Only 1 of 2 Family Plan lines eligible?!

[hellodon]

This is very confusing to me.

My girlfriend and I got on a family plan when the first iPhone came out. We bought them together the day they came out, and we pay for the exact options on the plan.

We bought the 3G together, didnt change the plan at all.

Bought the 3GS together last year, plan has remained the same.

Now, I want to get the iPhone 4 and it's offering me the subsidized pricing of 199/299 which is great...but for her its "no commitment" pricing...full price.

Anyone else in a situation like me? That doesnt make sense to me. I mean, I know that only one contract is signed with a family plan but every other year they let each of us get them, and we never save any money because its always only 1 year into the contract. Last year I think we may have saved $100 each...Not totally sure on that. Paid full price for the first one and the 3G....

Just seems like identical purchases the past 3 years, we'd get the same pricing ya know?

 

[Geckotek]

See this explained at the bottom of the Upgrade Guide.

 

[bmms8]

you are the primary line and she is not, hence they give you better eligibility. all family plans seem to work this way.

 

[wishman35]

Is this true? I am going to be in the process of buying one for my eligible line and my father's eligible line.

 

[Geckotek]

Is this true? I am going to be in the process of buying one for my eligible line and my father's eligible line.

Every situation is different. Make no assumptions based on what you've seen others post.

 

[barefeats]

Same thing. My wife and I share a family plan. I get the $299 price on the 32G iPhone 4. She's the secondary and gets the $499 price unless she waits until February. I guess that's better than $699.

 

[hellodon]

Same thing. My wife and I share a family plan. I get the $299 price on the 32G iPhone 4. She's the secondary and gets the $499 price unless she waits until February. I guess that's better than $699.

We don't even get the secondary pricing of 399/499 until November.

I guess what sucks the most about this is that we upgrade every year when the new one comes out - so we never really get the good pricing (except the one line today but the other line will basically cancel that out)...meanwhile, my friend and his girl who skipped the 3GS get a better deal...we both paid 399 for 16GB 3GS last year...which is not really a significant savings so its not like we got a great deal last year so we don't this year.... The only way to really make it worthwhile is to skip generations....but when you're a nerd you can't skip phones. You crazy? Thanks AT&T!

I guess if you look at it a different way, its sort of like you're paying 399/499 EACH...rather than 199/299 for one and 599/699 for the other.

Guess I'm dropping a grand later. I sure hope I can re-coup some of the loss by selling the 3GS...which is all going to come down to being able to unlock it (and I'm already running 4.0 so this might be a problem)

 

[hellodon]

See this explained at the bottom of the Upgrade Guide.

Is that a thread here or is it on Apple or at&t site?

 

[Munitalp]

The primary number on the family plan can upgrade once per year, others can't. The early upgrade fee depends on you're monthly bill (over a certain amount, they give it to you more often).

 

[Geckotek]

Is that a thread here or is it on Apple or at&t site?

See my sig.

 

[hellodon]

The primary number on the family plan can upgrade once per year, others can't. The early upgrade fee depends on you're monthly bill (over a certain amount, they give it to you more often).

I have a feeling we got the same "deal" last year then....but they didnt tell us only one line was getting a better price - instead, they just added up the 2 prices, split it in half, and acted like we were each getting a slight discount.

Which, if I tell myself that again this year it's not AS bad...but its still kinda lame because next year the same thing will happen....its not really an early adopters tax, it's an AT&T being lame tax.

 

[hellodon]

See my sig.

Thanks

You've been kind of amazing about all this stuff! I appreciate it.

Are you just some regular dude out to help everyone or do you work somewhere related to all of this?

 

[KentuckyHouse]

To the OP, my girlfriend and I are in the exact same situation. She's primary, I'm the secondary line. She gets an upgrade every year, I'm every year and a half or so. I've complained at length about it, but AT&T says that's just the way it is.

The crappy part is that I'm the one with the iPhone...she's got some piece of crap Samsung! But, what are ya gonna do? By the time my upgrade comes around, the NEXT incarnation of the iPhone will be about to come out, so I'll just skip over the iPhone 4, like I did with the 3G.

 

[Geckotek]

Thanks

You've been kind of amazing about all this stuff! I appreciate it.

Are you just some regular dude out to help everyone or do you work somewhere related to all of this?

Regular dude, worked in wireless 20 years ago.

Glad to be of help...you caught me in a good mood.

 

[Geckotek]

To the OP, my girlfriend and I are in the exact same situation. She's primary, I'm the secondary line. She gets an upgrade every year, I'm every year and a half or so. I've complained at length about it, but AT&T says that's just the way it is.

The crappy part is that I'm the one with the iPhone...she's got some piece of crap Samsung! But, what are ya gonna do? By the time my upgrade comes around, the NEXT incarnation of the iPhone will be about to come out, so I'll just skip over the iPhone 4, like I did with the 3G.

You can call and have them swap which line is primary. Then you'll get the upgrade every year and her every other. Works well if she doesn't really care. Either way, it averages out, you save money using the family plan....in exchange you don't both get upgrades every year. If you had 2 individual plans, you probably wouldn't both bill enought to get one every year either way.