AT&T iPhone 3G Upgrades and Eligibility

[baslotto]

Many different people have called AT&T and the reps said that its 199 and 299 No matter What!!.

Normally they dont do this but the iPhone is such a high profile device I think it makes sense.

Yes. And for that price it also comes with a NEW minimum $85/mo contract that stays glued to our asses until we pay a $200 fee for breaking the contract before the 2 years! Unless we fall under one of the 3 categories explained in the article.

Somebody tell me that I can buy an "ATT contract free" iPhone G3 for 199 and 299.

Anybody??

 

[carterst]

all right, i'm going to call BS on this now. sorry but all the evidence that arn or anybody else has posted about this subsidy is completely inconclusive. ATT is subsidizing these, yes, but we don't know the details. and the details taken from those two websites are based off of their standard operating procedure with other phones, not necessarily this one considering that NOBODY at ATT is able to confirm this. In fact, the most definitive statement any of us have heard have come from both steve jobs at the WWDC, and from any of those articles arn just pointed out. that the phone will cost the same for EVERYONE. we have not even one piece of evidence to suggest that current ATT customers who don't have iphones will not be allowed to purchase a 199 iphone with a new 2 year contract and no termination fee. just because it is a subsidized price does not mean they are not making special deals for current customers. somebody prove me wrong.

 

[baslotto]

all right, i'm going to call BS on this now. sorry but all the evidence that arn or anybody else has posted about this subsidy is completely inconclusive. ATT is subsidizing these, yes, but we don't know the details. and the details taken from those two websites are based off of their standard operating procedure with other phones, not necessarily this one considering that NOBODY at ATT is able to confirm this. In fact, the most definitive statement any of us have heard have come from both steve jobs at the WWDC, and from any of those articles arn just pointed out. that the phone will cost the same for EVERYONE. we have not even one piece of evidence to suggest that current ATT customers who don't have iphones will not be allowed to purchase a 199 iphone with a new 2 year contract and no termination fee. just because it is a subsidized price does not mean they are not making special deals for current customers. somebody prove me wrong.

I hope you are right because I have ATT but I own a RAZR.

My only fear is that ATT replies: "The policy on the iPhone is no different from other smartphones: your contract is not 18 months old? So no discounts for you yet...".
Hope I'm very wrong, but I have never seen ATT giving away discounts depending on the popularity or the beauty of a phone...

 

[zenntench_oni]

what if i want to give my current iphone to my girlfriend and use my sim on the new iPhone 3G and i want to switch to a Family Plan and get her a new sim. . how am i going to do this when im might be forced to go to at&t to do this while i want to buy the iPhone 3G at my local Apple Store?

 

[captain kaos]

Does anyone have any definitive answer about this yet?

I just switched to AT&T in anticipation of the iphone 3G, and now im finding out that I might not even be able to buy it?? Since I joined June 11, he said I'd have to get it right on July 11 in order for it to be in some 30 day window for something or other, otherwise I'd need to be eligible for an upgrade. I figured he just didn't know what he was talking about. This just seems incredibly foolish for them to say, "Nope, sorry, you cant buy one for x months."

wtf?!

Im from the UK, with O2 (lets hope they sort out the PrePay deals soon!) and the ATT contracts may be different than over here, but why did you sign up to a new contract on the 11th june knowing you could wait a month to sign up AND get the new iphone?

 

[Roller]

what if i want to give my current iphone to my girlfriend and use my sim on the new iPhone 3G and i want to switch to a Family Plan and get her a new sim. . how am i going to do this when im might be forced to go to at&t to do this while i want to buy the iPhone 3G at my local Apple Store?

I'm in a similar situation. My son, who's on my family plan, wants my iPhone if I get the 3G. I suppose I could simply give him my phone (number and all) and buy a 3G for myself, but I'd have to pay the early termination fee to cancel his current line.

I guess I'm going to have to wait until launch to see what AT&T will do. Seems to me that they should be willing to accommodate somehow, since they'd be making more over the course of the contract with two iPhones (2G and 3G) than they would if I didn't change anything (iPhone 2G and non-iPhone).

 

[mjerald]

Question though. I think I am in both groups, do i get the cheap price or not? I am currently a 1st iphone owner. I switched to AT&T about 10 months ago(got a blackjack for 50 dollars) 2 months into my contract i bought the Iphone since no matter how long you have been in contract it just started you over for 400 bones. So technically i dont qualify for upgrade because I got the black jack 10 months ago for subsidized price, but I am currently a 1st gen iphone owner, so which group am I in? Do i get the 200 dollar phone? Also, I sold my iphone last week for 375, do i just buy an unsubsidized phone and keep my 2g and 200 texts for 20 bucks ( i live no where near 3g) or do i pay the 200 and pay 30bucks a month(pending i am even able to get it for that price) Or last option is to pay the 175 cancelation fee then resign up and get the 200 dollar phone- I wouldnt be losing and money since i have 375 in my hand.? SORRY for the novel....

