Early upgraders...prepare yourself to be poorer!

Eileen89

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I think it goes by when your contract ends or the period you would normally be allowed to upgrade without any extra fees.
With AT&T one can upgrade with a full discount at 20 months. However, my question is since one has to sign a new 2 year agreement with AT&T to get an early upgrade, does this push the date of the full upgrade to 20 months as well? If it does then I don't consider it to be a good deal, and almost the same thing as paying full retail one year and then getting a full upgrade the following year.

Hope this makes sense. :)
 

Garz

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With AT&T one can upgrade with a full discount at 20 months. However, my question is since one has to sign a new 2 year agreement with AT&T to get an early upgrade, does this push the date of the full upgrade to 20 months as well? If it does then I don't consider it to be a good deal, and almost the same thing as paying full retail one year and then getting a full upgrade the following year.

Hope this makes sense. :)

I typically sell our previous model 32GB's for about $450 on Craigslist. To get early upgrade for same 32GB, it's $550. So basically we pay $100 + the tax to get her a new iPhone. It's worth it in my opinion. We've done it every year. Plus when we sell mine, I get more on CL for my used one than I pay for the new one on contract so most times it's a even wash. New iPhones for both and no additional spent.
 

Eileen89

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I typically sell our previous model 32GB's for about $450 on Craigslist. To get early upgrade for same 32GB, it's $550. So basically we pay $100 + the tax to get her a new iPhone. It's worth it in my opinion. We've done it every year. Plus when we sell mine, I get more on CL for my used one than I pay for the new one on contract so most times it's a even wash. New iPhones for both and no additional spent.

In your case this would be worth it then. In mine not, since I pass all of my old iPhones down to my kids, lol.
 

anon(4698833)

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That would be very expensive for me since I buy 2 every year

Yeah, I'm in the same boat...and we do the same thing every year, buy the 2 new ones, sell the two old ones and at most come out of pocket about $100 (which ain't bad). This year though, my wife is not really liking the new iPhone leaks, and is hoping for something different when they officially announce it, combined with the fact that she was turned off by the idea that the battery life might be worse (though ive told her countless time that could just be the rumor mill going before release)...and she loves her 4S more than any other phone she's ever had.

Im guessing this tune will change though if i get mine and she realizes she has the old one still...haha.
 

Peligro911

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Verizon people
Add a line 10 bucks a month get new phone esn swap the phone to your current line keeping your data now put a dumb phone on that " new" line and drop the data 2 g for 30 .. 10 bucks a month is 120 plus 250 for new phone so 370 total vs 650 ? Some might say but contact is 2 years ok well 240 plus 250 .. Is still cheaper than 650 ..
Now if you have switched to the share plan well then none of this matters lol
 

cardfan

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Add a line 10 bucks a month get new phone esn swap the phone to your current line keeping your data now put a dumb phone on that " new" line and drop the data 2 g for 30 .. 10 bucks a month is 120 plus 250 for new phone so 370 total vs 650 ? Some might say but contact is 2 years ok well 240 plus 250 .. Is still cheaper than 650 ..
Now if you have switched to the share plan well then none of this matters lol

You can do same thing with AT&T to avoid the 250 by adding a line. You'll just be paying an extra 9.99 a month. It's still roughly 250 over 2 years but at least it's not all up front.

And you'll have to avoid their data sharing plans where a dumbphone would cost 30 a month.

The real kick in the pants here is AT&T is taking away making the primary line eligible every 12 months. At least, this is what I hear. I'm fine with secondary lines being 20 months or so but this was perhaps the main thing keeping me with AT&T, knowing i'd (the primary line) get full upgrade pricing each year. Yes, you can sell your old iphone and all that, but you should already be doing that. This is still 250 more.
 

GingerSnapsBack

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Add a line 10 bucks a month get new phone esn swap the phone to your current line keeping your data now put a dumb phone on that " new" line and drop the data 2 g for 30 .. 10 bucks a month is 120 plus 250 for new phone so 370 total vs 650 ? Some might say but contact is 2 years ok well 240 plus 250 .. Is still cheaper than 650 ..
Now if you have switched to the share plan well then none of this matters lol

I'd still rather pay full price for a phone than pay more for a phone line I don't need. It'd be like me all of a sudden getting a landline phone just to save a few bucks on my DirecTV package.
 

dmt316

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I'd still rather pay full price than lose my unlimited data. I use way too much do add an extra $60 or so to my bill to switch to tiered to get the amount I need.

i agree. im half way thru my billing cycle and im at 2 gigs already. it will cost me 30 bucks more a month for a data plan to keep up with me.
 

anon(4698833)

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I just wonder why do you guys sign 2 year contracts if you know that you will want to upgrade after one year...

It comes down to convenience honestly...if you don't want to shell out the full cost, you take the contract and you get whatever discount is afforded to you based on how far into the previous contract you are in. You save a few bucks up front, and you have the new phone upon release.
 

Eileen89

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There are no 1 year contracts on Verizon anymore. Either 2 year, or - full price for a phone & month to month.

Correct. I'm not positive but I believe all of the major wireless carriers have done away with one year contracts. T-Mobile used to still do one year but they might have done away with them as well.
 

poiman

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Correct. I'm not positive but I believe all of the major wireless carriers have done away with one year contracts. T-Mobile used to still do one year but they might have done away with them as well.

Ok, thanks for the info. I really didn't know because I always buy new phones without a contract (full price).
 

Speedygi

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Ok, thanks for the info. I really didn't know because I always buy new phones without a contract (full price).

Me too, I always hit the Apple online store in a hurry after a new product hits. I will even probably do that for the new IPhone 5
 

Totalimmortal363

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It's been $250 for as long as I've been with AT&T, going on 4 years. Some stores, however, will try to charge more than the standard $250 on early upgrades.
 

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