So, after a tidal wave of criticism from the iPhone early adopters, AT&T is doing the right thing — kind of. Today, AT&T issued an update to its policy regarding the iPhone 3G S upgrade price. Previously, only those existing customers who were eligible for a new phone subsidy (typically those within a few months of their two year contract expiring) would get the best price for the device. That meant no current iPhone 3G owners were getting it because that device is only 11 months old. But now, AT&T will offer the best price to some iPhone 3G owners — but which ones? Basically, it looks like those with the most expensive contracts.
“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,” AT&T writes. But don’t be fooled, that’s far from everyone.
If you read a few lines above you’ll see “For example, iPhone customers who spend more than $99 a month per line with us generally are eligible for an upgrade between 12 and 18 months into their contract.” As an iPhone 3G AT&T customer, I decided to check my eligibility using “check eligibility” tool on Apple’s website. The date I’m eligible for the upgrade according to that site is December 12, 2009 — well outside the July, August or September rule. I bought the iPhone 3G on day one, so why am I not eligible? Because I’m not paying enough — by 33 cents, apparently.
My monthly bill is $98.67.
As someone with the 450 anytime minute plan (the lowest), I would venture to guess that I’m in the same boat as most of you out there with iPhone 3Gs. I opted to get 1500 text messages tacked on to my plan for $15 a month mostly because I hate AT&T’s (and all other carrier’s) ridiculous text messaging pricing. So I saved myself $5, which would have gotten me unlimited texts, but more importantly, would have put me over the $99 a month threshold.
But look at the wording from AT&T again. If those paying more than $99 a month are eligible for upgrades after between 12 and 18 months, I would assume those paying $100 are towards the 18 month part of that window, while those much paying much more are closer to the 12 month line.
So this is just a guess, but if my $98.67 isn’t eligible until December under the old rules, I would imagine you’ll have to have a monthly bill in something like the $120 or above range to hit the September window needed to trigger the fully subsidized iPhone 3G S price.
The new upgrade prices will go into effect tomorrow on AT&T’s eligibility tool, so we’ll know for sure then. But when that happens I fully suspect I’ll see my iPhone 3G S offer to be the same $399 or $499 as it is today. And if you’re on the lowest iPhone 3G plan, you can expect the same.
I completely understand why I wasn’t originally eligible for the subsidy (that’s how it works, AT&T subsidized my phone last year over the course of a two year deal), but I don’t like this new arbitrary pricing cut-off at customers with $99 a month contracts or higher. All AT&T iPhone plans are expensive — to the point where AT&T is trying to find a way to bring them down a bit.
I thought that it would be in AT&T’s best interest to offer all iPhone 3G early adopters a fully subsidized iPhone 3G S simply because it would lock us in for another 2 years of expensive monthly service. That’s something AT&T shouldn’t pass up given the rumors swirling about the company losing its iPhone exclusivity after next year. But now, for many users still not eligible for the iPhone 3G S full subsidy, who likely won’t upgrade, they’ll be free to do as they wish next year. Including leave AT&T.
good thing ive never owned an iphone.
You may have posted here anonymously but your Twitter page says enough about you.
Don’t worry, Homeland Security knows who they are….
(hi everyone within the HSA… doing a great job! Keep it up!)
As a Borg I rarely use the word “dude”, or “I” for that matter. But, dude, what is standing next to you in your twitter profile picture? Please, basementdad, tell me it’s photoshop. And btw, basementdad sounds a little freaky. And you’re following 78,000+ people? I’m a friggin’ Borg and I can’t stand being plugged into more than a few hundred drones in my collective at once. Our research has shown that following more than 100 people turns you into a complete moron, and more than 1000 is the equivalent of a Tijuana back alley ice pick lobotomy. I don’t even know what 78,000 would do to the human mind. You’d be mathematically incapable of a complete independent thought. I’m surprised your autonomic functions still work.
why is techcrunch covering phone bills? I thought this site was about technology.
Under what definition are iPhones not technology?
last year’s tech…
uh, huh.
So… @basementdad
What you’re saying is you don’t follow along with current web trends and technology.
You’re probably the kind of person who still has a Myspace page and thinks the Google is a browser.
Yeaaahhh… fail.
Link for checking eligibility on Apple.com please.
