that I had to set it up through them, even ran a credit check. Even telling me that you can't do it prepaid. I had printed off the screens of the prepaid option from ENGADGET.COM and they seemed not to even know you could set it up as a prepaid phone. Most of the AT&T reps don't seem that well informed

[Kyle Matthews]

Yah, they know very well that you can activate it while not in the store. However, IF they let you just take it home, they get no commission. If you activate it in store, or if they have you run a credit check, then they get the commission. That's why I buy stuff at Apple, not AT&T.

[cruid]

The sales reps at the AT&T store in Olympia, WA tried to shaft me over and over about the $200 rebate about 3 times and finally I told them I wasn't going to leave the counterspace I was occupying (store was packed with people) until they gave me my $200 back on my credit card. The sales rep got nervous because the manager told him not to give it to me 3 times even after the paper he brought back from the back room told him to do so and the apple.com website for the credit check told me I wasn't eligible for $100 instore credit because the full refund was eligible still.

I left the store and called back about an hour later to see who I can contact above the store manager and they told me it was impossible.. What complete bull.. They are just lieing to cover their asses and make more money off of you. It's not as if you can't email Steve Jobs and what isn't he the CEO of APPLE?

Does anyone know what to do about this and work around your local store with out having to drive to the next closest store which is about 1hour and 40min away?

[Kyle Matthews]

Call AT&T on the 1-800 number (from their site) and tell them.

[ben8jam]

your friends lying - i walked into an Apple store and bought a phone with not even a mention of activation - apple knows everyone is activating and unlocking the phones - they love it - more business for them

[Alperovich]

no no no guys, its not his FRIEND thats lying. Its his friends thats getting LIED to.

u don't need to sign up for att to own the phone. the apple store must have been out of stock, they should have told your friend to come back the next day and they'll have it.

[iphonejeff]

i think hes dumb firend told the guy at the store he was gonna take it to japan for his friend that lives there

[iPhoneHero]

just get an ipod touch now!