THANK YOU AT&T 4 RUINING AN EXCITING TECH TIME / IPHONE 4S [ Edited ]

[elnoseface]

So you are perfectly content with them doing only the bare minimum? Only what is explictly stated in the contract. and sometimes trying to get around doing that (sending threatening emails to high data users with the unlimited plan)?

If that is the case then this argument is pointless. It is a sad day though, because company's used to try and make the customer happy.  Now it seems that companys like att are only out for themselves and don't care about theri customers at all. 

What amazes me even more are the ATT employees on this site that act like people shouldn't voice their opinions on things like this.  LIke we should just put our heads down and take it.... That they aren't doing anything wrong in the legal sense, so that makes it right.   

[wingrider01 ACE - Expert]

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elnoseface wrote:

So you are perfectly content with them doing only the bare minimum? Only what is explictly stated in the contract. and sometimes trying to get around doing that (sending threatening emails to high data users with the unlimited plan)?

If that is the case then this argument is pointless. It is a sad day though, because company's used to try and make the customer happy.  Now it seems that companys like att are only out for themselves and don't care about theri customers at all. 

What amazes me even more are the ATT employees on this site that act like people shouldn't voice their opinions on things like this.  LIke we should just put our heads down and take it.... That they aren't doing anything wrong in the legal sense, so that makes it right.   

---

Could not tell you if what you say is true, all the ATT employees that I have seen post on this site all have the standard discalimer that the opinion stated is their own. If you are claiming I am a ATT employee / affiliate you are so far off base you are not even in the right century let alone universe.

You are incorrect in the basic statement companies like ATT are out for themselves, the correct statement is any company that wishes to remain in business and be profitable for their owners / stockholders / holding companies / investment bankers will always work that way, while "customer loyalty" it only goes so far.

As far as being correct for doing "only the minimum" you are wrong again, as long as they adhere to the binding terms of the contract / terms of service then yes I am fine with it, same thing I do with my company, the contract /  SOW / TOS is the binding item between the company and the customer. as far as "throttling" on unlimited data, they are not "getting around" anything that is not already documented in the terms of service - review something called a "Fair Use Policy" which all carriers have with in the terms of service - be it verizon, Sprint or even the lowly cricket cellular. At least they are just soft capping the data by throttling, there is precedence for hard capping and just flat cutting off data  communications until the start of the next billing cycle. There is a broadband based supplier who's Fair Use policy states that if you exceed the data cap multilple months in a row you service is terminated, and you are banned from new service for 6 months.

It is coming on 2AM here, going to get some sleep and check later, have a good day

[aristizzle]

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yozhbk wrote:
Really, I dont think so, my arguments along with others are valid, from your stand point they are not since you work for ATT..... Emotional or not, Customer service is #1 goal in any consumer facing company and ATT falls short.....

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Me working for AT&T has nothing to do with my response. I fully understand how my binding contract works with Verizon, and nowhere in my, or AT&T's even, contract states that for customer service reasons they are REQUIRED to allow you to early upgrade to a new phone. Yes it would be nice if they could for customer service reasons allow you to upgrade early at the fully discounted price, but every company has policies they have to follow, and in this case they are standing by their upgrade policy. If I'm running a business... just because a customer doesn't agree with my policy doesn't mean I'm going to bend over backwards, it's company policy therefore ALL customers must follow not only 50% or 75%. Like I said before, it's not fair to the others who are waiting patiently for their upgrades who aren't causing a ruckus. They understand that their upgrade will come and they don't need to cause chaos for a new toy that they REALLY want... unlike others...

[paulhowey]

Hello all,

I just wanted to give my experience with AT&T with this issue. First of all, let me state that the issue has been resolved!

I, like most of you, purchased an iPhone 4 on day 1 of its launch. I have also been with AT&T since I was a Cingular customer and I have purchased every model of the iPhone since the initial launch in 2007. I contacted AT&T about my upgrade to a iPhone 4S and I was told there would be an early upgrade fee of $250.00 prior to 02/2012.

