Discounted iPhone price for current 4s owners?

no, they are supposedly stopping that this year. They will offer you a subsidized upgrade for $250 (upgrade fee) + $199 (phone) w/ a 2 year contract extension though. Unless you complete the 2 years or are very very close, you will not get the outright $199 price they use to give people.

 

I bought my 4S the morning they went on presale. I'm hoping I qualify for the normal upgrade price.

 

Dial *639# on your att phone and you will get details with when, how much etc..

 

Not the $199/299/399 price. You've had the phone for only a year.

 

Nope! $199 plus $250 for early upgrade. If I were I would rather buy the phone without contract for $599. You pay $150 more but then you can get iPhone 5s for normal upgrade price next year.

 

They changed it with the 4S, its 20 months now.

 

Full price is actually $649 plus tax.

 

I believe it is actually $649 and would only save you $100ish dollars doing full retail today and then real upgrade next year. What is more important to you....saving $100 in 1 year, or saving $100 today?

$649 full retail today + $199 next year = $848

($199 (phone) + $250 (upgrade) + $36 (activation fee) ) x 2 = $970

 

At least if you pay full retail, you can get an official unlock right away.

 

Two lines on my family plan were eligible for upgrade after 1 year (from the 4 to the 4S) but only one line upgraded to the 4S so one was unused. Does that give me any pull when talking to AT&T CS to try to get a full early upgrade again for that one line? I'm assuming not....but I'll still call AT&T and see if they can hook me up.

 

There is no need to call AT&T. Just call *NEW# on each line and you will get a free Admin SMS Txt message indicating the current upgrade status and the date that you might be eligible for a full subsidy discount if you are not currently eligible on a per line basis.

If one of your lines was eligible last year and your did not upgrade it should be still eligible. AT&T did not remove the upgrade status, they just changed the way future upgrades were allocated just as other carriers did this year.

Dave

 

That's even assuming at&t will still offer the early $250 upgrade next year. Some might want to take advantage of it if they're going to do away with it next year.

 

I think I am going to go the add a second line route. I called to see what they could do for me considering my eft is $215 and the upgrade fee is $250. It would be cheaper for me to cancel and then re start up again or move to sprint. (they have a nice $80 a month plan) They put me through to a department called resolutions and she actally suggested I add a second line. She even said that she would give me the voice for $40 a month plus the $10 a month for the extra line. It winds up about $15 a month more then I am paying now and that will give me a Full upgrade every year for an extra $180 a year over 12 months. Better then paying an extra $250 up front each year if you ask me. Plus is they ever get rid of the early upgrade price it won't matter to me.

 

Just buy all phones outright and enjoy the savings from having cheaper phone plans!

Also the security that you can drop the plan and sell the phone at any given moment if you go pre-paid.


oh... wait... This is the 'merica... We need our lay-o-way!

 

You might want to read some of the many threads over the past few days. (topic gets asked every 3.2 hours I think)

Bottom line?
VZ and ATT are no longer being so open with upgrades. Makes good business sense not to. You got the 4S at a discount and agreed to 2 year contract. It costs them too much money to discount another phone already.

 

Ok Number 1 the phone plans are not cheaper if you buy the phone outright and number 2 you can still sell the phone anytime you want to even if its under contract. In other countries buying the phone outright might be a good deal but here in " 'merica" the smart money is on the contract plans.

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While I agree this is true I still think that making the EFT + buying the the phone at a new carrier less then the $250 it costs to early upgrade is not to good. I think that there are alot of people who wanted to switch from at&t but stayed because they were getting full upgrade discounts every year won't be staying this year. Although I think that At&T did luck out with Verizon changing to the share plans. I don't think verizon will get anyone with just a smartphone to switch to them for $110 a month for 2GB of Data.

 

I can't believe my eyes. Please do some research on TCO (total cost of ownership).

$649 + $30*12 = $1,009
$199 + $80*12 = $1,159

It gets even worse if you bring this out to the 20 month contract duration.

$649 + $30*20 = $1,249
$199 + $80*20 = $1,799

Of course, this is a very rudimentary TCO equation as it does not factor in taxes, fees, etc...

I even gave the benefit of the doubt assuming that you could feasibly get an $80 month plan on contract with one of these carriers.


You must also consider the risk involved with being on-contract. If you come into hard times, you have to pay an ETF of $250+ or your will ruin your credit. Prepaid does not have that risk. (even more value for pre-paid)

 

Ok I am not sure what prepaid plan you are talking about that would be $30 a month for voice, texting and data for the iphone although I know virgin just came out with so maybe its them. Personally I pay $57 a month for my contract iphone with at&T( i do have a Fan discount and a grandfathered in $5 a month texting plan) so $199 + $57*12= $883 a year so why would I want to go on pre pay. Not only that but assuming your calculation are correct it would only cost an extra $150 extra on contract over twelve months and save me $450 up front money. I can eaisly turn that $450 I did not have to pay up front into double that $150 just by selling a few things on ebay. I really see no advantage to paying the money up front. I'll keep the money in my pocket and make it work for me during the year. But that's just me.

 

T-mobile $30 for 100 minutes, unlimited texting/web (5gb before throttle)
The switch to enable the 1900mhz refarm will be tripped within the next week.

Straight talk $45 for unlimited everything and it runs on AT&T native networks so there isn't any need to unlock an AT&T iPhone to utilize it.

You may have a special case; however, if you upgrade to the next iPhone you lose your grandfathered plan regardless. So your point is moot.

The vast majority of consumers that don't have 8+ year old plans will see great advantages in prepaid if they could work some simple math.

 

Ok I have only been with at&T since 2007 when I bought the first iPhone and you do not lose any thing you have grandfathered in when you upgrade to the iphone 5 with at&t. Also take a look around the threads. Since at&t has had the iphone since the begining there are alot of people out there just like me with grandfathered plans. I actually like tmobile and would switch to them if they got the iphone but the refarm is no where near complete and will only be turned on in limited major citys so they are not an option for me for a while. By the way I will say the tmobile is the only carrier in the us that has a value plan that is cheaper if you bring your own phone. Even at $45 a month with stright talk it is $1189 a year which is more then if you buy the phone on contract.

 

Ok so now you have me confused so your saying if i buy the phone outright, that $80 plan is now $30?

 

Only if you go with tmobile and you get 100 min. The problem with tmobile is if you are in an area that has not been refarmed yet you will only get edge speeds. Straight talk is $45 a month but that still adds up to be more then the contract rate.

 

Yes they are. T-Mobile offers Unlimited Data+unlimited text+500 minutes/mo for $65/mo if you bring your own phone whereas it would normally cost $90/mo, just like AT&T charges $90 for that with no unlimited data. Do your research.