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Will I have a problem upgrading this summer?

R

Redstarr

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 14, 2007
5
0
Jamaica, NY
I've been an iPhone owner since August 07 and I have to say...my 2G has DEFINITELY seen better days. The left 1/3 of the screen is dead as well as the upper 1/5, the top 1/3 of the screen doesn't register touch inputs anymore, and the phone died the other day after recharging it, I could no longer turn on the bluetooth feature because it's in the realm of the untouchable. :(

So, I decided to bite the bullet and buy a refurbished 8GB 3G iPhone from Best Buy just told hold me over until the summer release of the new 3G iPhone.

However, here's my predicament:

The guy at Best Buy said that I wouldn't be eligible for an upgrade for another 18 months and that after 6 months of the new release, I'd be able to buy it outright but I'd have to pay cancellation fees as well and lose my number. An Apple rep told me otherwise.

I want to get the new 3G as soon as it comes out. Do you guys think I'll have any problems???

- Robert
 
Redstarr said:
I've been an iPhone owner since August 07 and I have to say...my 2G has DEFINITELY seen better days. The left 1/3 of the screen is dead as well as the upper 1/5, the top 1/3 of the screen doesn't register touch inputs anymore, and the phone died the other day after recharging it, I could no longer turn on the bluetooth feature because it's in the realm of the untouchable. :(

So, I decided to bite the bullet and buy a refurbished 8GB 3G iPhone from Best Buy just told hold me over until the summer release of the new 3G iPhone.

However, here's my predicament:

The guy at Best Buy said that I wouldn't be eligible for an upgrade for another 18 months and that after 6 months of the new release, I'd be able to buy it outright but I'd have to pay cancellation fees as well and lose my number. An Apple rep told me otherwise.

I want to get the new 3G as soon as it comes out. Do you guys think I'll have any problems???

- Robert
Click to expand...


I'd talk to AT&T about this--they'll know best, since they're your account holder. Now, if I was to assume--which we all know is stupid--I'd say you might have trouble getting the new iPhone at a subsidized cost, which is what I'm assuming you mean.
 
Considering everyone I speak to doesn't seem to believe me when I say there's a new iPhone coming out this summer:

"We haven't heard anything about a new phone coming out so where are you getting this information from? There's nothing on the Apple store in regards to that"

and an AT&T rep would NEVER mislead me...or would they? :rolleyes: ;)

Subsidized pricing as well as not having to pay a contract cancellation fee of $175 just to upgrade a new iPhone is what I'm looking at. When I was thinking about upgrading my 2G (That I bought for a whopping $600 when new) they treated the iPhone differently than they treated the other phones in the AT&T line-up. I'm just hoping this practice carries over to the new release
 
Um.. I have no idea why they are talking about you paying a cancellation fee. That guy is an idiot.

When I got my iPhone 3G from a Samsung it was an early upgrade fee therefore I paid $399+tax.

The reason you could buy the new 3G for so low is because you had the original iPhone which was unsubsidized. The 3G is subsidized, therefore if you buy something else within 2 years you have to pay an early upgrade fee.

For the iPhone at least this was significantly lower then the non-contract price of $599.

The way I see it is that if a new iPhone comes out this summer and if it has enough new features for you to want it then you will simply have to pay the early upgrade pricing, whatever that may be.

Canceling your contract with AT&T and paying a fee to get a new iPhone is just plain stupid. That guy is way misinformed.
 
iPhone Savvy said:
Um.. I have no idea why they are talking about you paying a cancellation fee. That guy is an idiot.

When I got my iPhone 3G from a Samsung it was an early upgrade fee therefore I paid $399+tax.

The reason you could buy the new 3G for so low is because you had the original iPhone which was unsubsidized. The 3G is subsidized, therefore if you buy something else within 2 years you have to pay an early upgrade fee.

For the iPhone at least this was significantly lower then the non-contract price of $599.

The way I see it is that if a new iPhone comes out this summer and if it has enough new features for you to want it then you will simply have to pay the early upgrade pricing, whatever that may be.

Canceling your contract with AT&T and paying a fee to get a new iPhone is just plain stupid. That guy is way misinformed.
Click to expand...

+2 I'd probably pay the early upgrade fee and just live with it.
 
