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I just bought a 3GS (new customer) for $199 in March. I just checked my status.

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Becoming 1st Iphone User Ever

So I bought a BB Bold last June and have been eligible for a Jun 20th full upgrade or a while now....I've been an avid BB user for years and I love Apple products and now I'm gonna upgrade, so what can i expect coming to the iphone? Serious question
 
The way the iPhone pricing works is,

199/299 dollars when eligible to upgrade
399/499 dollars when not eligible to upgrade
599/699 dollars when you don't want to sign up for a new contract.

Let's say the iPhone comes out on June 21 and it says on your account you are not eligible for the upgrade until November 24. You could either wait till November 24 and get it for 199/299 dollars or buy it for 399/499 dollars if you don't want to wait that long. The latter option still has you sign up for a new two year contract.

So they reward you for waiting five months and they corn hole you for being an excited loyal customer and being an early addopter and even possibly helping them sell more phones just by showing your new toy to potential buyers....?

I feel used.
 
I know Verizon's the biggest carrier, but why can't Apple make an iphone for T-mobile? It's still a big carrier, and won't have any CDMA issues like Verizon.

It can.T mobile and the others turned down the original iphone.Cingular(ATT)agreed to Apple's terms in exchange for exclusivity for a number of years.When that agreement expires the iPhone will be on more carriers.
 
Upgrade date 02/20/2011 :( Currently using iPhone 3GS I wonder why because I paid 400 instead of 200

Me too.Probably because the 3GS was an early upgrade at a higher price like mine.Maybe the 400 didn't cover as much of the cost as the $199 does for new/full discount contracts.
 
New iPhone

Well, Apple may be surprised as to the number of people actually trading up to the new iPhone. I for one have had all the iPhone releases but think it's time for me to just keep this one and get my contract over with. Wireless phones are like computers and digital cameras, they have turned them into a new release every six to twelve months... remember the Nikon F3 when a new one came out they never traded up. I think only the diehards will upgrade, the average person will keep their previous version of the iPhone. I am sure I am wrong but....
 
Not happy at all.

Paid subsidized price for my 3g on release date 2008

paid $399 for 3gS on release date 2009

I fell just short of being subsidized because my bill was $94 +tax a month

so here I am hoping that 2 years after my last subsidized phone I would mabey be eligible for upgrade to the iPhone HD

Bu noooooo now at$t is telling me that the $399 was considered subsidized a I now have to wait until November 11th 2010.

So I has to pay 399 and other people paid 199 and they are already eligible and I'm not?

WTF are they trying to lose customers??

$399 WAS subsidized.Deal with it.
 
I am eligible 6/20. Bought the 2G a day or so after launch, 3G on launch, 3GS on launch and will get the 4th generation as quickly as possible if not on launch day. However the 20th is on a Sunday, which could mean the real launch is the 18th or the 25th, based upon Apple's customary Friday releases.
 
How to get an upgraded price.

I think the way to do it is to change your plan so that you are paying over $100 on the line you want to upgrade. i had changed my minutes from 700 to 450 a while back and it said i was unable to upgrade. I just changed it back to 700 minutes and now it says i can upgrade.

just do it this one month, and if it works, you'll only spend $30 at most and you will be able to get the discount once june comes around and then change your plan back to what you want.
 
$399 WAS subsidized.Deal with it.

thank you for your words of wisdom! That solved all my problems! Now I'm happy about that the extra $200 I paid knowing that people that paid less last year will yet again pay far less this year while I watch my eligibility get pushed out to next November again making it impossible to ever buy a subsidized iPhone on release date again. Wow! So glad you chimed in! Life is skittels and beer!
 
You can't buy every phone at the cheapest price, full subsidized every year, unless you have two phones and rotate.

You want your cake and eat it too.
 
Per line? Yikes. Thanks for the info though.

This is not true. Spending more than $100 on the main line is a factor on early upgrades, an there are other factors.... but $99 per line is not one of them. Very few customers have multiple phones on same plan that are over $99 per line, wouldn't make sense.

