iPhone comes into my possesion. Now what?

Factual Questions
1

I put this here in GQ because I am looking for factual answers, but opinions are welcome.

So, my parents have an iPhone, they either didn’t like it or couldn’t find anything to do with it, and have given it to me. I don’t really know much about them, or cellphones in general. on the back of the box, it says “Service plan with AT&T required”. I have skimmed the wikipedia article and it seems to be a first generation unit, as it has a metal body.

  • I’m in Canada, I plugged in the girlfriend’s Fido SIM card and made a call. Worked fine. Does this mean the phone is “unlocked”?

  • Any reason I shouldn’t sell it? I don’t have any money or inclination to sign up with a data plan or anything. My current 2 year old iPod nano serves me well, as does my 5 year old cellphone for the few occasions that I need it. My car is 16 years old and pre-OBDII, so I can’t use it as an in-car scanguage/datalogger. What else can I use it for?

  • How much do they go for? I looked on kijiji and figure maybe $350? It is hardly used at all.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that it is 8GB.

2

Well, since the (newer) 8GB sells new for $199, I wouldn’t count on getting $350 for it, especially since yours isn’t even a G3 if it has a metal back. $50 tops, probably.

With a non-AT&T SIM, you might be able to make calls, but you won’t be able to use any other feature of the phone, so it’s an expensive basic phone.

3

Actually a 1st gen iPhone is worth a good penny because it is easily un-lockable, well more so than the newer ones. If you really have no use for it and it is in good condition, toss it up on ebay. You’ll get a couple hundred for it.

-n

edit: forgot to add, the new iPhones don’t sell for $199. They actually sell for something like $400 IIRC. You get the iPhone for $199 because you have signed a blood contract with ATT for the next two years and they give you a discount.

4

Yeah, I see ads for new Iphones here, but they are $199 with a 3 year contract. The for sale ads I see in kijiji are asking $250-$450.

What features do you require AT&T for?

Are there various levels of “unlock”?