Start filling out your info here and just don’t complete any transaction obviously:
https://buyipho...PACustomer.woa/
So it looks like I am in the same boat because I get a corp discount on part of my service. Web site says I’m not eligible until Jan 5. Who knew providing a monetary incentive to your customers would make them ineligible to spend more money with AT&T.
Good point John, corp discounts are going to screw a lot of people too.
To be honest I’m surprised they’re even modifying it. They are breaking the terms of their own contract that you guys agreed to when you purchased the phone to make this concession and you’re still not happy?
Every other carrier it’s a two year agreement and you don’t get full discounts for 23 months. Of course apple is going to release a new phone, are you going to bitch the same next year when the iphone 4g comes up? or the iphone 3g S Extra edition?
Seriously, I’d just assume you aren’t going to leave the company and stick with the original contract anyway because anyone that gets their panties in such a bunch over 6 months because of a phone must obviously be hard core dedicated to Apple and you aren’t going anywhere as long as ATT is the only carrier with the iPhone.
To clarify, I like the iPhone, I plan on getting one. But I also understand what a contract is and what it means.
So when my CONTRACT period is up and I can leave sprint with no penalty I’ll get an iPhone.
Sure, I understand why they wouldn’t too. That said, I still thought it was a good idea for them to do it for an overall strategy to get another year at least out of those customers. But this half-way option is confusing.
MG, thats how you are saying it… but truth be told you want the new IPHONE and you want it cheaper, so you are trying to stir the SHIT to get ATT to pay it for you… don’t lie… this is your motive behind these articles….
I have a better one, Here in Hong Kong even if you pay for the most expensive iPhone plan (as I do) you don’t have any upgrade plan at all. If you want a 3GS you must take a 2nd line…
Wow, yeah. That sucks.
Wow. I know all of the HK carriers advertise subsided plans, so I suppose they must make sales, I just don’t actually know anyone that went for a subsidised plan.
You poor suckers in the States have no option, but in HK you can get an unlocked contract free phone without the undisclosed finance fees built into the subsidy. You don’t even need to visit some dodgy backstreet warehouse/apartment block in Mongkok to get a discount off the RRP.
Why would you go for a more expensive subsidised plan when you don’t have to?
*shakes head*
Yeah… I think the $100+ thing is BS – I have 450 minute plan + unlimited texting and still not eligible for an upgrade until December, 18 months after I got the 3G.
Oh AT&T, you silly goose, only you could screw up something so great as having a legit monopoly on the iPhone. Time to quit kidding around.
Not saying you’re wrong, but it seems a bit alarmist, and a tad journalistically irresponsible to present this argument, with no discernible facts to support it. Perhaps you should wait until the date listed (a scant 10 hours away) to see if your upgrade status changes, instead of making a sweeping assumption based on the wording of a statement from a company policy that the entire press release is meant to undermine.
Based on AT&T’s own wording, the only assumption is the price at which the upgrade is triggered. They clearly state this new policy means those eligible to upgrade in July, August or September under the current plan — which myself and many others are not, when I checked it out.
Point taken. And yes, it says you’re not eligible now. But assuming [a stretch from a company that can't figure out MMS/tethering] AT&T is following traditional writing logic, the fact that the statement was before the revelation of new upgrade eligibility, I’d stand to reason that there’s at least good chance that a “cheap” plan penalty will not be an issue. I suppose we’ll find out tomorrow.
All of that being said, I wouldn’t put it past AT&T to completely **** up this chance to build up some goodwill with their early-adopting customers.
It sounded to me like the online tools were *not yet updated to reflect this change*, ie where it says in the AT&T announcement: “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.”
Now whether this is true for the online tool from *Apple* (as opposed to any of the online tools from *AT&T*), is unclear, but I wouldn’t go making any conclusions until the date when they said those would be updated with this info..
No, you’re reading into that wrong. Yes, the tool won’t be updated until tomorrow, but you have to read deeper into AT&T’s statement. Only some iPhone 3G owners are eligible for the new price? Who? AT&T tells us: those eligible to upgrade in July, August or September under the current plan. Go to the current eligibility tool, check your date. Mine is December, which means I’m outside that window because my bill isn’t high enough. I’m sure many are in the same boat.