I got an early upgrade last year, and getting one this year as well. $250 or so total bill for four lines.
 
I am so damn confused about the upgrade thing. My plan is a family plan with four phones. 3 iphone 3GS and 1 regular.

Both of these phones were bought at the same time at AT&T store.
  • 1 iPhone 3GS bought in 9/7/09. Eligibility upgrade = 9/27/10
  • 1 iPhone 3GS bought in 9/7/09. Eligibility upgrade = 5/17/11

The third iPhone was bought a week later.
  • 1 iPhone 3GS bought in 9/15/09. Eligibility upgrade = 5/25/11

I am also getting 15% off the bill because I work with Black & Decker. Does this have anything to do with the upgrade?

The last 2 phones are working off the account of the first phone. Your family plan minutes, texts are charged to the first phone which makes the first phone's bill over $100 a month. Since the first phone's bill is over $100 a month it qualifies for an update every 12 months.

That's the way it was explaineed to me.
 
i'm lost on the att site.

i get the option to see if you're eligible but that's it. it just sends me to the phone shopping link afterwards. i guess i'm eligible
 
I'm slightly amused at everybody ready to slap down hundreds of bucks on something they know nothing about yet. All you know is rumor, and that prototype could be nothing like what eventually comes out.

I would also ask why any 3GS owner with sanity would buy the next-gen phone. You're eligible for all the OS 4 features and probably won't be missing much else. I get the 2G and 3G owners upgrading, especially you brave 2G owners. I like my phone aside from the "limited" storage, but even 64GB won't be enough. I'm also waiting for this Verizon stuff to become reality and maybe prices will drop or something. AT&T's signal strength has been weaker for me over the past month, and I might have the option of switching if I wait until next summer when this contract runs out.

Because I'm at the point in time when my battery is running down even faster and why bother paying for a new battery with a new phone coming out. Also, I use the camera a lot so a better camera would be useful and worth it for me. I believe that I am sane.
 
it's pretty lame that you need a certain amount of posts just to browse that subforum. especially when i've been a member since '07
 
I bought my first iPhone 2G used for $75 in 08, jailbroke/unlock and used on Tmobile ever since as a work phone.

I bought my first 3G ATT subsidized, pre ordered from Apple in 08 as well and was offered an upgrade in June 09 for the 3GS of $149, this just after going to a family plan and adding two other 3G iPhones as well for two family members.

Our bill is about $250-$265 /m and includes 1400 plan with only two phones having text. When I did the upgrade to my 3GS for the discounted price last June 09, they also let me keep all my rollover minutes and applied them to the family plan along with crediting for two months of service, some of which had to do with a mix up on their end with online inventory and showing an incorrect ship date as advertised.

So now comes the new iPhone HD and upon checking my account, I am showing a full upgrade by 6/30/10 but the other two phones are not until 09/10. Which doesn't bother me since I am always the early adopter out of the others. I also repair iPhones for customers and friends that are out of warranty and on occasion end up with some others of my own. I like to spread them about the family which they then unlock and use on their Tmobile accounts.

One thing for certain, I always pay my bill on time, chat up customer service with nothing but courtesy and compliments and l always push new customers to ATT when they are in our service center inquiring about iPhones iPads or otherwise. I have never pushed for credits, although they ask if I want them and I then accept, and I honestly couldn't ask for better customer service. I should know when talking with so many other major companies on the phone daily for my service customers and contracts and ATT has to be one if not the best trained personnel companies out there. :)

YES I will upgrade when it arrives and not a day later.:D
 
This is really smart of them and I wish more carriers did it. I remember when TMOBILE came out with their first Android phone and they totally shafted existing customers, offering it for a penny to new subs but for a Franklin to loyal subscribers.

Not so loyal, it turns out. I jumped ship. Glad I can stay on the iPhone gravy train, though AT&T had better work out a better data plan for people with multiple 3G+ devices - or I'll jump ship again.
 
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