"iPhone 5" upgrade for iPhone 4S early adopters...

[raccer83l]

Im posting this information on my Facebook page.   I hope you all do the same. 

[ln310]

except that when he walks into the verizon store as a new customer to get the iphone 5, he gets the discounted $399 price. which is what i'll be doing.

[ln310]

its obvious most people will be paying the early temination fee and moving over to verizon- att are incredibly stupid for adding this outrageous fee. its cheaper to cancel your contract, then jump ship and get the $399 pricing with a contract from verizon. why stay with att? i dont get it. everyone knows verizon is better anyway. way to go att!

[dwill05]

From what I understand, Verizon doesn't allow any early upgrades, so when you sign up with Verizon, you are stuck for two years, which means that when the iPhone 5S/6 comes out in a year, you won't get any discount. However, you can EFT out, and swap back to AT&T and get the new customer pricing. It works both ways, you see.

[wingrider01 ACE - Geek]

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ln310 wrote:

its obvious most people will be paying the early temination fee and moving over to verizon- att are incredibly stupid for adding this outrageous fee. its cheaper to cancel your contract, then jump ship and get the $399 pricing with a contract from verizon. why stay with att? i dont get it. everyone knows verizon is better anyway. way to go att!

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you might want to do your due diliegence on verizon, if you expect to get a full discount price when the next apple toy comes out, don;t move, verizon's policies are far more strict then what att's are, they take no gaff at all. You will be required to enter into the shared data plan there, they have no individual plans avaialble. Being CDMA technology you cannot have voice / data at the same time. Triple check the coverage, not by looking at pretty pictures on the website, but by actually conversing with verison users in the areas you need servive - if you follow their pretty pictures you might end up with a devices the looks pretty and is the latest technology - but does not have reliable cell coverage - and you will be stuck with it for 2 years

Sorry to disagree with you - but att is "not incredibly stupid" - you entered into a binding contract agreeing in return you got a device at a discounted price, understanding thsat you would have to fulfill the agreement before you got the ability to get a new phone, you signed it, you agreed to it. Now you ar upset because a coprooration is holding you to the terms of the agreement and not allowing you to get the new toy at that discounted price again, they are requiring you to pay a penality to fulfill your end of the agreement. Riddle me this - why are apple users the onyl ones that demand the ability to do this and beocme outraged when the company does not bow done and adhere to their demands? 

[dwill05]

I think LTE allows simultaneous voice and data and since the iPhone 5 is LTE, so you can get it on Verizon's network. However, you do have to be in an LTE area.

[wingrider01 ACE - Geek]

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dwill05 wrote:

I think LTE allows simultaneous voice and data and since the iPhone 5 is LTE, so you can get it on Verizon's network. However, you do have to be in an LTE area.

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Beleive the device has to be VoLTE-capable, have not seen any specifications stating that the 5 is  VoLTE-capable

[dwill05]

Guys, this isn't new. The same thing happened last year with the iPhone 4S. They wouldn't let people upgrade early. I got my 4 on launch day and wasn't eligible until some time after. For all this talk about churn and tons of people beating feet from AT&T, it simply isn't going to happen.

It didn't happen last year when they started this, it didn't happen when Verizon finally got the iPhone, when AT&T dropped unlimited data, when they started throttling, when they made you pay for tethering, when they wouldnt unlock the phone for the longest time, or any other of the many things they have done over the years that people have come here and threatened to leave about.

If people feel offended enough to leave, that's their choice, but I think believing that a bunch of others are going to follow suit and cause any noticeable impact to AT&T is just wishful thinking.  Besides, this same discussion is probably going on over at Sprint and Verizon too, grumpling about not being able to upgrade and threatening to go to AT&T to get a cheaper price.  Some people leave AT&T to go to another carrier, some people from the other carriers swap to AT&T.  Nothing really changes.

Besides, there are more things to consider than the simple cost of a new phone.  There are the plans, coverage, and also the contract terms.  People need to look beyond just the price of the newest phone before making their choice, I think.

[iamvivid]

You are absolutely correct.  I buy the new iPhone every year and qualify for the full upgrade every year.  Even with the 4S.  This is the first year they are making me wait 18 months.  Not very impressed with their loyalty right now.  The regular upgrades is the reason I am still here.  It is the reason I tell other people why I like ATT.  I was going to bring my family over from T-mobile in 6 months, which is another 6 phones, but I don't think so.  Hopefully ATT will come to their senses and go the extra mile to keep customers, especially those of us who already spend a lot of money on their plans.