I was shocked by this! I was expecting a maximum upgrade fee of 99.00 but 250.00 was just outragious in my opinion. I politly hung up the phone and called back. I did this because I felt that I wasn't going to get anywhere with the rep I initially spoke with. This time I asked one question when the rep answered and that was, "How much is my early termination fee?" The rep replied, "it is 150.00, are you unhappy with your service? Is there anything I can do to help?" I simply replied, that the early upgrade fee for my iPhone is 250.00 and it was cheaper to cancel the account and sign up with Verizon or Sprint. The rep completely recognized and understood this rediculous issue and forwarded my problem to the management.

The following day, I was contacted by a very nice Manager who promptly waived the 250.00 upgrade fee and I purchased my iPhone 4S this morning for 199.99 (16 GB). The manager was extremely professional, thanked my for being a loyal customer, and thanked me for giving AT&T a chance to make the issue right.

My personally experience is that even though the issue is rediculous, I was well taken care of and the issue was resolved promptly and professionally. I am posting this because I want others to see that this is resolveable. Keep calling and demand a customer service manager. Eventually you will get to the right person that can help you.

Disclaimer: if your ETF is higher then the upgrade fee, you may not have as good of an arguement as those of us with a low ETF. Also, if your account is not in good standing, you may not have much luck. I was told that they are looking at each account on a case by case basis.

[atomix]

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paulhowey wrote:

Hello all,

I just wanted to give my experience with AT&T with this issue. First of all, let me state that the issue has been resolved!

I, like most of you, purchased an iPhone 4 on day 1 of its launch. I have also been with AT&T since I was a Cingular customer and I have purchased every model of the iPhone since the initial launch in 2007. I contacted AT&T about my upgrade to a iPhone 4S and I was told there would be an early upgrade fee of $250.00 prior to 02/2012.

I was shocked by this! I was expecting a maximum upgrade fee of 99.00 but 250.00 was just outragious in my opinion. I politly hung up the phone and called back. I did this because I felt that I wasn't going to get anywhere with the rep I initially spoke with. This time I asked one question when the rep answered and that was, "How much is my early termination fee?" The rep replied, "it is 150.00, are you unhappy with your service? Is there anything I can do to help?" I simply replied, that the early upgrade fee for my iPhone is 250.00 and it was cheaper to cancel the account and sign up with Verizon or Sprint. The rep completely recognized and understood this rediculous issue and forwarded my problem to the management.

The following day, I was contacted by a very nice Manager who promptly waived the 250.00 upgrade fee and I purchased my iPhone 4S this morning for 199.99 (16 GB). The manager was extremely professional, thanked my for being a loyal customer, and thanked me for giving AT&T a chance to make the issue right.

My personally experience is that even though the issue is rediculous, I was well taken care of and the issue was resolved promptly and professionally. I am posting this because I want others to see that this is resolveable. Keep calling and demand a customer service manager. Eventually you will get to the right person that can help you.

Disclaimer: if your ETF is higher then the upgrade fee, you may not have as good of an arguement as those of us with a low ETF. Also, if your account is not in good standing, you may not have much luck. I was told that they are looking at each account on a case by case basis.

---

Wow, now thats customer service. I spoke to the retention department "(Customer Resolution Team)" and I was told the same thing you were intially. I have been a premier member with AT&T since 2004, when they were Cingular Wireless. My rep was extremely unhelpful, so I am going to call back this afternoon and try your approach, since my ETF is significantly less than the $250 upgrade fee.

I'll report back.

[21stNow]

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elnoseface wrote:

So you are perfectly content with them doing only the bare minimum? Only what is explictly stated in the contract. and sometimes trying to get around doing that (sending threatening emails to high data users with the unlimited plan)?

If that is the case then this argument is pointless. It is a sad day though, because company's used to try and make the customer happy.  Now it seems that companys like att are only out for themselves and don't care about theri customers at all. 

What amazes me even more are the ATT employees on this site that act like people shouldn't voice their opinions on things like this.  LIke we should just put our heads down and take it.... That they aren't doing anything wrong in the legal sense, so that makes it right.   

