Counting on certain amount just wanting out and payoff early. 36 months is a long time to wait for upgrade and then device not left with much value. At least with a 24 month credit plan you might have 300-400 trade in value at end.
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Carrier AT&T Trade In... $800 bucks?
- Thread starter ripsaw650
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predictable pure greed from the Death Star.
reduce the amount of overall credit amount and hike the length of term. suddenly its not something I would recommend to anyone for the hassle- unless you're like a person who hangs around with an 6s far beyond most people in this forum.
im still happy I did it last year, but won't be doing it again. The deal is dead as far as im concerned.
especially since things should get interesting next year if not the following, design wise and change wise.
I’m pretty sure you have this wrong. As far as I know, with the AT&T promo, you can trade your iPhone 13 Pro in next year to Apple for $640 in credit while still continuing to “pay” the $0 monthly installments for the remaining 24 months.
This gets you the 14 Pro for $360. At which point you can keep that one for 2 years, hope AT&T will have a similar deal as this year and repeat the process with a free iPhone 16.
You are correct. The biggest issue with a 36 month installment is that at the end of the 3 years, your device is not worth as much anymore!
Besides, when I was checking yesterday, the iPhone 8 is only eligible for just half the credits now. Need a X or XR to trade-in to get full credits. Coupled with the 36-month term, meh, too much.
oh yeah? I thought someone said iPhone 8 met the threshold, but not surprised.
All good things come to an end.
lol @ people trading an 11 PM for the credits, too
I’ve read the terms. It’s has been reported that in reality it doesn’t actually have to work like that and that you can do as I described.
Imagine if you break the phone. You’re allowed to use a new phone, but you’ll still have to pay for the installments (of course you would still receive credits).
I wouldn't automatically assume that.
Do you have some sources reporting otherwise in quantity, or is it largely wishful thinking?
I'd think long periods of time without the device on the line will wipe the credit subsidy. If you break it, that's on you.
You can always do a screen repair or pay the hefty fee for a replacement and I would think the IMEI transfers in the system showing its a Genius Bar swap.
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I might be willing to try this at 2 years, with 6 months to go, as a 'worst case scenario' but I wouldn't do it early on in the term or anything. I'm sure they've considered this.
It did on Tuesday post keynote. When I was checking Apple's website yesterday (Thursday) with the drop downs of different phones, it wasn't giving full credits anymore.
Apparently internal literature from AT&T states that the line must remain active, not the device.
I’d like if you could do some research yourself on this as it seems like you have a good grasp on the workings of all this. I’m not confident, it’s just what I’ve come to learn recently.
Nah honestly the onus is on you.
I'm happy to be wrong and admit I am if that helps, don't have skin in this battle and actually genuinely hope I am wrong and AT&T is the loser here... but at the same time it doesn't really pertain to me since I'm going to be using this at least for another year with this line. By 6 months, maybe I'll be willing to take the chance as I mentioned and see what happens.
I would just be cautious to do it is all, as I'm sure AT&T has considered the fringe scenarios in which the customer really benefits from this deal, and as it's explicitly covered in the short paragraph of terms.
I didn’t mean to put you to work. Just thought maybe you’d have a way of finding out more than me lol.
Gotcha lol... I dont.
Just have to hope some sacrificial guinea pigs roll the dice and are kind enough to chime in on results.
Ha for sure!
If anyone else is doing it this year with the iPhone 12 from last years promo, let us know how it goes.
Haven't done it recently but the first time AT&T offered bill credits (for iPhone 7), we did iPhone musical chairs with the lines in our family. It was fine and we got all the credits even if the line with credits had a different phone on it.
As long as you do the SIM swap yourself (e.g. with unlocked SIM-free device), you should be okay. Upgrading using AT&T installment definitely jeopardizes the credits.
iPhone Upgrade Program? Maybe, maybe not. That usually triggers an activation/upgrade fee for me so I'd consider that iffy.
interesting thats good to know!
still... I wonder if IMEI registered on a line tied to same family plan = that's fine by them, even though the terms are more explicit than that.
Do you recall if the terms said same thing back then as now?
Yep, same terms.
As @wickedrm mentioned, they're not really gonna stop your credits if your device breaks. You're just on the hook to pay for replacing your broken device. As long as you use a SIM-free phone and don't use AT&T financing (I'd avoid IUP as well to be safe), it should be fine. AT&T's primary goal is to lock you to them for the loan contract term anyway.
I hope this is the case. I upgraded to 13PM on AT&T this morning and was not overly thrilled about being forced to use the same device for 3 years, so it’s good to know I’ll at least have a choice if i feel like rolling the dice after 1-2 years.
In the past you could definitely switch devices and still get credits. I had done this a number of times over the 15+ years I had been with AT&T. In fact, in one case I was planning on paying off a phone so I could close a line that I wasn’t using, knowing that I would forfeit my credits. In my case it made more sense to forfeit the credits than to pay for a line that I wasn’t using. However the rep even suggested that they switch it to a ‘tablet’ line type, which only had a $10/month charge and since I was getting more than $10/month in credit it made sense to do this.
But I don’t believe that in the past the terms mentioned that the device had to stay active on the line to continue getting the credits. I actually got bitten by ATT’s terms a few months ago. At some point they added a condition to the terms that if any line on your account is cancelled within 3 months of buying a new device with credits then the credits will stop. (Even if the line canceled is not the line that‘s getting the credits). I bought a device and then a short time later cancelled a line and ATT never even warned me that cancelling the line might endanger my line credits… they just went ahead and processed the cancellation. By the time I realized what happened it was too late to fix it. This is a big part of why I switched to T-Mobile a month ago.
Given the fact that this is explicitly spelled out in the terms now I would just be very very cautious about removing that device from the line getting credits because in my experience ATT is a stickler for their fine print.
Nah, it's been there back in 2016 (device must remain on agreement and you must keep eligible service on device). In practical terms though, they don't want you to cancel that line, you have to stay for the contract term and you can't finance a new device on the same line.
The 3-month thing is actually new.
Your situation is different, but you mentioned it to point out that AT&T will follow the terms of the fine print? I do see that clause in this promo, cannot cancel a line within 90 days of starting this deal.
Yeah, my situation was different, but I mentioned it as an example of ATT following the letter of their fine print. Interesting that that clause isn’t in this promo. Maybe they decided to do away with that restriction.
I would agree with that the device does not need to remain active on the line in order to continue to receive the bill credits. I interpret this as if you pay off the agreement early, etc, then the credits will stop.
I purchased an 2020 iPhone SE really cheap from Walmart about 18 months ago using an upgrade on another family member's line who did not need it. As soon as the phone was delivered, the SIM card was removed and it has been used off network as a side phone. I am continuing to receive bill credits on that line to this day. I feel you would be able to do whatever you'd like to do with the discounted device as long as you don't touch the line or the installment plan for the 36 month term. Hope this helps.
They need to do it or get fired. I’d ask for the manager and if he offered any resistance then I’d suggest I’d be calling the weights and measures and ask them to look into false advertising and overcharging lol their customers. There is zero chance I’d even consider offering to give them $20 for something they are required to do in the first place.