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Become Upgrade Eligible for iPhone 3G?

meggieprice said:
OK- my son, the tech monster in the house, has switched my sim card to my husbands iPhone and I will try this on both....

Does it not seem odd that my husband- who already has an iPhone is now eligible to upgrade at discount a mere 7 months later? My thought, and they are not from my happy place, lol, is that they know they cannot play on and manipulate his lust for an iPhone since he has one already.
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It's not odd at all--it makes sense. Your husband is eligible for the cheaper price because he paid full price for his original iPhone already. Everyone else who is a non-iPhone AT&T customer (like you and me) however, got their phone at a subsidized price, meaning AT&T paid for part or all of the price of the phone, and makes up for it with a 2-year service contract.

AT&T lost money from your subsidized non-iPhone phone, which is why you can't upgrade to an iPhone without paying full price. However, AT&T didn't lose any money from your husband's original iPhone, and thus gets a subsidized iPhone 3G (which of course they'll make back with his 2-year contract).




What's going to be interesting is what AT&T is going to do if Apple releases an updated iPhone after a year--all the people with subsidized 3G iPhones will still be under a 2-year contract and I don't think AT&T is going to allow those people to upgrade to the new one (if one does come out) at a cheap price.
 
loudasthesun said:
It's not odd at all--it makes sense. Your husband is eligible for the cheaper price because he paid full price for his original iPhone already. Everyone else who is a non-iPhone AT&T customer (like you and me) however, got their phone at a subsidized price, meaning AT&T paid for part or all of the price of the phone, and makes up for it with a 2-year service contract.

AT&T lost money from your subsidized non-iPhone phone, which is why you can't upgrade to an iPhone without paying full price. However, AT&T didn't lose any money from your husband's original iPhone, and thus gets a subsidized iPhone 3G (which of course they'll make back with his 2-year contract).

What's going to be interesting is what AT&T is going to do if Apple releases an updated iPhone after a year--all the people with subsidized 3G iPhones will still be under a 2-year contract and I don't think AT&T is going to allow those people to upgrade to the new one (if one does come out) at a cheap price.
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Actually, it is odd, it's just ATT is making an exception.

Just paying full price for any phone, like an iPhone, doesn't guarantee you'll be eligible. You assumed they didn't have a subsidized phone before the iPhone.

Normally, when buying a phone at full price your discount eligibility still continues from your current contract with a subsidized phone. So many iPhone owners have had a subsidized phone in the last 2 years. Those people would have to wait for their eligibility like all us non-iPhone owners. Except ATT is making an exception, even if they got a free phone right before they bought the iPhone, even if that was 3 months ago, or yesterday.

ATT's online faq says this before they changed the rules:

Q. I just upgraded my phone recently. Are there any penalties or restrictions for upgrading to iPhone right away?
A. No. Everyone can upgrade to iPhone right away, you just need to add a Data Plan for iPhone (this may replace your current data plan but your voice plan will stay the same) and sign a new 2-year service contract. Discount eligibility for other devices will continue from the time of your current contract.

Part of another answer about if you lose eligibility after buying the first iPhone:
For example, if you are eligible for an upgrade discount next month, you will still be eligible for the upgrade discount on a device other than iPhone next month.

The say other than the iPhone since there were no discounts on iPhones then.
 
If I had actually received the rebates I would agree with you. I paid full price for five phones as I described and four rebates were disallowed. Including the highest rebate for the Blackjack.

That said- thanks everyone for the help. My son and I are now eligible for upgrade. This allows us to add $90 a month to our bill- hooray for us lol!

edited to add- I was replying to the person who said it made sense, not the one above me lol.
 
this should work for me even though my phone is under a business account not a personal account right? and will i be able to receive texts on my blackjack 2 after switching to the iphone data plan on itunes?
 
loudasthesun said:
I have a FAN# on my account and it worked fine.
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hmm... i wonder if they will be suspicious if they see the FAN on the account because 1st gen iphones weren't allowed this... but good to hear it didn't remove it or anything
 
Hi All, I had a thought. Maybe someone can tell me if this might work. If you are not upgrade eligible, and don't have a current iphone.

I have a family plan. Can I add a new line? then decide within the "30-day" period that I don't want it, cancel the number, but keep the phone. then activate on a different number on my account? or has this been thought through in the past, and been disallowed.

