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ATT says im able to use another account in my family plan to get the $299 price!

2

212rikanmofo

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 31, 2003
1,984
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I was AT&T today and was talking to one of the sales rep. And I told him how i wanted the new iphone 3gs but said i was going to hold off since i probably do not qualify for the $199/$299 subsidized price. He said well hold on let me check. Since I have a family line with 3 lines. He says that I can use another family member's account to get the special price since there was one # that is qualified for the subsidized pricing.

I then asked him well will it apply to my number only since I am the only one in the family plan with an iphone. He told me yes. The only thing is if that person decides to upgrade phones, they won't qualify, since I will be using it instead.

I was happy to hear this because my other family members don't really care to get new phones anytime soon. I am happy to hear this and will be getting mines probably tomorrow!
 
One thing im confused about is. Won't that person end up paying an extra $30 a month for an iphone plan? because i thought when you go to buy an iphone, they REQUIRE you to have a 2yr contract with the $30 iphone plan. Meaning if i do this, then i will have 2 ppl under my family plan with iphone plans. Which i do not want.

I simply want to use his account to get the iphone for the subsidized pricing and simply use my existing iphone account with the new iphone.
 
212rikanmofo said:
One thing im confused about is. Won't that person end up paying an extra $30 a month for an iphone plan? because i thought when you go to buy an iphone, they REQUIRE you to have a 2yr contract with the $30 iphone plan. Meaning if i do this, then i will have 2 ppl under my family plan with iphone plans. Which i do not want.

I simply want to use his account to get the iphone for the subsidized pricing and simply use my existing iphone account with the new iphone.
Click to expand...


It will work exactly as you described it in your first post. I just did the same thing today. You're only required to maintain a data plan on a line that actually has an iPhone, or some other smartphone, on it. It will start the 24-month clock over on both lines, though, unless something has changed since I did this once before, in November.
 
Awesome so it does work. So then this way, nothing gets changed on any of the lines under your family account? Basically what they're doing is using the special promotion on a qualified line to get your iphone at a subsidized price, but nothing gets changed on any of the lines. You then will be able to swap the sim from your current iphone 3g into the 3gs and use it without having to pay any activation fees or anything. All you pay for is the iphone 3gs. Am I correct?

And you mentioned the contract will extend another 2 yrs for your existing iphone line and the line that was used to get the iphone at a subsidized price? Why is that? Shouldn't the only line that be extended is the one that they used to get your iphone for the subsidized price?
 
212rikanmofo said:
I was AT&T today and was talking to one of the sales rep. And I told him how i wanted the new iphone 3gs but said i was going to hold off since i probably do not qualify for the $199/$299 subsidized price. He said well hold on let me check. Since I have a family line with 3 lines. He says that I can use another family member's account to get the special price since there was one # that is qualified for the subsidized pricing.

I then asked him well will it apply to my number only since I am the only one in the family plan with an iphone. He told me yes. The only thing is if that person decides to upgrade phones, they won't qualify, since I will be using it instead.

I was happy to hear this because my other family members don't really care to get new phones anytime soon. I am happy to hear this and will be getting mines probably tomorrow!
Click to expand...
Good luck getting it tomorrow.

I found out I have 2 lines available and I didn't know it.

But to do thus you have to go to a corporate store and I tried 4 and are all sold out. :(
 
I just want to clarify what you guys are suggesting because I believe I am on the same boat. But I am having a difficult time following everything you're saying.

The scenario:

Phone plan: Family
Phones: Motorola1(mom), Motorola2(dad), iPhone 3G(me)
Activation time: July 2008

From what I gathered from your above posts, you're suggesting that:

Either my mom and dads' lines would qualify for the iPhone 3Gs' subsidized pricing? If true, AT&T will help make all the changes to my line so everyone gets to keep my number? Will my mom/dad have to pay the amount difference for iPhone?

If all this works, that means I can rotate iPhones on a yearly basis on the subsidized pricing :D
 
Rat-Boy said:
Good luck getting it tomorrow.

I found out I have 2 lines available and I didn't know it.

But to do thus you have to go to a corporate store and I tried 4 and are all sold out. :(
Click to expand...

I did it at an Apple Store. They activated on my dads number (who was eligible for $299 price.) I took out the SIM in the iPhone, put it in his Samsung phone. Came home and activated it with my SIM card. Called AT&T to remove data plan from my dads number. Done.
 
I am in the same boat. My wife is eligible for an upgrade. Can I do this at an Apple store, or do I have to do at an AT&T store?
 
As far as I'm concerned, the AT&T sales rep at the corporate store i was at says you will be able to do this and keep your existing phone number.

So this is good news for those of us who have many people in our family plan. One of them is sure to be qualified for subsidized pricing of the iphone 3gs. I will go get mine hopefully tomorrow.