But you are relying on the tool to see if you are eligible. Why not wait until the tool is actually updated before you get people all worked up about it?
My bill is well over $100 per month and I just tried the tool and I still did not get the pricing even though I am in the window.
You should go back and find some bad news about Microsoft and report that since we all know that you are always right about them. Then again, maybe you should try it in IE8 and see if it does give you the upgrade pricing as a contest at the end of which you will get a pound of food.
Ridiculous!
You can already tell if you are eligible because the current app tells you your eligibility date. This change is effecting your eligibility date. Tomorrow, it’ll change from “You may qualify for a standard iPhone upgrade on …” to just giving you the lower price.
So what did MG do wrong here exactly?
*is not effecting
Amen, I’m in the exact same boat. Don’t worry about the fact that I use the thing 97% of the day, apparently since I’m not talking on it that much is what matters.
Stupid 450 min plans.
I too feel an immense entitlement to prevent AT&T from recouping the subsidy they already gave me by giving me yet another one.
This would be a perfect someecard
it is pretty good.
I’m just glad that i don’t have to worry about this, since i have a simple phone with simple functions, i just chill with what i have.
Plus apple hasn’t made an iphone for fat fingers
I like this.
no one HAS to worry about it, iphone owner or otherwise. have fun with your “simple phone”,,,or whatever.
You should hook up with @basementdad since you both seem to like pointing out that you don’t have an iphone on the comments page of an article about the iphone. I like to go into Porche owners forums and comment that I’m glad I don’t have a Porche and instead cruise around in my tricked out 87 Honda.
Suck it up, it’s the cost of being an early adopter. If you don’t like it, don’t upgrade, it’s that simple.
agreed, but I just don’t agree with some people paying slightly more getting the cheaper price while others don’t.
It would have seemed a little less arbitrary if they did it by plan rather than dollar amount, but hey, life ain’t fair.
agreed.
why its clearly calculated to their cost, and loss/vs break even point that takes into account how much you have paid, how much you will pay with the new contract, percent of users that break the contract and so on…
the formula is based on MATH aka the amount you have paid… you are a TOOL.
Who would have thunk that AT&T would love digging holes for themselves when Verizon rumors are flying about? They must feel comfy with their captive audience. I really, really hope iPhone users will have some kind of service choice in the near future that will send AT&T into panic-filled regrets. OMGosh, Cheap Trick album art = genius choice for article here.
Not to rub salt in your wounds but if your bill is $98.67 and you add the “.23″ you’re apparently short, you still come up 10 cents short my friend.
That being said, I understand your frustration with these things. I’m a little pissed over not being able to shoot video on my old. That feature should have been there from the get-go. Hell, if you can swing getting video on to my dinosaur 3g, I’ll chip in the extra 10 cents you need each month.
heh. yes, bad math
hence the reason you don’t get it… you can’t do math…
I’d love to know why your bill is only $98.67 … I have the 450 minute voice plan with the 1,500 texts plan and my build is $130 per month after taxes.
don’t know, i have a lot of rollover minutes, so i rarely go over. use skype for calls from home, etc.
I figured out the problem …I was being charged by “Flycell downloads” — those scamming bastards. AT&T is going to refund me the $19.99…thank you for making me take a closer look at my bill!
You mean you didn’t do that monthly?
Just for being refunded you are no longer eligible.
No one with an iPhone 3G is an early adopter, sorry. In fact, people need to stop acting like they’re entitled to an upgrade just because they got an iPhone. AT&T should have told everyone whining to piss off and wait till they’re eligible.
The fact that the pricing of the new iPhone is so convoluted and twisted into utter nonsense by AT&T it takes you 9 paragraphs to discuss it above speaks volumes.
Think if TV sets were priced along these lines. Think if illegal drugs were priced this way …. oh, wait, they are!
I agree with MG about this. My bill is a nice 89 a month, lowest plan and only the 200 texts a month, so I get to wait around until 12/31 to get the upgrade.
Sounds like AT&T tried to do something right, but just like their coverage it failed. Some people will be lucky, some are just SOL.
Maybe we can all hope like me to be a Verizon customer with an iPhone next year. I’d take a slow network for better coverage, rate plans, and customer service.
