What qualifies one for an “iPod customer” upgrade price with AT&T Wireless?
I had an odd experience with the supposed upgrade criteria yesterday, upon attempting to purchase the 3G iPhone. I bought my original iPhone in October of last year ($399) and checked my account for discount/upgrade eligibility a week ago. At that time, it said I was indeed eligible. Walked into the Apple Store yesterday, they said my account showed ineligible and they couldn’t say why. So, the Apple employee spoke to his manager, came back with an Apple gift card for $200 and slid it through, effectively discounting the price. Not sure if Apple goes back to AT&T to recoup that at some point, it was rather odd. Just letting you know this as I don’t think that between Apple or AT&T, the poor souls interfacing with customers haven’t been educated on what’s left nor right and they’re doing everything they can to appease people through the insane rush and long lines.
Here’s your problem: You just bought a subsidized blackberry on new contract and ATT knows this. They want to recoup the subsidy before they sell you another subsidized phone. On one of the boards like engadget, gizmodo or macrumors there was a similar question posed and an ATT employee chimed in and said that when they determine iPhone eligibility they look at how long you’ve had the iPhone account anyone that activated the phone after ATT and Apple ran out were not considered eligible for the upgrade. I stood in line last week with a woman who drowned her iPhone and was using her friend’s old blackberry with her iPhone’s SIM in it until the 3G came out. After a day using the phone to make calls (she wasn’t interested in the data part) she got a call from ATT asking if she wanted to switch to the blackberry data plan to use it. She said no since she wanted to get a new iPhone at the discounted rate. She called 611 while in line after the Apple person working the line said he wasn’t su
You have the right idea. You simply need to activate the old iPhone via iTunes and your account will automatically be upgraded to the $20 data plan. Even though Apple and ATT are no longer selling the old iPhone, it is still possible to buy the old iPhone and use it with the old data plan. Once you activate it, you will now be a “previous iPhone user”. However, do you know anyone who has an iPhone and will be willing to let you tinker with it for a few minutes? If so, all you have to do is switch the SIM card and restore the iPhone. Activate the iPhone under your account, and confirm on the ATT wireless website that you are now an iPhone user. Then simply swap the SIM cards again and restore the iPhone from a previously made back-up. If you’re willing to do it this way, then you won’t have to purchase an old iPhone. Now you can go to the Apple store and upgrade to the iPhone 3G. Good luck!
