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AT&T Pushing up Upgrade Eligibility
- Thread starter Daj27
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No, it depends on many factors and, I think, a wizard.
There's no telling what your date is going to be (mine is currently sitting at 16 months after my iPhone 4 purchase) but whatever it is, the question is 'did it change.'
For me, no, it has not. It's the same today as it was when I last checked 2 months ago.
Why would your upgrade be 16 months after your purchase and it not be the same for me? A roll out of upgrade eligibility is the only thing that comes to mind. Similar to how it was last year.
If you bill is $100+ before taxes it's every 12 months. I believe if it's $90 it's then 18 months and anything less is the standard 20-22 months.
Oh okay, I got you. So since I'm on a family plan that's always around $150, it's 12 months. Cool, never knew.
It's figured of individual phone totals examples.
two iPhones on family plan say $75 a month 20-22 months
Two iPhones on family one $100 the other say $90 one is eligible every year the other 18 months.
2 iPhones on family $100 each both can up grade every year.
Last year AT&T made tons of people eligible after the I4 was announced hopefully they will do it this year as well..
I think last year's mass bump up in upgrade eligibility was because they knew they were going to lose exclusive rights to the iPhone in January of 2011 in the US, so they wanted to make sure to lock in customers by enticing an early upgrade so they don't switch to Verizon by waiting a month or 2.
As for this year, the price per month correlation to upgrade eligibility makes sense. Since higher rate plans allow at&t to recoop the subsidized price cost sooner then lower rate plans.
As for this year, the price per month correlation to upgrade eligibility makes sense. Since higher rate plans allow at&t to recoop the subsidized price cost sooner then lower rate plans.
QFT. I saw the room they use to decide your eligibility, there was definitely a wizard. Long bluish white beard and all.
I got my iPhone 4 on August 8th of last year, I pay anywhere from $100 to $150 a month (probably averaging $130), and I become eligible for an upgrade on January 8th--which never changed.
So as was said earlier, definitely a wizard.
Just checked my date. Prior to today (or whenever they made the switch) my upgrade date was Feb 2012 on a launch day iP4. Today it's 11/25/2011. My bill is usually over $100 but my fan discount brings me to around $90 bucks/mo. I was also given an early upgrade last year as well.
ppl were tweaked because the upgrade date for the family lines wasn't bumped up (in some cases) as was the primary line. This is because the primary line bears the cost of the entire voice portion of the bill plus (in the case of the iPhone) data and any txting plans on their individual line or family line. The secondary onward lines only dealt with the 9 or so dollar charge for the additional line + any texting on their line, so a user would need to add on packages such as unlimited text and international data, maybe phone insurance before they come anywhere close to the $100 dollar threshold.
As for the threshold for price per line and upgrade date, that's been published for some time now :
http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/internet/iphone-faq.jsp
Q. Does this change only apply to iPhone 3G customers who spend $99 or more per month?
A. In most cases, yes. iPhone customers who spend more than $99 a month per line with us generally are eligible for an upgrade between 12 and 18 months. In general, the more a customer spends with us, the less time they have to wait to get another new device.
Q. What about customers who bought in July, August, or September 2008 but don't spend over $99 a month?
A. We value the business of all our customers. Getting a new subsidized device is based on several factors including monthly recurring charges and having an account in good financial standing. In general, the more you spend with us, the less time you have to wait to get another device. This is a very fair system. That said, we do offer early upgrade pricing only for iPhone for those customers who don't want to wait.
ppl were tweaked because the upgrade date for the family lines wasn't bumped up (in some cases) as was the primary line. This is because the primary line bears the cost of the entire voice portion of the bill plus (in the case of the iPhone) data and any txting plans on their individual line or family line. The secondary onward lines only dealt with the 9 or so dollar charge for the additional line + any texting on their line, so a user would need to add on packages such as unlimited text and international data, maybe phone insurance before they come anywhere close to the $100 dollar threshold.
As for the threshold for price per line and upgrade date, that's been published for some time now :
http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/internet/iphone-faq.jsp
Q. Does this change only apply to iPhone 3G customers who spend $99 or more per month?
A. In most cases, yes. iPhone customers who spend more than $99 a month per line with us generally are eligible for an upgrade between 12 and 18 months. In general, the more a customer spends with us, the less time they have to wait to get another new device.
Q. What about customers who bought in July, August, or September 2008 but don't spend over $99 a month?
A. We value the business of all our customers. Getting a new subsidized device is based on several factors including monthly recurring charges and having an account in good financial standing. In general, the more you spend with us, the less time you have to wait to get another device. This is a very fair system. That said, we do offer early upgrade pricing only for iPhone for those customers who don't want to wait.
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I'm in the same boat as you, 150 a month family plan. Except mine says I won't be eligible to upgrade til February 2012
Can someone explain, good or no.
I purchased my iPhone 4 September 2010 (last year) and renewed the contract.
I will be eligible for a full discount on a standard iPhone --> 12-27-11.
What do you think?
PS: I pay around $78 a month.
I purchased my iPhone 4 September 2010 (last year) and renewed the contract.
I will be eligible for a full discount on a standard iPhone --> 12-27-11.
What do you think?
PS: I pay around $78 a month.
Yes that would explain a lot--except for the fact that there are so many anomalies. As an example, I spend quite a bit more than $100 a month on my bill but I don't qualify for an upgrade until 17 months into my contract, where toss002 pays about $78 and gets upgraded after 15 months (allegedly).
I got my iPhone 4 on launch and have 450 mins, 2 GB data, unlimited messaging, and a fan discount so my bill comes out to about $82 per month and I have an early upgrade for $400 now and I'll have a full upgrade on November 19th.
I pay around $75/month. I got mine around June, 2010 and a month ago I was eligible for a new iPhone Feb, 2012. I just checked and now its bumped to Nov, 2011. The best part, I called Apple Care and they said I have Warranty up till June, 2012. They said someone accidentally gave me this warranty by typing the wrong serial number 
Mine says 12/21/2011, interesting, I did buy a month after it came out however. For a second I thought it said: 12/21/2012 hahaha
12/21 is my birthday...lmao
But to stay on topic, my upgrade date changed as well. I bought the iPhone 4 at launch and my upgrade was originally 02/25/2012 and now it's 11/25/2011.
On a FamilyTalk rate plan, each line has it's own MRC and so each line has an individual upgrade date based on the MRC of that individual line.
Short answer, make sure your iPhone is the anchor line since with the base rate plan + the data plan you might have a higher MRC and receive an earlier upgrade date. Each additional line starts at $9.99 so they always will have the longest period before they qualify for a full equipment upgrade discount.
Dave
Thanks for the advice Dave! You're right, according to my account the anchor phone will have a shorter period between upgrade eligibility. But in my case it's only 2 weeks