If you are currently using an iPhone and plan to upgrade to the iPhone 5 right away, here are a few suggestions that’ll keep you busy until they roll out the new phone September 12:
- Make sure you’re backing up your iPhone to iCloud. A modest-capacity iCloud account is free. Take advantage of it. When you have an iCloud account and set your phone to back up automatically to that cloud, setting up a new iPhone is painless. All you need to do is log into your iCloud account and your data will flow down to your new phone. Here’s how to set up an iCloud account.
- Make sure you know what your Apple ID (a.k.a. your ID and password for iTunes Store and the App Store) is. Just yesterday I dealt with a gentleman who wanted to buy an app for his iPhone but couldn’t remember his Apple ID. So, try buying a 99-cent track from the iTunes Store to test your ID. If it turns out you can’t remember your ID/password, it’s a lot easier to find it, recover it, or change it, this week than it will be next week when you’re all excited about getting a new phone and thousands of other similarly excited people are trying to get someone at Apple to help them recover their forgotten passwords.
- Have a plan for what you will do with your old iPhone. Prices for old phones peak just as the new ones come out, and drop shortly afterwards. Also, check with friends and family to see if someone wants your phone. While I’ve sold iPads and iPods to Gazelle, I’ve never sold them one of my iPhones. A friend always wants it.
- Get ready to shop the phone companies. The rumors are that there’ll be quite a variety of plans for the iPhone 5. Take your time and look for one that has good service in the areas where you work, live, and travel. If you travel or commute with a laptop, consider getting a plan with tethering (I use mine all the time). Note that the new iPhone 5 has 4G LTE features that take advantage of Verizon’s robust LTE network. AT&T offers the faster LTE service in only a few areas, and its network may take years to catch up. On the other hand, Verizon is likely to be charging premium prices for its speed.
See you on the 12th!
Karen Anderson
iPhone 4 Tips 
Excellent info! I haven’t bought my iPhone 5 yet, but I’m thinking of leaving AT&T only because I want an unlimited data plan for tethering.
Marc, I made the switch to Verizon. It cost more than I’d have liked — in part because, although I’ve had my iPhones with AT&T since the first iPhone, they charged me a whopping $200 for “breaking” my iPhone4S contract. That said, I’m thrilled with the improvement in service. Verizon is as fast, or faster, than AT&T and I have not had a single dropped call in Seattle or while traveling in Florida and Atlanta, Ga.