More confusion with AT&T Next ordering online

[anarche]

I tried to add an iPhone 5c on AT&T Next to my existing account as a test to prep for the iPhone 6 pre-order. I have two lines in two different area codes on my account. When I added to the cart, I received the following message:

Add a new device and line of service
Please contact AT&T for assistance

Your account has numbers with multiple area code regions. Please call 1-888-333-6651 or visit an AT&T store near you to add a device and line of service to your account.

I'm now on the line with AT&T to figure out if I would be able to pre-order online or not in the morning.

 

[Firocity]

Can you keep us posted? I have one of those accounts with more than one area code. When I signed up I was told it was a "Business" Account.

 

[Maflagulator]

I had something interesting happen last year when I went to merge my brother's AT&T number into my Family Plan since it effectively makes his portion of my phone bill roughly $40 instead of $80+. It had something to do with his phone number being from a Texas area code, which was a different region from my phone numbers in the South Florida region.

Solution:
We had to technically cancel both of our accounts, and merge both numbers into a "National" account.

Good luck getting that done on a single phone call to AT&T!

Question:
WHY is the AT&T Next plan any good at all? It shows that you have to pay an additional fee for 20 months in order to be able to upgrade in 12 months. What happens after that? Do you have to sign up on the NEXT plan again, and continue the payments for the remaining 8 months, with another "Next" plan for 20 months on top of that? The monthly rate increase that then Next plan adds is equal to the "Off Contract" pricing of an iPhone anyway. So, that means that you're simply financing the device at 0% interest, which is nice, but now you're paying FCC "Luxury Tax" everyone month at the rate of something like 19%!

 

[Bako-MacAddict]

I have different area codes in my account too. I went through the process and I didn't experience any hiccups.

 

[TechnicallyTee]

Well I was going through the process on the computer just to test and idk if Im in the same boat but I just recently switched over to AT&T a few months ago and I ported over my NC area code and now im in GA and I am adding a line with a GA area code and I dont get any errors or anything..all this is just messed up and we have to wish everyone luck in the morning.

 

[burgman]

Well I was going through the process on the computer just to test and idk if Im in the same boat but I just recently switched over to AT&T a few months ago and I ported over my NC area code and now im in GA and I am adding a line with a GA area code and I dont get any errors or anything..all this is just messed up and we have to wish everyone luck in the morning.

I spent a couple of hours on the phone with premier trying to fix an upgrade problem. I currently have one line on a share plan $65 2 GB I bought my phone upfront. I ran a test to see if the upgrade would work also. Every time I checked my upgrade, the system would say my upgrade date is 2/11/15. Customer service tried several things and could not fix it. Even tried adding a dummy line that would show the same date. When we tried starting off adding a line it seemed to work. Rep said just cancel first line when iPhone is activated. Rep started a case but said it would take 24 hours or more. In iPhone time that means Oct Dec shipping.

 

[TechnicallyTee]

I spent a couple of hours on the phone with premier trying to fix an upgrade problem. I currently have one line on a share plan $65 2 GB I bought my phone upfront. I ran a test to see if the upgrade would work also. Every time I checked my upgrade, the system would say my upgrade date is 2/11/15. Customer service tried several things and could not fix it. Even tried adding a dummy line that would show the same date. When we tried starting off adding a line it seemed to work. Rep said just cancel first line when iPhone is activated. Rep started a case but said it would take 24 hours or more. In iPhone time that means Oct Dec shipping.

O ok well we might be in different situations then because I will be keeping my current line and adding another just for the iPhone 6 Plus..I havent ran into any issues so I should be good.

 

[anarche]

Updates

I had a not-very helpful conversation with a phone rep who had no idea what i was talking about and blamed everything from 'security features' to Apple!

Then I went into a store where this issue did not occur on the agent's iPad, but when we switched to my iPhone App and other devices, it did occur.

I just tried my Kindle Fire and it seems to work fine, so I'd suggest doing a dry run on any device that will work and hoping it goes through at 12 AM PST.
It is a real issue but seems to show up only in certain environments/browsers.
Alternatively, the store agent recommended I come into a store tomorrow and pre-order or order on the 19th.

Last year, our local AT&T had sufficient inventory on launch day.

 

[nostresshere]

...
Question:
WHY is the AT&T Next plan any good at all? It shows that you have to pay an additional fee for 20 months in order to be able to upgrade in 12 months. What happens after that? Do you have to sign up on the NEXT plan again, and continue the payments for the remaining 8 months, with another "Next" plan for 20 months on top of that? The monthly rate increase that then Next plan adds is equal to the "Off Contract" pricing of an iPhone anyway. So, that means that you're simply financing the device at 0% interest, which is nice, but now you're paying FCC "Luxury Tax" everyone month at the rate of something like 19%!

You might want to read one of the other 100 active threads explaining next.

And what "luxury tax" are you talking about.