The current economic situation has us counting our coin more frequent than ever and thankfully At&t has embraced our frugal habits by offering refurbished iPhone 3G’s (8GB and 16GB) for $149 or $249 respectively.  The refurbished devices still carry an Apple warranty, but it never hurts to add AppleCare.  Another alternative mentioned on GearDiary is to look into SquareTrade which will provide warranty for the iPhone within the first 30 days even against accidental damages, i.e. “I left it on the bus”. [GearDiary]