iPhone 5: $399 + $250 +$36

[Convert2]

Same situation here

I am in exactly the same position (have current $150 etf on one of two lines) and can't for the life of me understand why At&t doesn't offer the early upgrade equal to $250 or the amount of your etf at the time of the upgrade, whichever is less. To only keep it at a set amount of $250 encourages people with low etfs (i.e., long-term loyal customers) to switch to VZ, which is exactly what I intend to do. I would have actually considered staying with at&t and getting a microcell for my new house that has practically no coverage, because the coverage everywhere else is good, plus I like the simultaneous voice/text and the customer service is fine. But, they will be gaining a $150 etf while losing a 2-year contract on a family plan with 3 new iphone5s - their loss. Just can't understand the logic of it.

 

[madsci954]

I'm sure the carriers will reassess and promptly jack up ETFs for the next go-round. :thumbdown:

Sadly agree

 

[d21mike]

I'm sure the carriers will reassess and promptly jack up ETFs for the next go-round. :thumbdown:

I thought the ETF were pro-rated some time ago due to pressure from the government. But not sure.

 

[Hankster]

I am a Small Business Premier Customer. I have the iPhone 4s so not eligible for the FULL Discount as expected. When I called yesterday I was told I had to pay an extra $150. Today it is extra $250 (rep said sorry the person yesterday was wrong). I ask what is the ETF if I was to cancel my contract. He said $125. I said that doesn't make much since. Why charge me $250 extra to upgrade but $125 to cancel and move to Verizon. He had no answer. I was actually okay with the $150 extra and was going to order 2 phones but this $250 (x2 = $500) is too much considering the ETF amount.

Am I missing something? Do you think this $250 will be reduced over the next couple months? I usually just keep my old phone as a spare but maybe I will just trade it in.

I was in the exact same boat. I've upgraded my iPhone at every launch and ATT was nice enough to allow me to do this at the $199 price. This time around they didn't allow me. The iPhone 5 would cost me:

iPhone 5: $199
Early Upgrade Fee: $250
Upgrade Feee: $36

My ETF from ATT is only $200. With VZ having an LTE network 100x larger than ATT, I pre-ordered my iPhone 5 with them. When I get it I'm going to port over my ATT number and cancel my account.

My wife will be doing the same. ATT made a mistake by not allowing iPhone users to upgrade. While I'm sure Apple is taking a major cut from them, they will be losing customers left and right just from the fact that VZ has a massive LTE network and they do not.

 

[Want300]

I spoke to an AT&T chat representative. He was great, honest, and I could tell he wasn't typing off a script. We even talked about setting up Dummy lines on VZW to keep unlimited data.

He put a note on my account to have my Activation Fee waived after my iPhone 5 arrives on Friday (they can't take it off until it is actually charged to the account).

I didn't even have to swing the cancel hammer or anything. All in all, a very good experience.

 

[617aircav]

Yeah I am on the new Share Everything Plan, not Family Plan. As you said, standard phones on the Share Everything plans are $30, not $10. Smartphones are $40.

I don't think they will require me to return the phone once it's active on line one. Maybe they will fall asleep and forget about it...lol.

You have to return the phone when you cancel your line within 14 days, or pay the ETF after 14days. Att will never let you keep the phone after cancelling the line without paying an ETF.

 

[Want300]

I was in the exact same boat. I've upgraded my iPhone at every launch and ATT was nice enough to allow me to do this at the $199 price. This time around they didn't allow me. The iPhone 5 would cost me:

iPhone 5: $199
Early Upgrade Fee: $250
Upgrade Feee: $36

My ETF from ATT is only $200. With VZ having an LTE network 100x larger than ATT, I pre-ordered my iPhone 5 with them. When I get it I'm going to port over my ATT number and cancel my account.

My wife will be doing the same. ATT made a mistake by not allowing iPhone users to upgrade. While I'm sure Apple is taking a major cut from them, they will be losing customers left and right just from the fact that VZ has a massive LTE network and they do not.

Unless you truly wanted to switch (because of LTE like you said)... you could have spoken to the retention department of AT&T and told them how you were planning to switch and how it would actually save you money to pay the ETF. They probably would have moved up your upgrade if you did it over the phone.

My girlfriends Mom did this, she simply explained why it made more since to cancel their service and switch because of this (same as your situation), then she told them she would prefer to stay with AT&T, but would switch carriers if they did not allow her to upgrade. I helped her, so I was with her while she did it, and she was very nice to the Rep the whole time, they did it without any fuss at all. She stated her case, and they took care of it. AT&T has LTE in our area, so there was no advantage in switching, plus she saved herself from paying the ETF.

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Yeah I am on the new Share Everything Plan, not Family Plan. As you said, standard phones on the Share Everything plans are $30, not $10. Smartphones are $40.

I don't think they will require me to return the phone once it's active on line one. Maybe they will fall asleep and forget about it...lol.

You have to return the phone when you cancel your line within 14 days, or pay the ETF after 14days. Att will never let you keep the phone after cancelling the line without paying an ETF.

Starbuckpga:

617aircav is right, back when the iPhone was only available through AT&T and they did not sell unlocked phones. I used to "add" lines to my account to buy iPhones at the subsidy price to sell on eBay as contract free phones (which used to pull in $800-$1000 in the says of the 3G/3GS/4). I would cancel the line and pay the ETF. So I would make roughly $200-$300 per phone.

Because of this, I know what he said is most likely correct. It would have to be PURE luck for them to miss it.

