Austin360 blogs > Digital Savant > Archives > 2009 > June > 17 > Entry
AT&T to early iPhone 3G buyers: $99 plans to get cheapest 3G S upgrade price (UPDATED)
Major update, 4:38: You know what they say about something being too good to be true?
I just got off the phone with AT&T representative Mike Barger, who is quoted below in this blog entry. One very key bit of information that invalidates some of the content of the blog post is this: the announcement applies to those who are on $99 iPhone plans, not those who are on cheaper monthly plans.
Barger explained to me that a number of factors are taken into account for upgrade eligibility including the number of phone lines a person has and how far they are into their plans. But paramount is how much a person is paying a month. Therefore, someone who is paying $99 is much closer to paying off the original price of the phone than those who opt for cheaper plans.
Which brings us to the original blog post; those in good standing on the $99 plan who bought iPhone 3Gs last July-September are eligible for $199/$299 iPhone 3G S upgrades. Those who are on cheaper plans? Not so much.
Which leaves me with a big iPhone-shaped egg on my face for reporting otherwise. I was in two meetings, away from my desk, as this was going down and had just posted the entry. When I returned to my desk, my heart sank.
My sincere apologies.
If you’re upset with AT&T or with me today because you thought you were eligible for a cheaper upgrade only to find you aren’t, you can be comforted by this at least: I bet I’m much more upset about it.
Original post follows:
In another wrinkle to the pricing on the new iPhone 3G S, due out Friday, AT&T announced today that early buyers of the iPhone 3G, released last July, will be eligible for the $199-$299 pricing on the 3G S if they purchased their phone from July through September 2008.
According to AT&T’s site, “We’re now pleased to offer our iPhone 3G customers who are upgrade eligible in July, August or September 2009 our best upgrade pricing, beginning Thursday, June 18. If you’re one of the many customers who will benefit from this change, please note that our upgrade eligibility tools will reflect this change on Thursday, June 18.”
This will sound different to those 3G customers who felt burned believing that because they purchased a 3G at launch 11 months ago that they’d be subject to higher prices (as high as $599-$699) for the 3G S to subsidize the phone with a two-year contract.
A phone call I had with AT&T representative, Mike Barger, confirmed the news.
Pricing for the 3G S under this upgrade is $199 for a 16-gigabyte model and $299 for the 32-gigabyte model, the same as what a new AT&T wireless customer would pay.
Another AT&T representative said in a follow-up e-mail to me, “iPhone 3G went on sale July 11, 2008. iPhone 3G S is going on sale about 11 months later. A number of our iPhone 3G customers are literally weeks shy of being upgrade eligible. This change helps them. We recognize that these customers likely camped at our stores, stood in long lines or waited for iPhone 3G inventory to arrive. We value their business - and want to keep them doing business with AT&T. Hundreds of thousands of customers who are upgrade eligible in July, August and September 2009 can take advantage of this change.”
To check eligibility, AT&T has made the process easier than their Web site (which for days gave me the option to upgrade to a 3G phone from my first-gen iPhone, but no option to buy a 3G S): you can call *639# (star N-E-W-Pound) and you’ll receive a text message informing you of your upgrade eligibility. Given that the wording of the press release suggests this all goes into effect tomorrow, you may want to wait a day to try again if you don’t like the answer you get today.
For those who aren’t upgrading but still own an iPhone (or are buying a $99 3G model), there’s still good news today: the new 3.0 version of the iPhone OS is now live, although some have reported that Apple’s activation server is being hit hard with new requests.
I was able to download the software and 3.0 so far is pretty great. It features copy-paste, a universal search function (accessible by swiping left to right on your first screen of apps) and e-mail search. It’s a free upgrade for all iPhone users, accessible on the “UPDATE” button in iTunes when you plug in your phone.
iPod Touch users will need to pay $10 for the OS 3.0 update.
Permalink | Comments (7) | Post your comment Categories: Gadgets, Phones, Shopping
Comments
Click here to report comment abuse.
By TX
June 17, 2009 10:56 PM | Link to this
A correction, an explanation, and an apology - quite professional. It's nice to see that.
By JR - Hook 'Em!
June 17, 2009 10:03 PM | Link to this
at&t has been my one and only wireless provider since the early 90's. I have always been very pleased with the service. Still, I just now got on with another provider that offers TRUE UNLIMITED voice (US, Canada, Puerto Rico), text, email, Internet AND you can tether your cell to your laptop for UNLIMITED Internet access. All on a 3G Plus Wireless Spectrum. I emphasize TRUE UNLIMITED because most of the major providers have fine print where they limit your data per month. All this for a flat rate $79.95/month ALL fees and taxes included! No contract. Month per month. No other provider can touch this offer!
By Thomas T
June 17, 2009 6:02 PM | Link to this
at&t is NOT the best of all. I am a at&t customer with 4 lines since 1993, never own a iphone but almost getting two. The $30 data package per line is ridiculous + $18 upgrade fee.
I kept get the replaced phone from GTE to Cingular to at&t are never compatible to their towers.
The good news is verizon & sprint will carry the iphone to the sprint 4g network and Verizon as well.
stay tune and you may not required to pay $30 of ridiculous of data package.
By David Wyatt
June 17, 2009 5:32 PM | Link to this
Fail.
By Omar Gallaga
June 17, 2009 5:26 PM | Link to this
John -- yes, the amount you spend monthly has a direct effect on your eligibility date, a fact I missed that was left out of the original post.
Have since corrected the entry. My apologies for the confusion.
Adam -- what do you mean by "Full price?" If you paid the full phone price to be off-contract/month-to-month then you shouldn't have any restrictions on iPhone 3G price. You might want to call them; I've had some glitchyness dealing with their Web site (and Apple's) trying to get a firm upgrade price.
By Adam
June 17, 2009 5:00 PM | Link to this
How is it I paid full price for my 3G last July, but don't qualify for the upgrade price?
By John
June 17, 2009 3:44 PM | Link to this
You didn't understand what they just said properly.
The customers who are UPGRADE eligible in July, August, or September get the subsidized pricing. Not customers who purchased the phone.
The only people who are upgrade eligible in July, August or September are those who spend $99 or more per line.
I bought my 3G when it came out last year but I am not upgrade eligible till March 2010!
AT&T still sucks [very naughty word]!