Carrier For those with Grandfathered Data (at&t)

[ck3801]

Saw this in another thread scroll down into the chat with the rep.

Here is my conversation with Apple today.

It seems to me, that if you are in the middle of a contract (not a Next or Installment plan) you can use the iPhone Upgrade Program. And when you reserve the spot, you will receive the phone that day.

Ignore the part about 18 months, he must have thought he was in a different chat.

 

[bronzi]

Saw this in another thread scroll down into the chat with the rep.

Great. I was wondering.

 

[DrewDaHilp1]

Has anyone checked their upgrade eligibility recently? I checked earlier and it was working and showed that I was available for one. Checking now on app shows the spinning icon and on the web it says there was a problem with my request and that they were unable to process request online.

 

[TheKDub]

Can anyone confirm this part in red? I've spent a couple hours here and elsewhere trying to figure out what to do.

My 2-year contract ends in a few days. I would like to
• buy an unsubsidized iPhone 6S Plus on apple.com
• keep my current ATT grandfathered ULD plan for the moment without starting a new 2-year contract.
• keep my wife's phone on my plan (she bought an iPhone a year ago and has a year to go on her contract).

Is this feasible? This seems to be the best option in the short term for us, then we can revisit things when her contract is up in a year.

If we wanted to end her contract now and both of us move to a new carrier, in exchange for paying ETF other carriers would want her and/or my old phone as a trade-in, right? My screen cracked recently and is not in trade-in condition, and she doesn't want to give up her phone, so it seems like it would end up being more expensive to switch (since without a phone to send in, we'd have to pay ATT for ETF and not be reimbursed by the new carrier) than to buy the new iPhone, stick with ATT, and pay for the ULD plan.

In a year's time, we would have more options in terms of switching if we want to. I don't like paying subsidized contract prices for my paid-in-full new phone, but unlike Next or a 2-year plan it would prevent me from further obligations to stay with ATT.

Any confirmation / advice appreciated.

Yeah, I'm in the same boat. I'm grandfathered into an ULD 2-yr contract that ends next month, but i only use around 3gb of data a month. I pay for unlimited text, so my total come out to be around $80 a month right now after a national account discount. (btw, i never see a thing called "access fees" in my bills - is this something new?)

I'm thinking about switching to the 5gb mobile share plan and if I buy a phone at full retail, is the total still around $67 a month ($50 for 5GB and a $25 access fee minus FAN discount)? Looking over a 2-yr time period, this doesn't seem to be worth it if i'm paying $750 for the phone vs the $300 subsidized price, since the monthly discount isn't great enough. Am I doing the math wrong here?

I'm willing to wait a month to upgrade, just looking to pay the least amount of money over a 2-yr span and someone who isn't looking to upgrade every year.

 

[makefunnyfaces]

So if that's the case, then I guess my next step is to figure out if I should:

A) send my 6 to Gazelle for $370 and buy a 6S pay in full/no contract
Or
B) give my 6 to my mom (one of my 4 lines) and pay $299 subsidized and go back on a 2 year contract

I think those are the only two options that make sense for me. Thanks for your help.

I'm in a similar situation. Going to give my 6 plus to my mom, but wondering if I should do 2 year contract with subsidized or NEXT plan. I'm on the old AT&T plan (not mobileshare) with unlimited data. I wouldn't mind NEXT so much if I didn't have to trade my phone in when I upgraded in 12 months. That's what really bugs me about it.

Another question: if I decide to go with the 2 year contract option, would I be able to select the NEXT option when I upgrade for the new phone next year? Or would that not be allowed because I was still under contract?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Melodeath]

Why would you do a next plan if you have a subsidy?
All these payments plants all they do is spread the money over 20-24 or 30 months installments.
If you're on old unlimited data and family plans with subsidies the next and mobile share plans will cost you way more.
Dont get sucked into their game, AT&T its doing its best to get everyone off those old plans and off the unlimited iphone data plans and not allowing you to upgrade via apple and other retailers is one of their plans to get you to switch. Making it harder and more limited till many will just give up and say oh well, just switch me then.
You think Apples system cannot handle 2 year upgrades via carrier all of a sudden and only allows for next purchases? Its all a trick, Im not falling for it.
I'm getting it via AT&T and still using my upgrade and not changing my family plan or losing my unlimited data or making monthly payments on a phone.

Good points. However...

1) One of the most annoying things though is AT&T disables mobile hotspot unless you get on one of their newer plans. It's not a deal-breaker, but it's REALLY annoying.

