"AT&T Upgrader App" Lets iPhone Owners Preorder From Their Phones

[smithwinston]

AT&T won't budge on $250, but check your ETF! (mine is $90)

Got iPhone 4 when it came out, I pay ~$120/month for the thing and have done the "free" early upgrade thing for iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 in the past.

Called AT&T and they insist it's going to be $199 + $250 early upgrade fee, they wouldn't budge on that. They were kind enough to tell me that my ETF is only $90 as of now (I have until June '12, so 8 months left?) -- I told them I'll switch to Verizon!

-w

 

[RafaelT]

Got iPhone 4 when it came out, I pay ~$120/month for the thing and have done the "free" early upgrade thing for iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 in the past.

Called AT&T and they insist it's going to be $199 + $250 early upgrade fee, they wouldn't budge on that. They were kind enough to tell me that my ETF is only $90 as of now (I have until June '12, so 8 months left?) -- I told them I'll switch to Verizon!

-w

That's weird that at $120/m your not eligible. Do you have a bad payment history with them or anything?

 

[smithwinston]

That's weird that at $120/m your not eligible. Do you have a bad payment history with them or anything?

Nope. Perfect customer, direct debit since I switched from Verizon for the iPhone 3 launch. The lady on the phone was insistent that they would not waive the fee.

It seems insane, but my wild guess is that they're trying to keep their 4S inventory for new customers (since now they're competing with Verizon and Sprint) and they'll tell existing iPhone 4 customers we'll waive the upgrade fee next month or something like that.

So it's just like how Comcast/Verizon will give "switchers" a great deal on cable etc. but as a loyal customer, I get no discounts, no "you're a great customer, have 3 months free" unless I try to switch elsewhere.

 

[Nicky G]

Honestly, having to wait an extra month/month and a half to get the upgrade pricing is not that big a deal IMHO, I've generally been happy with AT&T and would never switch to a carrier where I couldn't be on a call and do data at the same time -- give me a break!

 

[RafaelT]

That sucks that your not eligible at that price point.

I bought the 4 on launch day and my bill was just under $100 until about 3 months ago, my bill is now $220/m. They bumped up my upgrade date about a month and a half ago and I am eligible.

It seems like $100+ there is usually some sort of early upgrade at the very least, really weird that they are giving you a hard time.

 

[trunten]

Can somebody explain preorder to me please?

 

[tasslehawf]

Bought my iPhone 4 on launch day. Have a family plan. Pay $180+/month. Perfect payment history etc. but they the $250 early upgrade fee.

I really wouldn't care except to need the latest hardware for development. I guess it's a tax write-off.

 

[Dr Kevorkian94]

That sucks that your not eligible at that price point.

I bought the 4 on launch day and my bill was just under $100 until about 3 months ago, my bill is now $220/m. They bumped up my upgrade date about a month and a half ago and I am eligible.

It seems like $100+ there is usually some sort of early upgrade at the very least, really weird that they are giving you a hard time.

We pay $160 it would be more if it weren't for the city discount we get, I'm going to call the m and bring up the fact that some of my friends have now become eligible, also the fact that the $ i have to pay is more than the ETF, and this that it seems that people who pay a big bill seem to get it. If customer service can't help ill head to the store. And ill bring up he fact that were loyal customers yada yada, hopefully they will indulge me. I also bought the 4 on launch day so it would be nice of them.

 

[K4LK]

Can I cancel my AT&T account and preorder an iPhone 4s on Sprint from this app?

That would be neat. After 2 years of dropped calls and lots of bad coverage areas in the Tampa Bay area, I'm going to give up my unlimited slightly faster data and the ability to surf and talk simultaneously and go Verizon. I use an average of 1 GB per month and have surfed while talking about 8 times in 28 months.

 

[Dr Kevorkian94]

Bought my iPhone 4 on launch day. Have a family plan. Pay $180+/month. Perfect payment history etc. but they the $250 early upgrade fee.

I really wouldn't care except to need the latest hardware for development. I guess it's a tax write-off.

