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My FAN used to allow me to upgrade no matter my bill every 12 months but now its every 24 months. I believe some FANs still allow it :(
 
With AT&T, if your monthly bill exceeds $99 you can upgrade every 12 months instead of every 18.

So that's what I've done. Except for the first iPhone (which I bought in January 2008), I've bought every iPhone on the release date. Of course the first iPhone was not subsidized so I was able to buy the 3G only 6 months later.

This...

If you use overseas, send int'l txt messages, they'll upgrade you even sooner. When I lost my phone, I was offered an upgrade after about 7 months at the full discounted rates. Technically I still wasn't eligible (I become eligible every 12 months like many here), but they weren't about to let a good customer go. It helps when you can point to the T-mo and verizon stores both within eyeshot of the ATT store too.

Of course, I've more than paid for it over and over in bills... ;(

Just don't go to the apple store if you want to try to squeeze an early early upgrade. They have little to no incentive.
 
Craigslist

So far, I have great experiences selling things using that site and got an absolute great bargain just recently with a purchase. Just go to a very public place when the deal goes down like inside a library, donut shop, or mall.

But I only sell my iPhone if I am eligible. I may not sell my iPhone 4 just because my eligibility is in Feb and the timing is off where it seems the iPhone 6 could be announced again in Sept next year which will give me a 7-month gap to wait. By then, the iPhone 4 would be 27 months old and lose alot of its value. But I am going to hang onto any iOS device because I may go Android next time but don't want to lose all the iOS apps I bought.

But no gadget is untouchable no matter if it has sentimental value or not. Any device I have can be bought from me if the price is right or if they want to buy it far more than how much I bought it for. Any device is expendable.
 
With AT&T, if your monthly bill exceeds $99 you can upgrade every 12 months instead of every 18.

So that's what I've done. Except for the first iPhone (which I bought in January 2008), I've bought every iPhone on the release date. Of course the first iPhone was not subsidized so I was able to buy the 3G only 6 months later.

Not for me. Spend about $116/month for my family line (On a FAN account) and don't see the 12 month upgrade on my account.
 
With the iPhone 5 looking to definitely have a new design (I wasn't expecting this to happen), I definitely want the phone.

But I upgraded mine on March 2nd. Is there anyway for me to be able to sell mine this month (even though I'm still under contract) and get the new iPhone at contract price next month, or will that not work?
 
Not for me. Spend about $116/month for my family line (On a FAN account) and don't see the 12 month upgrade on my account.

it seems they only apply it to the primary phone line in a family plan. for a while they were applying it to my uncle's line (i was paying for his phone) and i never saw the eligibility because he was the primary phone. i just had them change my phone to the primary line.
 
But I upgraded mine on March 2nd. Is there anyway for me to be able to sell mine this month (even though I'm still under contract) and get the new iPhone at contract price next month, or will that not work?

No, you're at less than 12 months; assuming you mean March 2nd of this year. You could sell your phone now and put a nice dent in buying the new phone whenever it comes out but you're not going to get it for contract pricing at this stage. You'll most likely pay full retail for the phone if you tried to buy it. That and since the new iPhone is expected to drop soon, lots of people are trying to ditch their phones here/eBay/Craigslist which will drive the resale value down a bit.

Best bet is to wait it out at this point. That or pony up a lot of cash to get the next iphone.
 
as the main account holder at Verizon, you have the option of upgrading yearly for an extra $20 one time fee. This will only work if you are the main line on the account.

I have also added a line for $10 a month, bought the iphone, then switched the iphone onto my line, and pay the extra $10 a month for the additional line for 2 years. Just to not have to pay full retail.
 
I called ATT a few days ago about a billing problem and happened to ask them about this. Here's how it went:

Me: If I bought a new phone today, how long until I am eligible for an upgrade?
Rep: 20 Months. No exceptions.
Me: 20 months? I thought it was a shorter period before. Doesn't the phone factor in too?
Rep: We recently changed our policy. No exceptions.
Me: What if I-
Rep: No exceptions.
 
Same here. ATT has always upped my upgrade date so I could buy the new iPhone at the $199 price. Once I had the iPhone for about eight months and they still let me upgrade at $199.

WATT!!!!!!
did you ask them to do it or did you automatically seen your upgrade date change once the new iPhones released? I sure hope they do this with me.

I checked mine online and it says full upgrade date is October 2012 :(
 
it seems they only apply it to the primary phone line in a family plan. for a while they were applying it to my uncle's line (i was paying for his phone) and i never saw the eligibility because he was the primary phone. i just had them change my phone to the primary line.