 

[Hankster]

Unless you truly wanted to switch (because of LTE like you said)... you could have spoken to the retention department of AT&T and told them how you were planning to switch and how it would actually save you money to pay the ETF. They probably would have moved up your upgrade if you did it over the phone.

My girlfriends Mom did this, she simply explained why it made more since to cancel their service and switch because of this (same as your situation), then she told them she would prefer to stay with AT&T, but would switch carriers if they did not allow her to upgrade. I helped her, so I was with her while she did it, and she was very nice to the Rep the whole time, they did it without any fuss at all. She stated her case, and they took care of it. AT&T has LTE in our area, so there was no advantage in switching, plus she saved herself from paying the ETF.



I know if I called in and asked they would probably give me an early upgrade. But, my wife and I were both thinking of moving to VZ anyway. I'm the DC area so both ATT and VZ have good coverage. But, in certain areas ATT does not work at all. This is particularly at Washington Capitals and Washington Nationals games. Both our iPhone with ATT are dead - zero connection. I know VZ works on both areas because we have friends who have VZ.

But, if ATT were open about letting us upgrade we would have probably stayed with them since we've been with them for over 6 years.

 

[Want300]

This is particularly at Washington Capitals and Washington Nationals games. Both our iPhone with ATT are dead - zero connection.

I know what you mean there... It is hard for me to get a signal on my personal phone (AT&T) at Cardinals Games because there are too many people congested in one area and not enough Cell towers to handle it.

But my work phone (sprint) works normal for the most at the stadium. I also noticed that I only got Spring 4G with the Galaxy S2 (before I switched to the 4S) while I was downtown. So sprint must have much stronger service downtown then in the suburbs here in StL because it is pretty awful/unusable when I am not downtown.

 

[d21mike]

For those that said maybe if I explain my position they might lower the upgrade fee to match or come close to my ETF. I was actually very calm when I talked to the rep because I thought the amount was going to be $150 because that is what I was told the day before by another rep. He was very nice and said the other rep was mistaken. That is when I ask what my ETF was and he told me it was $125. I then calmly said that so I could switch to Verizon and pay the $125 ETF to get out of my contract but to stay with AT&T I would need to pay $250. He said yes and made no attempt to keep me as a customer. I said okay then I will discuss these options with my wife and said thanks.

Maybe I need to escalate the call. However, after telling my wife that it just feels to expensive now and we do have the 4s. Not sure I want to even pay the $150 like I was willing to do before when I was more excited about getting the phone. Now, if it was $125 per phone ........

I ask earlier if they might lower the $250 upgrade fee. Not sure I was asking if this would be the official policy or just that they will make it easier after they sold the first batch to the early adopters since this is probably going to be a hugely popular model. I.E. 4 to 4s was not as much of a jump then from 4s to 5, even though the 4s was extremely popular.

 

[xerenthar]

For those that said maybe if I explain my position they might lower the upgrade fee to match or come close to my ETF. I was actually very calm when I talked to the rep because I thought the amount was going to be $150 because that is what I was told the day before by another rep. He was very nice and said the other rep was mistaken. That is when I ask what my ETF was and he told me it was $125. I then calmly said that so I could switch to Verizon and pay the $125 ETF to get out of my contract but to stay with AT&T I would need to pay $250. He said yes and made no attempt to keep me as a customer. I said okay then I will discuss these options with my wife and said thanks.

Maybe I need to escalate the call. However, after telling my wife that it just feels to expensive now and we do have the 4s. Not sure I want to even pay the $150 like I was willing to do before when I was more excited about getting the phone. Now, if it was $125 per phone ........

I ask earlier if they might lower the $250 upgrade fee. Not sure I was asking if this would be the official policy or just that they will make it easier after they sold the first batch to the early adopters since this is probably going to be a hugely popular model. I.E. 4 to 4s was not as much of a jump then from 4s to 5, even though the 4s was extremely popular.

I tried to do this via online customer livechat.. the response was "yes you would save if you chose to switch to verizon. i can cancel your line on chat if you don't want to call."

 

[Convert2]

For those that said maybe if I explain my position they might lower the upgrade fee to match or come close to my ETF. I was actually very calm when I talked to the rep because I thought the amount was going to be $150 because that is what I was told the day before by another rep. He was very nice and said the other rep was mistaken. That is when I ask what my ETF was and he told me it was $125. I then calmly said that so I could switch to Verizon and pay the $125 ETF to get out of my contract but to stay with AT&T I would need to pay $250. He said yes and made no attempt to keep me as a customer. I said okay then I will discuss these options with my wife and said thanks.

Maybe I need to escalate the call. However, after telling my wife that it just feels to expensive now and we do have the 4s. Not sure I want to even pay the $150 like I was willing to do before when I was more excited about getting the phone. Now, if it was $125 per phone ........

I had the same experience. I was very nice with at&t customer reps on more than one occasion, but got no where on the initial call nor after escalating the call. So if it's worked for other people that also concerns me that their customer service has a lack of consistency and fairness.

 

[0038396]

And it uses your upgrade too! Even after you pay the +$250, your upgrade is moved back again. It's awful.

 

[lordofthereef]

Thanks for all of the feedback. I will not be leaving AT&T since I am happy with the service in my area and we have 4 iPhones on our account.

I think you answered your own question. To the vast majority of users, $100 savings a year in terms of ETFs is not worth the hassle of porting and changing to another carrier. Ironically, AT&T also still gets to use their "surf the web and talk simultaneously on your iPhone", which we now know Verizon cannot do.