Otherwise, this is an option, that will give you an extra line, new number for the extra $10 a month. Anyone have any thoughts here? thanks.
 
heyp said:
hmm... i wonder if they will be suspicious if they see the FAN on the account because 1st gen iphones weren't allowed this... but good to hear it didn't remove it or anything
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Well, thing is I'm on a familytalk plan. I believe FANs weren't allowed on the data plan but there's no such restriction on the voice plan.

I think right now the FAN would apply to my family's voice plan, but not the iPhone data... not sure though.
 
loudasthesun said:
Well, thing is I'm on a familytalk plan. I believe FANs weren't allowed on the data plan but there's no such restriction on the voice plan.

I think right now the FAN would apply to my family's voice plan, but not the iPhone data... not sure though.
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oh i see... i'm also on a family talk plan but im the primary owner of the account, so it's a little different... anybody in this situation?
 
EDIT: I posted this in the wrong thread. And I meant now eligible, accidentally typed not.

Okay, I did like I wrote at the top of this page.

1: Shutdown friends iPhone
2: Removed her sim card.
2a: I did not restore the iPhone, I left all her stuff on it.
3: Inserted my sim card (ATT and has 3G on it)
4: Turned it on once for good measure, but shut it off
5: Connected it to the computer, instantly turning on the iPhone
6: Itunes loaded up activation screen.
7: Followed steps, and stopped at the part where you sync the iphone.
8: I disconnected the iPhone and it had already activated my sim nearly instantly.

Then I checked my ATT account online right away. It already showed I'm now eligible for discount. No sign of my November 8th date from before. Oddly, still shows my Sony phone though.

I've since then put my friends sim card back in. Shows ATT at top so it still works for her. All her data seems to still be there. And it's been on for the last hour and my account still shows I'm eligible. Don't know about her account, she's gone at the moment I bet she doesn't an online account yet.
 
Do you think I'll still be able to do this tomorrow, we're planning on adding a new line to our account tomorrow, getting a rinky dink phone, then immediately upgrading the newly added line to an iPhone plan..

How long does it take for the changes to be reflected to the account?

Thanks for any info..
 
FSUSem1noles said:
Do you think I'll still be able to do this tomorrow, we're planning on adding a new line to our account tomorrow, getting a rinky dink phone, then immediately upgrading the newly added line to an iPhone plan..

How long does it take for the changes to be reflected to the account?

Thanks for any info..
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Why would you go through the trouble of adding the line then upgrading? Just buy the new iPhone as the new line. Since the line is a new line, you will qualify automatically for the subsidized price.
 
fireb0x said:
Why would you go through the trouble of adding the line then upgrading? Just buy the new iPhone as the new line. Since the line is a new line, you will qualify automatically for the subsidized price.
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I agree. Don't risk having to pay full price for your iPhone. Just add the iPhone as your new line and call it good.
 
meggieprice said:
I have one other question-since my husband is elligible but does not want a new one can I buy it and transfer it to my number?
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I am also in this situation. We currently have a family plan with 4 phones. The main line, which is my dad's, shows that he is eligible for the new iphone, while the other three show that they are eligible sometime in october. It has something to do with the primary account actually pays for the entire voice plan, so thats while it is upgrade eligible earlier. Anyway, I talked to several customer service reps and they said that I can take my dad's upgrade and that he will be able to take mine in october no problem. So, yeah, I am relieved. I did not have to pay another $200 on top of the $40 that I am gonna have to pay for the additional line and for 3g data!!!!!!

Like yall have been saying....AT&T is not making friends!
 
Do you even need an iPhone to add the $20 a month data plan at all? if you add the data plan online, will you be upgradable immediately???
 
heyp said:
it's a discount applied to your monthly plan... it can come from your company or university
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Is a university discount essentially the same as a business discount? I'm posing this question because if it is the same, users with a student discount cannot upgrade at an apple store. My friend is in this situation; I am going to AT&T store tomorrow to try and iron out all the details such as this one.
 
Bad news peeps.

We did the switcheroo and our account showed both myself and my son eligible for upgrade. Then I signed in tonight and not only are we back to not being eligible but my husband, who has an iPhone and is eligible, now shows not eligible and our account shows no data plan for anyone, including him.

Now I fear I will not be able to even get ONE at the discounted rate.

BAH.
 
platbr said:
I agree. Don't risk having to pay full price for your iPhone. Just add the iPhone as your new line and call it good.
Click to expand...

ok. Add a new line with iPhone 3G.
in 1 wk, move one of the old number Sim card to the iPhone 3G and cancel the service to the new line and tell them that you are using the iPhone 3G on your existing line.

Will that work? Won't ATT demand to have the iPhone 3G back?? or hit you with the extra $200.
 
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