You would think apple would have some plan for developers so that doesn't happen. It would benefit me as well.

 

[winston1236]

I am only a month away from an upgrade so I am hoping that AT&T will move my date up

you obviously don't know AT&Y very well, go ahead and get ready for your 1 month wait

 

[bbotte]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_5 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8L1 Safari/6533.18.5)

So much for this app being available "Later today".

 

[bbotte]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_5 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8L1 Safari/6533.18.5)

Can somebody explain preorder to me please?

Not sure if serious.

 

[smithwinston]

Bought my iPhone 4 on launch day. Have a family plan. Pay $180+/month. Perfect payment history etc. but they the $250 early upgrade fee.

I really wouldn't care except to need the latest hardware for development. I guess it's a tax write-off.

They your ETF will be $90 like me. Switch to Verizon! Stick it to the man!

Actually with 3 vendors selling the 4S, I'd expect them to be fighting over each other with offers for switchers ... "AT&T customer? Come to Verizon, we'll pay the ETF for you".

But then again, with only 3 players, it's more like a cartel than a free market.

----------

Honestly, having to wait an extra month/month and a half to get the upgrade pricing is not that big a deal IMHO, I've generally been happy with AT&T and would never switch to a carrier where I couldn't be on a call and do data at the same time -- give me a break!

They are telling me end of Feb 2012!

 

[RafaelT]

That would be neat. After 2 years of dropped calls and lots of bad coverage areas in the Tampa Bay area, I'm going to give up my unlimited slightly faster data and the ability to surf and talk simultaneously and go Verizon. I use an average of 1 GB per month and have surfed while talking about 8 times in 28 months.

I am in Lakeland and am very tempted to switch myself. We go from 4 bars of coverage for two weeks to 1 bar of coverage for 2 months and so on... it is ridiculous.

 

[jtara]

I have a couple of questions for those of you who bought on launch day and aren't eligible for upgrade:

1. Where did you buy your iPhone? Apple or ATT? (And in person or online?)

2. What is your monthly billing for mobile service? (NOT mobile and landline combined, if you have landline.)

I show eligible. But I stood in line and bought from the Apple store.

It would be truly ironic if ATT were shutting out customers who bought from them on the first day! (That is, those few who managed to get a phone...)

Don't you have to spend >$100/month to get early upgrade? So, if you are on the lowest plan, you wouldn't qualify, right?

 

[Wyvernspirit]

...snip...

Is this the first time AT&T hasn't allowed people who bought the last iPhone access to the next iPhone as soon as it's released? I don't want to wait for a month and a half to get the new iPhone and I don't want to spend an additional $250 for the privilege of getting it early. I wonder if AT&T will announce that we'll be allowed the 2-year contract discount?

No it is not, the iPhone 4 is technically the first time they allowed it. The original iPhone was not subsidized so when the 3g came out it was an official subsidized phone from day one. The 3g S⃣ was the first after a subsidized iPhone and there was no full subsidize for 3g owners (I didn't get the 3g so got the 3g S⃣ fully subsidized) but you could get a $200 discount if you upgraded early. The iPhone 4 was a special circumstance as AT&T wanted to make sure to get people under contract for 2 years before the Verizon iPhone came out, so they gave us all a special discount. Now people want this special every-time, boy are we greedy !

Anyways, looking forward to my next iPhone, the iPhone 5, ou know, the one with Siri Telepathy installed, the iPhone controlled by the power of thought!

 

[goobot]

No it is not, the iPhone 4 is technically the first time they allowed it. The original iPhone was not subsidized so when the 3g came out it was an official subsidized phone from day one. The 3g S⃣ was the first after a subsidized iPhone and there was no full subsidize for 3g owners (I didn't get the 3g so got the 3g S⃣ fully subsidized) but you could get a $200 discount if you upgraded early. The iPhone 4 was a special circumstance as AT&T wanted to make sure to get people under contract for 2 years before the Verizon iPhone came out, so they gave us all a special discount. Now people want this special every-time, boy are we greedy !