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datkidpatrick wrote:

thing is AT&T has always given 2 year pricing to early adopters of the iPhone... If they aren't this year I would like an official statement. 

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[wingrider01 ACE - Geek]

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iamvivid wrote:

You are absolutely correct.  I buy the new iPhone every year and qualify for the full upgrade every year.  Even with the 4S.  This is the first year they are making me wait 18 months.  Not very impressed with their loyalty right now.  The regular upgrades is the reason I am still here.  It is the reason I tell other people why I like ATT.  I was going to bring my family over from T-mobile in 6 months, which is another 6 phones, but I don't think so.  Hopefully ATT will come to their senses and go the extra mile to keep customers, especially those of us who already spend a lot of money on their plans.

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datkidpatrick wrote:

thing is AT&T has always given 2 year pricing to early adopters of the iPhone... If they aren't this year I would like an official statement. 

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no they have not, add to the fact the upgrade advantage program was changed last year, all phones are 20 months, no matte what is paid, they appear to be adhereing to that - the same type of thread is over on the verizon and sprint forums - they don;t get a privliged upgrade either. Do a little reseach on the forums to the 4S release and see all thr threads that are complaining about no priviliged upgrades from them.

here is the policy

http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/upgrade-advantage.html#fbid=o09gr_RSpjS

[iamvivid]

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wingrider01 wrote:

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iamvivid wrote:

You are absolutely correct.  I buy the new iPhone every year and qualify for the full upgrade every year.  Even with the 4S.  This is the first year they are making me wait 18 months.  Not very impressed with their loyalty right now.  The regular upgrades is the reason I am still here.  It is the reason I tell other people why I like ATT.  I was going to bring my family over from T-mobile in 6 months, which is another 6 phones, but I don't think so.  Hopefully ATT will come to their senses and go the extra mile to keep customers, especially those of us who already spend a lot of money on their plans.

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datkidpatrick wrote:

thing is AT&T has always given 2 year pricing to early adopters of the iPhone... If they aren't this year I would like an official statement. 

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no they have not, add to the fact the upgrade advantage program was changed last year, all phones are 20 months, no matte what is paid, they appear to be adhereing to that - the same type of thread is over on the verizon and sprint forums - they don;t get a privliged upgrade either. Do a little reseach on the forums to the 4S release and see all thr threads that are complaining about no priviliged upgrades from them.

here is the policy

http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/upgrade-advantage.html#fbid=o09gr_RSpjS

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I am qualified for the full upgrade in May.  I got the 4s for 199 on launch day (yes, I got the full upgrade with the 4s, 4, 3g).  Thats 18 months.  So the 20 months does not apply in my case or half the other people posting about theirs being eligible in May.  I am with ATT because of the upgrades they have done.  If all things are going to be equal on upgrade policy moving forward, I will shop all companies is all I am saying.  I do like that I can be on the phone and still use the web, which for me is very important since I tether a lot.

[Linkgx1]

I think I'm eligible for an early upgrade. It said like $449. I can sell my iPhone for like $280 via gazelle so I'm essentially get it for $180. I'm fine though.  Not sure though becaue I'm not sure if ATT can keep this early upgrade for much longer. Not sure if I want to open another line. Meh. I'll just be patient. It's only another year and a better phone will come out by then (might jump back to Android, who knows). My iPhone does like 90% of what I like so there's virutally no use in getting upset. I signed a contract with ATT and I don't think that early upgrades were even apart of the deal....that's just icing on the cake.

[wingrider01 ACE - Geek]

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iamvivid wrote:

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wingrider01 wrote:

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iamvivid wrote:

You are absolutely correct.  I buy the new iPhone every year and qualify for the full upgrade every year.  Even with the 4S.  This is the first year they are making me wait 18 months.  Not very impressed with their loyalty right now.  The regular upgrades is the reason I am still here.  It is the reason I tell other people why I like ATT.  I was going to bring my family over from T-mobile in 6 months, which is another 6 phones, but I don't think so.  Hopefully ATT will come to their senses and go the extra mile to keep customers, especially those of us who already spend a lot of money on their plans.

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datkidpatrick wrote:

thing is AT&T has always given 2 year pricing to early adopters of the iPhone... If they aren't this year I would like an official statement. 

