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TheBama

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 20, 2010
383
46
Birmingham, AL
Checked my account two days ago and it said I would be available to upgrade in October. Today it has changed to allow discounted Early iPhone upgrades. perhaps they have been given reason to expect iPhone users to want early upgrades? I think in the past this usually happens pre-release of a new model.
 

alphaod

macrumors Core
Feb 9, 2008
22,183
1,245
NYC
Or perhaps they want to lock you into a new 2-year agreement with that spanking new Samsung Galaxy S III!
 

TheBama

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 20, 2010
383
46
Birmingham, AL
Or perhaps they want to lock you into a new 2-year agreement with that spanking new Samsung Galaxy S III!

Nope, iPhone specific:

Great news! You qualify for an early iPhone upgrade with a new 2-year commitment.
Full upgrade available: October 12, 2012

Even my newer line with a 2013 end date, is suddenly eligible.

Great news! You qualify for an early iPhone upgrade with a new 2-year commitment.
Full upgrade available: May 12, 2013
 

alphaod

macrumors Core
Feb 9, 2008
22,183
1,245
NYC
Nope, iPhone specific:

Great news! You qualify for an early iPhone upgrade with a new 2-year commitment.
Full upgrade available: October 12, 2012

Even my newer line with a 2013 end date, is suddenly eligible.

Great news! You qualify for an early iPhone upgrade with a new 2-year commitment.
Full upgrade available: May 12, 2013

Does it still say "Full upgrade available…"? If so it's possible you're only eligible for the upgrade price of $399, not the $199 as a full upgrade price (pricing of 16GB model).

For example, the only line on my account with a current contract reads this:
"As a valued AT&T customer, you're eligible for a discounted iPhone upgrade at a reduced discount, along with a 2-year service commitment. You may qualify for a full discount on an iPhone upgrade on 8/21/2012."

My other lines (contract-free) say this:
"You're eligible for an upgrade at a discounted price." Notice the latter does not even mention a date.
 
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Shadowbech

macrumors G3
Oct 18, 2011
9,038
5,894
I just checked mine as well.

Great news! You qualify for an early iPhone upgrade with a new 2-year commitment.
Full upgrade available: May 21, 2013
 

nfl46

macrumors G3
Oct 5, 2008
8,349
8,704
Does it still say "Full upgrade available…"? If so it's possible you're only eligible for the upgrade price of $399, not the $199 as a full upgrade price (pricing of 16GB model).

For example, the only line on my account with a current contract reads this:
"As a valued AT&T customer, you're eligible for a discounted iPhone upgrade at a reduced discount, along with a 2-year service commitment. You may qualify for a full discount on an iPhone upgrade on 8/21/2012."

My other lines (contract-free) say this:
"You're eligible for an upgrade at a discounted price." Notice the latter does not even mention a date.

Actually it's 449 now and not 399 anymore. And that's for a 16GB iPhone 4S (199 version) phone. It used to be 399 for early upgrade until AT&T changed it.
 

TheBama

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 20, 2010
383
46
Birmingham, AL
Just to confirm: On my account this is iPhone specific. I looked at my upgrade options and iPhones were discounted, everything else was showing the no-commitment prices.
 

brianbunge

macrumors 6502
Aug 11, 2011
386
38
Kennesaw, GA
Just to confirm: On my account this is iPhone specific. I looked at my upgrade options and iPhones were discounted, everything else was showing the no-commitment prices.

Yes, you are eligible for an "early upgrade". This means you pay the 2 year contract price for a 4S ($199.99) PLUS a $250.00 early upgrade fee. And although the text is specific to iPhone it usually holds true for any other smart phone as well. I work in an AT&T COR store so I see this every day.
 

aneftp

macrumors 601
Jul 28, 2007
4,363
549
Just to confirm: On my account this is iPhone specific. I looked at my upgrade options and iPhones were discounted, everything else was showing the no-commitment prices.

It's "iphone specific" for online orders in regards to "early $250 plus subsidized pricing"

But in reality, ATT allows all phones to be "early" upgrade eligible 6 months after people use their last upgrades.

