iPhone 3G S & AT&T
If you’re unlucky like me and happened to buy a new iPhone 3G with a contract less than 30 days from the release of the new one (on or after 20th of May), AT&T will allow you to either 1) Pre-order and pay for the new one now, then exchange the old for the new on the 19th when they arrive (you will have to pay a restocking fee which varies by location, in Chicago it’s about $40). 2) If you can find a new iPhone in stock at an AT&T store before the 30 days expire, you can just trade them (and once again pay the restocking fee) without having to front money like you do with the pre-order. 3) Have $100 credited to your wireless bill in the next cycle.
These all seem like reasonable options to me. I’m glad that AT&T has chosen to do the right thing and not screw the unlucky among us. There are a lot of rumors flying around and very little actual information about this, but i can absolutely assure you that what i’ve said is true. I’ve already preordered the new one (16GB) for $199. If you don’t believe me, just give your local AT&T store a call.
I’m glad that AT&T aren’t being as malicious as they are with their existing customer upgrade plans. Sheesh!
Yeah, there’s been some misunderstanding with that too, from what i’ve been told. If your contract has expired (24 months since your last contract / handset upgrade), you should be eligible for the full discount. If you’re trying to get an early upgrade (18 months or later, i believe), than you pay a lot more.
Some people were saying that AT&T wouldn’t give you the lower price at all if you were already an AT&T customer even if you were not on contract, but i don’t believe this is true. After all, i was a preexisting customer, my contract ran out months ago, however.
If you’re in that position, i’d always call a corporate store and check, don’t take other people’s word for it (mine included) because sometimes things get complicated and hence misunderstood, also i’ve found the people in the corporate owned stores much more helpful than those you get when you call 611 or at non-corporate owned stores. Anyway, best of luck. . . sorry to rant on and on.
Yeah, my understanding is that there’s an 18-month cutoff for the early-upgrade option. But in any case, they require customers to renew their contract for two years. I don’t think that customers would mind renewing their contract, since they’re clamoring for an upgrade anyway; but I do think that AT&T should extend that option to all existing customers, and drop the whole 18-month cutoff garbage.