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Carrier How Early Has AT&T Let You Upgrade For New iPhone
- Thread starter sandmanfvr
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Im in the same boat but my upgrade date is september 18th and I preordered the iphone 5 through verizon.
Not quite the same thing, but my brother-in-law got 2 free upgrades through AT&T when he purchased iPhones through Best Buy's website. For some reason, neither purchase triggered the "upgraded" flag on his account. He managed to do it twice. But he did screw himself over by going back a 3rd time - now he has no upgrade to use for the iPhone 6. #karmaIsAbitch
Keep in mind they give you a discount on the phone by doing the next program rather then buy the phone out right and you can pay off your phone as fast as you want on the next program. Your not signing a 2 year only singing that you will pay off the phone. So if it were me I would just do the next program and then pay the phone off in a month or two. I am going to do with one of my lines. Then once the phone is paid off I will cancel that line since I won't be needing it any more and it will be out of contract. Plus I won't be hit with a early termination fee
A lot of times, I would just ask for preferential pricing for a new phone. They would knock off around 30% of the price. Then again, my monthly bill hovers around $300 a month and I've been a customer since 2008. They also let me keep my upgrade, but I've never used it.
I have actually been dealing with this exact issue, and it's been hard to get a clear picture.
My wife and I are in the last month of our current contract, which ends on 9/21. We have 4S's and are looking to upgrade to 5S's. Seeing that Wal-Mart and Target have reduced prices on the 5S and knowing that our trade-in value for the 4S's will drop quite a bit on the 9th, I called AT&T to see if there was any way out of our contracts so that we could upgrade now.
I spoke with a very nice woman who said that since we're within 30 days of our contract expiration, we can upgrade with no worries about an ETF or any other fees besides the standard $40 upgrade fee. She of course tried to push me towards the NEXT program, but it's cheaper to be on a contract. I was up front about wanting to get the new phones at an authorized retailer and not directly through AT&T. She even said that if there were any problems at the retailer, they could call AT&T and a customer service rep would help them sort it out.
Happy to hear this, I checked in at Wal-Mart and Target. The guy at Wal-Mart said there was no way they could do an early upgrade because of restrictions on his end unless I paid a lot of extra fees. The guy at Target said it would be no problem. In both places, I explained my situation in detail.
This past Wednesday night, I went to Target to do the upgrade, and when they put my account info in, their computer showed "not eligible for upgrade". So, we called AT&T, and the person I spoke with told me a completely different story. He said there is always an ETF on current contracts unless the retailer is willing to waive it (the Target employee said he couldn't do that), and if I wanted to upgrade early, it would cost me $200 + the ETF + the upgrade fee - per phone. I explained to him, rather forcefully, what I had been told in my previous phone call and that the only reason I was trying to do this was the information I was given by an AT&T customer service rep. He told there was nothing he could do on his end to allow me to upgrade without paying all of those fees, but of course if I chose the NEXT plan, I could get whatever I wanted without any fee at all. As you might imagine, I left the store with my old 4S's in hand.
When I posted about this situation on Reddit, I was assured that the second CSR had the correct information and that the woman I initially spoke with was horribly incorrect. How AT&T allows this to happen, I have no idea. Another poster who claimed to be an AT&T employee said they do allow early upgrades if you're within the same calendar month as the end of your contract. So, on Monday, I will be visiting Wal-Mart and Target and asking them to input my account info and see about upgrade availability. I'll update this post after I visit them.
It's not the end of the world to wait until the 21st, but I have reasons for wanting to upgrade now - better trade-in value on the 4S's, I'm a teacher and my life is about to get pretty busy, and I want to keep my jailbreak, which will not be possible if I wind up getting 5S's with iOS8.
My wife and I are in the last month of our current contract, which ends on 9/21. We have 4S's and are looking to upgrade to 5S's. Seeing that Wal-Mart and Target have reduced prices on the 5S and knowing that our trade-in value for the 4S's will drop quite a bit on the 9th, I called AT&T to see if there was any way out of our contracts so that we could upgrade now.
I spoke with a very nice woman who said that since we're within 30 days of our contract expiration, we can upgrade with no worries about an ETF or any other fees besides the standard $40 upgrade fee. She of course tried to push me towards the NEXT program, but it's cheaper to be on a contract. I was up front about wanting to get the new phones at an authorized retailer and not directly through AT&T. She even said that if there were any problems at the retailer, they could call AT&T and a customer service rep would help them sort it out.
Happy to hear this, I checked in at Wal-Mart and Target. The guy at Wal-Mart said there was no way they could do an early upgrade because of restrictions on his end unless I paid a lot of extra fees. The guy at Target said it would be no problem. In both places, I explained my situation in detail.
This past Wednesday night, I went to Target to do the upgrade, and when they put my account info in, their computer showed "not eligible for upgrade". So, we called AT&T, and the person I spoke with told me a completely different story. He said there is always an ETF on current contracts unless the retailer is willing to waive it (the Target employee said he couldn't do that), and if I wanted to upgrade early, it would cost me $200 + the ETF + the upgrade fee - per phone. I explained to him, rather forcefully, what I had been told in my previous phone call and that the only reason I was trying to do this was the information I was given by an AT&T customer service rep. He told there was nothing he could do on his end to allow me to upgrade without paying all of those fees, but of course if I chose the NEXT plan, I could get whatever I wanted without any fee at all. As you might imagine, I left the store with my old 4S's in hand.