2) If you like to upgrade more often than every 2 years, how do you do this? Sell your phone to someone who also has AT&T, and use another line with an upgrade to upgrade your line?

 

[Applejuiced]

Good points. However...

1) One of the most annoying things though is AT&T disables mobile hotspot unless you get on one of their newer plans. It's not a deal-breaker, but it's REALLY annoying.

2) If you like to upgrade more often than every 2 years, how do you do this? Sell your phone to someone who also has AT&T, and use another line with an upgrade to upgrade your line?

Unlimited data never included tethering to other devices. I can do it cause my phone is jb but not really a big deal.
About upgrading yearly I have other lines I can do an upgrade swap with. Or sell your current device and put in the remaining amount to get the next iphone for full price. It's still cheaper than making next payments for a year or more and then giving back your device and start a new next program all over again. With next upgrades you can end up paying over $400-500 within a year just to rent your device and return it back for nothing in order to get a new one.

 

[Melodeath]

Unlimited data never included tethering to other devices. I can do it cause my phone is jb but not really a big deal.
About upgrading yearly I have other lines I can do an upgrade swap with. Or sell your current device and put in the remaining amount to get the next iphone for full price. It's still cheaper than making next payments for a year or more and then giving back your device and start a new next program all over again. With next upgrades you can end up paying over $400-500 within a year just to rent your device and return it back for nothing in order to get a new one.

Yes, I realize we never had tethering without jailbreak. I just remember "mobile hotspot" being a cool new feature in some iOS update, and I've never even been able to use it since I have an older FamilyTalk plan.

 

[CrAkD]

What are you guys talking about? I have unlimited data and next and upgraded on apples site. No issues.

 

[erayser]

Unlimited data never included tethering to other devices. I can do it cause my phone is jb but not really a big deal.

I've been using a mifi device since iPhones only used edge data. I was connecting 3g data on my 1st gen iPhone before the iPhone 3g came out. My mifi was great when I used to carry a laptop around before tablets became popular. Tethering made sense back then. I stopped carrying my laptop around when the first iPad came out... and upgraded my mifi to an 4G LTE device. Now that I have an iPhone 6+, I stopped carrying my iPad around with me... so my mifi is rarely used.... especially since AT&T changed their throttling policy. I still have my mifi device... but I rarely use it now. I'll be cancelling my mifi data service soon... tethering or connecting mobile devices isn't necessary for me anymore since I bought my 6+. But then again.. my iPhone is always JB.

 

[Melodeath]

I've been using a mifi device since iPhones only used edge data. I was connecting 3g data on my 1st gen iPhone before the iPhone 3g came out. My mifi was great when I used to carry a laptop around before tablets became popular. Tethering made sense back then. I stopped carrying my laptop around when the first iPad came out... and upgraded my mifi to an 4G LTE device. Now that I have an iPhone 6+, I stopped carrying my iPad around with me... so my mifi is rarely used.... especially since AT&T changed their throttling policy. I still have my mifi device... but I rarely use it now. I'll be cancelling my mifi data service soon... tethering or connecting mobile devices isn't necessary for me anymore since I bought my 6+. But then again.. my iPhone is always JB.

That makes sense. Unfortunately, sometimes I'm not near wifi, and would rather work on my laptop (and needing internet) than my iPhone 6

 

[igneousc]

I got my 64GB plus last year for like $400 something by extending my ATT unlimited data plan, but using the apple store app it doesnt say I can upgrade, just buy one for full price. Cant seem to login to my ATT account to check there though

 

[BeckyG]

I'm in a similar situation. Going to give my 6 plus to my mom, but wondering if I should do 2 year contract with subsidized or NEXT plan. I'm on the old AT&T plan (not mobileshare) with unlimited data. I wouldn't mind NEXT so much if I didn't have to trade my phone in when I upgraded in 12 months. That's what really bugs me about it.

Another question: if I decide to go with the 2 year contract option, would I be able to select the NEXT option when I upgrade for the new phone next year? Or would that not be allowed because I was still under contract?

Thanks for any help!

I just ordered, and I settled on the subsidized option. It did give me the option to select Next, but after having read a bunch of articles I decided to stick with the sub so I can continue the hand-me-down process I've built in my family. Thank goodness my husband, mom, and dad are not as concerned about getting the new phone every year.

Good luck to you which ever option you select!

 

[sdsvtdriver]

I just ordered, and I settled on the subsidized option. It did give me the option to select Next, but after having read a bunch of articles I decided to stick with the sub so I can continue the hand-me-down process I've built in my family. Thank goodness my husband, mom, and dad are not as concerned about getting the new phone every year.