I’m still baffled as to why iPhone owners feel so entitled to extra discounts because they made a $200 investment 11 months ago. this logic applies to no other retail market that I can think of. and it seems to me that the last place it would applies is in technology. something that changes and evolves so quickly.
so since that logic is wrong, my only other reasoning for the pressure on apple/AT&T to give 3G users a break is numbers. there are so many iphone users that a few decided that if they herded enough loud voices, they could make something happen. congratulations, you did.
I agree with this, I saw this commend after I made mine below. I think all of us AT&T Tilt (kaiser) users should band together and start whining until AT&T offers us an inexpensive upgrade to the iphone 3Gs regardless of contract status. This way, going forward, I can be a part of the herd of applecattle and leverage their much louder and effective whining to get even more inexpensive (or heck, why not free!) stuff in the future.
$98,67 per month for a phone bill? Absurd… I pay $35 a month which includes 3G (but that’s a European plan) but a comparable plan costs about $70 here.
details please. for that $35/month: how many minutes? how much data transfer? I’m guessing you get minimal minutes (but free incoming calls) and high per minute charges if you go over. Same for text messages. And I highly doubt you get unlimited data included in the $35 – you probably get no data, or very little, and very steep per MB charge if you go over.
hahaha …Great ..!
Here’s something that’ll really p*** you off. I live in Shanghai and my voice and data plan cost me $4.00 a month for 450 minutes, 50 MB of data (which I’ve never exceeded) and 160 text messages. I was absolutely gobsmacked when I was checking out the plans in the states. Oh, And I should mention, we aren’t slapped around with taxes and fees either. The $4 is $4. In the states, a $39 plan quickly becomes $59 when you add federal, state, and local taxes, surcharges and unidentifiable fees.
Doesn’t the site say that the upgrade pricing will become available on June 18, 2009? Is today not June 17, 2009?
Jumping the gun a bit? Why not wait until tomorrow and see whether or not your upgrade pricing will be different?
The only problem I see with this solution is that people who are eligible in December are unlikely to receive any kind of early upgrade option like the people who are eligible in July, August, or September.
Since they say they are only offering this for a limited time, I’m assuming that if you’re date of eligibility is AFTER September, your date likely won’t change. I don’t find this to be fair at all because people who are eligible to upgrade in September can now upgrade in June.
If AT&T wanted to be fair, I should be able to upgrade in August since my date of eligibility is in December.
Just an educated guess, but even if your final bill was a little over $99 you probably still would not have qualified for the earlier upgrade. I would imagine that the $99 a month dividing line is before taxes and fees so you would really have to have a total bill of $115-$120 before they would offer the early upgrade.
yep, that’s all in there.
I got an iPhone 3G on 11/12/08. I pay $84.51/mo. on my $94.99 iPhone bill. I have 900 minutes, 200 texts, and a 15% USC alumnus discount.
“As a valued AT&T customer, AT&T can offer you an early iPhone upgrade with a new 2-yr commitment and an $18 upgrade fee. You may qualify for a standard iPhone upgrade on 04/13/2010.”
Looks like I’m at the 18 month window, just in time for the iPhone 3GT!
I’m waiting for the 3MG
“I thought that it would be in AT&T’s best interest to offer all iPhone 3G early adopters a fully subsidized iPhone 3G S simply because it would lock us in for another 2 years of expensive monthly service”
… or until the next version of iPhone comes out whichever is earliest.
I may be misunderstanding things, but to me this seems (at least somewhat) reasonable. AT&T subsidizes an iPhone with the assumption that monthly payments over a contractual period will repay the subsidy. It seems logical that the monthly payment amount affects upgrade eligibility, as people who pay more monthly effectively repay the subsidy faster.
Now, I’m not arguing that AT&T is doing the right thing. After all, if AT&T took more of a hit with these subsidies, it would probably benefit them in the long term by pissing less people off, creating more new contracts and extending more contracts, making them less likely to lose their exclusivity, etc. But AT&T understands their numbers better than I do, hopefully
Agreed, it is reasonable for them to expect a two year contract when they pay the subsidy, however I don’t agree with this weird, arbitrary cut off point for monthly plans, and I think overall they’d be better served to lock all these customers in for another year of service.