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no they have not, add to the fact the upgrade advantage program was changed last year, all phones are 20 months, no matte what is paid, they appear to be adhereing to that - the same type of thread is over on the verizon and sprint forums - they don;t get a privliged upgrade either. Do a little reseach on the forums to the 4S release and see all thr threads that are complaining about no priviliged upgrades from them.

here is the policy

http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/upgrade-advantage.html#fbid=o09gr_RSpjS

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I am qualified for the full upgrade in May.  I got the 4s for 199 on launch day (yes, I got the full upgrade with the 4s, 4, 3g).  Thats 18 months.  So the 20 months does not apply in my case or half the other people posting about theirs being eligible in May.  I am with ATT because of the upgrades they have done.  If all things are going to be equal on upgrade policy moving forward, I will shop all companies is all I am saying.  I do like that I can be on the phone and still use the web, which for me is very important since I tether a lot.

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the policy just changed, prior to the new policy the upgrade period was 12/18/24, now it is just 20, soit appears that you upgrade came available BEFORE the policy was changed.

[burntheplans]

Rather than looking at it as AT&T charging 4S early adopters an additional $250, look at it as the "discount" or subsidy for a new iPhone 5 is $200. This about the same as the prorated ETF of $205. This means it will cost virtually the same for the phone at AT&T or with a full subsidy with a new carrier. If that is the case, if you can't wait for May 2013, it seems to make more sense to just pay the unsubsidised (unlocked?) price and own the phone outright. It then comes down to which carrier and plan is the best for you--just like it always does.

AT&T has made it clear they don't care if you stay or go if you want to upgrade.

[dwill05]

But, can you take the unlocked iPhone 5 over to Verizon or Sprint? I thought I heard that the unlocked phone is unlocked for GSM networks only, which means in the US AT&T or T-Mobile, so if that's true, the only place you can go is over to T-Mobile.

I don't get that paying the unlocked price is "cheaper". If you get a 32GB phone at the early upgrade price, it's $549 (299 + 250). An unlocked 32 GB iPhone 5 is $749. That's still $200 more that you have to pay now.

[Robco28]

To everyone saying you signed a contract now abide by it ? Yeah we did sign a contract . A contract that AT&T has changed on a monthly basis and it always seems to benefit them ? I signed an unlimited, not throttled contract. Something else you are missing is take a look at where this company was before us Apple (fanboys) came along. We have paid for their towers and infrastructure with our $170 plus bills every month for 2 phones. I have been with AT&T since the launch of the first iPhone. They have allowed me to upgrade upon release of every new iPhone until now. It would have been nice of them to let us know ahead of time that they didn't plan to do it this time. I will be going to Verizon. The only reason I am here is because of the contract and the fact they let me upgrade. And to all you senior guru's and czars that seem to always take AT&T's side if you got an iPhone and put down the copy you might understand.

[wingrider01 ACE - Geek]

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Robco28 wrote:
To everyone saying you signed a contract now abide by it ? Yeah we did sign a contract . A contract that AT&T has changed on a monthly basis and it always seems to benefit them ? I signed an unlimited, not throttled contract. Something else you are missing is take a look at where this company was before us Apple (fanboys) came along. We have paid for their towers and infrastructure with our $170 plus bills every month for 2 phones. I have been with AT&T since the launch of the first iPhone. They have allowed me to upgrade upon release of every new iPhone until now. It would have been nice of them to let us know ahead of time that they didn't plan to do it this time. I will be going to Verizon. The only reason I am here is because of the contract and the fact they let me upgrade. And to all you senior guru's and czars that seem to always take AT&T's side if you got an iPhone and put down the copy you might understand.

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really, changed on a "monthly basis"? can you point out some of these monethly changes that occured with items that are controlled by the contract? Remember features like data, text, family map, upgrade periods are not part of the aggreement you signed they are extra that you wanted or are required to make the device complient with the contract.

The upgrade policy changed, unless you fell within the previouse upgrade policy for the 4 to 4s, you did not get the upgrade, if I recall correctly before the change it was 12,18,24 depending on a lot of factors, the policy changed early this year (I believe) to a flat 20 months and unless you where late on your payments, then it will be 20 months. Try doing some searcing onthe apple forum and see all the posts referening to the simple outraged that "early adopters" of the 4 did not get the special prices for the 4S

As far as your last warble, I have had my differences with att both for personal family plans and all the business plans that I have for the company I own, have active iphones on both the family plans and on the business plans, I understand contractual agreements and do not expect to be treat with any special handling just becasue I was a "early adopter" of the toy. have about a half dozen business Iphones that are eligible, they will be updated in 4 to 6 months, there is absolutely nothing that is in the 5 that is world shattering or a must have, same with the 2 on the family plans that I have 

Bottom line business is business, I hold my custoemrs to the same standards, if they qualify for a perk, they get it, ifn ot they don;t

[wingrider01 ACE - Geek]

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dwill05 wrote:
But, can you take the unlocked iPhone 5 over to Verizon or Sprint? I thought I heard that the unlocked phone is unlocked for GSM networks only, which means in the US AT&T or T-Mobile, so if that's true, the only place you can go is over to T-Mobile.

