What will you do with your old iPhone?

So like a gadzillion people have asked me: "What do I do with my old iPhone now that I'm upgrading to a spiffy new 3G unit?" I thought about doing a top ten list. I thought about clever and amusing ways to use an old iPhone. But seriously, it just comes down to this. So read my lips.

Jailbreak it. Unlock it. Give it away or sell it. The end.

Get yourself a copy of iLiberty+ or ZiPhone or whatever tool you like. Once unlocked, you can sell it for a badzillion dollars on eBay, because contrary to what I originally thought, AT&T isn't going to let you walk away with a new 3G iPhone without signing over your first born, your personal bank account and possibly your soul. So the demand for 1st gens is going to go through the roof (as will the demand for posthumous mobile air conditioning units once AT&T is through with you). Over at Google, those $250 refurb iPhones from a few weeks back are going for $500 and up. Ebay has relative bargains at $350 and up.

If you have a child, a spouse, a dog or any other loved one, you can now give them the phone with a T-Mobile or AT&T SIM and they're good to go. If any of these loved ones are foreigners ("votre chien", for example, in the case of those north of the border but within the Quebecois borders), they should be able to use a non-US SIM in the unlocked unit (i.e. "Le Rogers Fido").

As we've posted before, AT&T says it will reset your contract to 2 years once you get the new iPhone, so your old one will be completely free, clear, and contract-free. No one (except, perhaps, your dog) will sanction you for unlocking it.

View Tags

Source: http://tuaw.com/category/iphone

Categories

iPhone

So like a gadzillion people have asked me: "What do I do with my old iPhone now that I'm upgrading to a spiffy new 3G unit?" I thought...

Add a Comment

Sign in »

62 Comments

Filter by:

bugs-eye

give it to your lil sister

June 27 2008 at 5:01 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

KevinCamera

I just sold my 1st day Apple lower price refirb. Was 349.00 8GB, on ebay for 390.00. Was sold in less than 5 hours as a "BIN". Not bad, I had it 9 months of use . Even after fee-bay costs received a little more than I paid for it. The only down side is I have to use a funky E62 until 7/11. After a Palm 650, ATT 8125 & the E62. I can say nothing beats a iPhone. I just used a ATT Tilt for a few hours and its like a Toy after using the iPhone.

June 26 2008 at 11:27 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

barneyr

I called AT&T customer service and asked if buyers of used iPhones could get the $20 data plan and was told they would have to buy the $30 plan. That diminishes the value of my used phone by $10 a month, unless the buyer were to switch to T-Mobile or use the phone in another country.

June 24 2008 at 3:01 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

mmmmmb

When I upgrade to iPhone3G, my iPhone2G is not under contract anymore. Therefore, shouldn't Apple or AT&T provide me instructions on how to officially unlock it? Ideally, I would like to upgrade it to 2.0 firmware, and use it on other networks.

June 22 2008 at 1:52 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

sphygit

traded mine for a powerbook g4! the outside is beat to heck but so was my iphone!

June 21 2008 at 3:48 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Alan

I was actually speaking to the tone of the article that seem to automatically assume that everyone was going to ditch their iPhone for the newer model, but it appears you're rather defensive of the idea, so I'm sorry if I struck a nerve ...

Douchebag? Wow, I bet you're a great person to hang around with! Are you always this pleasant?

"You may not be a lemming but you sure sound like a douchebag by implying that anyone upgrading to the 3G is, automatically, a lemming. For someone like me, who was a Cingular customer from before the iPhone and have no reason switching to another carrier, selling the 1st Gen and getting the 3G with double the GB + GPS + 3G speed for less money than I can sell the 1st Gen for, is a no-brainer, and has nothing to do with lemming-like behavior."

June 21 2008 at 12:49 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Jake!

http://applechannel.net/2008/06/19/old-iphone/

June 20 2008 at 7:56 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Slartibartfast

I'm not going to get the 3G, so I'm keeping mine. I recently canceled my iPhone GoPhone plan on AT&T and moved it onto a T-Mobile plan.

June 20 2008 at 7:20 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

smak

Time to beat the dead horse:

"These posts are so awesome, and totally do NOT waste everybody's time."

June 20 2008 at 6:38 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

DANIEL

I am selling my 16gb Iphone for $200 to a friend at work.