I'm pretty upset at the moment, here's the story...
I've been with AT&T since before the original iPhone, 2006ish I believe.
The contract was originally under my (ex) girlfriends name.
I've been able to upgrade to the newest iPhone on release each year.
We split up a while ago but we kept the phones in her name.
I decided last year to transfer the billing responsibility to my name.
I lost my unlimited data but I eventually accepted that.
A few weeks ago I called AT&T about an unrelated question.
After that question was answered, I asked about upgrading my phone soon since the iPhone5 should be coming out soon. She said she didn't see any reason why I shouldn't be able to upgrade again like i've done in the past. She even mentioned how she can see that this account has been around since 2006.
I have a buyer for my current 64GB iPhone 4S, he wants to pick it up tonight.
I decided to check my eligibility online and it said I cannot upgrade till May 2013.
WTF? So I decided to call, I was super polite and eventually was talking with a manager.
I explained to him the whole issue and he said he couldn't do anything and my only option is to pay the $250 early upgrade fee.
I mentioned it would be cheaper for me to cancel and switch to a different provider...
He agreed and said "unfortunately when these type off issues happen, thats usually the outcome"
I asked how come I was able to upgrade at 11-12 months in the past and he said whenever the bill is over a certain amount then customers are granted an earlier upgrade. (I've read before that it's anything over $99)
For the most part my bill has been the same, if anything I'm paying more now for the faster data plans.
The only thing I can think of is... For over 2 years while in a long distance relationship, I would have expensive payments because of international (Canada) calling to my new GF.
She's living here now, so my bill has been pretty consistent for the past year.
I currently pay about $150.83 for two iPhones (family plan with individual data).
My main line is $114.89 and her line is $35.94