I’m confused. Why are iphone users “entitled” to an inexpensive upgrade to a new phone when non-iphone users aren’t? Why is it that when some bigger better phone comes out, I don’t get to kick and scream and whine and throw a temper tantrum until AT&T gives me the new phone at a deep discount even though I’m currently under contract for a phone that they already heavily subsidized for me?
And why is it that if the Iphone is such a great product, why are tons of iphone users coming out of the woodwork to try and get the newest one?
Wireless carriers are driven by the almighty ARPU, which happens to be a monumental $90/month for the average iPhone user on AT&T. So, you’d think that, given AT&T is going to make close to $2500 off of me if I sign a new 2-year contract, they’d offer me a subsidy to upgrade my iPhone 3G (which I’ve now had for nearly 12 months). That way, they get another year of revenue out of me, instead of having me thinking very seriously about unlocking my phone and ditching them for someone else. I’ve been an AT&T wireless customer for 15 years (yeah, silly me), and actually pay for two iPhones in my household, but it’s pretty clear that making me happy is not part of their agenda. I can’t think of many other businesses that get away with this — karma’s going to be a bitch when it catches up with them.
Considering people who buy iphones (and other apple devices) are willing to pay premium prices for a phone with no MMS (until now), no copy/paste (until now), no tethering (legally), 3G speeds that are laughable but DO have a really AWESOME high gloss finish to them… why wouldn’t AT&T kick up the ARPU on such a consumer? If you know your customers are addicted to your crack and you’re the only crack dealer in town, you can charge whatever you want.
You can threaten to unlock your iphone and jump ship, but are you really? Really??? Why not buy an iphone out of contract then and be done with it? And even if you are going to jump ship and unlock your phone, there are 1,000 others who 1.) don’t know how 2.) don’t feel comfortable doing it 3.) aren’t that creative 4.) don’t care. AT&T is running a business, not a giveaway hotline.
As long as Apple keeps offering the crack, and everyone keeps buying it at insane prices, no company is going to drop their ARPU or tank their profits. Especially in this market.
December seems to be the upgrade date for everyone I know who bought the 3G the day it came out.
It might be good to wait til tomorrow to see what AT&T does.
I have been pissed at AT&T since the 3GS announcement. If they let me subsidize the 3GS it will be a hard decision. Either look into another 2 years or ride out the 3G and hope for Verizon next year.
this whole bitching and moaning is really incredible to me. i can’t believe that techcrunch is wasting so much time talking about this. i also find it really absurd that techcrunch seems to think it has a better grasp on AT&T’s exclusivity deal that AT&T does. I’m sure AT&T knows exactly what its doing, and will continue to make gobs of money doing it well into the future.
We’ll see about that next year, won’t we?
precisely. we, as in everybody that isn’t AT&T and therefore really has nothing more than rumors to go on, will see. i just don’t see basing an argument to AT&T on speculation that could be extremely far off. i’m sure techcrunch has good tipsters, but i think on this score the only ones that have a clear picture about the future of AT&T’s exclusivity are AT&T and Apple.
but that’s part of why you read techcrunch isn’t it? rumors, opinions, analysis….
of course. i just don’t base silly arguments on those rumors…
Why is the price I’m given $400 over the advertised price? $499 for 3G, $599 for 3GS 16GB and $699 for 32GB?? I have an iphone 3G that I bought the week it came out! It’s not even the $200 premium everyone keeps talking about!
Haha just go into a Apple Retail store and buy a phone with no contract!
Note: I went into a California store near San Francisco and purchased the new iPhone 3GS and with tax and a few accessories I paid $308.92 total.
And NO contract! I unlocked the phone using some 3rd party app and stuck my SIM card and wamo-bamo it works! I actually work in USA, Thailand and China and have 3 SIM cards that all work perfectly
Yippy-Skippy!
bull.
Too bad the lowest non-subsidized cost of an iPhone 3GS is $499.