Good luck to you which ever option you select!

what was your order summary? I chose this route also but in addition to charging $299 for the phone today, it said I had a monthly charge of $24.xx also. Grandfathered UNL plan, not one of the new MVS plans.

NM - it's for the data plan. someone else pointed it out.

 

[Pipper99]

Ordered 6s Plus through Apple at full price. Also reserved one for 9/25 for Apple Upgrade. AT&T estimated delivery dates were 10/13 through 10/25 right out of the gate, so no go for me with a Gazelle deadline much earlier than that for my old phone. We shall see how this goes, but the Apple app was the easiest experience again.

 

[BeckyG]

what was your order summary? I chose this route also but in addition to charging $299 for the phone today, it said I had a monthly charge of $24.xx also. Grandfathered UNL plan, not one of the new MVS plans.

NM - it's for the data plan. someone else pointed it out.

Strangely, in my summary it stated I am now going to receive a $3 monthly discount off my unlimited data plan. I don't know what that's about...I'm pretty sure I've never seen that before.

 

[jav6454]

I'll throw my $0.02 in here. I did not buy it through the subsidy. Full price and it just asked me if I wanted to keep my current plan or change it. I stated that I'd like to keep my unlimited.

AT&T is not going to get that from me easily, and also I use up to 7 GB of data a month. Yes, no tethering or nothing. Just plain boring work stuff and trying to pass the time when traveling.

 

[sdsvtdriver]

Strangely, in my summary it stated I am now going to receive a $3 monthly discount off my unlimited data plan. I don't know what that's about...I'm pretty sure I've never seen that before.

are you part of a FAN account?

on the legacy plans, the FAN discount was only on the voice part. When MVS came out, the discount is on data. I wonder if they goofed and are discounting both?

 

[BeckyG]

are you part of a FAN account?

on the legacy plans, the FAN discount was only on the voice part. When MVS came out, the discount is on data. I wonder if they goofed and are discounting both?

You got it - FAN. My email confirmation states this:

Monthly Charges
Data Plan
Data Unlimited for iPhone on 4G LTE $30.00
Service Discount -$3.00
Features
Applications

 

[BeckyG]

Its

You got it - FAN. My email confirmation states this:

Monthly Charges
Data Plan
Data Unlimited for iPhone on 4G LTE $30.00
Service Discount -$3.00
Features
Applications

This is weird, right?

 

[sdsvtdriver]

Everything with AT&T is weird. I think the discount is calculated against the voice and data plan, but not things like messaging. unsure why they're suddenly calling it out.

 

[Legionnaire]

what was your order summary? I chose this route also but in addition to charging $299 for the phone today, it said I had a monthly charge of $24.xx also. Grandfathered UNL plan, not one of the new MVS plans.

NM - it's for the data plan. someone else pointed it out.

Same


Att showed 30 unlimited data then it showed 22.50.
Old bills wasn't discounted but hope future one is. Showed me at the store when I upgraded that will make bill $65 with unlimited data text and 450 mins lol

 

[tivoboy]

I'm sticking with the UDP for now..my bill is only about 62$ after FAN discount for 1000 min, 1000 texts and unlimited data and by doing only the 2 yr extension AT&T is subsidizing 450$ of the phone for me.

I figure if I were to move to a say 5GB plan, it would be at least 75$ a month and I'd have to pay full price over time for the phone, and without the subsidy I'd not only pay full price for the phone but about 15$ more a month..

Now I don't get hotspot (but actually have that with another device for free) and I don't have no limit calling or texts, but otherwise is there any way that the math on this works out better going with NEXT?

 

[Wise87]

I'm just going to pick up the iPhone 6s from my local AT&T store on the 25. For some reason the AT&T site keeps sending me to Premier and I only have a FAN account. I maintain two UDP lines with 700 Nation Talk minutes, old plan so I only pay $150 after my FAN discount. I can't see using NEXT until I'm forced to do so. Seeing I have two lines, each one is a year apart so every year I'm upgrade eligible. I might loose out on preordering access but I'm not located in a major city so availability is always good. I just can't see paying the extra cost of NEXT. Also I have never seen either of my lines get limited due to data use. Guess thats the nice thing about not living in a congested area. I did look at the Share plans but I would be paying almost $40 more a month, no way.

 

[dugbug]

My unlimited AT&T is now no more. I have had enough and am going to tmobile.