I had the same situation. When I initially setup my family plan with AT&T my daughter's phone ended up being the primary one, and my phone was a secondary phone. After a while I noticed she was eligible every year for an upgrade, and I was not.

I had them switch it and now I have been eligible every year. There is some minimum amount on your bill, and I think it might depend on type types of services you have etc. My family account runs about $180/mo with two iPhones and a feature phone. I was still eligible though when I had a $150/mo bill and one iPhone with two feature phones...
 
If your primary line is $100 or more monthly your qualified for 12 month upgrades with at$t.
 
If your primary line is $100 or more monthly your qualified for 12 month upgrades with at$t.

I have 3 lines with at&t and my bill is about 175 a month. I got an iphone 4 on my primary line on june 24th 2010 and it says I am not eligible for an upgrade until November 22, 2011 so where does it state that the primary line gets an update every 12 months if you spend over $100. I sure didn't get that. Can I call them and ask them?.
 
Remember guys, even if you aren't eligible for the upgrade price, you still get kind of a discount. If you aren't eligible for the upgrade prices, your prices are

399 for 16/499 for 32.

That's still a good savings from the unlocked version.

And if you sell your iPhone, it's almost like you are getting the iPhone for the upgrade price.
 
I just sell my old phones and pay full price for the new one if I'm not eligible for an upgrade. If you want to be on the cutting edge, you just have to pay.
 
Remember guys, even if you aren't eligible for the upgrade price, you still get kind of a discount. If you aren't eligible for the upgrade prices, your prices are

399 for 16/499 for 32.

That's still a good savings from the unlocked version.

And if you sell your iPhone, it's almost like you are getting the iPhone for the upgrade price.
Actually it's 450 for the 16gb and 550 for the 32gb. They just added 50$ to the early upgrade price a few months ago.
 
Remember guys, even if you aren't eligible for the upgrade price, you still get kind of a discount. If you aren't eligible for the upgrade prices, your prices are

399 for 16/499 for 32.

That's still a good savings from the unlocked version.

And if you sell your iPhone, it's almost like you are getting the iPhone for the upgrade price.


I might just end up doing this if indeed there is a completely new redesigned phone.
 
Actually it's 450 for the 16gb and 550 for the 32gb. They just added 50$ to the early upgrade price a few months ago.

Sumb**ch!

----------

Also seriously check out one of those trade in sites. I've had a great experience with Gazelle. If you are willing to take a hit on what you can get for your iPhone, but make up for it in not having to deal with people, it's really nice. I've never used Ebay Instant Sale, but that might be good too.
 
Remember guys, even if you aren't eligible for the upgrade price, you still get kind of a discount. If you aren't eligible for the upgrade prices, your prices are

399 for 16/499 for 32.

That's still a good savings from the unlocked version.

And if you sell your iPhone, it's almost like you are getting the iPhone for the upgrade price.

This is what I did with my 8 month old 3GS when the 4 came out.

Specifically, i went online to gazelle and got an offer of $300 for my 32GB 3GS as soon as the 4 was announced. (FYI - that was for a phone in excellent condition w/ all cables, etc. I kept my phone in a case from day one w/ a screen cover on it, so they did honor that price when they received the phone.) The nice thing about gazelle is they give you 30 days to send it in. So i got the 4 on day 1 and paid the full price of $500 for the 32GB (and of course, extended my contract 2 yrs). I then tried my hand at selling it on craigslist knowing I had a $300 offer "in hand", but found no good takers (but did find someone that wanted to trade me a refrigerator for it - go figure???). So I packed up the old one in the prepaid gazelle packaging and sent it off before the 30 day offer expiration. By selling my 3GS for $300 and buying the 4 for $500, I essentially "upgraded" for $200.

PS - like others have said, make sure your iphone is the primary phone on your family account. Mine was not and based on this recommendation, I switched it over to the primary phone about a month ago. I checked my upgrade status back then and it said feb 2012 for my iphone 4 purchased on June 24th. Just checked again before writing this and it now says Nov 2011!! Yeah! BTW - my monthly bill is approx. $150 for 2 lines.
 
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Another tip is to sell a JailBroken Phone that has the ability to he Unlocked. These tend to go for premiums on eBay especially if they are well taken care of. It's a win / win for both buyer and seller. The seller actually MAKES money off their old phone to upgrade and the buyer SAVES money from having to buy a factory unlocked phone and it's jailbroken on top of it all. I have done this with my 3GS and have a template already made up for my IP4. My wife cringes at the fact that I make money for upgrading, she just bought a droid against my advice and I promise you that thing will never hold a resale value like an Apple phone will.
 
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