AT&T now blaming Apple for early adopter upgrade mess

[Brafly]

You have to read it to believe it.  Seriously AT&T, stop lying and provide transparency on exactly how the upgrade process works.

http://www.cultofmac.com/120848/att-blaming-apple-for-iphone-4s-upgrade-pricing-that-screws-loyal-ip...

[dwill05]

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Brafly wrote:

You have to read it to believe it.  Seriously AT&T, stop lying and provide transparency on exactly how the upgrade process works.

http://www.cultofmac.com/120848/att-blaming-apple-for-iphone-4s-upgrade-pricing-that-screws-loyal-ip...

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How do you know this article isn't correct?

[graphite07]

some one post the price after they do preorder friday!!  then the forums will know the price.

[21stNow]

Are you saying that you don't believe the prices posted on Apple's website?

[graphite07]

not after reading the prices the artical had posted. 449$ for  16GB 

[cladmonitor]

Better to say, you actually believe an article on a 2nd tier (at best) blog? And why did the writer believe what a lowly CSR said .....

Either way its a Marketing Nightmare for Apple and AT&T if they don't decide to post up some sort of retraction/clarification. To be honest though neither will suffer much from this, the people who are affected are not big stock share holders.

[yozhbk]

It'll be a big chunck of family plans that will leave. They will feel it.....

[dwill05]

Maybe. But people who leave have to decide whether not being able to talk and use data at the same times is a big deal when they swap over to Verizon or Sprint. Also, whether their coverage is at least as good. It may be worthwhile for some, and not for others. People have to decide whether going elsewhere really is better. Threatening to leave on the spur of the moment is one thing, but ultimately, people will have to decide whether the pros and cons of the other services are worth it in the end.

Personally, I doubt many people will leave just over having to wait a month or two to upgrade if they have already been using the phone 4 for a year and a half. People claimed that millions of people would flock to Verizon when they finally for the iPhone and AT&T would collapse on it's own greed. That didn't happen that, and I doubt it will happen now, but that's just my opinion. We'll have to see.

[satchev]

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yozhbk wrote:
It'll be a big chunck of family plans that will leave. They will feel it.....

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Really???? You honestly think a lot of people will ETF out at $165~ per line (assuming contracts were started June/July 2010) to go to another carrier, sign a new 2yr contract and pay a minimum of $199 for a new 4S?

That's just dumb.

They are not eligible for an upgrade based on the terms of the contract they signed.  No one is being hurt here.  If you do not want a contract, buy the phone at full price.

If you want the newest/latest/greatest before being eligible for full discount, take advantage of the early upgrade price.

Otherwise, wait the 1-4 months or however long it is until you are fully eligible.

Just stop acting like [please be courteous]

[yozhbk]

Pretty sure you are being dump, yes people will pay 165 rather then 250+18 per line. The 2 year is a contract cycle not upgrade cycle you are committing to the plan not a cell phone, why is the warranty on all phones only for a year not 2 ? Trust me if this is not fix by Att they will see impact, before it could of been brushed off, but not with other carriers that actually have higher customer satisfaction getting same phone, there will be red on next report, this already might be late since people are making up there mind and researching plans like me.

[ShaunMN]

Hi folks, let all remember to keep it courteous please. Thank you

[drumn_bass]

http://community.vzw.com/t5/Upgrade-and-Activation/Push-upgrade-date-for-iPhone-4s-release/td-p/6840...

[youngjm ACE - Professor]

In many ways this makes sense.  For the iPhone 4 launch, the servers got slammed.  By spreading out renewals based on the users bills, they can delay the full impact of all the orders.  Apple is a very controlling company and want to control that experience and having their servers go down is not good.

[21stNow]

Graphite, my point was that everyone's upgrade eligibility is different, therefore different people will pay different prices. That screenshot in the article showed the upgrade eligibility for the author. If you put in your information, it could be different and should be accurate for you.

[graphite07]

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21stNow wrote:
Graphite, my point was that everyone's upgrade eligibility is different, therefore different people will pay different prices. That screenshot in the article showed the upgrade eligibility for the author. If you put in your information, it could be different and should be accurate for you.

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ok got it.   i need to check my upgrade price. my bill is pass  due will be paid friday.  so i can find out  how much.

[dwill05]

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yozhbk wrote:
Pretty sure you are being dump, yes people will pay 165 rather then 250+18 per line. The 2 year is a contract cycle not upgrade cycle you are committing to the plan not a cell phone, why is the warranty on all phones only for a year not 2 ? Trust me if this is not fix by Att they will see impact, before it could of been brushed off, but not with other carriers that actually have higher customer satisfaction getting same phone, there will be red on next report, this already might be late since people are making up there mind and researching plans like me.

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True, if money were the ONLY part of the equation, people would pay rather $165 than $250.  But, the cheapest option is to just wait a month or two for your upgrade date to come around and then pay nothing extra.  A lot of people would rather pay $0 than $165 or $250.

[yozhbk]

Exactly money is not its the principal of having to wait 16 months and then being told wait 1.5 (really close 2 monhts)  more, when some people phones were berely hanging on already. 

See I`m ok with paying extra for 1 line, I did it last time. But paying $500 extra because they want us to wait another 2 months, for some random reason, while so many carriers have it now and its cheaper to get it there and plans cheaper just doent make sense to me.....