I don't get that paying the unlocked price is "cheaper". If you get a 32GB phone at the early upgrade price, it's $549 (299 + 250). An unlocked 32 GB iPhone 5 is $749. That's still $200 more that you have to pay now.

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you aer right, it is gsm only, any gsm carrier that will allow BYOD devices on their network and have the proper frequency's to operate the phone will permit you to add the phone to their network providing they don;t have policy retrictions, and some do. So t-mobile, maybe cricket and metro are 3 that I can recall

[cmaadams]

I'm speculating that ATT has decided their LTE infrasturcture cannot handle all the new iPhone 5 traffic, and therefore they are not offering early upgrades in order to reduce the number of phones using LTE on their network.

[pdm777]

They did too do it last year.  I have always gotten my iPhone at a full discounted rate.  I have been a iPhone user since 3g and always qualified for the discounted price for the 3gs, 4 and 4s...If you had a 4 the 4s was automatic seeing that it wasn't released for 15 months after the 4 

[pdm777]

This is so bad...I gave my son-in-law my old iPhone 4 last year after I got the 4s   He came on my plan in August and ATT still made him have a 2 year commitment...and is unable to summer 2013 to get a iPhone 5...I thought that 2 year commitments were for the purpose of recooping the cost of the phone...yet he brought his own iPhone to the game and ATT still stuck him with a commitment....VERIZON her we come to the better network, now you have given us pleanty of reasons to switch. 

[robtsf]

I've been an AT&T customer for 14 years now hailing back to PacBell Pcs. I've had every iphone excpet the 3g and never been charged an upgrade fee. Like many other people I've upgraded the phones because of a promise of the phone having better reception (promises were made by Apple). AT&T network in San Francisco is the WORST. While the 4s has honestly made it liveable, if it weren't for the fact that I paid for a 3G MicroCell I wouldn't have service, right in the middle of the city. Unfortunately many of my phonecalls start with F&!CING AT&T service . after I drop the call numerous times.

I have 4 Ulimited lines for myself and my employyes along with 10 landlines for my business from AT&T. I figured that might buy me a little love with them, but I guess not. I was told a tale (that smelly kind that falls out of the rear end of a male cow) that Apple was the one setting the upgrade fees (denied by Apple employee today, saying its a carrier deal).

Verizon's service in San Francisco is WAY WAY better, and I expect many people to jump ship. Perhaps this is what AT&T wants so that their service will be better. I think I'm going to just buy the completely unlocked version this time on Verizon, and say screw it to renewing contracts from this point on. Anyway when the 5s or 6 comes out the resale on the unlocked version will be much better.

Either way however this does not bode well for AT&T in the long run. There are going to be many many people who have been used to what AT&T has done in the past being upset over this.

Just my .02 

[dwill05]

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pdm777 wrote:

They did too do it last year.  I have always gotten my iPhone at a full discounted rate.  I have been a iPhone user since 3g and always qualified for the discounted price for the 3gs, 4 and 4s...If you had a 4 the 4s was automatic seeing that it wasn't released for 15 months after the 4 

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The 4S wasn't automatic.  I got my 4 on launch day, but wasn't eligible until until a few months after the 4S launch day.

Not sure about the comment in another post earlier about AT&T warning everyone that they weren't going to allow early full upgrades.  I don't think it said anywhere they they would allow early upgrades.  Also, anyone could have checked their upgrade eligibity date using various tools and seen that it hadn't changed, so there was no reason for it to come as a surprise this morning.  The information was there.

[wingrider01 ACE - Geek]

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dwill05 wrote:

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pdm777 wrote:

They did too do it last year.  I have always gotten my iPhone at a full discounted rate.  I have been a iPhone user since 3g and always qualified for the discounted price for the 3gs, 4 and 4s...If you had a 4 the 4s was automatic seeing that it wasn't released for 15 months after the 4 

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The 4S wasn't automatic.  I got my 4 on launch day, but wasn't eligible until until a few months after the 4S launch day.