When I posted about this situation on Reddit, I was assured that the second CSR had the correct information and that the woman I initially spoke with was horribly incorrect. How AT&T allows this to happen, I have no idea. Another poster who claimed to be an AT&T employee said they do allow early upgrades if you're within the same calendar month as the end of your contract. So, on Monday, I will be visiting Wal-Mart and Target and asking them to input my account info and see about upgrade availability. I'll update this post after I visit them.
It's not the end of the world to wait until the 21st, but I have reasons for wanting to upgrade now - better trade-in value on the 4S's, I'm a teacher and my life is about to get pretty busy, and I want to keep my jailbreak, which will not be possible if I wind up getting 5S's with iOS8.
Well with the iPhone 6 event coming up, good part of us are ready to jump and upgrade/refresh our cell phones. My contract was to be up like in October, but if you remember this http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/09/att-extends-upgrade-period-to-two-years/ that many of us on AT&T were pushed out to 2 years (Thanks AT&T
The poll and premise of this thread ought to include the caveat "...since NEXT was introduced" bc the entire situation changed when that happened, and anyone's previous upgrade experiences become null & void after that.
Very true. It's clear that AT&T wants to push as many people into NEXT as they can. If they would let me trade in my current phones and apply the trade-in value to the cost of the new phones, it would be worth it for me, but apparently they don't do that.
I think the major carriers are all waiting to see who is the first to scrap contracts altogether.
The reason AT&T does not let you trade in your current NEXT phone as credit towards a new phone after 12 months is because you still owe them a balance (of at least 40% MSRP) on your current phone. The trade in value sucks to be sure but it's not like you're surrendering it without getting anything back in return.
The reason AT&T does not let you trade in your current NEXT phone as credit towards a new phone after 12 months is because you still owe them a balance (of at least 40% MSRP) on your current phone. The trade in value sucks to be sure but it's not like you're surrendering it without getting anything back in return.
I don't have a NEXT phone; I'm near the end of my contract. My current trade-in value at AT&T is estimated at around $100, but I've been told that I would not be able to use that trade-in value towards the cost of a NEXT-plan phone.
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Many of the answers here are WRONG.
And many are right. Without more details, folks are just shouting out answers.
The whole family share data plans, introduction of NEXT, and various billing programs have really mixed things up.
Before you do anything, do some checking on what the costs are.
Price out :
buying outright
buying on NEXT
buying via contract.
Next in most cases is the same as buying outright. Only variance is if you travel intl and want it unlocked or you continue to fight any commitment stuff even though you will be staying with the carrier for years.
You can check out lots of this by going online today and look to get a new phone other than the "6".
And many are right. Without more details, folks are just shouting out answers.
The whole family share data plans, introduction of NEXT, and various billing programs have really mixed things up.
Before you do anything, do some checking on what the costs are.
Price out :
buying outright
buying on NEXT
buying via contract.
Next in most cases is the same as buying outright. Only variance is if you travel intl and want it unlocked or you continue to fight any commitment stuff even though you will be staying with the carrier for years.
You can check out lots of this by going online today and look to get a new phone other than the "6".
AT&T moved my upgrade up a few days on their own. A couple of weeks ago it was Sept. 21st (or maybe 22nd) and just yesterday I noticed it was now Sept. 15th. I got an iPhone 5 on launch day with that line. If the new phone does release 10 days after the event, then this should make me eligible for an upgrade by them switching the date.
Is there a way to check that? Any time I log into the website, it just tells me my contract end date and that I can upgrade via NEXT. Is there a specific place on the website you're looking?
Just as the post above said, I've been checking this via the Apple website both times.
Just checked a few minutes ago, and it's still showing 9/21 for me on AT&T. Not a big deal as I'm probably going the Next route.
Quick update: I checked the AT&T site this morning, and I am now eligible for a new contract & subsidized phone, so it seems the same calendar month rule is valid.
My upgrade eligibility changed to full upgrade eligible plus $40 upgrade fee today, 25 days early.
So did my girlfriend's.
My upgrade eligibility changed to full upgrade eligible plus $40 upgrade fee today, 25 days early.
same here, I received an alert this afternoon telling me I was eligible for the upgrade now.
The original Cingular let me have a full subsidy upgrade every month off my premier account on each line.
Not joking either. It was the most amazing thing to get to buy subsidized phones ever month. Sadly this program ended circa mid 2007.
Than the new att had always let me upgrade every 12 months until 2012 on the primary line.
Not joking either. It was the most amazing thing to get to buy subsidized phones ever month. Sadly this program ended circa mid 2007.
Than the new att had always let me upgrade every 12 months until 2012 on the primary line.
FWIW, I bought my iPhone 5 on September 21, 2012. I went to ATT today, and it said I was eligible for an upgrade today with 2 year contract and $40 fee. And of course the Next upgrade option. So, I think I could upgrade to the 5s today.
I jumped the gun and gave away my iPhone yesterday, so have been configuring my old Nexus phone to use until the 6 comes out. I guess I need it at launch day now.