[tonester]

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dwill05 wrote:
Maybe. But people who leave have to decide whether not being able to talk and use data at the same times is a big deal when they swap over to Verizon or Sprint. 

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The only people who think that being able to talk and use data at the same time is a big deal are the pro-AT&T folks who love to constantly shill it as the big feature that distinguishes AT&T from the other carriers; I mean, millions of VZ smartphone users apparently don't think that simultaneous talk/data is a necessity. Seriously--would your smartphone experience be less enjoyable if you weren't able to surf the web on your smartphone while talking to your mother at the same time?

Don't get me wrong--simultaneous talk/data is a great feature, but it's not the make-or-break or must-have feature that some AT&T fanboys make it out to be.  Heck--look at how many folks purchased the first-gen iPhone even though there were other smartphones out there that were capable of 3G?

[archermoo]

Ah, finally time for the delayed "But AT&T has to let me get a subsidized upgrade every 12 (or 15 this time) months, even though they told me up front that upgrades were every 20 months on a 2 year contract" threads.  I'll go get my popcorn...

[E the P]

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archermoo wrote:

Ah, finally time for the delayed "But AT&T has to let me get a subsidized upgrade every 12 (or 15 this time) months, even though they told me up front that upgrades were every 20 months on a 2 year contract" threads.  I'll go get my popcorn...

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I kinda agree.  We all knew the rules when we signed up.  Upgrade discount every time your contract comes due.  Some times AT&T has let that slip, but we have no right to demand it.  Just because they've done it in the past doesn't mean they have to do it every time.  Knowing Apple I'm certain AT&T has had to pay through the nose for the iPhones, I'm not surprised they are being tight on additional deals.

[archermoo]

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tonester wrote:

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dwill05 wrote:
Maybe. But people who leave have to decide whether not being able to talk and use data at the same times is a big deal when they swap over to Verizon or Sprint. 

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The only people who think that being able to talk and use data at the same time is a big deal are the pro-AT&T folks who love to constantly shill it as the big feature that distinguishes AT&T from the other carriers; I mean, millions of VZ smartphone users apparently don't think that simultaneous talk/data is a necessity. Seriously--would your smartphone experience be less enjoyable if you weren't able to surf the web on your smartphone while talking to your mother at the same time?

Don't get me wrong--simultaneous talk/data is a great feature, but it's not the make-or-break or must-have feature that some AT&T fanboys make it out to be.  Heck--look at how many folks purchased the first-gen iPhone even though there were other smartphones out there that were capable of 3G?

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It is a fairly important feature for me at least.  There have been a number of times that my wife has called me asking for help with directions while driving, and being able to keep her on the phone while I look things up for her has been very useful.  Not to mention calling friends to figure out where we want to meet for dinner, or what movie we want to go to.  Nice to be able to look those things up rather than hanging up, looking stuff up, calling back, repeat until decision is made.

That being said, there are a lot of more important decisions at the carrier level.  How good the service is in the areas you are most in is right up there at the top of the list.  If I had a problem with AT&T's coverage I'd have no problems switching to a different carrier.  Fortunately I don't.

[Brafly]

@youngjm -- {Please keep it courteous}  Apple does not LET their servers go down during an iPhone launch...its never happened.  Now AT&T servers have gone down, but never Apple.

Further, the dates ARE NOT spread out.  Launch date for Iphone 4 was 6-24-2011.  

11-24-2011 is Thanksgiving, stores are closed, yet this is when most upgrade dates for those that purchased iPhone4 at launch were pushed to by AT&T. (Exactly 17 months after iPhone4 purchase)

Apple is controlling, and I highly doubt they want their early adopter customers to wait an additional 42 days, then swamp their stores on Black Friday (11-25-2011)

Your argument does not hold water.  {Please keep it courteous}

[yozhbk]

My is 11/22 not 24.

[youngjm ACE - Professor]

@brafly frOm personal experience ordering ny iPhone 4 from Apple, they were overwhelmed and their site definitely went down. During the iPhone 3G launch folks waited up to 72 hours fort their iPhones to be activated.

[spd2demun ACE - Master]

What if we're out of contract, just want a phone upgrade (keep existing plan, add data plan), how difficult will that be?  Already checked, all Family Talk phones are eligible for upgrades (including iPhones).

[Thatsmyname]

If you all want to pay your ETFs to get the iPhone 4s on another carrier, that is your choice. But, what will you do when the 5 comes out, and you realize your new carrier also will not allow you to upgrade early? Jump THAT ship too? Verizon doesnt do it. Sprint doesnt do it. So I dont understand the fuss.

[aristizzle]

AT&T is the only carrier that offers early upgrades, so I believe once they realize when the iphone 5 comes out that they cannot upgrade to it, they will end up jumping ship on their new carrier and wasting more of their time/money instead of just saving themselves the pain of switching carriers for a phone that looks exactly the same as the iphone 4.

[Thatsmyname]

Exactly. I know Sprint has no yearly upgrades anymore. And good luck on trying to upgrade a DAY before your eligibility date. They also raised their ETFs from 200 to. 350. So that'll be pretty costly for the ship jumpers when the 5 comes out.

[kevin45680]

No, just ordered mine this morning for $199 for 16G and I have an old iphone 3 that is 3 years old.