Not sure about the comment in another post earlier about AT&T warning everyone that they weren't going to allow early full upgrades.  I don't think it said anywhere they they would allow early upgrades.  Also, anyone could have checked their upgrade eligibity date using various tools and seen that it hadn't changed, so there was no reason for it to come as a surprise this morning.  The information was there.

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If I recall the time line correctly when the 4s released they still had a 3 tier upgrade period based on numerous factors, amount spent per month on the line was one of them, seem to remember 12, 18, 24 month. the currecnt upgrade advantgae is 20 months flat, no matter what you spend - so some people DID get the discounted price, but only if they qualified for the 12 month criteria. If you serahc back onthis forum they are numberous threads and a ton of messgaes form people that compalined about not getting the "eary adopters" upgrade for the 4S

[Robco28]

Maybe you didn't pay your bill on time ? Because I got up at 3am on the launch day for the 4s and ordered a 64gig after hours of trying. And yes I got it for $399. I think wingrider01 works for AT&T ? Anyone else? Over 7000 posts on an AT&T forum. I sure can think of better places to spend my time. Point is we got up in the middle of the night to order a phone and with no warning from AT&T we get this crap ? I know your going to say you could have checked , the contract says ? And you know what every other time the contract said and when you checked it said you weren't but when the day came they let it happen. They let it happen because the first time they tried this when the 2nd iPhone came out they realized that they were going to loose a lot of business if they didn't let the fanboys have their toys. So they did. And If they don't we will move on.

[wilcre ACE - Expert]

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Robco28 wrote:
Maybe you didn't pay your bill on time ? Because I got up at 3am on the launch day for the 4s and ordered a 64gig after hours of trying. And yes I got it for $399. I think wingrider01 works for AT&T ? Anyone else? Over 7000 posts on an AT&T forum. I sure can think of better places to spend my time. Point is we got up in the middle of the night to order a phone and with no warning from AT&T we get this crap ? I know your going to say you could have checked , the contract says ? And you know what every other time the contract said and when you checked it said you weren't but when the day came they let it happen. They let it happen because the first time they tried this when the 2nd iPhone came out they realized that they were going to loose a lot of business if they didn't let the fanboys have their toys. So they did. And If they don't we will move on.

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No he does not, if he did he would have this showing this " 1happyfamily Employee" and this in the signature line of every post "I am an AT&T employee and the postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent AT&T’s position, strategies or opinions.".

[21stNow]

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wingrider01 wrote:

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dwill05 wrote:
But, can you take the unlocked iPhone 5 over to Verizon or Sprint? I thought I heard that the unlocked phone is unlocked for GSM networks only, which means in the US AT&T or T-Mobile, so if that's true, the only place you can go is over to T-Mobile.

I don't get that paying the unlocked price is "cheaper". If you get a 32GB phone at the early upgrade price, it's $549 (299 + 250). An unlocked 32 GB iPhone 5 is $749. That's still $200 more that you have to pay now.

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you aer right, it is gsm only, any gsm carrier that will allow BYOD devices on their network and have the proper frequency's to operate the phone will permit you to add the phone to their network providing they don;t have policy retrictions, and some do. So t-mobile, maybe cricket and metro are 3 that I can recall

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Cricket and MetroPCS are CDMA carriers.

[21stNow]

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pdm777 wrote:

They did too do it last year.  I have always gotten my iPhone at a full discounted rate.  I have been a iPhone user since 3g and always qualified for the discounted price for the 3gs, 4 and 4s...If you had a 4 the 4s was automatic seeing that it wasn't released for 15 months after the 4 

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I was an iPhone 4 owner from a week after launch that didn't qualify for the full discount on the iPhone 4S when it was released.  This early full upgrade thing wasn't done for everybody.

[21stNow]

The VZW and Sprint iPhones 5 will not allow for simultaneous voice and data anywhere.

http://www.phonedog.com/2012/09/13/iphone-5-will-not-feature-simultaneous-voice-and-data-on-verizon/

[21stNow]

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pdm777 wrote:

This is so bad...I gave my son-in-law my old iPhone 4 last year after I got the 4s   He came on my plan in August and ATT still made him have a 2 year commitment...and is unable to summer 2013 to get a iPhone 5...I thought that 2 year commitments were for the purpose of recooping the cost of the phone...yet he brought his own iPhone to the game and ATT still stuck him with a commitment....VERIZON her we come to the better network, now you have given us pleanty of reasons to switch. 

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He should have been able to come on month-to-month.  I brought a phone onto a new third line and that line has been month-to-month.