---

Here's my take on it.  I go to AT&T for cellular service.  If I had my way, AT&T wouldn't sell cell phones at all.  Customers would purchase them directly from the manufacturer or a place like Best Buy.  Anyway, the contract that I have with AT&T is for AT&T to provide cellular service, with allowances for temporary, uncontrollable signal interruptions.  If my cellular service begins to degrade and I experience many dropped calls, I call AT&T, the provider of cellular service.  I expect AT&T to respond with a solution.

When I had problems with the hardware of my iPhone 4, I went to Apple.  If I have a concern about the price of a cell phone, I look at the contents of my purse/bank account and make a decision on how to proceed.  AT&T is unfortunately in the business of selling cell phones.  I look at the price that they are offering.  If I like it, I buy it.  If I don't like it, I don't buy it.  AT&T is not a swap meet operator; I'm not wasting my time playing let's make a deal with them.

[jeremymc7]

To me this is the stupid thing.

The difference between the pricing based on eligability is $275 ($250+25 tax in my area)

If I cancel my contract with AT&T it's only going to cost me $90 to move to Verizon or Sprint.

Based on my current plan I can move to Sprint for $10 less be month.

I spoke with CSR and Retention. I was asking for $185 service credit which I would use to upgrade early and sign another two year contract. Retention said no. After 45 minuates all AT&T offered was to lower my plan minuates and messages to something to they don't officaly offer to save me $10 a month.

So AT&T's answer was well take away minuates and messages likely causing you to pay overages. For that same price I can move to Sprint, pay $90 to cancel AT&T contract and end up with Unlimited Data, Messages, and Minuates.

Something seems wrong with AT&T's logic.

[jeremymc7]

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atomix wrote:

---

paulhowey wrote:

Hello all,

I just wanted to give my experience with AT&T with this issue. First of all, let me state that the issue has been resolved!

I, like most of you, purchased an iPhone 4 on day 1 of its launch. I have also been with AT&T since I was a Cingular customer and I have purchased every model of the iPhone since the initial launch in 2007. I contacted AT&T about my upgrade to a iPhone 4S and I was told there would be an early upgrade fee of $250.00 prior to 02/2012.

I was shocked by this! I was expecting a maximum upgrade fee of 99.00 but 250.00 was just outragious in my opinion. I politly hung up the phone and called back. I did this because I felt that I wasn't going to get anywhere with the rep I initially spoke with. This time I asked one question when the rep answered and that was, "How much is my early termination fee?" The rep replied, "it is 150.00, are you unhappy with your service? Is there anything I can do to help?" I simply replied, that the early upgrade fee for my iPhone is 250.00 and it was cheaper to cancel the account and sign up with Verizon or Sprint. The rep completely recognized and understood this rediculous issue and forwarded my problem to the management.

The following day, I was contacted by a very nice Manager who promptly waived the 250.00 upgrade fee and I purchased my iPhone 4S this morning for 199.99 (16 GB). The manager was extremely professional, thanked my for being a loyal customer, and thanked me for giving AT&T a chance to make the issue right.

My personally experience is that even though the issue is rediculous, I was well taken care of and the issue was resolved promptly and professionally. I am posting this because I want others to see that this is resolveable. Keep calling and demand a customer service manager. Eventually you will get to the right person that can help you.

Disclaimer: if your ETF is higher then the upgrade fee, you may not have as good of an arguement as those of us with a low ETF. Also, if your account is not in good standing, you may not have much luck. I was told that they are looking at each account on a case by case basis.

---

Wow, now thats customer service. I spoke to the retention department "(Customer Resolution Team)" and I was told the same thing you were intially. I have been a premier member with AT&T since 2004, when they were Cingular Wireless. My rep was extremely unhelpful, so I am going to call back this afternoon and try your approach, since my ETF is significantly less than the $250 upgrade fee.

I'll report back.

---

I tried ealier this week as well as today. Today they were MUCH more concerned about why I wanted to cancel and the specifics but didn't offer to do anything about it. My ETF is only $90 but that didn't seem to make much of a difference to them.

[yozhbk]

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atomix wrote:

---

paulhowey wrote:

Hello all,

I just wanted to give my experience with AT&T with this issue. First of all, let me state that the issue has been resolved!

