Free iPhone 3G for current iPhone users; restrictions apply

Did you buy an iPhone after May 27?  Did you wish you had waited for the new iPhone 3G?  Don’t want to get suckered into a new contract or pay the additional handset fee?  AT&T has the answer to these questions and more.

If you happened to purchase an iPhone after May 27, you are eligible to upgrade to the new iPhone 3G at no additional charge, but there are a few minor catches.  According to Gizmodo, you will have to overwrite your current 2-year AT&T contract with a new 2-year agreement, but this just locks you into 2 years and not 3 or 4; how awful would that be?

You will not have to pay the additional handset fee, but you will have to turn in your first generation iPhone.

Considering how much the original iPhone cost, this seems like the only “fair” thing AT&T can do.  If you were hoping to pick up the iPhone 3G without a contract, Engadget says that’s not going to happen.  Looks like there might not be any jailbreaking the iPhone 3G, at least for the first two years.

When a carrier with decent service, say Verizon, gets the iPhone, then I will consider purchasing it.  As much as I do like the iPhone, it’s not worth the trade-off for less-than-adequate service by AT&T in my area.

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