Other than that, your story was *totally* believable.
when i went to pay i was asked if i had an att account and or do i need one. i was also informed that in order to use the phone i would need to insert my att sim.
my good friend who is visiting his sister in new york city did the same thing.
apple does not care about selling the phone at their physical retail stores.
go try it for yourself!
if you tell them u want a non contract phone then i would guess u need to pay full price. why on earth would you want to pay full price if you could get the discounted price
Actually, you have to subtract the “taxes and fees”. Your 98.67 doesn’t all go to att. You have to figure it as voice+data+txt+anything else you chose to add on. So if you have the $40/mo voice plan it’s $40+$30+$15 = $85/mo base. So you’re really off by $15, not <$1
no but i have a cheap Sprint plan ($30.00) unlimited data, text, 500 anytime mins
You are finally quite lucky in the US, O2 in United Kingdom is a nightmare, in short, if you want an iPhone 3GS and you already have an iPhone 3G that you got 1 year ago while signing up for 18 month contract. You have to get an iPhone as pay as you go for £440…
sweet Jones in a foreign car, I am eligible! Something good for all that cash I have been spending! Now I get to spend more. The form says I am eligible on July 30th ‘09, so I am assuming tomorrow that will be updated to say I am good to go.
Thanks for the tip MG. “Including leave AT&T” is something i really want to do, if Pre comes with a camera on the front and Skype video integration.
That seems like a rip-off. I’m have Sprint (laugh if you like), and their 450-minute everything plan is only like $70. Plus, I’m eligible for the new subscriber price on a new phone, even though I just got a new one in November. Now if only there was a Pre in stock someplace…
Wow… I just want to wait for it. Hopefully it will be coming to my country soon. hehe
The OS update adds a lot to the 3g, which will do me just fine until I’m out of thrall with ATT. By that time, there will be an even better version of the iphone out (which isn’t all *that* much of a step up), and it may well be on the superior Verizon network by then. I’d rather be in thrall to the better network anyway, thankee kindly.
Sorry–meant to say that *the 3gS* isn’t all that much of a step up. Some good additions (esp. the camera), but nothing that totally rocks my socks off.
Just checked the eligibility site, and was surprised to find I’ve been offered the normal price for 32gigs at $299. I got my 3G on the second day they were out, with the lowest voice plan, and unlimited text.
We pay $164-something per month for our iPhone family plan (my wife and I both have 3G) -yet we’re STILL we’re not eligible for 199 pricing – not even for a single new 3GS as opposed to two — how does that make sense?
Holy $#!%, I never knew people were paying so damn much for their iPhone bills! It makes me feel good about my iPhone bill though… My wife and I are on a family share plan with 450 minutes per month, but have 2,000 rolloevr minutes (since we convinced AT&T to let us keep them upon moving to the iPhone, even though they tried to void them) so we never go over our included minutes. We each have $5.00 text packages w/ 250 free text and never go over that. We pay $119.00 bucks per month total including taxes. That’s $59.50 per person!
To all you with unlimited text and/or more than 450 included minutes, take a close examination the next couple of months into your actual usage patterns. For your voice usage, consider how your rollover impacts billable usage, but also look at how many peak minutes you use on average (after backing out M2M and NW, and those are free minutes!!!!! it can get a bit tricky to actually calculate the true billable usage). If you consistently have over 300 minuttes accumulating monthly for roll over, you are wasting your money!!!!!!!! For text it’s easy, just look at total text and see if you need unlimited text, or you can move to a 1500, or 500… from my experience most people are overbuying text packages. I do agree that it is better in wireless to overbuy than underbuy, but as a wireless expense management data analyst at eOnTheGo (the premier wireless optimization company for the fortune 100’s) most people just buy what package they think they need without actually looking at their bill and their monthly usage and determining if they even need what they are buying…
$100/month!!!!! Yikes!
Well maybe the upgrade that people are saying their their getting is maybe their getting it based on they aren’t paying their PHONE BILLS LATE?!maybe its not based on whether their spending 100 bucks a month or not? Mayybe itsts if their spending 100 bucks + NOT BEING LATE is why att I s offering it only to certain customers??
I’m paying AT&T about $110/month, and I have had my phone bill on automatic bill pay since I signed up with AT&T five years ago… I’m still getting the December (12/13/2009) eligibility date. So it looks like $100 might not be the magic number.
Well to you all who are saying you can’t get out of your current iPhones to the 3G I say your absolutely wrong
I got the 3G 11 months ago and walked into my store and said “I want the 3GS now” and they did it and I checked my bill for the phone and it was only $199 so I got the fully subsidized price.