You really just have to call ATT CS over the phone and say, "hey, I want the Samsung S3" as an "early upgrade" And they will charge u $199 plus the $250 early upgrade price". Same as iPhone.

But you need to do it over the phone. It's been this way for a while. In actuality, ATT used to let you do "early upgrade $199 plus subsidize pricing as soon as 1 month after your last full subsidy upgrade. But ATT changed that policy about 12-18 months ago when they jacked up the price to $250 plus subsidized pricing.

But becareful. Cause it "resets" your upgrade eligibility for another 20 month if you use the "early upgrade".
 

asleep

macrumors 68040
Sep 26, 2007
3,686
1,574
Hmmm...

I punch 639# then hit call & I get a popup that shows my number, but no text showing upgrade status. Is 639# disabled for ATT?
 

vastoholic

macrumors 68000
Jan 28, 2009
1,957
1
Tulsa, OK
Didn't want to start a new thread and this was one of the top search results:

So I thought I had fixed my problem with AT&T and my upgrade eligibility. Called them back on the 12th to see why it was showing that my upgrade eligibility wasn't until Oct 2013 when the last phone I purchased on contract was the iPhone 4 back in October 2010. I canceled that service while I was over seas and started a new line in March 2012 when I got back home and moved states. I brought my iPhone 4s (that I bought off contract) onto the line, which I just sold on the 12th to pay for the upgrade.

Anyway, they give me a case number, pre-order day rolls around, I still haven't heard a resolution from AT&T and when I try to pre-order from AT&T the site says that they are currently not upgrading non-iphone lines (I'm using an old motorola razr flip phone right now) and the site keeps messing up whenever I try to go the "add a line" route. So I pre-order from apple and it tells me I'm going to be paying the early upgrade price of $549 for a 32GB. I decide to go ahead and do and see if AT&T can maybe credit my account later for the amount that I overpaid.

I call today to check in on this and they said they can't credit my account, but that my case had been resolved and I would be eligible for the full upgrade now, so I'd have to go in and cancel my last order (which I can't do I just realized) and place a new one to get the price fixed. I decided to say screw it, I'll just pay the extra and know that my phone will be here friday instead of trying to cancel and then realizing possibly the issue still wasn't fixed and I have to wait even longer to order the phone.

So that's my mindset. I see this as partially my fault for being in a hurry and not double checking before I ordered or maybe calling into AT&T to order. Should I be more persistent and keep pressing for credit onto my account or am I right in just leaving this alone.
 

nostresshere

macrumors 68030
Dec 30, 2010
2,708
308
Okay... as much as I hate starting new threads, adding onto a year old one is just as bad (edit - it was June - my bad. Confused with another one that was a year old)

But - I did try to read through all this and could not follow what happened. I tried, twice.
 
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vastoholic

macrumors 68000
Jan 28, 2009
1,957
1
Tulsa, OK
Okay... as much as I hate starting new threads, adding onto a year old one is just as bad

But - I did try to read through all this and could not follow what happened. I tried, twice.

In my defense it was only a couple of months. Fair game right?

tl;dr
I should have been eligible for the full subsidized upgrade, AT&T system messed up, said I wasn't. I called a few days prior to pre-order to fix it. It wasn't fixed by pre-order time. Now the only way they can fix it is to cancel my old order and I submit a new one instead of just crediting my AT&T account for extra amount that I paid.

should I leave it alone or be more persistent and see if AT&T can do anything else besides placing a new order?
 
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vastoholic

macrumors 68000
Jan 28, 2009
1,957
1
Tulsa, OK
Do a new order, and wait two weeks.

Or, maybe cancel, then get one in the store friday.

According to apple's site, it is too late to cancel. I'd honestly rather have the phone on friday as a sure deal than deal with lines, even though I don't have class on Friday and would be free. I think I'll just take this as a lesson learned. The only reason I don't want to wait is because I do use the iPhone a lot on a day to day basis for my car stereo, school emails, and communications. I had forgotten how absolutely horrendous it is to text on a flip phone.
 
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