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Early upgrade pushed my next upgrade eligibility date by 18 months!

akacaj

akacaj

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 21, 2008
227
0
NY
I purchased my iPhone 4 last year on launch day. Like many others my upgrade eligibility date was in November. I decided to not wait a month and get the early upgrade @ additional $250 on top of iPhone 4s price. I can justify the cost as I am a developer and need the latest platform to test on. Unfortunately my next upgrade eligibility date got pushed back as if I got a fully subsidized phone. The next time I can get a fully subsidized phone is in March of 2013! That sucks because the iPhone 5 is likely to come before then and I would have to pay for that one as well. The date should have only been pushed back 1 year like last time.

When I upgraded from the 3G to 3Gs I paid for early upgrade. Then when I got the 4 a year later it was fully subsidized. The same should have happened this year.

What gives?
 
Nothing really sounds out of place. Upgrade dates are normally 18 months from when you sign a new contract. It's just that the dates feel to be pushed out further than normal due to the later launch of the phone.
 
because att pushed everyone's eligibility for the iPhone 4 up to it's release date if you were eligible for an upgrade in 2010.

What did you expect?
 
Seems as though carriers aren't pushing early upgrades as early as they used to. Won't know for sure until later next year but everyones upgrade dates have been pushed back that I've seen since preodering the 4S.
 
Eddyisgreat said:
because att pushed everyone's eligibility for the iPhone 4 up to it's release date if you were eligible for an upgrade in 2010.

What did you expect?
Click to expand...

Since they only subsidized half of the phone I was expecting a 1 year pushback not a full two.
 
A No Commitment iPhone is $649 (16GB), an Early Upgrade lets you push up your upgrade to now ($199+$250), but you are still required to sign another 2 year contract.
 
you are doing it wrong....

Early upgrade means signing a new 2 year contract when you get your new phone.

Unsubsidized: you pay full price and don't have to worry about contracts.
 
You upgraded early, i.e. you didn't finish out your previous contract, so you got charged the early upgrade fee, basically to cover the fact that they're letting you out of that contract early. But you're still required to sign a new 2-year contract.

----------
akacaj said:
Understood, but I only had 1 month to go so 1 year + 1 Month would have been fair then?
Click to expand...

Ask them if you can return the phone once you get it and get your money back, then upgrade for the normal subsidized cost once you're fully upgrade eligible. You made a bad decision, but that's the only way I can think of that they might let you out of it.
 
HitchHykr said:
You are paying extra because you didn't completely fulfill the previous contract, not the next.
Click to expand...

They are fully subsidizing your new phone, you're just buying out the remainder of the subsidy on your OLD phone for $250.

Ed: Replied to the wrong person, sorry this is out of context :p
 
seanfranklin said:
They are fully subsidizing your new phone, you're just buying out the remainder of the subsidy on your OLD phone for $250.

Ed: Replied to the wrong person, sorry this is out of context :p
Click to expand...

I only had 1 month to go so that couldn't have possibly cost $250. In fact my termination fee was only $90 had I chosen to start a new line.

In any case I just called AT&T and was told to return the phone. Wait 1 month and buy it again at the subsidized price. Since it is too late to cancel my order Apple does have a 30 day return policy. I am going to keep the phone and see how I feel about returning it in about 3 weeks.
 
akacaj said:
Understood, but I only had 1 month to go so 1 year + 1 Month would have been fair then?
Click to expand...

No, you chose not to wait a month. What did you think was going to happen when you signed a new 2 year contract? Just because you didn't take the time to understand what you were doing is not ATTs fault.
 
$250 for one month of impatience after 11 months of contract price? You now own the most expensive phone ever.
 
steve dave said:
No, you chose not to wait a month. What did you think was going to happen when you signed a new 2 year contract? Just because you didn't take the time to understand what you were doing is not ATTs fault.
Click to expand...

When I signed the contract there was no indication of my next upgrade date would be until after the fact. I had to sign into my account and try to do an upgrade AGAIN to find out what my new upgrade date was.

A new two year agreement simply means that I have to stay with them for two more years. Contracts and upgrade dates have always and still are separate things. I signed a two year contract but my early upgrade date is 18 months from now (notice the difference 18 months vs 24 months). Also if I am a good customer it may get reduced to 1 year depending on how much money I make for them and if I pay on time. It also does not help that AT&T has made all kinds of exceptions over the years to keep iPhone customers upgrading to the latest.
 
No matter how many replies this post gets, the OP just will not understand it looks like.
 
akacaj said:
I only had 1 month to go so that couldn't have possibly cost $250. In fact my termination fee was only $90 had I chosen to start a new line.

