“AT&T’s offering some of its customers a $200 early iPhone upgrade discount ahead of their two-year contract expiration date,” Xavier Lanier reports fro Gotta Be Mobile. “That may sound generous, but it actually may have unintended consequences, opening the door for loyal AT&T customers to switch to rival Verizon.”
“The problem with AT&T’s early iPhone upgrade plan is that the $200 subsidy is less than half the $450 subsidy that Verizon and Sprint will offer these same customers,” Lanier reports. “Of course, AT&T customers who bought subsidized iPhone 4S’ will need to pay an early termination fee, which amounts to $325 minus $10 for each month of service. Those who purchased the iPhone 4S last October would need to pay AT&T an early termination fee of just $215.”
Lanier reports, “Do the math and you’ll see that AT&T customers would actually come out $35 ahead by switching to Verizon rather than sticking with AT&T.”
Much more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Arline M.” for the heads up.]
Yeah baby! We are finally going to drop kick AT&T off our preferred phone provider list and go to Verizon since for the last 25 when it started as Cingular and went to AT&T the service in the hills of the San Fernando Valley has been poor. Using a Microcell certainly helps but there’s latency using it. It’s only been since LTE came aboard that Verizon has shown it’s far better as my Verizon iPad 3 revealed with decent reception in my area WITHOUT additional broadband assistance. I know no carrier is perfect but looking forward to Verizon and hopefully we will never need to call their customer support. 🙂
Considered it, but I’d be paying about $40 more a month with Verizon. I’ll keep my unlimited data and old voice Plan to save money.
AT&T took away my upgrade because of late payment on my bill and because of a discount I added to my bill from my job. When I told them I was never warned or told about this penalty and that it should be wiped they told me it can’t be overridden because of the discount I added. Then when I told them I was unhappy with the service they’ve provided and we plan on switching to another company the supervisor just told us good luck. I have been an iPhone user on AT&T for six years and every year a new iPhone came out I had gotten an upgrade. This company is rediculous.
I would NOT switch to Verizon for any incentive. My cellular coverage, both where I live and work, is superior with AT&T. I have tested Verizon cell strength numerous times, and it is not as strong as AT&T. Furthermore, the AT&T Family Plan with Rollover Minutes – not offered by Verizon – works economically with multiple phones.
Agreed. I was able to reduce my voice plan by 1/3 when I bought my wife and my 4Ses, which is saving me significantly each month. Plus, I have good AT&T coverage where I live (Verizon is similar, and both have their problem spots).
AT&T pulled in the $200 eligibility date from 11/8 to 10/8. Those of us that want iPhone 5 day one have a $235 incentive to choose Verizon, not $35.
You are forgetting to factor the ETF.
Why would I switch to Verizon? You can’t send an email or check websites while on a phone call. That’s a deal killer.
I’m not saying AT&T doesn’t suck, but Verizon sucks, too. AT&T just sucks a bit less.
The only reason to go Verizon is if the coverage is better where you use your phone the most. But the difference in coverage is less and less as both companies add more and more cell towers.
I’d rather be able to surf and talk at the same time.
You can surf and talk at the same time on Verizon so long as you’re on LTE. That, however, can be a crap shoot.
Apparently not. http://9to5mac.com/2012/09/13/sprint-and-verizon-wont-support-simultaneous-voice-and-data-on-iphone-5/
Verizon have confirmed this.
I get an early upgrade discount too – $650 for the 63GB model, which is more like $725.00 with the tax. iP5 looks great, but I’ll wait six months.
If AT&T offers me that, I’ll do it.
Sell my 4S and I wont be out that much.
I’ll know in about 2-3 hours what I’ll be doing after I get off work and stop at the AT&T store.
That what I did. Sold my 4s last week for $440. With another year of AppleCare+. 32 gig. So only have to pay $100 + tax for the new 32 giger. But now I’m stuck with a old school Samsung eternity till next Friday. Horrifying. It’s like Going from a Benz to a hooptie with no AC. In the desert.
Needless to say I’m setting my alarm clock for 3am and preordering. This f’n eternity blows. But I woulda got much less if I waited till after announcement. Just taking my (new) iPad everywhere I go.
ok..