You guys please report back with your success and tell us how it went. I'm hoping we don't get charged any extra fees on top of the $199/$299 for the iphone. Since we are keeping the same number and plan. We just want to use another person's line in our plan to be able to purchase the iphone for those prices.
 
D3lta said:
I did it at an Apple Store. They activated on my dads number (who was eligible for $299 price.) I took out the SIM in the iPhone, put it in his Samsung phone. Came home and activated it with my SIM card. Called AT&T to remove data plan from my dads number. Done.
Click to expand...
Not sure how this is possible.

So they will activate the iPhone plan on my mom's phone, which is a Blackberry and already has a blackberry plan?

I don't see that working out for me too well. :D
 
Rat-Boy said:
Not sure how this is possible.

So they will activate the iPhone plan on my mom's phone, which is a Blackberry and already has a blackberry plan?

I don't see that working out for me too well. :D
Click to expand...

No this is mostly correct. I upgraded from a line of my family plan today as well. The upgraded the phone on the other line and activated, then switched it to my line. I didn't have to switch sims though, ATT just switched it in their database.

This is actually quite common and alot of people in the line i was in was doing this same thing.
 
I did this today. You only pay for 1 data plan, no extra charges, not even upgrade fee. The other phone on your family plan is locked to a new 2yr contract.

I have 2 phones and each alternate every other year allowing me to get 1 new iphone each year at the best price!!
 
iUser4Lyfe said:
No this is mostly correct. I upgraded from a line of my family plan today as well. The upgraded the phone on the other line and activated, then switched it to my line. I didn't have to switch sims though, ATT just switched it in their database.

This is actually quite common and alot of people in the line i was in was doing this same thing.
Click to expand...
Right.

I know it is possible at an ATT store because I have done it so many times.

But even the ATT rep told me that I HAD to do it there, and that I couldn't go do it at a Best Buy or Apple Store.

And most of the ATT stores are sold out while the Apple Stores around here aren't.

Grrrrrrrrrr.............
 
I do this all the time no extra fees it just extends the contract on the phone that was eligible for upgrade.
I have 7 lines somebody always needs an upgrade!!
I just purchased my 3G 16G in march and wanted the 3Gs
I had an upgrade available on one of my other lines so I upgraded and they changed the info for me. If you buy from apple you should be able to take it to AT&T before you activate and change it to the line you want it to be on.
Just don't let apple activate it.
 
jeez what a bunch of hoops to go through.

Ok my wife has a moto that is past 2 years, so eligible.
I have the 3g from last july so I can't upgrade.
We want to use her eligibility to get a new Iphone, dump her moto and
she'll take my 3g and i get the 3Gs.


we both want to keep both of our own phone numbers.

from what i can gather we both will have a $30 data plan?
All we have to do is switch the sim cards and we're set, yes or no?
 
Apple automatically did this for me when I pre-ordered. They sent me a sim card with the family members phone number on that was able to upgrade. Thing is, when I activated my phone it disabled their phone. So, what do I do?
 
I purchased and had my 3GS shipped from Apple.

I used my sister's non-iPhone upgrade eligible line to purchase at subsidized price.

Took out her original non-iPhone SIM and put into 3GS and activated via 3GS.

Took her original non-iPhone SIM out of 3GS and placed it back in her non-iPhone phone.

Put my original 3G SIM into the 3GS

Everything works fine.

I am going to go to ATT store tomorrow to have the upgrade swap officially done so that the 2nd data plan is removed from our family plan.


Repeat cycle for iPhone 3G S-I for 2010 ;)
 
Isn't it possiible to add a new line to your account and do the same thing, then cancel the line within 30 days?
 
Can this be done at the Apple retail store? ATT sold out of the 3gs.

I'm guessing they should be able to if I tell them I want to purchase the iphone 3gs using one of the lines thats qualifies for the subsidized pricing. I don't see any different than going to the AT&T store.

Can someone confirm this. If so I will head down to the Apple retail store instead. Hopefully they're not sold out.
 
I just called AT&T but they said that if I remove the iPhone Data Plan from the line I upgraded on within the first 30 days, I WILL GET CHARGED THE FULL PRICE OF THE 3GS!

Can the Upgrade Swap only be done at a AT&T retail store and not by phone? I have already activated the 3GS, switched SIMs, etc.
 
oghowie said:
I just called AT&T but they said that if I remove the iPhone Data Plan from the line I upgraded on within the first 30 days, I WILL GET CHARGED THE FULL PRICE OF THE 3GS!

Can the Upgrade Swap only be done at a AT&T retail store and not by phone? I have already activated the 3GS, switched SIMs, etc.
Click to expand...

Seems like you have to get this done at a Corporate AT&T store.
 
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