I, like most of you, purchased an iPhone 4 on day 1 of its launch. I have also been with AT&T since I was a Cingular customer and I have purchased every model of the iPhone since the initial launch in 2007. I contacted AT&T about my upgrade to a iPhone 4S and I was told there would be an early upgrade fee of $250.00 prior to 02/2012.

I was shocked by this! I was expecting a maximum upgrade fee of 99.00 but 250.00 was just outragious in my opinion. I politly hung up the phone and called back. I did this because I felt that I wasn't going to get anywhere with the rep I initially spoke with. This time I asked one question when the rep answered and that was, "How much is my early termination fee?" The rep replied, "it is 150.00, are you unhappy with your service? Is there anything I can do to help?" I simply replied, that the early upgrade fee for my iPhone is 250.00 and it was cheaper to cancel the account and sign up with Verizon or Sprint. The rep completely recognized and understood this rediculous issue and forwarded my problem to the management.

The following day, I was contacted by a very nice Manager who promptly waived the 250.00 upgrade fee and I purchased my iPhone 4S this morning for 199.99 (16 GB). The manager was extremely professional, thanked my for being a loyal customer, and thanked me for giving AT&T a chance to make the issue right.

My personally experience is that even though the issue is rediculous, I was well taken care of and the issue was resolved promptly and professionally. I am posting this because I want others to see that this is resolveable. Keep calling and demand a customer service manager. Eventually you will get to the right person that can help you.

Disclaimer: if your ETF is higher then the upgrade fee, you may not have as good of an arguement as those of us with a low ETF. Also, if your account is not in good standing, you may not have much luck. I was told that they are looking at each account on a case by case basis.

---

Wow, now thats customer service. I spoke to the retention department "(Customer Resolution Team)" and I was told the same thing you were intially. I have been a premier member with AT&T since 2004, when they were Cingular Wireless. My rep was extremely unhelpful, so I am going to call back this afternoon and try your approach, since my ETF is significantly less than the $250 upgrade fee.

I'll report back.

---

DO you have his name ? I want to speak with that guy, becuase every one at ATT told me I can leave and pay the $150 termination fee.... 

[solplyr]

I just tried that through the live chat system.  They told me my ETF is $90.  The agent didn't seem phased when I told her I could cancel my line and go somewhere else for cheaper.  She said we all have to make decisions.

I'll probably place a phone call when I have the time.

[Jackal30]

Why do you say people are "confused" ?  To me, people are "demanding" ATT move up eligibilty date for those who got the i4 on release BECAUSE ATT has done so for the i4 release.  One person said stay consistent.  Nothing confusing about that.  So stop the "spinning" and just announce that, "Yes, we accelerated the upgade date for i4 release so we can hook you guys in for 2 years and not move to Verizon, but now since 3 carriers have it and supply is going to be tight No, we not going to accelerate the date for i4S release". 

SIMPLE !

-Jackal-

[Jackal30]

You sound like a Candy Store owner passing out old candy and fresh arrival.

[paulhowey]

Sorry to see you guys are meeting with resistance. I do have the managers name and number but I do not feel it would be fair to post it here on a public forum. If anyone would like to know more, you can email me at {Personal content removed for safety}

[boomertg]

I, too, had a pleasant representative who sincerely wanted to help me.  Unfortunately her manager quoted the "due to our contract with Apple" reason for not being able to offer an early upgrade (1 1/2 mos).   I did ask what is different with their contract with Apple now versus the iPhone 4 deployment where they did offer very early upgrades.  I didn't get an answer.  This is a monster AT&T created.  They shouldn't be making up some lame excuse about how they are bound by their contract with Apple and they shouldn't be surprised that people are ticked off.  I am surprised that they have decided to dig their heels in at this point, especially with Sprint now on board with the iPhone offering an unlimited data, text messaging plans for about $20 per month less that the other carriers.  

