AT&T

The refurbished iPhones are back! Now available through the AT&T website. Both iPhone 3G models, the 8GB and 16GB, are available with free two-day shipping. Including the refurb discount, this puts the price of an 8GB model at $99 and the 16GB at $199.

Besides being a great deal, the phones come with a warranty of at least 90 days. Apple can provide more details about the specific length of your warranty on their website if you provide the serial number. According to AT&T, these refurbished devices are previously owned, and have been unused or lightly used and returned within the 30-day trial period.

Interested in your own personal cell tower? AT&T is poised to release its femtocell solution for individual users, dubbed the MicroCell. iPhone users rejoice, you have not been forgotten. iTunes has started delivering a carrier update that will support the use of 3G iPhones with the MicroCell device.

Carrier updates are files that include settings which tell the iPhone how to connect to the cellular network and where to look for data such as maps, stocks, and weather. The AT&T MicroCell will require a broadband Internet connection, GPS reception, and will provide support for up to ten 3G mobile devices (even if they're not iPhones).

Would you pay your full cable bill if there was static on the screen all month? Buy a dozen eggs if three of them were broken? How about paying $30 a month for the same service that others get for $20 a month?

This is exactly what I pay for a service I can't use. I love the iPhone 3G, but I can only use the EDGE network. I leave the phone set to EDGE because it works. The moment I switch over to 3G, data latency times shoot through the roof, voice quality decreases noticably, and calls drop every five minutes.

Apple and AT&T both deserve kudos for pioneering such an outstanding new product. I am willing to be patient with their growing pains. The network is going to be a perpetual work in progress. But it's not right to force me to pay for something that doesn't work. See, if I had an original iPhone, my data plan would be $20 a month and limited to EDGE. As it is, I have an iPhone 3G with a $30 data plan limited to EDGE.

I continue to try and use 3G at least twice a week to check up on the network but there has been no improvement. Various customer service representatives at AT&T have listened to my story. Of course I've updated to 2.0.2. Yes, I've rebooted my phone. A million times. No, not just using the sleep button. Yes, I've held down the home button and sleep button to reset. Nothing works. Nothing works except for EDGE.

In the brief hours that Nullriver's NetShare iPhone app was available on the iTunes store it generated quite a buzz. Apple quickly had the application pulled, even though Nullriver claims it never violated Apple's developer guidelines. Some have cited AT&T's terms of service as the likely reason for Apple's action. According to new rumors, a tethering solution may be on the horizon for iPhone users with no interest in jailbreaking their phones.

An online forum user allegedly received a brief email from Steve Jobs himself, stating that Apple was currently discussing iPhone tethering with AT&T. The carrier already offers tethered data plans for Blackberry devices on their network at an additional cost of $30 per month.

In mid March, AT&T held a short two-day sale on 8GB refurbished iPhones at a low price of $249, hoping to attract new customers with the luster of an affordable iPhone. It worked swimmingly, with the available phones selling out in under 24 hours. By day two, bargain iPhone hopefuls were greeted by an offer for the full price, factory fresh iPhone instead of the reduced price refurbs.

Well, a couple months later, AT&T is back at it again. While stock is available during the next two days, AT&T will be selling the 8GB iPhone for the same price as in March - $249. AT&T is also selling the 16GB iPhone in refurbished fashion for $349. Both are significant reductions from the everyday price of the iPhone, and are also $100 cheaper than