A question of pure speculation (regarding early upgrades)

those early upgrades dont apply to everyone...you have to have had it for at least a little while...a few months won't cut it, even if Verizon does do it.

dccorona said:

those early upgrades dont apply to everyone...you have to have had it for at least a little while...a few months won't cut it, even if Verizon does do it.

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so what about if I bought it the first day?

LucidPsychosis said:

AT&T iPhone users get an early upgrade offer when new iPhone revisions become available, right?

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I thought that was from the original iPhone to the 3G; a way of repaying early adopters. Did it happen for subsequent phones as well?

You only got the early upgrade to the 3GS and 4 if you're monthly bill was over $99 for a single line. But that's standard for AT&T, not iPhone specific.

LucidPsychosis said:

AT&T iPhone users get an early upgrade offer when new iPhone revisions become available, right?

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They did that last time because they knew their exclusive was ending. They locked everyone into a 2 year contract. I suspect they'll be less inclined to do that this time

So what do you guys think are the chances that Verizon will do a thing like AT&T and let iPhone users upgrade at the subsidized price?

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zero chance. There is no business or economic reasons for VZW to offer early upgrades, especially given the number of people willing to pay full price for an iPhone.

My advise is to either wait, or buy one full price

i have been an AT&T customer since the 3g i bought the 3g a month after release then got the 3gs for the subsidized price and the 4 the same way.

i think someone mentioned you have to pay over 100$ a month on your bill(for at&t) to be offered the subsidy and have to have bought it usually within a few months of release. for the 4 at&t granted anyone whos upgrade date was going to be available by the end of last year was offered the 4 on subsidy.

I don't pay over $100 for my line, I pre ordered iPhone 4 the day it was available, and my AT&T upgrade date is June 25, 2011.

I've been a customer since 2001 and have never missed a payment. I guess it could be a loyal customer thing for me.

AT&T bumped up availability for all iPhone customers who had a renewal date within 6 months. I wasn't supposed to be able to upgrade until November but I was able to order an iPhone 4 for day one. I'm somewhat hoping that they do the same thing for the iPhone 5 if it comes out in September, since my phone is up for upgrade in February of 2012, so getting it 5 months sooner would be great (and not having to wonder when Apple plans on releasing the 6th gen).

DirtySocks85 said:

AT&T bumped up availability for all iPhone customers who had a renewal date within 6 months. I wasn't supposed to be able to upgrade until November but I was able to order an iPhone 4 for day one. I'm somewhat hoping that they do the same thing for the iPhone 5 if it comes out in September, since my phone is up for upgrade in February of 2012, so getting it 5 months sooner would be great (and not having to wonder when Apple plans on releasing the 6th gen).

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I think they bumped the upgrade dates for anyone who was going to be elegible that year just on a later date, say like mid December or in your case November.

solowmodel said:

I thought that was from the original iPhone to the 3G; a way of repaying early adopters. Did it happen for subsequent phones as well?

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since the original phone was never subsidized, people who purchased it technically never used up their upgrade eligibility. So going from iPhone to iPhone 3G, everyone was able to get the full upgrade pricing.

Ever since then, when a new iPhone is released, ATT offers upgrade pricing (199, 299) to those who are eligible, and also offers what they call "early upgrade pricing" to those who have been on contract for a while but aren't yet eligible for an upgrade (example: if you've been on contract a year, but aren't upgrade eligible for 20 months or something like that). These prices were 399/499 (I believe, could have been 499/599). This is what I assumed the OP was talking about

@OP:
If you bought the VZW iPhone on day 1, then maybe you will have been on contract long enough (if Verizon even offers the upgrade pricing...they aren't as worried about losing customers as ATT is), but I can't say for sure, because I don't know what the actual number of months required is. For all I know, its based on monthly bill and other factors, not just time. It also depends on whether the iPhone is released in June/July or September.

jpetticrew said:

I don't pay over $100 for my line, I pre ordered iPhone 4 the day it was available, and my AT&T upgrade date is June 25, 2011.

I've been a customer since 2001 and have never missed a payment. I guess it could be a loyal customer thing for me.

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I wish that were true. Customer since 1993 and I'm not eligible until Feb. 2012, though I did get subsidized upgrades to both the 3GS and the 4. I'm still hoping for a bump up in my eligibility date once details re. the actual launch time get released, but who knows?