[whiplash13]

I actually view this as a blessing.  I moved from Verizon to AT&T 4 years ago for the iPhone exclusively.  Now that I have to wait until 2/2012 to get an upgrade, I may as well wait a few more months for the iPhone 5 (or whatever the next version is called) to come out and move back to Verizon.  The only reason I stayed this long with AT&T was I kept getting new iPhones each year so I kept signing new 2 year agreements.  I am not going to bad mouth AT&T as I understand their stance in following their upgrade policy.  While I may not like it, I do understand it but I feel this stance may hurt them as many users in the same situation as me, may take the same course of action.  I am not going to pay an ETF or an early upgrade fee for a phone that is only marginally better than the one I have.  I will wait it out and get the next gen phone at the fully discounted rate on Verizon. 

[ScottInTheOC]

Well I tried your tactic and it got me no where. My ETF is $170 and they were unwilling to waive the fee. They were very adamant that they could not make the change. The rep was kind and understanding g and acknowledged that AT&T did allow an exception for those upgrading to the iPhone 4 two years ago. I asked him if AT&T was willing to have droves of customers leave for many of us who bought iPhone 4 have ETF less than the $250 upgrade fee they are asking us to pay now. His response was, well only you can make that determination whether to cancel or wait until November 20th for the new phone.

[dwill05]

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ScottInTheOC wrote:
 His response was, well only you can make that determination whether to cancel or wait until November 20th for the new phone.

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Well, that's absolutely the correct answer.  What were you expecting?

[wingrider01 ACE - Expert]

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ScottInTheOC wrote:
Well I tried your tactic and it got me no where. My ETF is $170 and they were unwilling to waive the fee. They were very adamant that they could not make the change. The rep was kind and understanding g and acknowledged that AT&T did allow an exception for those upgrading to the iPhone 4 two years ago. I asked him if AT&T was willing to have droves of customers leave for many of us who bought iPhone 4 have ETF less than the $250 upgrade fee they are asking us to pay now. His response was, well only you can make that determination whether to cancel or wait until November 20th for the new phone.

---

all comapanies that deal with this type of contract budget ahead for "churn rate" so more then lickly the people leaving in "droves" have already been budget for, att's churn rate for 2010 was about 1%, average for other carriers was 3%, the number of iphone users that will actually leave for this reason probably will not even add 1 percent to the rate so far.

The majority of the average Joe Sixpack Iphone user cares little about early upgrades - have a number of associates that got the iphone simple becasue it said Apple and they heard is was "neat" and cool to have one.

[dwill05]

Here's the thing, ever time they have released a new iPhone, it's the same postings on the forums. When they released the 3G one year after the original, they made all owners of the original iPhone (aka the 2G) eligible (because the first one wasn't subsidized by AT&T or anyone). The people who had non-iphones under contract were upset with that because they couldn't upgrade, whined that Apple people were special, and threatened to leave since AT&T treated them so poorly.



When the 3GS came out a year later, they allowed anyone with an upgrade date that ended before the end of the year upgrade eligible. People who's upgrade date was in January were all upset because they got left out and threatened to leave AT&T because AT&T treated them so poorly.



When the 4 came out a year later, it was a similar deal (I don't remember exactly since I had skipped the 3GS and was normally eligible anyway). Once again, some people got an early upgrade and others didn't. Yet again, the people left out threatened to leave AT&T because they were treated so poorly.



Add to all that all the people who threatened to leave as soon as Verizon got the iPhone or those who were upset that AT&T wouldn't unlock their phone.



It's all the same and has been going on for years, yet somehow AT&T has managed to survive and prosper in light of all of these "anti-consumer" practices and threats of people leaving. They'll survive this too, I think. People are always going to be unhappy and some may actually leave. That's life.