Just left AT&T store. I can buy the 64gb iPhone 5 tomorrow for $650 And I am at 11 months into the contract (remember I had to wait to get my 4S due to buying the 4 on launch day and get the cheap subsidized price)
I could have traded my 64gb 4S in today for $270…
They were not sure if I could get the 650 deal if I preordered the iPhone online tonight, so I’m going to try at midnight and see what happens. If apple gives me the lower price I’ll buy from apple, if not… The AT&T store opens at 10am an I’m off work tomorrow 😉
Bad thing… I hope they will ship my phone to another address instead of my home. Me and FedEx do not get along. Seen them drive past my house… And then I see that online it says attempted…
Apple gives me the option of picking up in store which is perfect.
Both websites give me the discounted deal. Att and apple. Im sticking apple for the applecare plus. So you shouldn’t have problem getting from either.
So apple does offer to pick up in store for sure? That would be sweet. Beats waiting around for delivery all day.
I’m pretty sure they will only ship to address of the phone/credit card customer if it goes through fed ex or UPS. Could be wrong.
well, when I ordered my iPad it gave me the option. I was assuming I could on the iPhone.
I’ll know tonight, if I can’t.. I’ll just send it to my parents business.
I’m definitely sticking with AT&T. I switched to Verizon for my iPad and AT&T is *far* better in terms of data connectivity where I live and the places I go. Sure, there are some places where Verizon is better, but for the most part AT&T connects more and is much faster than Verizon. Plus, the ability to talk and do data at the same time on 3G is a big advantage as is traveling abroad. LTE will change those last two advantages, but it isn’t ubiquitous yet.
This is interesting, the iPhone 5 still won’t do voice and data on Verizon or Sprint even with LTE: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/13/iphone-5-calls-data/
Good find. Very interesting. I figured all was good now on all American phone company’s as far as data and voice Simultaneously with LTE.
Some people would probably really wanna know this before they pick carriers. Surprise there’s not a bigger buzz with it.
finally had the time to read that, I see apples point about not putting the extra antanae just for Verizon/sprint.. But you know that is going to tick off the Verizon faithful.
And the part about the S3 able to do voice/data is going to give the android guys more ammo to bash the iPhone 5.
But it’s android fanboys… Who cares.
Oh for sure. It would piss me off. If I were weighing my options between the 3 carriers, that would def be in my AT&T pile to go with them. Now there may be stuff that out weighs it for that person. I wouldn’t know. Im with att until they kick me off my unlimited.
And Though I don’t use it like crazy, when I need to check something while on the phone it’s usually pretty important. So it’s a nice feature for sure for me. Buts it’s not gonna keep a avid iPhone user or anyone who pretty much knows what they’re doing and what they want from buying a iPhone.
I know it keeps going back to cars but most people who want a Benz or a Beamer know what they want. Some have done research before their big investment but they know they want that Beamer 7 series. Same thing with most iPhone buyers. They know what they want. They may justify it some how and think its no biggie or they may roll with another cell carrier. But one things ALMOST for sure. They are getting a iPhone. If anything I’d THINK it would hurt a carrier more then apple. And I really don’t think it would hurt a carrier. Except sprint. They’d do anything to not lose customers. They bend over backwards for their customers. If AT&T humbled up a little like sprint, I’d never have a bad thing to say about them…… For awhile amyhow.
only thing AT&T does that ticks me off… is their new FaceTime over Cellular policy. total BS.
I wouldn’t be surprised if someone started a lawsuit due to them charging to unlock a feature thats built into the phone… Verizon did this with bluetooth and lost the class action.
I’m disappointed sure. It’s bs they wanna give us 5 gigs of non throttled data AND they wanna tell us how to use it to. So from that aspect I’m pissed. Give me my 5 gigs and when I go over cut off FaceTime. Cuz I prolly ain’t using anyhow. But it would be nice to have the option at least before they throttle it.
We went through a “transition period” about a year ago when I was getting 3 dropped calls a day. Not everyday but that was at its worst. It went on for a year or so. Like i said not everyday or every other day, but when it happened it happened in spurts. That would piss me off more then anything. On an important call then I get a “call failed.” that was my major gripe with them. All is good now though
Hmm when I do the eligibility checker I only get the 4s, 4, and 3GS wth.
AT&T allows you to keep unlimited Data. Verizon is making upgraders pay unlocked price to keep unlimited data. AT&T sucks less than Verizon on that account.
You don’t come out ahead by switching to Verizon before or after your current contract with AT&T expires. The price of the new iPhone 5 on Verizon or Sprint is still $199 for new customers. Trying to point out that AT&T has a more lenient exit fee, doesn’t make it cheaper to jump to Verizon. This article is misleading and doesn’t make any mathematical sense.