You get the new iPhone. I am in the same situation and talked to AT&T rep.
here's the reply :

Thank you for taking the time to e-mail the new AT&T. I understand you
are wondering if you are eligible to upgrade to the 3G iPhone when
available on 07/11. I apologize for any confusion you have been caused
by our upgrade policy and I am happy to help you with your inquiry.

I have reviewed your account and since you do already have an iPhone,
you will be able to upgrade to the new iPhone if you wish. Any other
device that is not yet eligible for a discounted upgrade would need to
wait until they are eligible; however, current iPhone users may upgrade
to the new iPhone at any time. I apologize for any further inconvenience
this concern may cause.

 

[djransom]

Yes. And for that price it also comes with a NEW minimum $85/mo contract that stays glued to our asses until we pay a $200 fee for breaking the contract before the 2 years! Unless we fall under one of the 3 categories explained in the article.

Somebody tell me that I can buy an "ATT contract free" iPhone G3 for 199 and 299.

Anybody??

At this point, this doesn't appear to be an option according to what Arn posted.

 

[iphoneblack]

What happen if I just buy the 3G iphone online and put my 2G iphone sim in it? I wont get 3G or they will charge me $30 anyway?

I love the $20 unlimited data plan with 200 text. I do not care about the $200 differences because I plan to use 3G years long. It is better to charge me $20 a month years than $30 years.

 

[NYCAVS]

What are the options for the old 2.5G iPhones after upgrading?

Like many here, I have an original iPhone (1st day from NYC Apple Store ). I plan to get a new 3G iPhone and from what I read here, I believe I can get it for the $199 price if I extend my contract. The details of the new contract are obviously uncertain to an extent.

But I haven't heard much talk of what happens to the old iPhone? Does it become just an iPod Touch without use of the phone features? Can one easily add it as another line (and if so what cost/terms)? Obviously one can sell it but the market price for it after July 11 is not clear.

 

[zenntench_oni]

What happen if I just buy the 3G iphone online and put my 2G iphone sim in it? I wont get 3G or they will charge me $30 anyway?

I love the $20 unlimited data plan with 200 text. I do not care about the $200 differences because I plan to use 3G years long. It is better to charge me $20 a month years than $30 years.

i doubt you can buy a 3G iphone online anytime soon (i think)
you will have to change your data plan to $30 dollars data plan
2G iphone only works with the 20 dollars plan
3G iphone only works with the 30 dollars plan. .

 

[kornyboy]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A102 Safari/419.3)

I like the fact that they are allowing current AT&T iPhone owners to get the iPhone 3G but the rest of it is a bit confusing. I do gather that unless you current own an iPhone, your contract is up, or you are not an AT&T customer you are not eligible for the 199/299 prices.

 

[iphoneblack]

i doubt you can buy a 3G iphone online anytime soon (i think)
you will have to change your data plan to $30 dollars data plan
2G iphone only works with the 20 dollars plan
3G iphone only works with the 30 dollars plan. .

well, 2 months ago i called ATT and changed my iphone plan to the $15 plan, which is non pda phone unlimited data plan. The ATT guy told me that my plan, $15 data plan, get unlimited 3G data speed w/o extra charge if my phone is not pda phone. I also read somewhere an online a person used a iphone sim card in his 3G motorola gets 3G speed w/o extra charge.

I am actually in Asia, Hong Kong, and I think it is likely that I can buy the iphone itself here. I hope I can get the 3G iphone here, HK, and use the $15 or $20 old iphone plan when I go back to the U.S, which is August.

 

[Harley05]

Common sense... is very lacking. 80% of the posts on this thread are answered in the original article. The only thing left undetermined is the UNsubsidized price from AT&T for customers that own a non iphone and are not eligible for an upgrade.

Two options are laid out, one for CURRENT iphone users, the other for NON iphone users. This really isn't that complicated...

1) IF you own a iphone now and are under a 2 year contract with AT&T... YES you can upgrade to the iphone 3G. You will start a NEW 2 year agreement. You will pay either 199 or 299. Simple as that. IF you purchased your iphone after May 27th, you get a free upgrade and actually get cash back. Done.

