AT&T customers: are you paying the $250 ETF?

[cardfan]

I'm not doing an early termination fee. I'm doing an early upgrade fee. And selling my phone makes perfect sense. I paid $299 for it last year. So if I wanted to buy the iPhone 5 this year I would have to pay full price. I sold my 4S, made $350 off it plus an extra $50. I'm bascially using my 4S to cover the early upgrade fee of $250 and only paying out of my pocket this year for the 5 the same price I would be paying if I had a full upgrade. It makes sense to me. I dont plan on leaving At&t so renewing my contract doesnt bother me at all.

Call it what you want. You're paying 250 extra to upgrade. That's the complaint.

You could have sold your 4S and had money left over if you didn't have the 250 fee. Which is what a lot of us did previously. That's not the point.

 

[cardfan]

They are charging you $250 to upgrade your phone before they have recouped the cost of subsidizing your last phone. Yes. But don't confuse it with an early termination fee (ETF). That's something completely different. It would apply if you cancelled your contract and went to another provider. It has nothing to do with your upgrading equipment or being able to upgrade equipment.

True. But in essence he is paying 250 as an ETF and starting a new contract. They just don't put it that way. Kudos to AT&T for making it easier. Death to AT&T for taking away annual upgrades though..lol I'm looking to switch if possible.

 

[Garz]

Probably because I have a corporate discount on my bill. I don't consider myself lucky because I'm not sticking with AT&T, lol

I'm sticking with Att. Full bars of LTE at my house. Vzn, which I have a Vzn LTE iPad, gets 1 bar if 3G service at my house. Not a option. Sprint, I won't even go there.

 

[anon(4698833)]

I'm getting one at the full upgrade price ($299 for the 32GB) and one with the extra early upgrade price...me and my wife already sold our 4S's so we're essentially paying nothing (again, like we always do).

 

[Fausty82]

I'm getting one at the full upgrade price ($299 for the 32GB) and one with the extra early upgrade price...me and my wife already sold our 4S's so we're essentially paying nothing (again, like we always do).

I don't have the luxury of selling my most recent devices. I the kids need phones and it's cheaper than buying them brand new ones and fighting over who gets the upgrades. We have a hierarchy in our family. Dad (me) is at the top. Then Mom. Then kids in order of age. New equipment goes to the top of the list and filters down over time...

But I am paying $299 (32GB) each year for a phone and then they roll down. When there are more than one upgrade available, Mom gets her upgrade whenever she wants it (if one is available). For the kids, they rotate through the ranks... so the youngest gets a shot at a new phone on occasion... still sucks that AT&T has seen fit to screw us over.

 

[Fausty82]

And here's Leanna's story on the subject (photo geekette at iMore)...

AT&T clearly doesn't want to keep me as a customer | iMore.com

 

[kch50428]

And here's Leanna's story on the subject (photo geekette at iMore)...

AT&T clearly doesn't want to keep me as a customer | iMore.com

It's a good rant. But that "surf & talk" thing might be a deal breaker for her...

 

[cardfan]

It's a good rant. But that "surf & talk" thing might be a deal breaker for her...

I noticed that. Still, I don't even have the option of LTE with AT&T. And of course, no facetime over cellular.

AT&T should at least amend it to this. Get a data sharing plan, get your usual annual upgrade. Makes sense to me..

 

[Fausty82]

I noticed that. Still, I don't even have the option of LTE with AT&T. And of course, no facetime over cellular.

AT&T should at least amend it to this. Get a data sharing plan, get your usual annual upgrade. Makes sense to me..

That sounds good... as much as I hate that thought, I even tried that... offered to switch to a shared data plan... no dice...

I'm looking at nearly $1000 in ETF plus FIVE new devices if I go, so it's doubtful that I will... but it's nice to know that I could.

BTW, I thought that LTE fixed the no concurrent voice/data for CDMA... wow...

 

[BreakingKayfabe]

I'm sticking with Att. Full bars of LTE at my house. Vzn, which I have a Vzn LTE iPad, gets 1 bar if 3G service at my house. Not a option. Sprint, I won't even go there.

I spend half my time in L.A. and other half in Orange County. I'm sure you know it's the opposite here. I'm not upgrading for a few months. So hopefully AT&T catches up here by then. And I'm basing this on my AT&T iPad 3

 

[Just_Me_D]

Nope. I will not pay an ETF to get the new iPhone 5. My daughter's iphone 4 is via AT&T and she is due for an upgrade this coming December and she has hinted that she likes the iPhone 5. I will simply get it for her for Christmas.

 

[Exxod]

I'm going to pay $650 for it outright. Hopefully I can do that tonight.
Then, I'm going to just put it on my current contract.