iLounge

1

I have to wonder if this move is AT&T/ Apple’s response to yesterday’s news that the Android OS attained a higher market share than the iPhone (in the first quarter of this year).  Let the whizzing contest begin!

Posted by rockmyplimsoul on May 11, 2010 at 6:01 PM (PST)

2

I just checked my account and my message reads the same. However, my eligibility date is June 20. I have a 3GS that I bought on last years release date.

Posted by fzappa on May 11, 2010 at 7:50 PM (PST)

3

Can I upgrade to the iPhone 4G if i own the iPhone 3G or do I need to upgrade to the 3GS first?

Posted by Hansel on May 11, 2010 at 10:48 PM (PST)

4

I got an iPhone 3GS about a month ago in early April.  I wonder if I’m stuck with this for two years, of if they’ll let me go to a 4.

Posted by Joe Siegler on May 12, 2010 at 5:04 AM (PST)

5

AT&T would not push customers’ eligibility dates up five months out of the goodness of its heart. Why would people who would not normally be eligible for an upgrade suddenly have the option around the time the fourth-generation iPhone comes out?

I wonder if exclusivity really does end this summer with another U.S. carrier getting the iPhone in the fall? If say, Verizon, announced it was getting iPhone in September or October, wouldn’t disgruntled AT&T users simply wait until their contracts expired in November and change networks?

Posted by cxc273 on May 12, 2010 at 5:43 AM (PST)

6

ATT is all hosed up, bought two 3gs last year.. one family plan, ONE phone (the wrong one, the wife’s, is upgradeable june 20th) the other one, MINE, is not upgradeable until Feb 2011… spent an HOUR on the phone with ATT they cannot change or swap the dates, and claim that on family plans, only 1 phone can be upgraded ‘early’. they recommended ordering with HER number, and then upgrading MY phone account.  which I know will end in tragedy, some how..

so no release date upgrade for me..  too bad for ATT, I will hold through the year hoping for a verizon announcement… god please… ATT drops quite a few calls, they apple to thank for my $$$

Posted by noneother on May 12, 2010 at 5:47 AM (PST)

7

Interesting. I have a iPhone 3G I got in Dec. 08 and I’m eligible for an upgrade in 08/17/10 which has been that way since I first got the phone. So you’re telling me that people that got a phone at least six months later are eligible for an upgrade two months earlier? Wow.

I’ve been a customer for close to twenty years. Through Celluar One, Cingular and now AT&T. I would expect better. Guess not.

Posted by crawdad62 on May 12, 2010 at 6:12 AM (PST)

8

My upgrade date is still in November and I bought the 3GS at launch.

But that’s just fine, because the last thing I need to be wasting money on is a new iPhone every year.

I don’t want to get caught up in that whirlwind.

Posted by ort on May 12, 2010 at 6:22 AM (PST)

9

Bought 2 days after launch, still have a november upgrade date.

Sylvie

Posted by Sylvie McGee on May 12, 2010 at 9:23 AM (PST)

10

Last year only AT&T iPhone customers that had paid a monthly fee of $100+ for the prior 12 months were allowed to upgrade to the newest version of iPhone after only one year.  It might be the same this year.

Posted by Turtle on May 12, 2010 at 10:14 AM (PST)

11

@ cxc273 and fzappa

AT&T did this same thing last summer when the 3GS released. Customers that bought the 3G at release were bumped up to allow an early upgrade. So, this has nothing to do with the market share of Android OR rumored end of exclusivity.

Honestly, I do not know what AT&T gets out of this deal. Maybe Apples clout with them is enough that they can dictate early upgrades to get more new iPhones on the market. Who knows really?

Posted by Mitch on May 12, 2010 at 10:38 AM (PST)

12

@ Turtle - I do not think that is true. If it is, then you are saying they paid an additional $1200 (monthly fee of $100+ for the prior 12 months) to switch phones! That did not happen. I know 3 people myself that got the “early upgrade” option when the 3GS released. No additional fees.

Now there may have been some sort of fees for those that did not fit the small window of eligibility. But I am pretty sure it was not to the level you have stated.

Posted by Mitch on May 12, 2010 at 11:07 AM (PST)

13

Looks like my situation is the same as NONEOTHER.  My phone isn’t eligible for upgrade until Nov/2010, but my husband’s is Aug/2010.  We’re on a family plan also.

Posted by Sarah on May 12, 2010 at 11:19 AM (PST)

14

Clarification of my prior email - I should have used the word “bill” instead of “fee”.  Last year, AT&T iPhone customers who spend more than $99-a-month per line for 12 months were eligible for an iphone upgrade at the end of that 12 month period.

Posted by Turtle on May 12, 2010 at 4:41 PM (PST)