[Koigirl]

I tried Paul Howey's suggestion and contacted ATT to see what they could do for me politely. My upgrade date is 12/6/11 although I switched from Verizon and ordered IPhone 4 at launch date. I have never made a late payment, am on Autopay, and had a $100+ contract for first year. Interesting thing is thar I changed credit card for auto payment and they suggested while on the phone that I switch to $85 plan because I was underutilizing my minutes. I was impressed that they would save me money that way. However, no one explained thar this change would affect my early update status or date! My ETF is $90. My husband wants me to jump to Verizon anyway and get back on our family plan for savings now that they offer the iPhone. I explained to ATT that it was a no-brainer, $90 ETF vs. $250 extra to purchase 4S, and that surely they could move me up to keep my business and earn a new 2-year contract? They said sorry, they have something like 90 million customers (i.e. We don't need you) and yeah, it does seem like a no-brainer for you. When I asked to be transferred to cancel my account, next guy was much more sympathetic and tried to be helpful but basically said he couldn't help me. He said he was expected to retain business but they basically tie his hands behind his back and make it impossible to do so. Sad.

No explanation as to how they calculate eligibility. It seems that the formula is not calculated the same for all customers. They don't really care if you stay or go. A new customer is as good as an existing one.

I don't see where it's helpful for ATT employees to frequent these discussions and interject their "that's too bad for you - get over it" comments.

[RicoLX]

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Koigirl wrote:
I tried Paul Howey's suggestion and contacted ATT to see what they could do for me politely. My upgrade date is 12/6/11 although I switched from Verizon and ordered IPhone 4 at launch date. I have never made a late payment, am on Autopay, and had a $100+ contract for first year. Interesting thing is thar I changed credit card for auto payment and they suggested while on the phone that I switch to $85 plan because I was underutilizing my minutes. I was impressed that they would save me money that way. However, no one explained thar this change would affect my early update status or date! My ETF is $90. My husband wants me to jump to Verizon anyway and get back on our family plan for savings now that they offer the iPhone. I explained to ATT that it was a no-brainer, $90 ETF vs. $250 extra to purchase 4S, and that surely they could move me up to keep my business and earn a new 2-year contract? They said sorry, they have something like 90 million customers (i.e. We don't need you) and yeah, it does seem like a no-brainer for you. When I asked to be transferred to cancel my account, next guy was much more sympathetic and tried to be helpful but basically said he couldn't help me. He said he was expected to retain business but they basically tie his hands behind his back and make it impossible to do so. Sad.

No explanation as to how they calculate eligibility. It seems that the formula is not calculated the same for all customers. They don't really care if you stay or go. A new customer is as good as an existing one.

I don't see where it's helpful for ATT employees to frequent these discussions and interject their "that's too bad for you - get over it" comments.

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Ive read somewhere on the forum that they've gone to a flat 20month type upgrade period now for everyone instead of rated by how much you pay for services... Not sure the exact number of months but , it chnged to some flat same number of months per account.. meaning, i bet you , some of us got our upgrades adjusted to fit this new arrangement.

[dwill05]

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Koigirl wrote:
I tried Paul Howey's suggestion and contacted ATT to see what they could do for me politely. My upgrade date is 12/6/11 although I switched from Verizon and ordered IPhone 4 at launch date. I have never made a late payment, am on Autopay, and had a $100+ contract for first year. Interesting thing is thar I changed credit card for auto payment and they suggested while on the phone that I switch to $85 plan because I was underutilizing my minutes. I was impressed that they would save me money that way. However, no one explained thar this change would affect my early update status or date! My ETF is $90. My husband wants me to jump to Verizon anyway and get back on our family plan for savings now that they offer the iPhone. I explained to ATT that it was a no-brainer, $90 ETF vs. $250 extra to purchase 4S, and that surely they could move me up to keep my business and earn a new 2-year contract? They said sorry, they have something like 90 million customers (i.e. We don't need you) and yeah, it does seem like a no-brainer for you. When I asked to be transferred to cancel my account, next guy was much more sympathetic and tried to be helpful but basically said he couldn't help me. He said he was expected to retain business but they basically tie his hands behind his back and make it impossible to do so. Sad.

No explanation as to how they calculate eligibility. It seems that the formula is not calculated the same for all customers. They don't really care if you stay or go. A new customer is as good as an existing one.

I don't see where it's helpful for ATT employees to frequent these discussions and interject their "that's too bad for you - get over it" comments.