2) IF you own ANY other phone with AT&T that you received a discount (subsidy) when you purchased it. Then you must be "eligible" for an upgrade (which you can check online thru you AT&T account) to upgrade to a iphone 3G at the 199/299 price or as the article states you will be paying a HIGHER rate. (undisclosed price so far)

The only "special" deals are given to current iphone users, everyone else has to abide by normal contract rules. If you not AT&T customer they are not going to HELP you get out of any other contracts.

 

[cs123456]

What if,
I bought my iPhone in January and want to upgrade my phone & my wife’s phone (who is already on the Family Plan with me, but has a cheapie phone). In addition to what might be my new phone cost (which I cant figure-out), I would assume I would have to add two $30 ($60) data plans to my contract and give ATT my first born.

 

[Harley05]

What if,
I bought my iPhone in January and want to upgrade my phone & my wife’s phone (who is already on the Family Plan with me, but has a cheapie phone). In addition to what might be my new phone cost (which I cant figure-out), I would assume I would have to add two $30 ($60) data plans to my contract and give ATT my first born.

IF you have an iphone already, you can upgrade for the 199/299 and yes you will have to pay for the $30 data plan.

IF your wife has another type of phone, she will have to be eligible (which you can check on your AT&T account online) to upgrade to the iphone at 199/299. Otherwise she would have to pay the higher (undisclosed) rate for the new iphone 3G and YES you have to pay for a $30 data plan for EACH new iphone 3G.

 

[cmendill]

Common sense... is very lacking.

Many people have heard otherwise from ATT and Apple service reps. There is reason for confusion.

 

[BitOgre]

Uneligible upgrade prices vs early termination fee

If you are not eligible, AT&T expects to announce the higher unsubsidized iPhone 3G price in the future. This price can be expected to be about $200 higher.

Alternatively, you can cancel your existing mobile phone contract and pay the $175 early termination fee, you will probably then be eligible for the $199/$299 iPhone 3G.

For those not eligible, why would they pay $200 more to get the new iPhone when the $175 early termination fee is cheaper? Is there some negitive side to going through early termination?

 

[jplan2008]

For those not eligible, why would they pay $200 more to get the new iPhone when the $175 early termination fee is cheaper? Is there some negitive side to going through early termination?

1) There's also an activation fee ($36? I can't remember, but think it's over the $25 difference)
2) You lose your phone number

 

[bsgx]

Don't worry....

I don't know what everyone is so worried about. Do you really think if you have the original iPhone that they will turn down your money? It will be $199 if you already have the regular iPhone.

And I cancelled my iPhone last week. I didn't need the new one with 3G, and with the volume of email I do and SMS, I just need a real keyboard, so I bought a Blackberry. I did not have to pay $175 cancellation fee and they gave me the Blackberry for the subsidized price, no questions. I got my iPhone on launch day last year, and cancelled it only 11 months into the contract and I had to pay NO cancellation fee.

The people who work at the store don't typically follow all the rules, IMHO. They just want to sell new phones.

 

[GeekLawyer]

I think AT&T has updated their iPhone page. I apologize if this isn't "new" news.

http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-ph...?wtSlotClick=1-0013IS-0-1&WT.svl=calltoaction

 

[cs123456]

Harley05...Thanks!

 

[Kwill]

what if i want to give my current iphone to my girlfriend and use my sim on the new iPhone 3G and i want to switch to a Family Plan and get her a new sim. . how am i going to do this when im might be forced to go to at&t to do this while i want to buy the iPhone 3G at my local Apple Store?

For complex activation issues, I recommend activation at an AT&T Mobility store if one is in your area.

 

[EagerDragon]

I wish there was more information about family plans.

I have a personal contract now with AT&T with a non-iphone. As such I will need to pay full price for the iPhone I assume, yet I plan to get 3 iPhones and switch to a family plan with 2 new subscribers (my family). As of now I have no idea what I will need to pay for each of the iPhones and what will be the price of the family plan since the data plan went up and there are no unlimited SMS listed in the family plan. Im reality need only one phone with unlimited sms and the other 2 will do fine with 200 to 400 sms messages.

I hope they tell us more soon.

 

[daveporter]

The one thing that is certain from reading all this is that the cell phone industry is scamming all of us no matter what phone we use.

Look at all the if, ands and buts (butts really) that apply to something as simple as buying a cell phone and getting it to work with voice and data.

In reality, there should be a price for the phone based on its true retail cost, and one price if you want voice and another if you want voice and data...period. What difference in operating cost is there if you use an iPhone or a some other phone? None. Its all marketing bulls--t designed to make a customer so confused that we all pay way to much for service.

What every cell phone user should do is cancel their service and refuse to start it up again until the cell phone companies stop there scamming and start playing fair with their customers. However, there is no chance that any of us will do that so we will have to deal with this crap.

Dave