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Greencardman

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 24, 2003
490
2
Madison, WI
I switched to you a few months ago because you were the exclusive company for the iPhone. Now I don't get a discount on the new iPhone BECAUSE I switched to you. Please, offer all new-ish AT&T customers the better price.
 
You can't fully blame AT&T. They have to pay Steve those large Subsidies somehow. Let's face it. The phone has to get paid for one way, or the other. And it's More Affordable.
 
I switched to you a few months ago because you were the exclusive company for the iPhone. Now I don't get a discount on the new iPhone BECAUSE I switched to you. Please, offer all new-ish AT&T customers the better price.

I don't understand - it says on their website that existing iPhone customers can upgrade to the new one at the same price as new customers?!
 
Apple hate them too...
jobs_wozniak_bluebox.jpg
 
Look at it this way: You haven't fully paid for your existing iPhone (it is subsidized!). Look at the extra cost of a new iPhone as paying off your old one.
 
It does suck that they do not offer some kind of trade-in discount or just something to makes us feel a little better but there it is... No options..
 
I would gladly give my current subsidized phone back, because I will be paying more than it was subsidized. It makes me want to terminate my contract and sign up again. At least I'll save $25 that way, possibly more.
 
And what part of the contract would that be nickspohn?

The part where you signed up for a 2 year contract because AT&T PAID FOR YOUR PHONE. Yeah, that's why you got a nice deal on a crappy phone in the mean time until the new iPhone came out.

Cmon man..
 
when the iphone came out, it so outclassed everything out there and for many areas, at&t was fine...and over time having an iphone and cheaper at&t rates made the whole cell phone thing cheaper

unfortunately, in the south bay area in northern california, at&t reception is horrible and i wish i had the better reception of verizon, in my area, even though the price was higher per month

i have had no complaints about my land line from at&t
 
Yeah, I don't get the OP, the whole point of subsidized phones is that you are paying for the phone with two years of service - that's why you have to sign a contract. So by signing up for AT&T and getting a subsidized phone, he should have expected that he couldn't replace that phone until it was paid off (ie, 2 years went by). The best that could be expected, would be AT&T would allow it but tack on an additional 2 years to the contract - making it a 4 year contract minus the few months between purchases. And phone companies usually don't do that. The fact that AT&T is allowing current iPhone owners to upgrade for cheap is a fluke, caused by them not subsidizing the old iPhone.
 
Read in FULL AT&T iPhone terms and conditions, then get back to us.

R-Fly

Excellent, I can save $65 dollars by quitting and signing up again. It makes me wish this wasn't an all or nothing deal. I've paid off much of the subsidized phone already with the plan I got. But to get that money i have to quit and sign up anew. The least AT&T could do is to drop the unsubsidized price by a set amount for each month you've been a customer.
 
Look at it this way: You haven't fully paid for your existing iPhone (it is subsidized!). Look at the extra cost of a new iPhone as paying off your old one.

Somewhere between the OP and this, I got confused.

Not a darn person in the US has paid a subsidized price for the first gen iPhone. Nada, nobody, nuh uh. You had to sign a two-year contract, but you got no pricing deal. Therefore, if you didn't buy another subsidized phone from AT&T within the past two years, you can get the $199/299 pricing.

If the OP bought another subsidized phone within the last 2 years, well, he/she hasn't paid that off yet and, duh, you gotta do that.
 
Somewhere between the OP and this, I got confused.

Not a darn person in the US has paid a subsidized price for the first gen iPhone. Nada, nobody, nuh uh. You had to sign a two-year contract, but you got no pricing deal. Therefore, if you didn't buy another subsidized phone from AT&T within the past two years, you can get the $199/299 pricing.

If the OP bought another subsidized phone within the last 2 years, well, he/she hasn't paid that off yet and, duh, you gotta do that.

It wasn't the normal way phones are subsidized, but it was subsidized nonetheless.

What do you think the price of the iPhone would have been without the exchange of money from AT&T to Apple on each iPhone contract?
 
Look at it this way: You haven't fully paid for your existing iPhone (it is subsidized!). Look at the extra cost of a new iPhone as paying off your old one.

My entire subsidy was $200 for my current Razr, and I'm halfway into my contract, so they are asking me to pay the full subsidy again, plus add a data plan, plus sign another contract.

Look at this way: AT&T is a greedy, vile corporation that loves to screw over its loyal customers.

This may cost them my business once my contract is up.
 
I switched to you a few months ago because you were the exclusive company for the iPhone. Now I don't get a discount on the new iPhone BECAUSE I switched to you. Please, offer all new-ish AT&T customers the better price.

So you made the switch BEFORE the iphone came out? You can't blame AT&T for a dumb move like that.
 
Keep in mind you are STILL getting the discount!

The REAL price is 599/699.

AT&T is being NICE by ONLY charging 200+ more.

Sure, i'd love to *only* pay 199/299 but I got a $500 phone for $99 last year. So whatever.. 399/499 is the SAME PRICE the old iphone was.

Yes, it costs more a month...but...if you have a job with any major company, you can get a company discount worth 15-25% a month. That's about $20 a month savings!
 
unless you have been living under a rock for the last 10 years or so, none of this stuff is new, this is how the cell phone business has operated. when you go to sign up you have 3 options:

1. bring your own phone to sign up (some authorized resellers will actually give you the subsidy back in cash) if you choose to sign up for a contract, no cash for month to month

2. sign up and get the free subsidized phone special

3. sign up and get the a subsidy on a more expensive phone

if you expect a carrier to continue to give you a subsidy for every new phone that comes out while you are still under a contract with them and already took a subsidy, then you are the one who is being greedy

and if you only switched a few months ago, at that time there was already pretty good confirmation of a new iPhone coming, why didn't you just stay with your current carrier and wait it out like everyone else.
 
unless you have been living under a rock for the last 10 years or so, none of this stuff is new, this is how the cell phone business has operated. when you go to sign up you have 3 options:

1. bring your own phone to sign up (some authorized resellers will actually give you the subsidy back in cash) if you choose to sign up for a contract, no cash for month to month

2. sign up and get the free subsidized phone special

3. sign up and get the a subsidy on a more expensive phone

if you expect a carrier to continue to give you a subsidy for every new phone that comes out while you are still under a contract with them and already took a subsidy, then you are the one who is being greedy

and if you only switched a few months ago, at that time there was already pretty good confirmation of a new iPhone coming, why didn't you just stay with your current carrier and wait it out like everyone else.

Yeah, I decided not to buy a 1.0 iPhone in March because I knew the 3G was coming out soon. If I had bought the iPhone it would have cost 399/499.

Now I have a crappy nokia and am still only paying 399/499 for the phone, so I am ok with that.

The data plan is the same price as it would have been for a BlackBerry so I am ok with that too.

I don't understand why people are so upset right now.
 
Read in FULL AT&T's iPhone terms and conditions, then get back to us.

Yes, you actually did sign-up to all of these terms, last year. If you didn't realise it, thats your fault, not AT&T's.

R-Fly

i have my contracts midterm today, and there is nothing i have seen written worse than at&t's "contract"

if i have a hard time with their fine print, then i can't see where the company thinks they are fully disclosing the terms and conditions to the general public

contracts, as a class in law school, is many an attorney's worst experience in law school

if there is anybody out there who is not a lawyer, or in the field in some way, but who can understand at&t's fine print and relay it back in plain english and justify its terms as to the different terms and conditions that the at&t stores have*, then that person will likely get a 180 on the lsat, graduate #1 at harvard or yale, and write the contracts textbook most law schools will forever use :)


* - when i questioned at&t's conflicting agreement contract on the phone bill vs. what the retail store offered, they just basically told me that each division (retail stores vs. HQ) has leeway and incentives to get new customers...and that they are actually separate entities

i so wished that apple went with verizon or t-mobile, which they did outside of the usa
 
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