Redstarr said:
I've been an iPhone owner since August 07 and I have to say...my 2G has DEFINITELY seen better days. The left 1/3 of the screen is dead as well as the upper 1/5, the top 1/3 of the screen doesn't register touch inputs anymore, and the phone died the other day after recharging it, I could no longer turn on the bluetooth feature because it's in the realm of the untouchable. :(

So, I decided to bite the bullet and buy a refurbished 8GB 3G iPhone from Best Buy just told hold me over until the summer release of the new 3G iPhone.

However, here's my predicament:

The guy at Best Buy said that I wouldn't be eligible for an upgrade for another 18 months and that after 6 months of the new release, I'd be able to buy it outright but I'd have to pay cancellation fees as well and lose my number. An Apple rep told me otherwise.

I want to get the new 3G as soon as it comes out. Do you guys think I'll have any problems???

- Robert
Click to expand...
First, if there is a new iPhone this summer, you will be able to upgrade. The next issue is what price will you have to pay.

When you purchased the refreshed iPhone 3G (Best Buy term), you got it for $50 off the normal subsidy fee of $199/$299. Once you did this you just used your AT&T upgrade subsidy. This means that using AT&T's normal upgrade policy, you would not be eligible for another upgraded phone at a full subsidy until 18-24 months from your recent purchase.

This summer your best hope is if they offer an early upgrade option. For example the "Early Upgrade" for the current iPhone 3G is $399/$499.

The Best Buy rep was trying to tell you that to get the best price you may have to cancel, pay the ETF and then purchase a new line of service on your account to get the new iPhone. This is not the only option, search around and you will see several versions of this were use to purchase the iPhone 3G for those that were not upgrade eligible. The difference in final cost usually ran about $35-$75 and did not really save much money after all of the switching around and possible loss of your phone number.

Dave
 
Can he just sell the referb iphone in ebay and use that toward the early upgrade fee. You can sell the iphone on ebay and get $150-200 for it im sure
 
davelanger said:
Can he just sell the referb iphone in ebay and use that toward the early upgrade fee. You can sell the iphone on ebay and get $150-200 for it im sure
Click to expand...

unlock the 3G and you can get $550+, this is of course depending on what baseband and what the dev team comes up with etc..

I have seen unlocked 8GB 3G's going for $600 and unlocked 16GB 3G's going for $850.
 
Best Answer

dave006 said:
First, if there is a new iPhone this summer, you will be able to upgrade. The next issue is what price will you have to pay.

When you purchased the refreshed iPhone 3G (Best Buy term), you got it for $50 off the normal subsidy fee of $199/$299. Once you did this you just used your AT&T upgrade subsidy. This means that using AT&T's normal upgrade policy, you would not be eligible for another upgraded phone at a full subsidy until 18-24 months from your recent purchase.

This summer your best hope is if they offer an early upgrade option. For example the "Early Upgrade" for the current iPhone 3G is $399/$499.

The Best Buy rep was trying to tell you that to get the best price you may have to cancel, pay the ETF and then purchase a new line of service on your account to get the new iPhone. This is not the only option, search around and you will see several versions of this were use to purchase the iPhone 3G for those that were not upgrade eligible. The difference in final cost usually ran about $35-$75 and did not really save much money after all of the switching around and possible loss of your phone number.

Dave
Click to expand...

Well Put!

Apple Marketing is Genius!

They're going to put out a new iPhone; we all know this.
Its at least going to be faster and have video capabilities or else why even bother putting out a new phone since they're also releasing 3.0.

Just like when iPhone 3G came out all the original iPhone 2G users were given an option to early upgrade for the full price of the phone.

You will NOT have to pay a early termination fee, lol, I would never buy anything from a guy who makes **** up like that. Your ********'o'meter should've hit the roof!

Do yourself a favor, when this new phone does come out, if there's an apple store near you go there first, and the at&t corporate store as your second best choice- stay clear of everywhere else! When it comes to the support you'll need afterwards you'll thank me for taking this advice.

Also from experience I would let the new iphone phase in for about 2 months before getting it. It most likely will have a lot more bugs then the current 3G when 3.0 comes out.

It was the same way last year with all the hype and ****** initial OS. It was well worth the wait for me. I originally got the 3G then returned it after two weeks and purchased it again later on.
 
I recall seeing an app demo on MacRumors that showed a 30 sec clip recorded with our cameras. But a higher resolution screen, possibly 32GB of memory and more RAM is enough to warrant an upgrade in my eyes. And also to be the newest it-boy in town. :D

So early upgrade option, huh? Essentially paying the full retail price of the iPhone w/o any discounts but w/o renewing a subscription? Am I correct?
 
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