Anyways, looking forward to my next iPhone, the iPhone 5, ou know, the one with Siri Telepathy installed, the iPhone controlled by the power of thought!

Nope, i got 3g day one, got 3gs day one for 200$, got 4 day one for 200$ and all using my own upgrades. They had a deal for both.

 

[smithwinston]

I have a couple of questions for those of you who bought on launch day and aren't eligible for upgrade:

1. Where did you buy your iPhone? Apple or ATT? (And in person or online?)

2. What is your monthly billing for mobile service? (NOT mobile and landline combined, if you have landline.)

I show eligible. But I stood in line and bought from the Apple store.

It would be truly ironic if ATT were shutting out customers who bought from them on the first day! (That is, those few who managed to get a phone...)

Don't you have to spend >$100/month to get early upgrade? So, if you are on the lowest plan, you wouldn't qualify, right?

1: Apple store online, delivered by FedEx on Launch day.
2: Mobile service only.

I thought the same about the >$100, I'm not on the lowest plan (my ~$120 is the monthly rate without overage).

----------

No it is not, the iPhone 4 is technically the first time they allowed it. The original iPhone was not subsidized so when the 3g came out it was an official subsidized phone from day one. The 3g S⃣ was the first after a subsidized iPhone and there was no full subsidize for 3g owners (I didn't get the 3g so got the 3g S⃣ fully subsidized) but you could get a $200 discount if you upgraded early. The iPhone 4 was a special circumstance as AT&T wanted to make sure to get people under contract for 2 years before the Verizon iPhone came out, so they gave us all a special discount. Now people want this special every-time, boy are we greedy !

Anyways, looking forward to my next iPhone, the iPhone 5, ou know, the one with Siri Telepathy installed, the iPhone controlled by the power of thought!

As I recall, they waived the early upgrade fee for the 3GS for people who were "early adopters" of the iPhone 3 when it came out and had >$100/month (there was a bit of outrage over it and AT&T caved).

I'll tell you what greedy is, charging >$100/month for a frigging phone service! I pay AT&T plenty, I want the new phones when they come out and I don't want to be nickel and dimed over it, I pay enough as it is.

 

[cheekyweebrat]

I got my response text and said that with a 2 year agreement I would have an upgrade fee of $18. I checked and I started with AT&T on 10-16-09 so it almost worked out to the day. I have the 3GS so I'll upgrade to this new one

 

[tasslehawf]

My wife washed her 3GS that she had less than a year and was able to upgrade to a 4 for the fully subsidized price.

 

[smithwinston]

Ask (or whine) and yea shall receive! I rechecked and now I'm eligible for the early upgrade pricing -- so $199 for a new iPhone 4S.

 

[nostresshere]

1 - For those of you that bought the "4" on day one, you agreed to a two year term. What is the beef? If you want to pay FULL PRICE, go ahead. If you want AT&T to eat part of the price, then wait till your two year term is up.

2 - re: swapping out upgrade eligiblity from another line. You sort of can do this. You actually upgrade the eligible phone, then swap sims (might have to get a new one).

 

[SIUGRAD99]

I was in line for the AT&T Store for the 3GS & Apple Store for the 4 on launch day and I am eligible both times for the early upgrade. I have 2 Iphone plans, unlimited texting and unlimited data on one and 2GB on the other.

 

[musiciscool]

1 - For those of you that bought the "4" on day one, you agreed to a two year term. What is the beef? If you want to pay FULL PRICE, go ahead. If you want AT&T to eat part of the price, then wait till your two year term is up.

2 - re: swapping out upgrade eligiblity from another line. You sort of can do this. You actually upgrade the eligible phone, then swap sims (might have to get a new one).

Att shouldn't want us to pay fullprice, because that is more than our early termination fee; which gives us comets freedom to go to Verizon or even Sprint, who (rumors still say) may be getting an iPhone 5 running actual 4g this year.... Maybe I should actually thank AT&T for giving me all this incentive for waiting the Sprint iphone5?