How to get subsidation if a "Launch Day" 3g owner...

[kunfuzious]

Just got off the phone with AT&T and confirmed what I thought already, but hadn't seen mentioned anywhere else yet:

I bought the iPhone 3g at launch, on July 11th 2008, like a lot of users. July 12th, I'm within my 11 months remaining on my contract, and am eligible for full subsidation on AT&T phones with a new two year contract.

I remembered this was the case before on both my line and my wife's(when we were using Blackberrys) and called to confirm. This doesn't help those that waited to pick up a 3G and now want a 3GS, but for those of us that got the 3g on 7/11/08, July 12th 2009 is the day we can pick up the 3GS for $199/$299 respectively.

Note: I also checked my price for the Bold effective 7/12/09 as well as another 3G and both were at full subsidization pricing.

[Cantwait4iPhone]

Great find, this should help a lot of people out.

So essentially the period from June 19th until July 12th will be torture for some people.

[gotzaiPhone]

yes, this works, BUT you have to spend at least xxx dollars a month on your phone bill and its only for the #1 line that can get the once a year upgrade at full discounts.

[kunfuzious]

I would have to believe that $100+ per month on you iPhone bill would be more than enough. And since it's only my phone I want to upgrade- i think I'm ok.

Just checked Apple website and got the $399/499 pricing with the caveat that I would be eliglible for an additional discount on July 12th.

[Cjvdh]

What about for myself. I bought my iPhone 3G Feb 20th 2009 will I qualify for a 3GS Upgrade or do I have to wait ?

[jcrusor]

What about for myself. I bought my iPhone 3G Feb 20th 2009 will I qualify for a 3GS Upgrade or do I have to wait ?


Deepending on what you pay per month you may be eligible for the $399/$499 price. I switched back to the Iphone about the same time and they tried to make me pay face value but when she finished ringing it up in the store I was able to get the early upgrade price.

[Saverino]

yes, this works, BUT you have to spend at least xxx dollars a month on your phone bill and its only for the #1 line that can get the once a year upgrade at full discounts.

Sorry, could you explain what you mean a little more about the #1 line? Both of my lines are able to upgrade after a year for the full discounted price. They're both over $100...

[FrankieG889D]

I spend $108.41 for my iPhone each month, and i got the 3G on day one.. I am not eligable for the 3Gs until 12/12/09.. so not entirley true.

EDIT: I'm the only one in my family that has AT&T.

[kunfuzious]

I spend $108.41 for my iPhone each month, and i got the 3G on day one.. I am not eligable for the 3Gs until 12/12/09.. so not entirley true.

EDIT: I'm the only one in my family that has AT&T.

Don't know what to tell you. I've AWLAYS been eligible for upgrade and renewal after 12 months, never 18 months. Could be a number of other factors involved in the 18 month requirement.

[Quake97]

I spend $108.41 for my iPhone each month, and i got the 3G on day one.. I am not eligable for the 3Gs until 12/12/09.. so not entirley true.

EDIT: I'm the only one in my family that has AT&T.

Is that number after all of the taxes? If so, the $99/month is voice and features before taxes. For me, I had the main line of my family plan at $50, then the data plan at $30 and unlimited text at $20. That was $100/month.

Joe

[blewis1984]

I spend $108.41 for my iPhone each month, and i got the 3G on day one.. I am not eligable for the 3Gs until 12/12/09.. so not entirley true.

EDIT: I'm the only one in my family that has AT&T.


I got my 3g on launch day and it also tells me 12/12/09 when I go through the upgrade process on the website.

[Hinezy]

Same here, launch 3G and it says 12/12/09.

[couch]

I also got my phone on launch and it says it's available to me on 3/11/2010 wtf LOL

[seanwes]

I also got my phone on launch and it says it's available to me on 3/11/2010 wtf LOL

Same for me. :( And my bill is $180/mo.

[wildonrio]

Can someone please call AT&T and confirm this? I just tried but I got an incompetent rep who didn't know anything, as usual :/

[iphun]

Can someone please call AT&T and confirm this? I just tried but I got an incompetent rep who didn't know anything, as usual :/

Confirm what?

[Europa]

Same for me. :( And my bill is $180/mo.
That sucks! I got my 3G on launch day and have the same upgrade eligibility date, but my bill is $75/month. I would double check that with AT&T, it just doesn't sound right.

[wildonrio]

Confirm what?

Confirm what we're talking about - if your bill is over $100 you can get the 3G S fully subsidized after 12 months instead of the typical 18. If this is confirmed, a lot of people will be happy because most iPhone bills are over $100. This means 3G S for $199/$299 on July 11th instead of February 11th for iDay 2 buyers.

[iphun]

Confirm what we're talking about - if your bill is over $100 you can get the 3G S fully subsidized after 12 months instead of the typical 18. If this is confirmed, a lot of people will be happy because most iPhone bills are over $100. This means 3G S for $199/$299 on July 11th instead of February 11th for iDay 2 buyers.

