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Wednesday March 28, 2007
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Ever since Apple and Cingular announced their exclusive relationship to sell the iPhone in January, folks in areas where Cingular doesn't have native coverage have wondered - what about us? Parts of 18 states lack Cingular coverage, including all of Vermont and a good chunk of Minnesota. In those areas, you can't sign up as a new Cingular subscriber, though existing Cingularians can make calls by roaming on local carriers that Cingular has a deal with.
Sadly, guys, you're out of luck. Cingular execs confirmed flat-out today that if you can't sign up for Cingular where you live, you can't get an iPhone. "We'd love to make those people in Vermont our customers," Cingular marketing exec Glenn Lurie said at CTIA today. "But those individuals are going to have a tough time becoming customers." Network exec Richard Burns kicked in, "If they're in a really big hurry, I recommend they move."
Cingular isn't being vindictive, just sadly looking at the bottom line. Apparently, in some states, it costs less for them to buy roaming time from regional carriers than it would cost them to set up their own network and retail channels. So they save the money, but they won't set up new accounts in those areas. The result: no iPhone if your billing address is in a non-Cingular locale. In my mind, it's the exclusivity contract that's really to blame - Apple and Cingular conspiring, in this case, to say that if you can't get it through Cingular for some reason, you can't get it at all.
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