How to Buy an iPhone

iPhones cost $199 for an 8 GB model and $299 for a 16 GB phone. Currently you can buy an iPhone in only two places:

Apple stores: Apple retail stores can be found in most major cities and many malls around the country. You can find a list of stores at www.apple.com/retail.
AT&T corporate stores: You can locate an AT&T store at www.wireless.att.com/find-a-store/iphone. Only AT&T corporate stores carry iPhones. Authorized AT&T resellers do not.

iPhone Rate Plans

When Apple released the iPhone in June 2007, it made a multiyear deal with AT&T to be the exclusive cellular service carrier. Though it’s possible to “unlock” an iPhone so that it works on another network, it takes some technical know-how to do so. In addition, Apple frowns upon the practice and won’t provide any support for an unlocked iPhone.

Most people don’t try to unlock their iPhones. If you don’t unlock your iPhone and currently have a cellular contract with a carrier other than AT&T (such as T-Mobile, Sprint, or Verizon), you have to wait until the term of your existing contract is over or terminate the contract and pay the termination fee.

When you buy an iPhone, you must sign a two-year contract with AT&T for an iPhone rate plan. All plans come with unlimited data streaming, the service that connects your iPhone to the internet over AT&T’s data network and that allows you to send and receive emails and surf the web. The following table details the most popular plans:

Features	$69.99	$89.99	$109.99
Anytime minutes	450	900	1,350
Unlimited data (email/web)	Yes	Yes	Yes
Visual voicemail	Yes	Yes	Yes
Nights and weekends	5,000	Unlimited	Unlimited
Rollover minutes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Unlimited mobile-to-mobile (between AT&T customers)	Yes	Yes	Yes