Yeah I wasn't thinking when I asked that :embarrassed:. I have heard this but cannot confirm. I am sure you will get some at&t reps who will say yes and some who will say no. I will give calling them a try to see if I can get someone to answer. I seem to have good luck with getting nice at&t reps when I call.

[snowcrash]

Confirm what we're talking about - if your bill is over $100 you can get the 3G S fully subsidized after 12 months instead of the typical 18. If this is confirmed, a lot of people will be happy because most iPhone bills are over $100. This means 3G S for $199/$299 on July 11th instead of February 11th for iDay 2 buyers.

I can confirm this. I was on the phone with ATT and was told this same thing. Here is our (my family plan deal) We have 5 iPhones on our plan. My brothers phone is the account master phone. His bill (since he is the account holder) is over $100 a month the others are around $50 give or take. He can get the 3GS for $299 on July 11th ($499 before then) The other four of the phones who got them launch can get the sub price after December. Three of them for $499 now and mine for $699!!! The reason I have to pay $699 is because I didn't like V1 and only had it for a few months and got a Blackberry inbetween that and the 3G and used up my sub credits. They did credit our account $200 for the month because they felt that charging me $699 wasn't right since we spend about $400 a month and usually pay full price for our phones (other then when they offered the 3G to everyone for the sub price).

So best thing to do is just call and have them explain your situation for you. Who knows they may even credit your account if they cant directly change the price of the phone for you. The call basically took 10 mins and everything was taken care of to my satisfication. Yeah I have to pay $699 but if you subtract the $200 we got as a credit this month it works out that one gets it for $299 in July and the rest of us pay $499. Sounds good to me since we are all mid-contract. Yeah I would love to get it for $299 but oh well this time next year I will be all set because I am paying full price this year :wink:

[FrankieG889D]

It's cleary spotty... Like I said before, I spend over 100 and I'm eligable in December.. I don't know why this is such a big deal, it says when you are eleigable when you try to reserve an iPhone through the apple store.

[wildonrio]

Here's a chart showing when launch day 3G owners are eligible for full subsidy on 3G S:

Situation 1
Bill Total: Above $99 / month
Upgrade Eligible: 12 months in (Purchased July 11, 2008, eligible July 12th, 2009)

Situation 2
Bill Total: Between $69 and $98.99 / month
Upgrade Eligible: 17 months in (Purchased July 11, 2008, eligible December 12th, 2009)

Situation 3
Bill Total: Less than $69 / month
Upgrade Eligible: 20 months in (Purchased July 11, 2008, eligible March 12th, 2009)

[elkay]

Here's a chart showing when launch day 3G owners are eligible for full subsidy on 3G S:

Situation 1
Bill Total: Above $99 / month
Upgrade Eligible: 12 months in (Purchased July 11, 2008, eligible July 12th, 2009)

Situation 2
Bill Total: Between $69 and $98.99 / month
Upgrade Eligible: 17 months in (Purchased July 11, 2008, eligible December 12th, 2009)

Situation 3
Bill Total: Less than $69 / month
Upgrade Eligible: 20 months in (Purchased July 11, 2008, eligible March 12th, 2009)

Ok.. so my question then becomes.. who the heck does today's announcement actually affect? Who falls into July/August/September beside the few people that have the July 11 date? Every single person I know that has a 3G got it launch day and we all have Dec 11. AT&T made this "yay we're giving in" announcement, but it affects so little of the population that is upset. If they're going to shift early adopter 3G buyers by 3 months, they should shift every early adopter 3G owner to be fair. Shift the December people to September and the March people to December. From a business standpoint it makes sense because that's how they're going to get the most people locked into another 2 years, which is really what they want anyway.

[kunfuzious]

In my OP I said when I checked my eligibility it said 7/12/2009. This would fall in line with the above a smy monthly charges before taxes 109.99. I'll be in line on Friday...

[llrickman]

What i read on that att update was that the website wouldnt reflect the new upgrade stuff until friday. If you check your status now its gonna show what it showed a week a month or 6months ago . It should show the new upgrade plan friday

[elkay]

Site has been updated. The only people today's change affects are those that already had a date in July, August or September, meaning only people who have an iPhone plan over $99/mo MRC (monthly recurring charge, excluding any overage or extra purchases). Honestly, it doesn't affect that many people and have further separated the "winners" from the "losers", of which most are on the losing side. Damage control failure.

[Hondamaker]

Can someone please call AT&T and confirm this? I just tried but I got an incompetent rep who didn't know anything, as usual :/I called ATT again to reconfirm my eligibility, and found out the first rep I talked to was wrong. I bought my 3G on July 12, and I'm eligible for the subsidized pricing on 12/12/09. Bastards. I called 4 ore times and talked to 4 more ppl and a supervisor, and they all said the same thing. 12/12/09. I'm not a happy fukkin camper, but I'm still going to get a 3GS tomorrow. I'll unlock it in December and sell it and get the 32 gigger then. Me smart. :wink: