Carrier Why am I eligible to upgrade while I just got iPhone 5s last year?

[mghostsoft]

I am in a family plan of 5 lines. 4 of them were upgraded to iPhone 5s as soon as it became available, with a new 2-year contract.

However, when I checked upgrade eligibility on both apple.com and att.com, they both say that ALL 5 lines are eligible to upgrade to new iPhone at the price of new 2-year agreement (e.g. iPhone 6 16GB for $199). Dialing *639# from these lines also confirmed the same thing.

Now I am more worried than feeling lucky as I'm not sure if something bad will happen (such as I am forced to pay extra fees to AT&T if they discovered this issue) if I go ahead and purchase iPhone 6 at this price when the previous 2-year contract has only been fulfilled for less than one year. If it were only the business of Apple then I would get the deal confidently but AT&T isn't a company I can trust.

Does anyone encountered similar situation? Any suggestion would be appreciated!

 

[Deguello]

Did you switch to Next?

AT&T wiped those contracts as long as you bought before 2/1 or some date like that.

 

[mghostsoft]

Did you switch to Next?

AT&T wiped those contracts as long as you bought before 2/1 or some date like that.

No. None of the lines has switched to Next.

 

[terraphantm]

Do you have some sort of special FAN account or something?

 

[Applejuiced]

Don't ask, just do it
There's always glitches in the system.

 

[rui no onna]

Did you switch to Next?

AT&T wiped those contracts as long as you bought before 2/1 or some date like that.

AT&T lowered the payments if switching to MSVP but they didn't change the contract completion and upgrade eligibility dates.

 

[mghostsoft]

Do you have some sort of special FAN account or something?

Actually yes - I am in AMAZON COMMUNICATIONS INC FAN but this isn't stated as one of the benefits of this FAN.

 

[Deguello]

AT&T lowered the payments if switching to MSVP but they didn't change the contract completion and upgrade eligibility dates.

Yeah, they absolutely did. My daughters got an iPhone and a Windows phone in May, 2013 and my iPhone 5's two years won't be up for a couple more days.

As soon as we switched, all three phones were eligible for subsidized upgrades or a new Next purchase. I thought this was common knowledge.

 

[Tayloner]

Who knows. You're lucky. Both me and my wife bought 5S on launch day with 2 new year contracts, and we're not eligible for even a partial upgrade ($200 off full price) until September 21st, 9 days after preorder.

 

[rui no onna]

Yeah, they absolutely did. My daughters got an iPhone and a Windows phone in May, 2013 and my iPhone 5's two years won't be up for a couple more days.

As soon as we switched, all three phones were eligible for subsidized upgrades or a new Next purchase. I thought this was common knowledge.

Huh. We switched to MSVP on March 2014 and our contract and eligibility dates didn't change. I'm eligible for NEXT but not the full subsidy with a 2-year contract.

 

[Mac'nCheese]

Who knows. You're lucky. Both me and my wife bought 5S on launch day with 2 new year contracts, and we're not eligible for even a partial upgrade ($200 off full price) until September 21st, 9 days after preorder.

So you do get the 200 bucks off if you wait? Do you have AT&T? I do and I ordered the 5s also on launch but I don't see the partial upgrade price when I look online.

 

[Deguello]

Huh. We switched to MSVP on March 2014 and our contract and eligibility dates didn't change. I'm eligible for NEXT but not the full subsidy with a 2-year contract.

Even if it's just Next, they're letting you upgrade without fulfilling the existing two year contract(s). I presume you're getting the service discount just as if you had brought your own phone rather than the $15/25 higher service price that subsidized phones require.

 

[Tayloner]

So you do get the 200 bucks off if you wait? Do you have AT&T? I do and I ordered the 5s also on launch but I don't see the partial upgrade price when I look online.

Yes, it shows a price of $649 for me as of September 21st for the 64GB 6 Plus, which is what I want. And yes, I have AT&T.

 

[mghostsoft]

So you do get the 200 bucks off if you wait? Do you have AT&T? I do and I ordered the 5s also on launch but I don't see the partial upgrade price when I look online.

I think you should have $200 discount after one year of last purchase. Have you checked on this page: https://buyiphone.apple.com/WebObjects/IPACustomer.woa/wa/IPAToolAction/springboard

But I don't suggest taking advantage of it anyway - you'll get an additional $250 off if you wait for one more year. I'll recommend you buying an unlocked phone every other year if you want to upgrade your phone every year.

 

[Mac'nCheese]

Yes, it shows a price of $649 for me as of September 21st for the 64GB 6 Plus, which is what I want. And yes, I have AT&T.

I think you should have $200 discount after one year of last purchase. Have you checked on this page: https://buyiphone.apple.com/WebObjects/IPACustomer.woa/wa/IPAToolAction/springboard

But I don't suggest taking advantage of it anyway - you'll get an additional $250 off if you wait for one more year. I'll recommend you buying an unlocked phone every other year if you want to upgrade your phone every year.

Ok thanks. I have $649 for the 64gb plus right now. I thought that was the full price. I guess that's the partial price. What site/store do you buy the unlocked phones from? I never did that, unlocked simply means it works on att or sprint or whatever, right?

 

[rui no onna]

Even if it's just Next, they're letting you upgrade without fulfilling the existing two year contract(s). I presume you're getting the service discount just as if you had brought your own phone rather than the $15/25 higher service price that subsidized phones require.

I know. The discounts are actually making me hesitate to upgrade. We have 2 iPhone 5 and 2 iPhone 5s on our account and we pretty much don't have to repay 6 months worth of subsidy on the 5 and 18 months worth of subsidy on the 5s. If I ever do upgrade, I'm definitely going with Next or buy outright since I'm getting the $25 per line discount.

AT&T definitely didn't change the contract and subsidized upgrade eligibility dates for us, though. Might be a glitch in the system for those whose 2-year contract upgrade changed? Because from their press release (and I've read all the fine print I can find), they're allowing early Next upgrades without contract fulfillment but not the full subsidies.

 

[mghostsoft]

Ok thanks. I have $649 for the 64gb plus right now. I thought that was the full price. I guess that's the partial price. What site/store do you buy the unlocked phones from? I never did that, unlocked simply means it works on att or sprint or whatever, right.

Unlocked iPhone will not be available as soon as new iPhone becomes on sale, they usually be available about 3 month later (last year it was 11/22 for iPhone 5s).

 

[Mac'nCheese]

Unlocked iPhone will not be available as soon as new iPhone becomes on sale, they usually be available about 3 month later (last year it was 11/22 for iPhone 5s).

Thanks again. Last questions: Are the unlocked the same price as a locked phone without any discounts or more/less?

 

[terraphantm]

Who knows. You're lucky. Both me and my wife bought 5S on launch day with 2 new year contracts, and we're not eligible for even a partial upgrade ($200 off full price) until September 21st, 9 days after preorder.

That's odd. I bought my 5S in February (I wanted to wait, but my 4S broke), and I'm already eligible for a partial discount.

 

[Deguello]

I know. The discounts are actually making me hesitate to upgrade. We have 2 iPhone 5 and 2 iPhone 5s on our account and we pretty much don't have to repay 6 months worth of subsidy on the 5 and 18 months worth of subsidy on the 5s. If I ever do upgrade, I'm definitely going with Next or buy outright since I'm getting the $25 per line discount.

AT&T definitely didn't change the contract and subsidized upgrade eligibility dates for us, though. Might be a glitch in the system for those whose 2-year contract upgrade changed? Because from their press release (and I've read all the fine print I can find), they're allowing early Next upgrades without contract fulfillment but not the full subsidies.

I have no explanation. My 5, for example, isn't two until the 21st... but I can get the subsidized price on another phone right now and have been able to since we switched. Very weird.

 

[mghostsoft]

Thanks again. Last questions: Are the unlocked the same price as a locked phone without any discounts or more/less?

The unlocked price should be $450 + the price with 2-year agreement. It is also the same as the T-mobile contract-free version.

 

[rui no onna]

Unlocked iPhone will not be available as soon as new iPhone becomes on sale, they usually be available about 3 month later (last year it was 11/22 for iPhone 5s).

Could always buy the T-Mobile contract-free. That's unlocked, too.

 

[jallenclark]

I may be wrong but I believe your bill will jump up a lot when you upgrade. When you switch to the new plan with shared data you received a special pricing of $15 per line. If you renew a 2 year contract this will jump to $40 which is the normal pricing. If you wish to keep the $15 a line you will need to pay full price or use next. I have been reading a lot on the plans with ATT to figure this out and I am fairly certain this will happen to you. So you bill will jump up $25 bucks a line for each line you upgrade to a new 2 year contract.

 

[mghostsoft]

I may be wrong but I believe your bill will jump up a lot when you upgrade. When you switch to the new plan with shared data you received a special pricing of $15 per line. If you renew a 2 year contract this will jump to $40 which is the normal pricing. If you wish to keep the $15 a line you will need to pay full price or use next. I have been reading a lot on the plans with ATT to figure this out and I am fairly certain this will happen to you. So you bill will jump up $25 bucks a line for each line you upgrade to a new 2 year contract.

Thank you for this info. I've been sticking on the old national plan with individual data. Each additional line has been $10 and it has never changed.

 

[Gathomblipoob]

I am in a family plan of 5 lines. 4 of them were upgraded to iPhone 5s as soon as it became available, with a new 2-year contract.

However, when I checked upgrade eligibility on both apple.com and att.com, they both say that ALL 5 lines are eligible to upgrade to new iPhone at the price of new 2-year agreement (e.g. iPhone 6 16GB for $199). Dialing *639# from these lines also confirmed the same thing.

Now I am more worried than feeling lucky as I'm not sure if something bad will happen (such as I am forced to pay extra fees to AT&T if they discovered this issue) if I go ahead and purchase iPhone 6 at this price when the previous 2-year contract has only been fulfilled for less than one year. If it were only the business of Apple then I would get the deal confidently but AT&T isn't a company I can trust.

Does anyone encountered similar situation? Any suggestion would be appreciated!

I have the same situation. I called AT&T last night to ask about it and they confirmed it.