In any case I just called AT&T and was told to return the phone. Wait 1 month and buy it again at the subsidized price. Since it is too late to cancel my order Apple does have a 30 day return policy. I am going to keep the phone and see how I feel about returning it in about 3 weeks.
Click to expand...

There is a $250.00 fee if you want to end a contract early and start a new one with a subsidized phone. Early upgrade is offered after 6 months, and full upgrade after 20 months (exceptions are made but these are the contract numbers). So your $250.00 could be buying out 18 months of contract, or 5 months. Either way, it's $250.00.

Is that "Fair"? Of course not. But, it's the policy, and you can choose to take it or leave it. You took it.

My upgrade date is Nov 6th. I stopped in the AT&T store, was offered the opportunity to upgrade a month sooner for a $250.00 fee, and decided that it was not beneficial for me to do so - I'll wait until next month.
 
seanfranklin said:
There is a $250.00 fee if you want to end a contract early and start a new one with a subsidized phone. Early upgrade is offered after 6 months, and full upgrade after 20 months (exceptions are made but these are the contract numbers). So your $250.00 could be buying out 18 months of contract, or 5 months. Either way, it's $250.00.

Is that "Fair"? Of course not. But, it's the policy, and you can choose to take it or leave it. You took it.

My upgrade date is Nov 6th. I stopped in the AT&T store, was offered the opportunity to upgrade a month sooner for a $250.00 fee, and decided that it was not beneficial for me to do so - I'll wait until next month.
Click to expand...

That is a negative! The early termination fee for the iPhone is $325 minus $10 for each full month of your Service Commitment that you complete. See this for more info: http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/articles-resources/early-term-fees.jsp

Last year it was $250, it was increased to $325 sometime after the iPhone 4 launch day. I believe then it was $250 - $5 for each month completed.
 
akacaj said:
When I signed the contract there was no indication of my next upgrade date would be until after the fact. I had to sign into my account and try to do an upgrade AGAIN to find out what my new upgrade date was.

A new two year agreement simply means that I have to stay with them for two more years. Contracts and upgrade dates have always and still are separate things. I signed a two year contract but my early upgrade date is 18 months from now (notice the difference 18 months vs 24 months). Also if I am a good customer it may get reduced to 1 year depending on how much money I make for them and if I pay on time. It also does not help that AT&T has made all kinds of exceptions over the years to keep iPhone customers upgrading to the latest.
Click to expand...

If you don't like it then take the phone back, wait a month and quit whining.
 
akacaj said:
That is a negative! The early termination fee for the iPhone is $325 minus $10 for each full month of your Service Commitment that you complete.
Click to expand...

That's if you want to terminate the contract, period. Different situation.

The early upgrade fee of $250.00 lets you terminate your existing contract early and enter into a new one with a fully-subsidized phone. Two different things. No adjustment to the $250 regardless of how much time is left on your contract, within the time frames mentioned in my earlier post.
 
seanfranklin said:
That's if you want to terminate the contract, period. Different situation.

The early upgrade fee of $250.00 lets you terminate your existing contract early and enter into a new one with a fully-subsidized phone. Two different things. No adjustment to the $250 regardless of how much time is left on your contract, within the time frames mentioned in my earlier post.
Click to expand...

I see what you are saying...

Does not change the fact that from 3G to 3GS I paid a early upgrade fee of $200. 1 year later I got the iPhone 4 at fully subsidized price. So the same rules didn't apply then.

The precise rules that AT&T uses to figure out upgrade eligibility are secret and not published. This was confirmed by the CS representative that I spoke on the phone with. I was told that with time that date can change depending on my account standing.

This site has managed to put together a general set of rules. http://www.iphonehacks.com/2011/10/att-upgrade-eligibility-for-iphone-4s-broken-down.html

Thanks for your helpful answers. Including the ones to suck it up etc.

I am going to return the phone and get a new one in November.
 
akacaj said:
The precise rules that AT&T uses to figure out upgrade eligibility are secret and not published.
Click to expand...
Absolutely. By contract you're eligible for fully-subsidized upgrade at 20 months, in practice it's been a lot sooner. The "early eligibility" has been a constantly moving target, too - last week my full upgrade date was 11/7/11 - yesterday it was 11/6/11 - now today I see it's 11/5/11.

The "iPhone-only" early upgrade plan of $250 (used to be $200) seems consistent in that you're eligible to use it after 6 months, and it's available up until your full eligibility (whenever that ends up being).
 
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