The grim reality is, there really isn’t anything you can do it seems.  I’ve spent countless hours getting bounced back and forth between AT&T and Apple phone representatives and in-store people.  AT&T will tell you that you need to contact Apple in order to track your stolen phone.  Apple will inform you that they can only do this if someone else registers the phone on iTunes, and that’s if they were lucky enough to have correctly registered your phone in the first place.  Apple will tell you to call AT&T and pursue it there.

AT&T will feed you tons of BS about how they can’t track phones.  If you really pressure them, they can look to see if the IMEI number is registered to another phone.  Maybe.  Sometimes.  ”Well, we can’t really tell.”  It all depends on what agent you’re talking to.  I escallated all the way up to a floor manager in their call center and had completely different answers with each person I talked to.  Here’s the general concensus that I got however:

  • AT&T can but will not track or locate your device for you
  • Apple cannot track your device other than through multiple iTunes accounts linked to the same serial number
  • AT&T stores cannot track the location of your phone, despite what AT&T may tell you on the phone
  • AT&T phone reps cannot track the location of your phone, despite what AT&T in-store personnel might tell you
Which means at the end of the day you’re likely SOL and will have to pay the “Early Upgrade” pricing of $399/$499.  Unless you luck out.  You should aboslutely check online to see if you’re upgrade eligible.  AT&T’s systems are so crappy and antiquated that you can often make things happen in their online system that you cannot otherwise make happen with real people on the phone or in-store. 
I was using a Premier account, so this may not work for you.  But here is how I upgraded my iPhone 3G to an iPhone 3G for the original upgrade price:
  1. Sign in to your AT&T wireless online account
  2. In the Account Overview, in the right-hand column under phone/device locate the “Check Upgrade Eligibilty” link
  3. If you’re lucky, you’ll see a message with something like:
    4. You can take advantage of our no-commitment pricing option, with the exception of iPhone which requires a 2-year commitment. This line may be eligible for an equipment discount on XX/XX/XXXX
  4. Hopefully your account will say you’re eligible, despite what you’ve been told on the phone
  5. Click “Upgrade today”
  6. Select the iPhone 3G
  7. Select the option to keep your current Voice Plan
  8. Select the option for the iPhone Data Plan
  9. Make your purchase
I was able to get my phone again for $299.  You might have to double check because AT&T apparently did NOT in fact add the iPhone data plan back to my account until I actually called them.  Also be aware that your original iPhone data plan may have been dropped without notice if you activated a SIM to use in your old phone until your replacement iPhone dropped.  When I got a new SIM to use in my old 8525, I apparently was dropped from the iPhone data plan and autoamtically moved to the Media Net Pay Per Use plan–to the tune of $50 in three days.  Which yet another call to customer service fixed.  And of course I’ll have to call yet again next month because they’ll have billed me from 9/2 to 9/8…but hey, their mistake not mine.

So, hopefully some of you out there will have the ability to get your phone replaced at a reasonable rate.  And of course check your renters insurance deductibles and such to see if that would be worth it.  And if you bought with an AmEx and can say it was stolen you might get it replaced.  Check your card’s website for details.

Good luck!


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