Andy Laub

3-Gee

There’s been some commotion this week about the resale value of non-3G iPhones and how people are eager to buy them for their unlocking features. I think this works out to be a great deal for iPhone owners who are looking to upgrade to the new iPhone 3G, but as someone who is not one of those people it kind of sucks for me.

I was pretty excited when I found out that the new iPhone will start at $199, but that feeling quickly dissipated when I found out that it would cost an additional $15 a month ($75 vs $60) for what basically amounts to the same service (except it’s faster, I guess?).

Bloggers everywhere were quick to point out that these actually will end up costing more in a typical two-year contract despite the lower cost of entry, and I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I’m not even going to go so far as to say it’s unfair - I mean, the monthly charges are the same across the entire AT&T line (since all the devices are now 3G).

But at the same time, I don’t think I can make an additional $15/month commitment for such an intangible feature (which would mean a $35 increase over my current $40/month plan - nearly double!), which leaves me in sort of an awkward way; I could:

1. Suck it up and buy an iPhone 3G in December (when my contract lapses).
2. Scour eBay/Craigslist for a used-ish current iPhone and hope that the $60 is still available in December.
3. Scour eBay/Craigslist for a used-ish current iPhone and switch now, paying the ETF for Sprint.
4. Other.

None of those choices stands out as a clear winner, so I suppose I’ll just be hanging out until December and seeing what happens. What I’m hoping is that the initial fuss about unlocked iPhones will die down, and I’ll be able to find one for a reasonable price, and AT&T will be nice enough to put me on the non-3G data plan.

But still, get ready for six more months of phone-related posts.

Liveblogging the Chicken Biscuit

This morning I opted for some McDonald’s breakfast as we’ve had coupons for free (!) chicken biscuits sitting on the table for a couple weeks now. Anyone who knows me can tell you that I’m all about the sausage patty when it comes to breakfast sandwiches, so we’ll see how this new contender can compare.

7:52 - Biscuit, hash brown, and medium Sprite are in front of me. I spent $2.51 on the group - a good value, considering the normal meal retails for $1 more and the biscuit alone is almost that much.

7:53 - Food has been debagged.

7:54 - First bite. Okay, I guess. Kind of sweet in the same way their chicken breast sandwiches are.

7:54 - No napkins were supplied. Good thing I have a supply at my desk.

7:55 - About halfway through the sandwich. I think the biscuit is the saving grace.

7:55 - Hash brown delicious as always.

7:56 - I would estimate this sandwich has about 3 bites left. But I take big bites.

7:56 - Chicken has toppled off of biscuit. I repeat: chicken has toppled off of biscuit. Why are breakfast sandwiches so delicate?

7:57 - Down to final bite.

7:57 - Sandwich eaten.

I won’t bore you with the rest of the breakfast details, but rest assured, if this sandwich had not been free, there’s no way it could dethrone the sausage (”king of breakfast meats”). But don’t feel bad. Chicken is still a shoe-in for 2/3 of the meals of the day.