---

You've gone to lengths to explain why you feel that  you're entitled to an early upgrade and that AT&T should give you one, but I don't see an explanation of why you simply can't wait the two months until your upgrade comes up.  That's what's missing in a lot of these threads.  This argument isn't more compelling than all of the others who have either been with AT&T for a long, pay a lot per month, swapped over from another carrier, and so on, who aren't getting an early upgrade either.

The cold hard business reality is that individual customers are not important to companies with millions of customers.  That's true for AT&T, and it's true for Verizon, Sprint, and the others too.  While they would like to keep your business, and are willing to make some concessions, like not making you wait the full 24 months before upgrading, they aren't willing to do some other things just because someone thinks they "should" or it would be "good business" (AT&T has been in the business for a while, I suspect they have a pretty good idea of what makes business sense for them).  All the cell phone companies want to get you as a new customer and lure you from somewhere else and so they offer them the best deals.  Once you are a customer and locked in to a contract, then they will only go so far.  And that's true for Verizon and Sprint too.  If someone feels that swapping over to another company is the best option for them to get the latest iPhone this month, then they should go.  But are those other companies going to treat you any better when the next iPhone comes out?

[uttrekr]

I largely agree that there isn't a good justification to waive the wait period now.  However, I would wonder if they would consider moving it up a week or so.  The reason I would offer is logistical - Black Friday weekend.  The timing for a lot of the original Iphone 4 buyers will end up opening up the upgrade window on that very weekend.  I believe it would make sense to move up the window just a little to avoid adding that many upgrading customers on what is already a rather chaotic time.

[dwill05]

Friday is Nov.25. A lot of the people who got the iPhone 4 are eligible on Nov. 21 or 22, so the rush should be over by the very overhyped "Black Friday." I don't see this being a compelling reason to move anyone's upgrade date up and I really don't think there will be much of a problem for anyone upgrading that week.

[wingrider01 ACE - Expert]

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uttrekr wrote:

I largely agree that there isn't a good justification to waive the wait period now.  However, I would wonder if they would consider moving it up a week or so.  The reason I would offer is logistical - Black Friday weekend.  The timing for a lot of the original Iphone 4 buyers will end up opening up the upgrade window on that very weekend.  I believe it would make sense to move up the window just a little to avoid adding that many upgrading customers on what is already a rather chaotic time.

---

What does black friday have to do with it? Soehow I really doubt there will be any type of black friday sale on the iphone

[uttrekr]

Not sure about your date - I got my iphone 4 on release day and ATT is showing my upgrade at 11/25 - right on Black Friday.   That would mean that everyone who got their phone that day would be up that week. 

No discounts?  Are you sure no store will will try?  Walmart is already discounting the 4s 16gb at $188.

Of course I have to admit that this may just be a Apple's doing.  They may want to stir the pot to keep the cachet image up.

[dwill05]

Strange. I got my 4 on launch day (actually the day before) and the OLAM is showing my upgrade date as 11/21.

I don't think Apple has anything to do with it. I think they leave it to the carriers to decide the dates they want to offer upgrades. All Apple does is tie to the carrier's servers to determine the what price customers are eligible for. They don't set the upgrade dates themselves.

Besides, Black Friday is a nightmare as everyone who shops at brick and mortar stores hits the mall at the same time to get a deal on everything. Why should people who want a specific cell phone on that day expect to be treated any different than someone who waits for that day to get a deal on a Plasma TV that they want?

[uttrekr]

Interesting about the date difference - can I ask when you placed your order.  If you got it before the release day then I'm gathering that you probalby pre-ordered it and got it delivered slightly ahead of the real release date.  I'm thinkng that maybe the day you ordered was the day the clock started from since you probably electronically signed an agreement on that day. 

I - on the other hand - had my preoder get cancelled (foolishly I went for a Radio Shack pre-order offer) and got the phone the store after the early AM line up so I didn't sign anything until that day.

In answer to your question - I'm probably foolishly thinking that ATT wouldn't want to add to the traffic on Black Friday.  However, I'm fairly certian that I'll problaby just order online if that's the day as I'll probably want to spend my time at whatever Black Friday deal comes out.

[dwill05]

I pre-ordered my 4 online early in the morning on the first day that preordering was available.